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Riktor's Point Airport
Riktor's Point is a small peninsula that reaches into Quonock River. It was deemed far enough from the city centre to build an airport: Riktor's Point Aulton, RPA. The airport attracted industry with buildings using all of the scarce space. The first passenger terminal quickly became too small and was refitted as a cargo terminal. Thus the control tower is placed next to the cargo terminal and not the passenger terminal which is newer. The passenger terminal is very busy and will soon be running out of space. Wedged between the runway and the industry on the riverbank, the passenger terminal can only be reached via tunnels Due to the proximity of the river, there is no option for more terminals or a second runway. Plans for a second airport are already being discussed. Aulton is never finished. - 3
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3d camera showcase
As stated in a previous entry, in my regional headcanon the ludicrous farm plots are an unofficial competition between towns to honor the Royal SimFamily's farming heritage, given that the matriarch of the current Reiss lineage - Queen Historia I - was raised in a farm and was affectionately named the "cattle-farming goddess" early in her reign. Captain Middle America: The Winter Wheat Seller Wood Man Brown Widow Harvesters: Infinity Farm Cider-Man: Far From Hoe Guardians of the Granary Crop circle to greet the UFO visitors. The aliens must be really tired from their long interstellar trip, so the thoughtful farmers had it ready-made for them Piggeries/hog farms forming a giant Star of Eldia. This time around, the pig enclosures have all been equipped with electrified fences and motion-sensing infrared cameras Brzenska city's fractal grid layout and hexagon outskirts. The hexagons look "futuristic" in the sense that you can expect to arrive at your destination in the distant future, eventually. If you're up for a challenge, download the ready made region and try driving through this monstrosity in u-drive-it mode haha If you squint at it long enough, the neighborhoods flanking the highway somewhat resemble the hallucigenia "source of all living matter" from the series. Dreyse-Freudenberg Metropolitan Area's concentric zone model layout. Inspired by the ancient Walls Maria, Rose, and Sina I was going to develop it a bit more to gather a clump of skyscrapers around the John Hancock Center, but never got around to it so it ended up looking like Isengard and Orthanc from Lord of the Rings On the very bright side though, it would make an ideal bullseye target for orbital nuclear bombardment (not that anyone's planning to do that anytime soon, right?) Berner Industrial Park hosts manufacturing plants supplying high-tech parts for the Hange Zoe Space Center
Zacharius City's central business district, where the southern terminus of the national high-speed railway loops around to "lasso" the financial skyscrapers of what was once a frontier ranching town: where cowboys once wrangled market bulls, now their grandkids are chasing bull markets. The city's ranching legacy is celebrated annually during the traditional Zacharius Meat Auction - 10
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Gotham Nights
Hi, all! Boy, does it feel good to be back. The nights spent city building while ST was down were pretty dark and foreboding... much like Gotham!
This is a re-posting of my previous entry from March, but unfortunately, I didn't save what was written. I thought I would have more downtime at work this week, but that turned out not to be the case.
So, I'm going to just showcase the buildings and landmarks, without the stories about the lives of everyday Gothamites. Hope you still enjoy!- Read More
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- 52
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Way(s) out
Good morning or afternoon to all, This is a repost of my CJ entry #52, which unfortunatelly was also lost due to ST outage. Here it is again for you to reenjoy. The bad news is that I already overwrote the text file in which I stored the story that this episode presented. I am a little short on time and a little too disappointed to start over so if you don't mind, I'll just post pictures only and call it a day. So sorry... I can provide a quick recap and the highlights to help you understand the context of these pictures though. I will also appreciate if you could again cast your votes in the poll! - The Activator tribe is unable to sell most of their mining and industry products to the Altruists (their only contact so far) due to environmental laws that Altruists enforce
- The Activator tribe reached out to the Businesspeople in order to ship such goods out
- This new deal accelerated development in Industrious Hills and had positive impact in the form of establishment of Business Class. Both cities are now connected by an air-bridge - The garden city of Tanje governed by the Residents has a small Altruist minority
- This minority was largely discriminated against by the elitist and isolationist Residents
- The Altruist government embarked on an ambitious plan to establish a large city just outside Tanje, in order to incorporate this small minority into a robust and stable community, effectively, not leaving anyone behind
- This new city (Charity Peak) is known for its fantastic natural features including monumental mountain, picturesque waterfront and cozy downtown, reminiscent of cities like Luxembourg or Liege Enjoy. SimCity:Tribalism is also back. This last picture doesn't fit to the current time of year but since it was a part of the original entry, I shall include it anyway. - 52
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Entry 26: Birkenhang Islands
We are here: Responses: First of all, thanks everybody for your continued visits on my CJ and your interest. If I recall correctly, there've been 7 comments on my last CJ entry, but 2 of them fell victim to the recent Simtropolis server wipeout disaster. I don't recall what you wrote, you're of course welcome to post it again. Since I couldn't think of any specific answer to your last comments, I'd like to send a thank you to the 5 people who wrote the surviving comments: @EastChapel, @Tyberius06, @simster007, @Xander2005. And of course to my long-time visitor, @justforfun, I'm glad you liked it too, especially the mire. I got my inspiration of it from visual inspection of some pictures I found on the internet, as, unfortunately, here in westernmost Austria, coherent wetlands are almost extinct. Disclaimer: Most of you heard it: The server containing all data from Simtropolis got wiped due to nothing more than a billing error, which resulted in the loss of files, pictures and other content after a certain date. Fortunately, none of my CJ entries themselves were lost, however, some pictures are gone now, as well as at least 2 comments of you on my last CJ entry. I'm doing my best to restore them in the next weeks, as soon as I'm finding time; my job unfortunately takes a lot of time every year in June. If there's something you'd like to see, please feel free to PM me (that way, it's more likely that I'm noticing you wrote something). Contents: After exploring the mainland areas of Birkenhang, we now conclude this city tile by exploring the islands surrounding it, namely: Langland, Windau, Grünau, Sonnenau, and Einsiedeln. Let's first recall this picture of the village parts of Birkenhang: Langland: Actually, Langland isn't an island, it's actually a peninsula, but I didn't had time to finish it in the last CJ entry. Langland is famous for the Donnertafel (lit. thunder table), one of the many mesas on the peninsula from Sebastianskirch to Birkenhang and one of the many results of volcanic activity there. It is only connected to the mainland via a short sandbank, with the only street connecting it to Birkenhang going over a dam: As already shown in the Show us what you're working on thread, the combination of AGC rocks and the new Plop & Paint mod made it possible to place some rock formations there, looking similar to a cliffside (although it's still clearly visible that the altitude difference to sea level isn't very big): Even an area as remote as this has a small village: And an overview: Sonnenau: This island is close to Mariahilf and Eschenfall, and is home to a large monastery complex, with a main building and two side buildings. First, a view of the three buildings, second, a view from the rear, additionally showing the graveyard: And an overview of the island, complete with some fields (that new Plop & Paint mod greatly helped me with that, especially with the fences) and a public park: Windau: Unlike the other islands, this one is uninhabited, but signs - some abandoned buildings on stilts - indicate that this hasn't always been the case. It is unknown who built these houses, presumably this has been an outpost of fishing people that got abandoned: Other than that, Windau is famous for a big grotto, the remainder of a caldera that collapsed, and the warter started eroding away one of the walls. Two pictures from different angles. By the way, I took inspiration for this picture from a similar island named Vila Franca do Campo on the Azores (picture courtesy of Alamy): Grünau: Unlike Windau and Langland, this island is actually mostly the result of sand being gushed to an underwater sandbank and gathering, forming an island. Singns indicate, however, that the western parts of this island have been there much longer before that. Grünau (lit. green land, in German, the suffix -au, derivated from the Latin word aqua [water] is occasionally used for areas and villages at rivers or on islands) is the largest of all of the islands. It is famous for a small village which is actually part of Birkenhang, its green landscape and its vast areas of coastal grass (I don't actually know what type of plant it is supposed to be, I just took Girafe's feather grass, cattails and some of the ALN plants). First, let's have a look at the village itself. I wanted to give it a coherent style, especially with the roofs of the buildings. Next, the harbor, the coast has partly been fortified with rocks to limit erosion of the rather sandy ground: Further to the east and north, let's have a closer look at the sandy coast, partly overgrown with various plants and shrubs. Let's continue to the west now, to see some other parts of the coast (this time used as a public beach for bathing), and the small village part on the northwest of this island. There's even a small extra island, the first one I made only with MMP'ing, nothing else: And an overview: Einsiedeln: The German word "Einsiedler" means hermit, one could thus translate this island's name as hermitage or the like. In fact, despite its rather warm climate, it is actually barely inhabited. It became famous when one of the mayors of Birkenhang shipwrecked on it after a voyage to the Seeviertel with his crew, thereby actually discovering this island (maybe re-discovering it, nobody knows for sure how long his island actually has been known to any humans). They managed to survive there until they were rescued. Since then, it has interestingly been custom for most mayors to live there at least during summer. This island also contains a farm from a rich family growing lemon, fig, and peach trees in the warm climate. It is even being reckless enough to try to grow date palm trees; on the southernmost shore, palm trees are growing. First, a picture of the harbour, the mayor's villa and the beach. According to history (aka urban legends), the people who shipwrecked there built some temporary wooden shacks there; nowadays, this area is interestingly used as a small vacation spot for surfers. Next, the aforementioned farm, with its outpost on the southern shore. I should mention that I made heavy use of the Plop & Paint mod, especially for the lavender farm and the small community garden: And three overviews, first from the northern part of this island, second from the southern part, third from the entire island: And that's it for today's update. Next up - who knows. There are a lot of areas to discover. Unfortunately, my current MMP-ing style for Maxiland takes a lot of time, and only 5 out of 49 city tiles have been completed so far. I'm considering to develop new, less time-consuming, ways of MMP-ing and designing the landscape; I'd really appreciate your thoughts on this. Hope you liked this entry. - 30
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Latest Entry
Oakridge Heights
Hello everyone!! First and foremost I just want to say that I'm so glad and it's such a relief to see Simtropolis back online - I was so sad to see the site go down back in April. Thanks so much to the staff's tireless work in saving Simtropolis!! To celebrate the occasion I'll be sharing a few scenes from my first ever city journal, Oakridge Heights. I'm fairly new poster but I've been working on this city over the last year or so. It's a huge metropolis dominated by Art deco and modern skyscrapers in it's downtown core with sprawling suburbs in all directions. After this quick preview I'll be showing off more of the city so make sure you stay tuned Welcome back Simtropolis!!! -
Latest Entry
Getting started
Hi and welcome to my Cj. Wanted to participate and contribute to this great community so i've decided to take the next step lately and just began my Highview region. There's still obviously a long way to go but ive made some progress recently in the natural areas and getting the town up and running and wanted to share the progress. Thanks again to all the great modders and builders who helped make all of this possible. The beginnings of Highview, a cozy fishing town on Rocky sound. The Highview gate bridge and Lady liberty herself, which will be the regions most famous attractions. I'm working on the badlands area of the map, adding lots of lakes, waterfalls, rivers, and more. Here's where i'm at with the region view right now, population 21,725 and growing fast. -
