terraforming the coast

[Chesh 173]

hi guys,

i've been working on my region a lot lately, and ever so slowly it's starting to take a nice shape. however, i'm plagued by boring and sometimes awkward looking coastlines and riverbanks that i just can't seem to make look 'right'. this is in relation not just to MMPing and height variations, but to zoning and other infrastructure which create a visually realistic transition between civilization and the waves.

for better clarity, i'll pitch it another way. take this here city tile:

 

I've spent a while just sitting there thinking about what to do, but i just have no idea. i guess what i'm asking for is your opinions; how would you terraform this tile t'were it yours? equally as helpful may be some real life pictures to use as a reference? at this point in time, building against my coastlines is just a chore. considering my regions are nothing but oceans and rivers.. you see my issue.

and in my defense, i'm from rural australia - there aren't many coastlines here to use as inspiration. haha!

[A Nonny Moose 8,261]

Use the civil engineering tools to make a nice horizontal coast line on the left and drop a PEG CDK Container port in there.  It takes some practice, so you might want to fool around with your sandbox for a bit first to get across the learning curve.  The link will take you to the whole area for the coastal development kit.  If you have to register on simpeg4, it is free.

 

Example:

 

[cogeo 960]

Depending on what you want to do with this part of your region, you can use the ingame beaches ("park effect"), some port facilities (functionally they offer almost no practical effect - well, they do raise industrial caps, but you don't need it for a mass of land so small), put your power plants and other utilities there (in this case you need to do almost nothing, just put some roads, and watch the water getting dark, lol), or develop it residentially, which is what I would recommend. The area is small, but if you zone carefully and plan your networks efficiently, not wasting space, you can definitely get at least mid-rise R development. Don't put any power plants or landfills (sign deals instead) neither zone for industry (takes up too much space) or commercial (makes better use of space, but space is at a premium here, and you need it to achieve more mid- and possibly hi-rise R development - the bigger the population the higher the percentage of mid- and hi-rise development). The areas up on the hill can be densely populated too, if you apply

 

Most players use "seawall" or "embankment" sets to give their sea and river or lake shores a more urban look. There are quite a few available on the STEX and LEX, with a variety of themes. Take a look at my posts (and the others') in these threads:

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I have a pic of a city of mine in my post Incomplete yet, but you can see how dense R development (even mid-rise R) can be, and how the waterfront could be developed (most seawall tiles are still missing, but parts of the waterfront have already been prepared).

 

[Whte_rbt 1,431]

Personally I'd use a longer shallower slope for the beach, also use the extra terraforming tools mod so you can vary size and strength of the brushes. I'd also recommend acquiring a few different seawall types, as most places don't have one unified wall along the waterfront. A little mmp work in between to join things up and it usually looks pretty good.

 

Examples

 

 

[A Nonny Moose 8,261]

You don't need a mod to control the brushes.  The size of the brush is controlled by Shift+<number key> from 1 to 9, 1 being the smallest.  Strength is set while holding shift to enable the brush size using the function keys in the same manner.  These items are default in the game.