What would you do with the mountain?

[cromabianca 158]

The east side, i mean... the side where the buildings are already growing (city is rotated 90° clkw, so the east side would look facing south).

Would you zone it? (in which case, what kind of zone?)

Would you leave it untouched?

Would you MMP-it?

Would you (gasp!) flatten it?

Considering this is a pretty dense kind of situation (it's the center tile of an Island-city)

Thanks

[cogeo 960]

Well, you can always do what you like!

 

First, some notes:

- Don't you plant trees before starting your cities? The mountains are bare, and so look the plains. (Sorry if trees have been planted but they are not visible at this zoom level).

- Why all those deep cuttings? They look ugly and unrealistic. You could have used tunnels instead.

 

As for the mountain, my suggestion is to develop it, it IS inhabitable. The most suitable form of development is residential, esp R$$ and R$$$ (elevation adds to desirability). Commercial loves busy networks (esp avenues) but you can't have any major arteries on such slopped terrain (well, you actually can, only it looks unrealistic). Residential on the other hand wants a quiet place and easy/fast access to workplaces. So you can build residential, on almost all, except for the steepest areas, and some roads/avenues leading to the downtown area. As for mass-transit, consider some trams/GLR, where slopes would not make tracks looking totally unrealistic. Elsewhere, some buses (incl the RTMT ones ) would be a good choice, esp if you have combined GLR/bus/parking stations somewhere on the way to their workplaces (they would take the bus or drive and park their cars to the station and ride the train or tram)  Developing hirises at the lowest elevations, midrises up on the hillsides and villas yet higher. This also gives a more realistic look.

 

To make lots developing easier and looking better you need flat terrain. But there's no flat space up there, so the solution is some terraforming (use street tiles to make perfectly-flat terraces). You will also need some "walls" to keep zones/lots from deforming your terrain (I use a modified version of the old jeronij's "Muros Piedra" - less strong effect and maintenance, 2 trees along instead of 3, added corner lots, easier buttons), and a "Slope Mod" to make nice-looking networks. You need to install a slope mod, but this won't be enough, I'm afraid, as you will always want different slopes in certain areas, so a "general-purpose" slope mod won't be able to cover all cases. Maybe multiple slope-mods (install/uninstall them on a per case basis), but this is so inconvenient. Better make a very simple mod, modifying only the ANT networks, and instead change this mod (eg make grades of 10%, 15%, 20% etc), use it to make the properly-sloped roadbed and then bulldoze it and lay the normal roads or streets;

 

There's another tutorial about building on slopes here. However I don't like it very much, because the lots are still sloped, and the development you can get is somehow unpredictable, esp as you zone or as lots are developed, redeveloped, joined or separated - grades can indeed be changing all the time! Take a look to see how bad lots can become.

 

My preferred method is, as explained above, terraced development. The few tiles (basically one-tile-wide stripes) occupied by the walls (between the zone blocks, or the zones and the slopped road), in most cases would have been needed to be reserved anyway (even on perfectly flat terrain)  - as "small parks" or "tree areas" or something - for desirability, so not much of a "loss" here. See examples of terraced zoning on slopped terrain and esp

Hope this helps

[A Nonny Moose 8,262]

Tony, I think I would be tempted to try and create a village of some kind working its way up the mountain.  Seems to be a good place for an 'exclusive' neighbourhood.  You could take at look at Simpeg4's mountain package (MTP) and perhaps find something of use.  If nothing else, you can get some recreational uses out of that.

 

John.

[cromabianca 158]

Guys, you are incredible, as always! Thanks so much!!

I'll try to reply to some of the questions.
 

Well, you can always do what you like!

D'uh!!!
 

- Don't you plant trees before starting your cities?

No, I really don't... because I don't know how to do it! I mean: I know I can use the god-mode maxis tree... "controller"? (Is that what a tree controller is?) But I don't really like maxis trees, so... I just add them later one by one, as I zone. Actually, I'd appreciate if someone explained to me how tree controllers work
 

- Why all those deep cuttings?