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Digging Deep: Line 1 overview
Reading time: 30 minutes to 1 hour, depending. Today we start a new series, dedicated to a thorough analysis of each of the subway lines in Isla Bonita. As it's a long series and some subway lines are still being built, this will be a non-periodic special issue, but expect more in the future. We'll start with a pioneering line: the oldest proper subway line, the longest line and, some would say, the most panoramic: Line 1. Line 1 Length: 24.20 kilometres (15 miles) Number of stations: 46 across 5 cities Colour: commie red History Lines 1, 2 and 3 were part of the "Million-sim plan", a comprehensive transportation project undertaken by the Isla Bonita government when the population of the island grew over 1,000,000. The plan, built with guidance from the Soviet Union, called for infrastructure upgrades and new tunnels to form a triangle network centred around Anclaje, which was the largest city back then (since surpassed by Interior and Cuerno de Águila) and arguably still features centrally in the metropolitan area. While Line 2 headed north to Interior, and Line 3 was built towards the northwest, eventually making its way to Bahía Herradura, Line 1 crossed Anclaje from the west to the northeast, an alignment it keeps to this day. The 'Soviet triangle' in downtown Anclaje, with Line 1 (top to bottom), Line 2 (left to right, bottom half of the screen, including viaduct line) and Line 3 (in faint white, then yellow, extending from left to right at centre-top) Another tenet of Soviet-style subways, deep-bore tunnels, was only partly carried out —Isla Bonita's volcanic geography and shallow, waterlogged soils don't lend themselves to deep tunnels, so parts of Line 1, particularly on its eastern side, run on an above-ground viaduct instead. On the other hand, on its western approaches, substantial parts of Line 1 actually run below canals and bays, which require deep tunnels and stations. The line also has some at-grade approaches and stations, though these are a minority. While the bay more or less impeded expansion for Lines 2 and 3 (though more on that topic on their respective deep digs), Line 1 was free to expand on both sides. Furthermore, as Bahía Medusa and Cuerno de Águila exploded in population, demand for extensions helped Line 1 grow unimpeded. Line 1, in turn, boosted residential and commercial demand in these cities, a virtuous circle that has led Line 1 to become one of the most used in the metro area, both for short and long trips. Further expansion, south into Finisterra and further east into Cabo Feliz, have finished the line in its current alignment. Station-by-station analysis Let's take a deep dig into all Line 1 stations, starting at the southeast (Finisterra) and finishing at Cabo Feliz. Finisterra Finisterra was first reached by Line 1 almost as an afterthought —the city was already connected to the rest of the metro area by rail and a surprisingly popular monorail line, and when the subway finally made its way to the city, it was through other lines, most notably Line 8. Most of Finisterra's Line 1 stations have been recently inaugurated as part of an ambitious Southern Expansion program, looking to address and remedy this shortcoming. Given the city's geography, all Line 1 stations here are underground, and some of the network's deepest stations can be found in the city. Kilometre 0: Mall de Finisterra. Terminus Road 50, Finisterra Interchange with Line 8, Monorail Line A, Tram Line 5 At the southernmost point of Finisterra, Mall is Line 1's terminus (as well as Line 8 and Monorail line A, which offer interchanges). It's a large multimodal interchange station with incorporated shops and stores.. Despite being a terminus, Mall is well below capacity, at around 3,500 passengers per day, half of which ride Line 1. Meudon rail station sits a few metres down Terminus Road and offers walking interchange. Kilometre 0.25: Hotel. Costera Avenue 1 The next station, about 250 metres to the west of Mall, is Hotel. At 1,500 daily passengers, it's not a very popular station —but despite its closeness to the terminus, it sits across an artificial bay, so it's still somewhat used by Finisterreans. It serves the popular Hotel Finisterra. Kilometre 0.7: Finisterra station. Av. Costera 450 Interchange with NorEste rail line. Finisterra station has a long history as a terminus for the NorEste rail line, but it was recently turned into a subway station in Line 1. The subway station features two entrances: one directly into the lobby of the rail station, plus a second one across Costera Avenue. At around 700 passengers total, this is one of the least used stations in the network, particularly for an interchange station with nearby ferry connections, though it has proved mildly popular with beachgoers on day trips. Kilometre 1.15: Subterránea Station. Calle del Riel 1 Interchange with NorEste railway, Tram Line 5 Subterránea is an underground station for NorEste trains and Tram Line 5. A new Line 1 station has recently opened, but its only entrance is to the main station lobby. The station serves 40,000 daily passengers combined, and it's considered to be over capacity. Kilometre 1.7: Acuapuerto Station. Calle del Aeropuerto 200 A small, deep, single-entrance station, Acuapuerto only serves about 2,000 people on a regular basis, but it sits right next to the Island Air water airport. Given its surrounding geography, and since it's been built on reclaimed terrain, this is one of the deepest stations on the island, with platforms a whopping 30 metres below ground. Kilometre 2.05: Cruceros. Cruceros Roundabout Another station serving long-distance infrastructure, at 150 daily passengers, Cruceros might be the least-used station in the network. Nevertheless, it was built to serve a hard-to-reach area of Finisterra, so it was decided to have it anyway. Kilometre 2.75: Fragata Finisterra Station. Av. de la Fragata 650 (w/Calle Marítima) Fragata Finisterra was the first station built under the Southern Extension program auspice, though it had actually been planned long before — its construction being delayed for administrative and budgetary reasons (as with many other stations, it's built on partly reclaimed ground, surrounded by water on three sides) for over a decade. It serves the Península entertainment area, including the Finisterra boardwalk —a car-centric area that sees some pedestrian traffic over the weekends. However, at just 700 passengers per day, this station is not well-used, perhaps proving its critics right. Kilometre 3.4: Avenida del Parque station. Parque Avenue 250. Walking distance from Catania train station (NorEste) Image with west up top Long considered Line 1's terminus, Avenida del Parque serves the Catania neighbourhood in northwest Finisterra. This densely-built residential and commercial area around the Catania train station (seen in the image, top) has long suffered from traffic problems, being as it connected to the rest of the island only by Parque Avenue (where the station sits), meeting with Highway 1, and Fragata Avenue, leading to another residential area in neighbouring Cuerno del Águila. A popular bus connection, Avenida del Parque serves some 13,000 sims daily. Despite no longer being the only station in Line 1, it's this line's most popular station and the most popular non-interchange subway station in Finisterra. Cuerno de Águila Line 1 sees its greatest extension in Cuerno de Águila, where it deals with challenging geography: several short underwater segments, steep climbs and some tight curves. It draws a wide arc from southeast to northwest in the city, but while some stations see heavy use, it actually avoids many important landmarks and has few interchanges within the city, so it only sees moderate use despite having the most stations of all. Kilometre 4.1: Unión Station. Fragata Avenue 2200 Interchange with Tram Line 4, NorEste Rail Unión subway station is the first station coming into Cuerno del Águila, and it sits in the middle of Catania's sister development of Unión, right next to Unión train station, one of the NorEste rail termini. As Tram Line 4, a.k.a. the east coast tram also stops here (and has its depot a couple blocks away), and Unión station is also the terminus for some bus lines, it's one of the most popular stations on the line, with almost 55,000 daily passengers across all transportation modes. The subway station has three entrances: one directly on the lobby of Unión rail, and two on opposite sides of Fragata Avenue. Kilometre 4.45: Depot Station. De La Alcaldía 200 In this picture, south is up Depot Station is both an engineering marvel and an oddity within the network: Line 1 reaches its shallowest point so far, so the station is actually built open to the air. On the other hand, it sits right next to the sea, with only some riprap protecting it from the elements. As such, it has been a controversial station: sea spray requires a substantial amount of maintenance, the station is not accesible, and spring tides can sometimes cut the line short out of precaution, though so far it has never been flooded. On the other hand, its 1,500 daily passengers cite the fresh sea air as one of the high points of the network. Kilometre 5.05: Casino Station A sister station of Depot's, 600 metres away across the shallow Casino bay, Casino station features only 50 daily passengers, though the actual number might be higher on account of fare evasion. It serves the namesake Cuerno de Águila casino, the local State Fair and a few other attractions around a commercial area. Kilometre 5.6: Estación Isla Aeropuerto, al Aeropuerto Avenue 1200 Image looking south When Line 1 originally made its way to the west coast of the island, one of the main justifications for what had been a difficult project was the possibility to reach Cuerno de Águila airport, the first international airport in Isla Bonita, which sat on the appropiately-named Isla del Aeropuerto (Eng. "Airport Island"). The airport sat at a difficult location, foggy and surrounded by hills —not unlike the current E. Valenti airport further north— but what doomed it was its extremely short, impossible to extend runways (Compared to EVA's over 4 kilometre runways) The airport is long since gone, replaced by a commercial area of mixed success, judging by the empty lots right next to Isla Aeropuerto station and middling usage numbers at the station itself, despite its new entrance across al Aeropuerto avenue. Unión Pacifica rail station lies about 100 metres by foot and there have been talks of rerouting Line 1 to reach this underserved rail station, but the difficult project (deep tunnels under reclaimed, potentially polluted land) doesn't seem worth the trouble. KIlometre 5.9: Helipuerto station. Al Aeropuerto Avenue 800 Image looking south Instead of the old airport, Cuerno de Águila city agreed to build an express bus stop to the new airport (first Bahía Medusa, now elsewhere) and a heliport. In the decommissioned land, meanwhile, a new bus depot was built. While the heliport sees a fair amount of use, most people arrive by bus —Helipuerto station only has about 250 daily passengers. Kilometre 6.4: Vulcán station, al Aeropuerto Avenue 450 Looking north. The entrance (next to the park) is hidden behind some palm trees The old Line 1 tunnel ran directly under the airport on a long, uninterrupted stretch. Even after its decommissioning, technical difficulties made it extremely difficult to build a station here —a hot spring nearby risked scalding workers, and the area wasn't so densely populated to merit a station. The hot spring was eventually allowed to flow free, which reduced water pressure —but not enough to stop it from flowing into the tunnel. As reworks were to be needed anyway, it was decided to reroute Line 1 some 50 metres away from the hot water spring and build Vulcán station, named after the Roman god, in this underserved area. About 400 daily passengers grace this station. Kilometre 6.85: Hotel de la Colina, Hotel Square Interchange with Tram Line 4 Looking south on top In between Vulcán and Hotel de la Colina lies the first big curve of Line 1, turning east as it starts climbing up the aforementioned hill (the meaning of the word "Colina"). Despite this, Hotel de la Colina, named after a since demolished hotel that stood in that place, lies in the low ground next to the beach. The station started its life as a Line 1 station before becoming the terminus for the then Coast Tram (a name that repeats itself over the island). With the extension and takeover of the tram line by Tram Line 4, the station was remodeled and moved slightly to the north, to its current configuration facing a small square. Hotel de la Colina, as it befits an interchange station, is fairly popular, with 15,000 daily commuters using it to ride its combined services. Kilometre 7.35: Subida Chile, Subida Chile 300 Subida Chile is a new station built in a mostly low-density residential neighbourhood. It's a fairly deep station as the tunnel underneath climbs the Cuerno de Águila hill in this sector. As the station is new, only about 150 daily passengers have been counted. Kilometre 7.8: Valle Súbito, Calle Súbita 1300 West is up in this picture One of the most iconic stations in the Line 1 uphill extension, Valle Súbito's Line 1 station (not to be confused with Line 8's Valle Súbito on nearby Dorsal Avenue) lies on the Dorsal Loop: a complex connector between the two lines that formerly enabled branch services, but is now mostly used for maintenance purposes. Line 1 here turns north for a little bit, so the station is oriented north-south. Its only French-inspired entrance lies on a small cove, next to some stairs, and is at some depth underground, which has led to accessibility complaints on account of the sheer number of steps. Maybe it's for this reason that the station is lightly frequented, with only about 200 daily passengers (compare to almost 3,000 for Line 8's namesake) Kilometre 8.3: Foch station, Dorsal Avenue 800 Interchange with Line 8. Tram Line 4 stops nearby. The first proper interchange station in Cuerno de Águila, in here Line 1 intersects with Line 8. As such, and since it serves Cuerno de Águila stadium (a rugby/football multipurpose arena), the station is fairly spacious and sees about 3,000 daily commuters down its halls. This is also where Line 1 once again turns east, an alignment it will then broadly keep for most of its remaining track. Kilometre 9.1: Monumento station. Plaza del Alcalde Colosal. For a while, Monumento —at the foothill of Cuerno de Águila— was the terminus of both Line 1 and Tram Line 4, serving a dense residential area in the valley. Its significance diminished somewhat as the subway line first, then the tram line were both extended westwards —in the tram's case, this meant no longer calling at the station. It now survives as a fairly popular subway station, with over 4,000 commuters using it daily —no doubt helped by its relative distance to other subway stations. Kilometre 9.5: Valle de Anclaje station, Valle 100 Interchange with Tram Line 5 Valle sits on the inland valley of Cuerno de Águila, on Valle avenue, which splits residential and commercial areas in the city. It's a relatively shallow station, owing to the geography of the place, and it offers interchange with Tram Line 5. At over 42,000 daily commuters, it's one of the busiest nodes in the entire Isla Bonita network. Kilometre 10.15: San Pablo station, Saint Paul's Avenue 1900 Photo looking south Saint Paul's Avenue is a new avenue that was opened from Saint Paul's Church to the west. As part of the expropriation works, Line 1 was rerouted from under a rail tunnel (part of the NorEste network) slightly to the north, and San Pablo station was built. It connects to the national rugby stadium, so it sees use mostly during weekends and match days —other than that, it only averages about 1,000 daily commuters. Kilometre 10.5: Cerro Anclaje. Subida Argentina 1700 Interchange with NorEste rail Line 1 mostly shadows NorEste rail in this section, so it combines with it in Cerro Anclaje, which —despite its name— is still located in Cuerno de Águila. Anclaje can be seen from its tower clock, nevertheless. Line 1 platforms are below ground, and while Cerro Anclaje is a multimodal hub with over 20,000 daily commuters, most of them are actually riding the rail (on an above-ground platform) or taking the bus at either avenue. The station serves a commercial and touristic area, which explains its traffic. Kilometre 10.85: Iglesia station. Saint Paul Lateral 1600 Iglesia is a new station at the foot of Saint Paul's Church, with scenic views of the bay below. That being said, it serves a low-density neighbourhood and features very little use. A must-visit for tourists. Kilometre 11.3: Anclaje Oeste station. 13 Oeste 100 Anclaje Oeste (meaning "West") was the first subway station in Cuerno de Águila, even if it's less than 100 metres from the city limits. It's a single-entrance station with less than 400 daily commuters using it. A must-miss for tourists. Anclaje Anclaje is where the line broke ground, and it traverses the city from west to northeast, following under or parallel to two of the city's main avenues for most of its length. Kilometre 11.5: Campo eléctrico. 1 Norte 1200-1100 The first station in Anclaje, Campo eléctrico (so named after a nearby transmission station) currently sits among empty lots. Nevertheless, it has two entrances at the two ends of its platforms and about 2,500 passengers use this station, almost all of them to combine with a bus. Kilometre 12: Pueblo Viejo, 1 Norte 800-900 Interchange with Line 4, NorEste Rail "Pueblo Viejo", meaning "Old Town" is the oldest residential area in Anclaje, so it stood to reason it would get one of the first subway stations. The construction of Line 4's platforms led to a sprawling underground structure where two subway lines, one rail line and several buses intersect. The station has three different entrances: a small, new entrance at 1 Norte 900 (next to the church-museum), the main Line 1 entrance at the 1 Norte roundabout, and an extra entrance leading into Pueblo Viejo rail station. Over 17,000 people use this station, an unsurprising amount given the high density neighbourhood it serves. Kilometre 12.65: Centro Decó, Gran Avenida 500 South is up in this picture As part of the Anclaje Renewal project, a commercial state-led development caused a realignment of Line 1 and the opening of Centro Decó station, about a block away from the old station. As this station serves a large commercial complex, about 5,000 daily commuters use it, making it a fairly popular station (particularly since it has no interchanges). Kilometre 13.15: Plaza de Alabastro, Gran Avenida 200 Interchange with Line 3, NorEste rail The main station of Anclaje, sitting right under its main square, Plaza de Alabastro is one of the most important stations in the entire network. It was among the first stations opened in the soviet-style plan, and it has been expanded and modernised a number of times since. The subway station is actually next to Keleti terminal station, and the two combined have over 70,000 daily passengers switching between rail, subway, ferry and buses. Of course, the station also serves the main financial district of the city, the courthouse, the main City Hall and the local mosque. Kilometre 13.55: Del Río station, Bulevar Valenti 100 Interchange with Line 2 Another component of the downtown Soviet triangle, Del Río features both above- and below-ground tracks, the latter belonging to Line 1 as it approaches Anclaje river. From an engineering standpoint, it's a tricky station, with long lifts and escalators, which has probably made it less popular than its location would merit, at around 5,000 daily commuters. Kilometre 14.1: Avenida Presidio station, Bulevar Valenti 400 One of the most controversial stations, Avenida Presidio is actually one of the newest stations. The original metro plan envisaged a 900-metre-long tunnel that went under but avoided this industrial, low-density area. Protests and petitions followed, but only after decades of fighting did the government acquiesce to build a station here. And boy, did they! 4 entrances on all sides of Valenti Boulevard, just covering all bases. It's a massive station with Spanish solution, but it doesn't seem to warrant such overengineering… or does it? Once the use numbers drop, we'll see. Kilometre 14.6: Convención station, Bulevar Valenti 800 Presidio's sister design, and cause for pessimism, Convención is… there. It's got three entrances to serve under 2,000 commuters. It does serve an industrial and commercial sector, but Xiangshen station nearby is much more popular. Kilometre 15.55: Estadio station, Olímpica Avenue 1100 Interchange with Tram Line 2 West is up in this picture Lots of things happen between Convención and the recently-renewed Estadio stations: it's one the longest stretches of uninterrupted line, at almost 1 kilometre —but Line 1 turns north at 11 Este, hops out of the (by now shallow) tunnel, and then turns northeast alongside Olímpica avenue. Estadio station, the last located in Anclaje proper, serves a mix of residential and industrial areas, but it's so named after the nearby Anclaje Baseball stadium, a short walk away from the station. It also has underground platforms to serve Tram Line 2. It would stand to reason that this would be a busy station, but unfortunately, use records seem to have been buried in the latest remodeling. Oops! A picture of the station before the remodeling as seen in the latest Anclaje guide, looking north Bahía Medusa Line 1 crosses Bahía Medusa, broadly speaking, from west to east, crossing some of the most important areas of the city. Nonetheless, its course takes a couple of interesting twists and turns, metaphorically and literally. Bahía Medusa's marshy, sandy floors also meant that Line 1 was built entirely above-ground (or at-level in some short sections, more on that later). Given that it's the main link across town, Bahía Medusa sees the heaviest usage over Line 1. Kilometre 16.75: Estación de la Bahía, Bulevar de la Bahía 700 West is also up in this picture The actual longest stretch of uninterrupted track (tied with a rural one later) goes from Estadio station, across the city border, and finishes in De la Bahía station. This station sits at a very important node in western Bahía Medusa: right at the end of Olímpica Avenue (which Line 1 shadows almost along its entire 2-kilometre length, but only has one station on) where it meets Bay Boulevard (formerly avenue), so named after the shallow bay immediately due east. Also along this node traverses the second HSR line, though it doesn't stop here, unlike local buses. The actual station is built straddling a busy intersection: the first stretch of rail-over-road —a space-saving necessity here, where the soil was considered too difficult to excavate— happens here, so the line actually runs above 7 North road and the platforms form an arch right along a narrowing of Bay Boulevard, with the south platform enjoying a panoramic view of the boulevard down to the open sea. A view from the South reveals some intricate details about the station Despite the distance from the former station and its importance, De La Bahía only sees medium usage, with about 5,000 passengers across all means of transportation. Kilometre 17.25: Bahía Medusa, Avenida Atajo 250 Interchange with Line 4, Tram Line 1, Rail and HSR One of Line 1's only two at-grade stops is the 10-platform Bahía Medusa station, a massive transit hub that has been the lynchpin of Bahía Medusa (the town) pretty much since its foundation and has gone through many iterations. The latest one, built for high-speed trains, features 6 platforms for slow and fast trains, while Line 1 stops at platforms 7 and 8. Some rarely-used switches enable Line 1 trains to stop on Platforms 9 and 10, usually reserved from Tram Line 1, and then continue onwards along that line to the soon-to-be-decommissioned Bahía airport, an alternative that was explored during its construction but ultimately discarded in favour of monorail. Besides the tram and rail, Bahía Medusa is also a stop in Line 4, which tunnels below ground (in what was consider a major technical breakthrough) and stops in platforms 11 and 12. Bahía Medusa station sees about 20,000 daily passengers —good numbers, though the station still sits under capacity. It is expected that new commercial development in the area will finally allow the station to reach its full potential. Kilometre 18: Bulevar al Este station, Bulevar al Este lateral road 1200 Interchange with Tram Line T3 Right after Bahía Medusa station, Line 1 takes a sharp turn north, crosses a highway through some extra-elevated track, then finally reaches Bulevar al Este, arguably the main boulevard in Bahía Medusa, heading —as the name implies— east from Anclaje into the furthest reaches of the island. Bulevar al Este (the station) sits across the main boulevard, on what's actually an extension of the side gardens formed by the opening and curving of the lateral road away from the main avenue. As such, it's a station built with plenty of space and features an underground garage and bus parking. The neighbourhood where the station sits at is one of contrasts: here stand some of the few high-rise office buildings allowed in Bahía Medusa, but the residential Casas Blancas neighbourhood of single-family housing lies just across 12 Norte; the local stock market stands here, but both the University of Bahía Medusa and its associated theatre are located just a couple blocks down the road. As such, the station has to deal with plenty of traffic throughout the day, but thanks to its wide platforms and stairs, at 13,000 daily riders, it could even be considered slightly underused. The only interchange possible is the Bulevar al Este stop on the Tram Line 3, which —for the most part— rides along the median of its namesake boulevard. It's a walking connection, so passengers actually need to leave the station —and the tram stop, at 23,000 daily users, is actually the better used of the two. Go figure. Kilometre 18.50: Plaza Madre station. Avenida Madre 50 Interchange with Line 5 As Line 1 turns northeast, it reaches Plaza Madre. Plaza Madre station continues the trend of large, elevated stations. This one overlooks its namesake Plaza Madre and it's a bit of a cultural hub, with the theatre to the south, the opera house a couple blocks to the north, and both the zoo and the local movie studio a brisk walk away. Yellow markers for a 5-minute and 10-minute walk. The theatre and opera fall in the former category, while the zoo is at the latter and the movie studio sits just out of reach Plaza Madre station has an interchange with Line 5, which uses underground platforms and also has entrances of its own. The two lines combined see about 16,000 daily passengers riding them through this