You can se basically three deep cuts: the one on the north-west (remember, city is rotated 90°) was an experiment with a slope mod and it will be fixed. The one in the middle (where the train and the highway run) is for real and I like the idea of irresponsible anti-green contractors and earth movers who decided to cut through the mountain to make the highway possible... in a way that resembles this:

 

(this is near Littlefield, AZ, where I was last may)

 

Sure the I-15 runs next to the river, but you can still see some pretty serious cuts throu those rocks, can't you?

 

The third cut is... well... er... it doesn't work, right? I'll fix it!
 

My preferred method is, as explained above, terraced development.

Yes, I know about terrace development and I used it myself several times, so I think that's what I will go for. I just wasn't sure if low density development would fit in a dense part of town like that...

 

Seems to be a good place for an 'exclusive' neighbourhood. If nothing else, you can get some recreational uses out of that.

 

Yeah, I like that idea... both of 'em, actually

 

Thanks a bunch!!

[Odainsaker 2,137]

I might feather a bit up the gentler slopes or into the easier valleys, and I would nestle in and/or on top a variety of prominent cultural landmarks, but most of those mountains I would probably turn into a mountain forest reserve.  The ridge with the two fang-like peaks are the leading landmarks of this city tile, and so I would try to take advantage of their strategic prominence overlooking your city.

 

Some other ideas...

Punchbowl Crater with the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific, Honolulu:

 

Diamond Head Crater, Honolulu:

 

 

Mount Tantalus with Tantalus Lookout and Tantalus Homes looking towards Diamond Head, Honolulu:

 

Higashiyama with Mount Otowa and Kiyomizu Temple Pagoda, Kyoto:

Namsan topped by the YTN Seoul Tower, Seoul:

Snake Mountain looking east from the Yellow Crane Pagoda, Wuhan:

Lone Mountain, Las Vegas:

...and, of course, Christ the Redeemer and Sugarloaf Mountain, Rio de Janeiro

[MushyMushy 3,618]

I second what cogeo said about terracing - I always do it.

 

Here's an example of it from one of my cities (the image is outdated but it still serves the purpose needed in this case), which was built on a hill. If you look closely there's numerous different tiers separated by retainer walls.

It's a mosaic, so click for full size.

 

[cromabianca 158]

Some other ideas...

 

Thanks man! You gave me a lot of ideas!

 

I second what cogeo said about terracing - I always do it.

(where's that jaw-drop thing!!)

You terraces look amazing!!! The best I've seen so far!!! What slope mod did you use! Man, I love those slopes!!!

Oh, and another thing: what's an ANT network!?! You mean this ant?

 

Or this one?

 

 

[jmsepe 2,039]

I would go for adding some temples, houses and don't forget to add some trees. I also do the same for my mountains but normally I just plant trees since adding road networks to such terrain is very difficult. 

[airman15 4,113]

If you wanted to, you could even use a combination of MMPs/buildings. For example, there are many hills in Los Angeles but they are often decorated with radio antennae or older houses in the Glendale and Pasadena regions which have twisting roads that follow the contours of the hills.

 

In some areas, you could build a paved road or if the terrain is too treacherous for cars then you could blaze a trail to allow sims to climb on foot, which raises the possibility of a 5K nature walk.

 

But if you wanted to make something more urban, you could try researching the buildings on San Francisco's hills-

[T Wrecks 10,210]

Personally, I'd go for the boring alternative and make it a forested mountain (slopes are too steep for RCI development for my taste), slap a nice radio antenna on top, and maybe add an MMP footpath / maintenance road. Case closed.

 

EDIT

Now, those lower sections of the mountain (towards the left in your screenshots, above the tunnel entrance), these look suitable for low-density residential to me.

[matias93 7,535]

Thousands of small, dense, low-wage houses in the hills, with deep brooks between one hill and the other; just curved and serpentine streets up to the top, and funiculars communicating these zones with the CBD.

Welcome to Valparaíso!

 

 

 

By the way, Paeng made some fantastical functional funiculars, that could be really useful with those mountains, Valparaiso-styled or not.