station. Kilometre 19.15: Haussmann station, Piedmont Avenue 1800 In this picture, west is up After continuing some more to the northeast, Line 1 turns east and starts running over Piedmont avenue, which in turn is a continuation of De la Bahía avenue after it turns sharply to the east. Haussmann is the first of four stations in Bahía Medusa that are identically designed, and while it's named after Georges-Eugene Haussmann —famous for his redesign of Paris—, neither the station nor the surrounding area are fully faithful to the Baron's teachings. The station can be instead described as a tall glass monolith with incorporated bus stops, originally built with a view of nearby Haussmann park, but now surrounded by some barely-up-to-code residential towers. The surrounding area also has a commercial neighbourhood to the north, and, all things considered, its 16,000 daily passengers are a good number for what's essentially not a very important station. Kilometre 19.70: Alturas station, Piedmont avenue 2200 Interchange with Monorail Line B, rail North is up in this picture Alturas's tracks and platforms stand 30 metres over the ground, which is what gives this station its name (meaning "Heights"). It was necessary to build Line 1 to such heights to account for the passage of the already elevated Monorail Line B, as well as the nearby elevated Highway 5, plus (below-ground) rail. A wide panoramic of all the transportation means converging on the area. The rail has since been completely covered. Alturas serves about 25,000 daily passengers, some of whom are changing transportation modes, but also many commuters from and to the local area, which includes office buildings and residential apartments. Kilometre 20.05: Brigham Young station, Piedmont Avenue 2850 The station and its surrounding area at night, with north on top Brigham Young station, named after the Mormon leader, was given this name as it was built close to the local Mormon temple. It was built in the same modern MTA design as other stations in the line, and this station likewise serves a mix of residential and commercial areas. Notably, though, it also serves an important civic hub in eastern Bahía Medusa: the Superior Hospital (with ambulance service), the Peace and Church and Central schools (magnet schools for the area), the Main Library and the Zeughaus museum all sit within sight of the station, while the former Royal Palace is three blocks away and the Bahía Medusa (Catholic) cathedral is next to it. For these reasons, the station is quite busy, at almost 20,000 daily passengers moving through its gates all day. Kilometre 20.40: Palacio Real station, Piedmont Avenue 3100 Palacio Real station (top left) and its surrounding area, including the Royal Palace, the Zeughaus and some platforms of Brigham Young at the extreme far left Just two blocks down the line (but officially 350 metres away, counting from the centre of each station) stand the platforms of Palacio Real station, easily visible from Brigham Young station (and viceversa). It's another station serving essentially the same area —but while it might seen redundant, its 26,000 daily passengers seem to find value in this station regardless. Kilometre 21: Más Lejos station, Piedmont Avenue 3500 Más Lejos (meaning "further away) station was, for a long time, the easternmost and final station in Line 1. It remains the furthest station within Bahía Medusa, and in a sense, it stands where the city abruptly ends —multi-story buildings giving way to farmland on account of land usage restrictions and lack of demand for land here. It's another MTA-styled station and it serves, besides the aforementioned farm, some mixed-use areas. There's a large church and square nearby, too. Maybe on account of its location, the possibility to connect with buses and the nearby electric car recharge station, the station is amongst the most used in the entire line, with 33,000 daily passengers —the largest daily use of a non-interchange station. Cabo Feliz The final town in Line 1's trajectory, the line here goes through some actual rural areas and makes its way to the easternmost exurb of the South Bay area. Traffic here might not be as heavy, but some of the most important landmarks of the line lie in this town. Kilometre 21.8: Almendra Station, Piedmont Avenue 4100 Interchange with Tram Line 3 Early morning picture with north up top The final station in Piedmont Avenue, and arguably the final station in the South Bay urbanised area, Almendra sits at the intersection with Al Este Boulevard, which uncharacteristically turns north to meet the station. Almendra is another important station, particularly as it offers interchange with Tram Line 3 —which finishes here and has an at-level stop nearby—, but it sees slightly less use than other stations in the area, at only around 21,000 daily passengers. However, as much of the area around it is farms, its use is expected to rise as the city continues growing east. Kilometre 23: Pistacho Station, Pistacho roundabout, Cabo Avenue 0 Interchange with HSR and Docklands rail Work is being done to straighten out the line here. The longest stretch of uninterrupted line (tied with the stretch between Anclaje and Bahía Medusa) happens here, between Almendra and Pistacho stations. The line actually traverses a completely rural area as elevated rail —a stretch that, despite its heavy usage, calls for no station. Pistacho station, the only other at-level station in the line, stands at the entrance of Cabo Feliz, on a mostly rural area, facing the entrance roundabout of the town. It is, despite its remote location, a fairly busy station, with some 19,000 passengers alighting or disembarking here, many of them military travelling to and fro the military base across the roundabout (which can barely be seen across the picture) or the Federal Jail down Main Avenue. The station is also notable for its many docking bays, where unused trains are stored and can start and finish their journey. Kilometre 23.50: Talleres station, Cabo Avenue 300 The final stretch of Line 1 digs underground after Pistacho station, under the sandy, waterlogged soils of Cabo Feliz —no small technical feat, only achievable with modern equipment—, following Cabo Avenue on its eastward direction. Talleres station is the first station here: a simple 2-platform underground station, built mostly to serve the Line 1 workshop ("Talleres" meaning just that) next door. The station sees some 8,000 passengers, mostly people switching here to buses that go along the nearby highway, but the station also serves the local residential area. Kilometre 23.80: Avenida Cabo station, Cabo Avenue 500 At the intersection of Cabo and Main lies Cabo Avenue station, another underground stop in the small town serving a purely residential area. The main contrast here is between the tall towers to the north and the light housing built south, on potentially floodable sands. Like Talleres before, the station has a single entrance on the south, leading to a mezzanine and then the platforms below. Some talk has been had about adding accessibility, but nothing has come out of it yet. 12,000 passengers use this station daily, though those numbers also count people taking a bus at street level. Kilometre 24.20: Columbia Station, Cabo Avenue 750 Interchange with Docklands rail The final station in Line 1 is also the terminus for the (regular-speed) Docklands trains, features a small bus terminal and has ferry services some 200 metres to the south. Columbia station, a veritable transit hub in the Art Déco style and twin sister to Columbia station in Cuerno de Águila, sits right next to the ocean and has six train platforms at level, plus two subway platforms below ground, and serves Cabo Feliz. The subway station actually has entrances of its own on Cabo Avenue, but it can also be accessed via the rail station. All in all, some 26,000 passengers use Columbia station across all transportation modes. *** Phew! This actually took me like a whole months to write, believe it or not. Granted —I went on holiday in the meantime and I've had other priorities, but still, it feels like a titanic effort. I will now show this to my psychiatrist so they can finally place me on the spectrum. Enjoy! - 26
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Cities: A quick view of interesting places
"Cities: A quick view of interesting places" Full Map Vesto (38.078) Velo (5.998) Palés (2.033) San José de los Vientos (13.256) Tiyi (31.001) Tiyi Industrial (13.564) Altos de Wer (2.327) Villa Hermosa (25.826) Metropolitan train to Yuti and Xá cities: We hope you visit our islands, See you on the next article, Stranger. - 19
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26. Mt. Lilac
It has been a few entries that we focused solely on the New City. Let's take a look back at the old town portion of Alpine City before we begin on the new updates. Alpine City started as a small riverside town known as Rosewood. Even now, this old town still retain its layout as day one, though with a lot of new buildings all around it. Years later, the town of Newgrounds was built as the first major expansion. it is now the industrial and technological hub for Alpine City. New City is a recent addition to Alpine City, and is built to become a financial hub. The valuable reclaimed land is divided into 4 Zones for separate developments. Being far away from the old town, New City allows the construction of highrises. The railroad serves as a backbone to connect New City with Newgrounds and Rosewood. This is Zone D for New City. In which the railroad runs on elevated bridges and cut though the dense urban area. Each Zones are separated by large green belts - this is to reduce heat island effect and act as open space and view corridors for New City. Underground highways runs directly below these greenbelts. While there are only 2 train stations in New City, all the 4 Zones for New City are served by trams. Here is a roundabout with elevated railway and tram tracks at Zone D which form an interesting scene. The green belts directly links to the coastlines. Between Zone A and C, an arena is built at the coastline which marks the ending node of the green belt. New City Train Station is designed to be enclosed by highways. Bus lines and trams can easily access the train station for people to exchange public transport. All in all, New City is getting filled up gradually. All the remaining usable space that is left is at Zone C. But before we finish it, the city council decided to develope the nearby Mt Lilac first. Mt Lilac is a mountain between New City and Newgrounds. While being hundreds of meters tall, the slope is gentle near the top, where several new towns can be built. As residential area can be built here, this can leave the valuable land back in Zone C of New City for offices and commercial buildings. The summit of Mt Lilac has some historic relics that dated far earlier than the old town. These will be preserved as part of a natural reserve. Flattening of areas on Mt Lilac is in progress. Alpine City has been building new towns on mountains for centuries now. Cable cars are proven to be exceptionally efficient in connecting these towns to the lower lands. Mt Lilac is no exeption - new cable car lines are being built to connect with Newgrounds and New City. Below is a cable car exchange station near the summit of Mt Lilac - citizens can access to 3 different cable car lines here. A mountain road is built to link up Newgrounds and New City via the slope overlooking the Rosewood River. Just north of the cable car exchange station is the newly built Mt Lilac Exhibition Hall. It has a deconstructive architectural style and offers a stunning view on both the New City and Newgrounds. New roads are built to wind its way up to Mt Lilac. Bus lines will run through them where cable car lines cannot cover. A new observatory is built to the southern slopes of Mt Lilac. As part of the Mt Lilac planning, the town of Irindale is entirely cleared out and will be replanned from scratch. This town is reowned for holding the intercity train network access. A new exchange train station is being built here, as well as a new train cargo station, which will help in taking in goods for the New City. All residents are moved to New City before the townis reconstructed. The cable car lines from Mt. Lilac also ends here and will be connected to the Irindale Train Station. Below is the updated city map. There has been several new cable car lines on Mt Lilac. In the next entry, we will see several new towns emerge on top of Mt. Lilac. - 26
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San Martin and Baía Azul
Thanks for all the comments and likes in last post! --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Today, we are travelling throughout the last neighborhood in San Martin, Jardín and also see entirely another city: Baía Azul Jardín
Population: 49.334 Jardín it is the easternmost neighborhood in San Martín, in the limits with the neighbor city, Brasdel. This neighborhood is mostly residential, and famous for have a lot of condos. Also have some green spaces and a few commercial. So, without further ado, let's see some images! General view:
Parque de la Costa, the part in the city where the beautiful beaches starts to become an straight shore near the delta of the river:
Some condos and small parks and green spaces:
Centro Cultural Jardín, an old house from the antiques country nobels, now a Cultural Center and Library: By the last, the commercial area from this neighborhood: This is our last images from San Martin. As said before, it is the, maybe, last interesting neighborhood, as is mainly residential.
So, to complete our today trip, we go directly to far west in San Martin until arrives in Baía Azul. It is a very small city conurbated at San Martin west. This city has nothing much special, despite some beaches and the major region university, so let's see! Baía Azul
Population: 104.000 It is a medium city, mainly a dormitory city from San Martin, however have your own charm, commerce and things to do, so let's start with some aerial views. Baía Azul is also famous to have in most part squares blocks.
After see these images, we go directly to the two biggest parks in city: Plaza Central: As mentioned before, the city is known mainly for the Universidade de San Martin (San Martin University), despite the name it is not located in the capital: The city also have some beautiful beaches to claim yours. Of course not so full as the capital, however could be annoying find place in summer: Estádio Municipal: And, to finish our trip, let's see some random images: That's all for today. Until our next stop! - 3
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Chapter 65: The Photo Tour 21
IMPERIAL DOCKYARDS: CUXHAVEN By: Dreadnought & AP Chapter 65: THE PHOTO TOUR 21
EAST BREAKWATER Picking up where we left off, this is an overview of the eastern half of the breakwater. You will note a visiting British squadron anchored along the outer breakwater wall. Unable to find a space where the three British warships could be berthed together, it was thought best to anchor the “guests” just offshore. Anchored just astern of SMS Hindenburg are two of the four Mackensen Class battlecruisers. (See Chapter 42 for complete design and construction details.) Design work on these ships was started in 1912 and the first two were laid down in 1915. Though intended to be nearly identical to the Derfflinger’s, they were actually an improvement, with an increase in tonnage, more powerful engines, and a main battery up-gunned to 14-inch rifles. It is fair to say they would have given the British Queen Elizabeth Class fast-battleships a “run for their money”. Had they been completed, they would have joined the fleet in 1919. As in previous mooring scenes along the breakwater, this one is composed of seven modular lots plopped to create a vignette. Two of the @mattb325 mooring points were plopped against the breakwater, and then the two battlecruisers (courtesy of @Barroco Hispano) were plopped adjacent to them. The two lighters and the harbor tug standing by to come alongside are a fifth lot – and the two small boat lots were then added. The white harbor tug was “gifted” by “WolfZe“, while the two lighters and the small boats were the detailed work of @AP. Next astern we have two of the four planned Ersatz Yorck Class battlecruisers. These were not the last battlecruisers designed by the Kaiserliche Marine – but they were the last to actually start construction. (See Chapter 43 for complete design and construction details.) Unfortunately, the Ersatz Yorck Class were the only ships ever designed to mount 15-inch rifles. In this scene, the collier SS Erlangen has come alongside and is preparing cargo nets to hoist sacks of coal across to the battlecruiser. This view gives you a good idea of the long, fine, hull lines of the battlecruiser design.
This vignette was composed of five modular lots. Two mooring points, two battlecruisers, and a single lot with the collier and three tugs. The wonderful model of SMS Yorck is courtesy of @AP, while the collier and tugs are his superbly detailed work as well. The breakwaters are, of course, by “Yuki”.
Though not actually part of the Kaiserliche Marine of the great War era, the very last battlecruisers designed and built by Germany were the KM Scharnhorst (1939) and Gneisenau (1938). They were directly descended from the Ersatz Yorck Class but, oddly enough, the two ships did not mount 15-inch guns. Designed in 1933-1934, it was feared mounting the larger main guns would unsettle the somewhat precarious political climate in Europe – so only three triple turrets with 11-inch guns were mounted. However, the designers kept their options open for the future, and the barbettes were designed to be big enough to accommodate 15-inch guns and turrets at some later date. In the event, war broke out in Europe sooner than expected and no convenient time was ever found to make the change. This is a view of KM Gneisenau as she would have looked with her intended armament of three twin turrets mounting 15-inch rifles.
This scene was created using six modular lots. Two “Mattb325” mooring points and the battlecruiser (by Barroco Hispano). The boat boom deployed on the port side is a stand-alone-lot” plopped alongside the ship. The Esmeralda Class tug and lighter alongside are a fifth lot, and the small boat off the starboard quarter is number six. The paddle tug, lighter, boat boom, and small boat are all the work of “AP”.
This is the last chapter of Imperial Dockyards: Cuxhaven, and though there will be an ”Imperial Dockyards: Bremerhaven” in future – I do not have the slightest idea when that one will begin. The forthcoming third entry in the “Kaiserliche Marine Trilogy” will deal with the birth of the Imperial German Navy and its growth and evolution up until about 1910 – basically – the Pre-Dreadnought Era. But before I close this second installment in the series, I would like to say a few words…… In the first two series we have, considering the technology of the early 20th Century, thoroughly analyzed and dissected the most complex and destructive weapons ever conceived by the mind of man – battleships and their rivals, the battlecruisers. I have recounted the courage, honor, and devotion to duty of the men who sailed and fought them. And I have touched, briefly, upon the horror and death of the Great War at sea. It has long been the warrior’s creed that “glory” can only be won in battle. But that is true -- only if you believe it to be true. William Tecumseh Sherman said...”War is Hell. War is cruelty and you cannot refine it.” On a later occasion, he added...”There is no glory in war.” Say what you will about W.T. Sherman -- he was an immanently practical man with a firm grasp of reality. I am an Old Soldier – I did my warrior’s duty some fifty years ago – and sleep peacefully knowing that I did not disgrace myself, my men, or my Country. And I tell you -- there is no glory in war. But my proudest moments were when I was privileged to salute, and shake the hand, of men holding the Congressional Medal Of Honor. I honor the grit and determination of all men -- of every nation -- that have, throughout history, done their duty. But make no mistake – I do not glorify war. Having said all that – we can now shift to a lighter note……
In the years leading up to the Great War, while the diplomats schemed for political advantage, the Royal Navy and the Kaiserliche Marine shared, for the most part, a friendly rivalry. The British had, in the past, viewed the nations of Europe as weights on a balance scale – and her diplomats spent all their time trying to keep the scales evenly balanced. Goodwill visits by the Royal Navy to German ports was an important part of this balancing act. These visits were swapped back and forth, from nation to nation, and generated friendly feelings between the two navies as well as providing festive occasions for the civilian populations. A port call at Kiel by the Royal Navy was always an occasion of great ostentation and merry-making. A Royal Navy squadron usually appeared around 6am, emerging from the mists about ten miles offshore. Word of the sighting passed quickly around the busy port and crowds began to gather within minutes. By 8am, the British Battle Squadron would arrive at the mouth of the fjord, secure the services of a harbor pilot, and begin steaming up the Kielerhaffen. The visit would have been announced in the newspapers several days before, and it was an event that could not be missed – even the Kaiser, himself, would be in attendance. Shopkeepers closed-up, offices were shut down, and restaurants (especially those without a view of the harbor) closed during mid-day. Even the school children were dismissed at noon. Special “tourist” trains were laid-on to bring in sightseers from far out in the countryside, and as far away as Hamburg and Berlin. The shore, promenades, and overlooking hillsides, were literally black with spectators. The Kielerhaffen, itself, was crowded with small craft, yachts, and packet steamers jammed to the railings with sightseers. Once the British battleships anchored, many of these tourist boats would crowd around the ships and anchor as near as possible, while others continually circled around the big ships. It was a great public spectacle replete with gold-braided admirals, Royal princes and princesses, and Kaiser Wilhelm wearing the uniform of a British Admiral Of The Fleet (an honor bestowed on him by Queen Victoria). The pictures below are my own homage to the happier days before the Great War…...
The 1st Cruiser Squadron of the Home Fleet lies moored at buoys just outside the Cuxhaven roadsted breakwater. They are returning a courtesy port call circa 1911. (Left to right – HMS Invincible, Inflexible, Indomitable.) These port calls by foreign navies were always festive occasions, with much “show and ceremony”. A large number of civilian small craft have gathered to see the big British cruisers up close. The tourists are immensely entertained by such simple things as “morning and evening color” ceremonies – when the ship’s bands play the national anthem while the flag is raised in the morning and lowered in the evening, with a detachment of sailors assembled to “salute the colors”. The steamer SS Lorena (foreground) has come out from the city docks with a boatload of sightseers on a “day trip”. In the evenings, the British captains might even have the ship’s band serenade the small craft anchored nearby. These ostentatious shows of courtesy were quite common in the Edwardian Age.
Here we have two views of the SS Lorena. She was, in reality, a British packet steamer out of the Humber, sometime in the late 1930’s and early 1940’s. When I came across the photo of Invincible and the tourist small craft (See the “banner” photo at top.) Lorena seemed too good an opportunity to pass up. The model is provided by @Barroco Hispano, and is a prefect little gem of detail. The sailing ketch in the upper right is by @Mattb325, while the remaining small craft are from NBVC’s marina sets. (Please excuse the “modern” motorboats.)
Here you have an excellent view of the squadron flagship –HMS Invincible. The ship’s boat boom has been extended, with a motor launch tied on. The Port Admiral has placed the motor launch and crew at the disposal of the squadron commander (Rear Admiral Sir Horace Hood) for the duration of the visit. During these “courtesy visits” the ships were often festooned with strings of electric lights in the rigging and along the decks to provide the tourists with a “night show”. Awnings were usually spread on both sides of the aft turret reaching back to the stern. Guests were often invited aboard for afternoon teas, complete with a string quartet providing music. In the evening, a cold buffet supper was provided, with a dance band to entertain the guests. These were, indeed, social occasions that would be fondly remembered for many years. The very fine armored cruiser models are courtesy of @Barroco Hispano. (It should be noted the British did not officially adopt the term “battlecruiser” until late in 1911.) The boat boom, motor launch, and small cutter are the finely detailed work of @AP.
As a point of interest -- amidships you see a problem common to many capital ships prior to WW I. In their desperation to maximize the number of guns on a warship (before superimposed turrets came into fashion), designers often used “wing turrets” placed amidships. In this instance, the two center turrets have been placed in such a manner that they might, possibly, be able to fire cross-deck on either beam. Theoretically, this would allow an eight gun broadside. In reality, the port side turret, firing cross-deck to starboard, would have a very narrow arc of fire (unless you were willing to fire over the top of the starboard wing turret – not recommended.) And – the blast over-pressure of a 12-inch gun would rip the planking right off the deck, buckle the steel deck plates beneath it, buckle any superstructure plates within 40 feet, and make toothpicks out of nearby ship’s boats. The fact was, though Invincible carried eight main battery guns, she only had a fully effective broadside of six guns. This is the chief reason broadside fire was so important and why battle formations were “single-line-ahead” – to maximize broadside firing arcs. (Note: If you examine the cutter hooking onto the boat boom, you will see the boat crew has their oars raised to the “oars up” position for docking. “AP” likes everything done “ship-shape” and proper.)
FINALLY……
IN MEMORY OF "ODAINSAKER” I was greatly saddened when I learned of “Odainsaker’s” passing. He had always been a great help to me when searching for pictures and anecdotes on the German Imperial period. He, too, was fascinated with the Edwardian Era, and we exchanged e-mails so that we might have many long conversations about an enormously wide range of topics…... ”The time has come, the Walrus said, To talk of many things: Of shoes — and ships — and sealing-wax — Of cabbages — and kings — And why the sea is boiling hot — And whether pigs have wings.”
I found him to be a man of jovial nature, who’s comments were witty, urban, and occasionally a tad pithy -- backed by a vast lexicon of knowledge – which he freely shared. A sharing of fact-based-knowledge is a rare thing these days, and I honor his memory. “Odainsaker” was especially interested in the Imperial Austrian Navy and the battleships of the Tegetthoff Class. I present a few photos of them and hope that wherever he is – they will please him. He is sorely missed…… “Hail and farewell” -- May God hold you in the palm of his hand, Old Friend…...
The 1st Division of the Austrian battle fleet as they might have looked moored along the breakwater at Pola – circa 1914. Left to right – SMS Prinz Eugen, Viribus Unitis, and Tegetthoff. SMS Prinz Eugen with a machinist’s barge alongside. SMS Viribus Unitis is seen preparing to coal ship. SMS Tegetthoff taking on fresh provisions for the flagship. The two steam launches tied-up at the boat boom would indicate an admiral aboard. Battleships courtesy of Barroco Hispano. Another overview of the division at their moorings.
NEXT TIME…… ???? I’ll keep you posted as to when you can expect the third installment of the trilogy.
MANY THANKS to @Barroco Hispano for his beautiful warship models. SPECIAL THANKS to my friend and partner, @AP, for his talents, meticulous models, colorful imagination, and extreme dedication. This installment would not have been possible without his kindness and generosity. If you enjoyed anything – please punch the “like” button so WE will know. A comment would be even more informative. Comments and critiques requested and gratefully accepted. All questions answered promptly to the best of our ability. THANK YOU for your visit! You may wish to visit these CJ’s as well…… SERIES I: IMPERIAL DOCKYARDS: WILHELMSHAVEN SERIES II: IMPERIAL DOCKYARDS: CUXHAVEN Appearing – Work In Publication SERIES III: IMPERIAL DOCKYARDS: BREMERHAVEN Appearing -- ??? And please feel free to drop in at… THE SIMTROPOLIS SHIPYARD https://community.simtropolis.com/forums/topic/761469-simtropolis-shipyard/?tab=comments#comment-1766496 - 65
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Aoki Area
Update: Aoki Area - Saitama Prefecture Today I am happy to share with you an update about the beautiful town of Aoki. With a population of around 60,000 people, Aoki is a small, old residential area that is part of the Saitama metropolitan area. Aoki is located very close to Cape Futtsu, a place we visited in previous updates. It is a quiet, mostly residential area populated mainly by elderly people. As always, the most common way to reach these towns is either by train or by road. In the case of Aoki, we have a line that ends here, as well as a regional road that crosses the area. The train line crosses the town of Aoki from north to south, dividing it into two areas. The space between the mountains and the sea is limited. But the inhabitants live normally despite the constant sound of the train. Aoki is a quiet place, a residential area away from the hustle and bustle of the big city. Due to its location, several train lines end in this area. One of them can be seen in the following images. It is an old train workshop that is still in operation today. These train workshops can be seen throughout the country. Given the large number of trains and rail tracks built across the country, it is absolutely necessary and vital to have these workshops where trains can be properly maintained. Another train line ends in the southern part of Aoki. This area was built to “park” trains whenever necessary. In addition, right at the end of the line, we can find a small freight station that provides this area with any necessary resource. Aoki is mainly a fairly old residential area. It is a typical area built after the war when the prefecture experienced its greatest growth but lacked habitable areas near the city center. Here you can see the typical residential blocks that were quick and easy to build. Aoki is divided into two different areas. One area is located within Saitama Bay, and the other is located just behind the mountain that divides the city. In this image, we can see the least populated area of Aoki, where the density of houses is lower. This is because this part of Aoki is directly “exposed” to the sea and is therefore not as densely populated. To protect residents from potential natural disasters originating from the sea. Barriers have been erected and vegetation planted to prevent sea level rise from affecting the population. This is one of the least modern areas in the prefecture. In addition, its inhabitants are mostly elderly and retired. People who have lived most of their lives away from the central areas of the prefecture. Aoki is a fantastic place to live peacefully, far from the noise and fast pace of everyday life in urban centers. Futtsu Cape and all its war-related monuments, as well as Yasaka Island Shrine, are located nearby. Therefore, Aoki is a good area to stay for a couple of nights to visit the area and its monuments. Once again, thank you for your visit, comments, and reactions. I hope you like Aoki and enjoy your stay ############################################################################## Greetings / Saludos / Groeten - 15
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General urban developments, Penthesili part 1
Merry Christmas everyone. Today’s update is about general improvements that completed in many areas of the capital, Penthesili. The purpose of these interventions is to improve parts of the city that are quite underdeveloped, offering residents a better quality of life. The interventions include new parks, the restoration of historic buildings, upgrading of public transportation, and the creation of new jobs. Enjoy Before After Before After End of part I - 189
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2. Riu d'Oms: from rural outskirts to city center
Hi all! Second entry of my CJ, after a summer break. The city's construction adapts to the topography with low density areas on the small hills and a downtown in a narrow plain between hills. Hope you like it!
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Mayon II Region Origins !
Mayon II Region origins ! Since I started Mayon eventually space would be too small to fit everything in I wanted to add ! Searching I stumbled on river delta map by mkaustin Brock in 3 sizes ! Recently I rediscovered it during region search. Their are very islands to this map wich I ommited for fitting in Mayon but I like these aswell and paid my respect to his work ! Here you see how Mayon fitted in to the new Mayon II region ! Mountainious terrain later added is not part of the initiall start so anyone has to do the work as one would like to ! Last at the east Lake Mayon was created with a whole new coastline and peninsulla ! Hope this addition of the becoming will help give a idea of how things came to be ! Enjoy ! - 34
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Old Town
Had an errand a few weeks ago on the other side of town.
It's a small town, took about 90 minutes round-trip on a motorbike. On the trip, I saw a new construction project courtesy of the new mayor.
They're replacing the statue on the main roundabout... again. And it got me thinking, just how much this small town has changed over the years.
Old buildings torn apart and replaced by a new one, more often than not, it's for business.
Lots of shops I used to visit back in the day have been replaced with others, or are completely gone.
Some public places have been turned into buildings, and some others are now just empty lots, slowly deteriorating and taken over by weeds. It feels like the town is slowly erasing what I remember and relate to. It's kinda sad. Here's to my old town, and each one of you's old towns and here's a gameplay video building the town, enjoy! here are the non-pixelated pictures too! --- I'll add some custom lots I made for this video later here, stay tuned! - 8
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Chapter 21: The Age of Copper
The decade that followed the end of the Napoleonic Wars ushered in a new dawn for New Southland. The peace that settled across Europe carried with it a tide of migration, investment, and optimism to the flourishing island nation. In the early months of 1821, the settlers of the Clarendon Valley found a new way to celebrate their prosperity. On a wide stretch of pastureland along the Clarendon Valley Road, the district’s farmers and merchants gathered for what would later be remembered as the first informal horse race in New Southland. The event began humbly enough: a wager between two graziers over whose mare could reach the boundary oak first. But by midday, half the district had turned out to watch. The air filled with laughter, pipe smoke, and the smell of roasting meat. When the signal was given, the riders thundered across the grass, their boots kicking up dirt and cheers erupting from the crowd. Jan De Villiers, a Flemish farmer from St Peters, won the race by barely a length, earning a cask of wine and eternal bragging rights. "Lets make it two casks next year..." joked Crudeaux, the challenger. And so began the annual event which would later become known as the Clarendon Cup. Further to the north, Port Clarendon was transforming from a sleepy coastal village into a bustling commercial hub. The Port Clarendon Livestock Market, opened in 1822 on a broad patch of flat land near the harbour, quickly became the beating heart of the northern economy. Herds of cattle, sheep, and horses were driven in from the Clarendon Valley and Western Highlands, filling the pens with sound and motion. Buyers arrived from every corner of New Southland - farmers from Rochester, merchants from La Perouse, speculators from Salisbury - to participate in the weekly auctions. With the ever-growing coal exports from Black Mountain, and the expanding agricultural economy of the Clarendon Valley, Port Clarendon was quickly outgrowing its harbour. In 1823, plans were put in place to triple its capacity by the end of the decade, partly funded by Woodston Coal, which would secure its own private docks for coal exports. The dock expansion project generated significant interest from local industry, and land prices near the docks skyrocketed. One enterprising land owner, Charles Munster, who's pasture backed onto the docks, was able to subdivide his land and sell off parcels to developers, making a substantial profit. Munster then set his sights on what he knew would come next - a huge demand for housing to sustain the growing workforce. He purchased the adjacent apple orchard and began working on plans to develop it into a high-density neighbourhood. His company - Munster Developments - would later become one of the most successful property developers in the Clarendon Valley area. To the west, engineers of the National Roads Board had been working on plans to construct the first road bridge in New Southland. Congestion along the Great Southern Road between Port Arthur and La Perouse was becoming an issue, particularly on market days when drovers flooded the streets with cattle and livestock on their way to the Port Arthur Markets. The current route meandered around Deer Creek, which added a good few hours to the journey. The new bridge was planned to span the creek at the town of Billings, and would cut travel time by over 2 hours in each direction, eliminating the need to travel through Springtown on the way to Port Arthur. Locals of Billings were mostly supportive of the initiative, however Springtown's merchants were concerned with the significant loss of foot traffic. Business owners were offered discounted lots of land at Billings where a new town centre was being planned near the bridge crossing. The solution satisfied most parties, and the project commenced in late 1823, with the new bridge officially opening 18 months later. The growing web of trade and enterprise soon demanded a stronger financial system. To date, New Southlanders had been trading in a mix of currencies, including Spanish Silver Dollars, British Pounds, and French Francs. This confusion of currencies led to inefficiencies in trade, disputes over valuations, and uncertainty in the local economy. To bring order and stability, the Bank of New Southland was established in 1824 in a stately sandstone structure in Port Arthur, and for the first time, New Southland introduced its own official currency - the New Southland Sovereign, minted in gold and copper. The Sovereign bore on one side a portrait of Arthur Portsman - the founder of the nation, and on the other, the motto: “Unity and Progress" written in all three official languages. The coin’s copper came from newly opened mines in the Western Highlands, where a French entrepreneur named Étienne Roux had made his fortune. Roux’s discovery in 1821 had been a stroke of fate. Travelling with a team of Hakawan and French guides along a stony ridge in the Highlands just to the east of Windsor, he noticed a red glimmer in the rocks. By 1822, he had established the Roux & Cie Copper Works, and within months, smelters lit the Highland skies orange through the night. Hundreds of workers arrived, many of them new immigrants including French miners from Alsace, Flemish technicians, and German mechanics who brought new European methods of refining. Copper ingots flowed down to the capital, and Roux’s furnaces, together with the coal from Black Mountain, became the economic engine of Lemoine’s third term. The peace in Europe combined with economic prosperity brought an unprecedented wave of settlers. French families from the Vendée, Flemish farmers from Brabant, German craftsmen from Saxony and Württemberg, and a growing number of British agricultural labourers seeking fresh fortunes arrived aboard every ship. The government, through the New Southland Company, continued to offer assisted passage for skilled migrants as well as subsidies for establishing businesses on arrival, including mills, tanneries, brickworks and breweries, to promote growth and economic development right across the island. By 1825, the population approached 53,000, with new towns forming along established coastal roads. Under Lemoine, the national road network continued to be expanded, postal services were established, and the first rudimentary stagecoach line began operating between Port Arthur and La Perouse. By the middle of the decade, New Southland had entered what historians would later call the Copper Age - a period defined by industry, confidence, and innovation. The roads hummed with trade, schools and hospitals expanded, industry prospered, and new settlers continued to pour in from across Europe. The young nation was maturing - evolving from a frontier settlement into a strong, determined and prosperous contender in the South Pacific region. - 21
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Loans: 0. Business deals: 0. Years broke: 1. Insta-City grew so fast that any financial issues quickly disappeared; the only concession I had to make over a typical city was to legalize gambling (which only lasted the first four years). Though there was a massive deficit ($30,261) for 1950, which depleted our finances from $38,015 to $7,754, that deficit quickly shrunk to just $8,980 for 1951. Though we endured 1952 with $1,226 of debt, we had a surplus of $15,071 for the year and thus had $13,845 in the bank starting out 1953. From there we continued making surpluses, and were able to start our mass transit system in 1957. By the 10th anniversary, 1960 I had $296,824 in the bank. All six service categories (education, health, police, fire, roads, and mass transit) were maximally funded by 1958. In 1952, I was offered a military base and a toxic waste dump. However, with the deficit quickly turning into a surplus that year, they were not taken. This was possible because of the explosive growth of Insta-City. Initial growth was slow, of course, and only 19,177 brave souls moved into Insta-City over the course of 1950. In 1951, 38,978 moved in, finishing the year at 58,155. About 30-40 thousand people moved in each year thereafter, and we finished the first 10 years with a population of 339,998. Another advantage of the optimized zone layout was that unemployment was nearly nonexistent. Crime also dropped to 0 after the police were maximally funded starting in March 1953. As you can see in the attached screenshots, taken on Jan. 1, 1955 and Jan. 1, 1960 (5 and 10 years, respectively), the initial growth was quite haphazard, with buildings popping up randomly. Population (R, C, I) - EQ - Health - Crime - Unemployment - City Funds as of Jan. 1 of each year: 1950: 0 R, 0 C, 0 I - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 1951: 19,177 R, 1,623 C, 7,904 I - 53 EQ - 59 H - 0% UE - 11 Crime - $7,754 1952: 58,155 R, 7,161 C, 27,592 I - 54 EQ - 59 H - 0% UE - 12 Crime - $-1,226 1953: 96,423 R, 11,160 C, 46,249 I - 56 EQ - 59 H - 0% UE - 13 Crime - $13,845 1954: 130,511 R, 17,213 C, 64,450 I - 57 EQ - 59 H - 0% UE - 0 Crime - $42,751 1955: 169,115 R, 26,526 C, 73,232 I - 62 EQ - 61 H - 0% UE - 0 Crime - $82,954 1956: 207,146 R, 33,209 C, 95,121 I - 63 EQ - 62 H - 0% UE - 0 Crime - $153,116 1957: 250,769 R, 44,601 C, 104,768 I - 65 EQ - 62 H - 0% UE - 0 Crime - $236,251 1958: 274,917 R, 79,026 C, 83,902 I - 66 EQ - 62 H - 1% UE - 0 Crime - $246,988 1959: 305,707 R, 107,005 C, 89,237 I - 68 EQ - 63 H - 0% UE - 0 Crime - $266,636 1960: 339,998 R, 126,228 C, 91,980 I - 70 EQ - 63 H - 0% UE - 1 Crime - $296,824.- Read More
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The Old Harbour of Grecana - Part 1
I would really like to thank @justforfun @albireo38 @raynev1 @JulioC for their kind comments
1. Hello everyone ! This is another city entry for my Agrophilia V2.0 city journal.
This time I will show you an expansion over the city of Grecana in order to accommodate the Old harbour of the city. The Old Harbour of Grecana has nearly mythical origins, as it was built by the first Grekani colonists in the area. The harbour ceased to be the main port for the city after the 1970s, and it is only partially used for specific boats to feed with tap water the city of Grecana.
You can see my part 1 build step-by-step video here: For those in a hurry, the short: Location of the harbour in Grecana:
2. 3. The early design of the harbour
4. The extended & final version
The Old harbour is consisted of both modern and traditional buildings. At the centre , the old main building of the Harbourmaster offices are now dorms for the School of Maritime Economics. The same with the old admiralty building, which is now the building that is housing the student association.
5. An overview of the final area
6. The Campus Map
7.
The modern buildings of the university are connected via a bridge and housing modern student and teaching facilities. 8. In proximity, you can find the maritime museum of the city and of course the promenade and the alleys, which are known for the restaurants.
10. The view from the hill. You can see the Coastal Fortress at the right 11. The Old Harbour at sunset. What a view ! 12. Does it feel organic ? I hope you enjoyed the first part of The Old Harbour series! Please let me know your thoughts on specific elements that you liked or disliked ! - 6
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@frayer, @Elitejohnson, @Honolulu, @mitsos, @Daeris, @Kuba138, @CaptCity, @Mr. Jay, @Propfam, @TogaMasterJohn, @Golan0, @Barroco Hispano, @Dead_End and @hugues aroux: Thank you very much for your likes and your comments
RIP, Odainsaker It's been a year, right? Damn. Time for some updates, I guess. Today we'll have a look at the transportation system of Fairview and the layouts and patterns of our cities. How our cities will look like and how our Sims could go from point A to point B with the minimum carbon and environmental footprint possible? Let's find it out. I wanted every city to have its own layout and identity, in order to study various patterns and make Fairview a more interesting place to visit. As I like to say, variety is the spice of life. So we have organic-grid fusion for Green Eden, radial design for Arcosanti-3000, nazcanian pattern for Venus City, and city clusters for Lys. As well as a few avenues and one-ways "randomly" placed here and there In Green Eden I used a mix of organic layout with the classic grid. The grid pattern is simple, elegant and straightforward, based on order, efficiency, and problem solving. Finding an address here is very easy, and emergency and delivery vehicles can reach any location without the fear of getting lost in an irregular, chaotic pattern. Building infrastructures is also very easy thanks to the orderly design of the grid. The city plots in the grid pattern share some standard sizes, which promises some form of social equality. However it has some drawbacks. It looks very cold and mechanic, and it's not very flexible according to the local terrain. For those reasons it can become very boring and repetitive very fast, as if it was designed by a machine that puts logic over anything else. In larger cities, it can also form strong wind corridors between tall buildings, although it can be utilized by small vertical-axis wind turbines for extra energy. The organic pattern, on the other hand, is based on necessity and geography, making it look more ecological and humane than the orderly grid. For those reasons, it's more flexible according to the terrain and can lead to the construction of more interesting and diverse cities, providing a better and richer visual, social and cultural variation than the griddy cities. Tourist and even locals may get lost in those organic cities, which however is part of its charm because it encourages them to explore the city and drive them to beautiful surprises. This may sound like a perfect pattern for a solarpunk city, but hold your ponies! Infrastructure development can be very challenging and expensive here, especially when we're talking about bigger and vital projects such as building universities and hospitals, and navigation can be so difficult it's very easy to get lost, which can be very catastrophic in emergency situations such as floods and earthquakes. The last thing you want is having fire trucks and ambulances wasting vital time while trying to reach the victims in a chaotic road network during a disaster. Both organic and grid patterns have their advantages and disadvantages. So, how about mixing them to get the best of both worlds? This is why Green Eden uses a loose-grid pattern, which is a fusion of organic and grid designs that mixes order with diversity. It's design is simple enough to ease traffic and navigation, and comes with more than enough forms of variations to make it look interesting and humane. Here, there is something for everyone. In fact, some of the blocks the city already has could eventually be redeveloped to form superblocks, neighborhoods that functions like smaller autonomous cities with their rules and identity. The smooth turns from NAM are so satisfying, by the way Since the main body of Arcosanti-3000 is located in a peninsula, picking a radial pattern is just a non-brainer. The radial arrangement makes it easier to construct and maintain the city while using far less energy and materials than any other pattern, making the radial cities more efficient and effective than griddy and organic cities. Furthermore, it's possible to get direct access from the center to the entire city and vise versa under this pattern. Since all the roads lead here, the center becomes the heart and the brain of the city and each district get fair and equal access to it, which is vital if the center houses important infrastructures such as hospitals and fire stations. Managing traffic can also be easy, especially if you have a good public transportation system with busses and circular tram lines. If you start from one end of the city and go through it without visiting the center, you'll always return to the same place. You don't have to waste energy and time in backtracking, thus making the radial design even more efficient. Overall, the radial design is both practical and awesome looking, making it the perfect pattern for a futuristic city, but it comes with its own challenges too. If there are no direct connections, moving between neighborhoods can be difficult and you'll have to go through the center. Because of this, the center can become even more crowded and traffic congestion can get serious, resulting to high levels of air pollution and car accidents all happening in a single area. This is why ring roads providing direct connections are so important for radial cities. Seriously, can you blame me for using this pattern? The Venus City uses a fusion of radial and organic pattern. Instead of been a big radial city, it has been broken into a medium-sized city and 2 smaller ones, all touching each other to form a bigger city with a specific design. This is something I like to call a nazcanian pattern, because it's heavily inspired by the Nazca Lines that form figurative designs of animals and plants if you look at them from a high enough altitude. The design of the Venus City resembles a drawing of planet Saturn made by the Italian astronomer Galileo Galilei back in 1610. Because of the crudeness of his telescope, he couldn't determine what the rings were, and he incorrectly guessed that Saturn was a 3-body system with 2 very large moons on either side of the planet, thus drawing Saturn as if it had ears or arms. Oh, remember when I said that the Venus City uses a mix of radial and organic pattern? This is what I was talking about. I didn't want to destroy the hill, so I decided to build a detour in order to preserve it. This is why Saturn looks like it has been bitten. Better sacrifice the design than the environment. Of all the cities in Fairview, Lys has the most unique pattern. Which is... no pattern at all! This part of Fairview has so many inaccessible natural features such as hills, cliffs and islands, that the only way to build a big city here is to essentially destroy the entire area. Which is out of question! For those obvious geographic and environmental reasons, Lys is not a big one-piece city like Green Eden, but a cluster of smaller ones connected together to form Lys. This city is as decentralized as it gets. None of these mini cities is more or less important than the others, like a group of people who have no leader but can still cooperative just fine. Lys is, generally speaking, a city made by satellite cities. However, each city in Fairview has at least one satellite city in various shapes and sizes, from mini neighborhoods to actual towns. Those cities work both as expansions for the larger cities and as autonomous settlements, with their own rules and personality. This, however, is the biggest satellite city yet. It's inspired by the City of Zakynthos, the capital city of Zakynthos island, at which I used to be a university student 20 years ago. The City of Zakynthos has plenty of pedmalls and you could explore it and go through the entire city on foot. For those reasons I decided to make something different in this city. Instead of the classic streets, this city comes with plenty of pedmalls and bike lines. You can say that this satellite city is my tribute to my university years. Maybe I should provide all of my cities with more pedmalls and bike lines too. And speaking about bike lines and pedmalls, I think it's time to talk about Fairview's transportation systems. In most solarpunk scenarios and eco-cities concepts, people are using anything but cars to move around. In those scenarios and cities, cars have even been entirely banned, and any roads there are only for pedestrians and cycling. This is a common form of reaction against our current car-centric cities, with all those space-wasting parking lots and those highways cutting entire neighborhoods and replacing green with asphalt, giving nothing but air pollution and traffic jams and contributing to climate change. In our cities the car is the ultimate ruler, because this is what lobbies and car industries demand, and we, the people, are just some worthless pests who only live to work and pay taxes until we die. So, it's no wonder why more and more people want car-free cities. I don't like car-centric cities either and I'd like living in a car-free city like the above, but there is a problem with having no cars at all. Some people just can't walk or use public transportation for various reasons, such as disability. They need a car to transport themselves, and outright banning cars would be catastrophic for them. Besides, cars are tools and they can be useful in various situations, such as transporting supplies in isolated areas or injured people to the nearest clinic. This is why we're going to pick a slightly different strategy. Fairview will welcome cars, but will not worship them. Here, cars are not the rulers. People are. Here, cars are just a way to move around. Not the only way. To achieve this, Fairview strategy is to invest in public transportation and encourage walking and cycling, by having mass transit stops everywhere, schedules so often you'll not have to worry about missing a bus, and a better zoning strategy in order to make the cities walkable. Cars will still exist, but they'll not been prioritized above anything else anymore. If you can encourage walking and using the bus, what's the point of banning the cars anyway? Let them be. Just don't put them above anything else. And no, replacing all cars with EVs, while a good idea, will not fix traffic jams and prevent car accidents. The easiest and probably the most obvious and straightforward (and cheapest) way to create a car-less city is by building such an extensive network of bus stops, preferably in every corner, that most Sims will simply have no reason to use a car. Why spending so much time driving in busy roads and finding a parking space, when you can just pick a bus from the nearest bus stop that will go wherever you want, whenever you want? Sure, buses are slow and make a lot of stops, but can transport a very large number of Sims, putting the "mass" in mass transit. In fact, an average bus can take 30 cars off the road, a full double-decker bus over 70 cars, and a large articulated bus can replace 80 to 100 cars, thus drastically reducing traffic jams, air pollution, and the need of space-consuming roads and highways. But the real innovation here is the subway system, with a sub station also in every corner. Instead of ordinary trains and railroads running under our feet, Fairview's subway is essentially an underground and extensive version of a Personal Rapid Transit (PRT). PRT is a public transportation system that features a network of specially built guide-ways, on which ride small automated pod-cars that can carry a few passengers per vehicle. In other words, a system that combines the efficiency and the safety of a train with the flexibility and the speed of a taxi. In this system, Sims can get on a pod immediately upon arriving at a station (which station can be literally under their house), and can take more direct routes to their destination without stops, unlike buses. Pods can carry much less Sims than buses but they're way faster, and can transport their passengers exactly to the destination they want, like a taxi. So, which is better? A slower but bigger bus, or a smaller but faster pod? Based on my experience, I believe that the bus is the best answer because of the high number of cars it can replace. But to be honest, I also find attractive the idea of something as flexible as the PRT. So if we can have both of them, why not? Buses and PRT could work together and Sims could either choose a bus or a pod, depending on their needs. Both buses and pods can be used for both inner-city and intercity commute. But if you need something that combines the high capacity of the bus with the high speed of PRT, the Magnet-O-Train is your best friend. The Magnet-O-Train is a monorail train that, as its name suggest, travels on magnetic levitation (maglev), reducing resource waste and shortening the average travel time. Why maglev? Because compared to the ordinary heavy trains, maglevs can achieve higher top speeds, superior acceleration and deceleration, lower maintenance costs, improved gradient handling, and lower noise. Furthermore, as a monorail, the Magnet-O-Train actually hugs the rail, eliminating the danger of deadly derails. However, maglevs are more expensive to build, cannot use existing infrastructure and conventional railroads, and use more energy at high speeds. To reduce its energy needs, the Magnet-O-Train is equipped with solar glasses that generate electricity with transparent solar panels. That's right, the train's glasses generate energy too! As about the cost, we'll talk about it in a future entry. The Magnet-O-Train is an obvious and brilliant choice for both locals and tourists because it's fast, safe, and environmental friendly. And if that's not enough, its terminal at the Venus City connects the Magnet-O-Train to the Fairview's extensive bus and PRT network. As soon as the tourist arrives here, the rest of Fairview becomes accessible. Alright, so we have pedmalls, bike lines, buses, pods, and a monorail. You think that's enough? Nope! Now it's getting even more cool, because now it's time to have a look at a regional transportation network unlike any other. A highway. Not a land highway for electric cars and hydrogen trucks. Oh no. A marine highway! That's right, a highway for water vessels that uses magneto-hydro-dynamic drives for propulsion, such as cargo ships, ferries, and even submarines. A highway over the river. Because of the river that crosses Fairview, this region is ideal for water transportation, but ordinary seaports are out of question because of the heavy environmental damage they could cause. So what's the next best thing? Offshore aero-seaports! That's right, seaports and ferry ports located in water, connected to the the rest of Fairview by underground roads. The idea of a water highway is based on the Alaska Marine Highway. Alaska is the largest state of USA, but only a dozen highways serve the state, and more than 80% of Alaska's communities can't be reached by road. So for food, freight, and people to get to those secluded towns, Alaskans invented a highway over the high seas, with ferries working around the clock to connect 33 coastal ports. Fairview's marine highway is similar to AMH, but it services not only ships and submarines, but also aircrafts, helicopters, and even spacecrafts. Fairview's seaports functions as vertiports too. A vertiport is a take-off and landing site for Vertical Take-Off and Land (VTOL) aircrafts, helicopters, airships, drones, and even VTOL aero-spacecrafts. Unlike ordinary airports, they don't need runways, making them ideal for Fairview, especially if they're constructed on water. This is a Silver Arrow, a modular passenger spacecraft that uses ion thrusters to fly. Silver Arrows consist of detachable sections that can be rapidly loaded or unloaded with passengers. When a Silver Arrow arrives at its destination, the selected passenger modules can be gently disconnected from the spacecraft's main body and land to the nearest pad of the vertiport by using smaller ion thrusters attached to the modules. And if that's not enough, we have something even more cool, even more futuristic, even more atomic-jet-techno-radio-synthetic-robotic-cyber-nano-pico-femto-quantum-photonic-solar awesome! Mountain trails. Yes, mountain trails! Mountain trails brings Sims even closer to the natural environment and are perfect for hiking, exploring, and for both educational and recreational activities, such as stargazing and bird watching. But they can also connect different cities if they're close enough, allowing Sims to commute and visit another city simply by walking through Fairview's wilderness. So we have mountain trails, pedmalls, bike lines, buses, PRT, Magnet-O-Train, ferries, submarines, VTOL aircrafts, helicopters, airships, and even spacecrafts. With all those choices available, do we really need bigger roads than we already have? We have some avenues and one-ways here and there, but that's all. No highways, not bigger roads, no huge intersections. Nothing else. We have the "basics" and we're happy for that. Only 2 bridges have been constructed so far, and both of them are just simple road. No highway bridges, nothing else. Having an extensive network of roads in Fairview is not only unnecessary thanks to all the above alternatives, but also detrimental to the local environment. Sure, roads brings cars, and cars brings air pollution and contribute to climate change, unless they're electric or hydrogen fueled. But roads are also the most common culprits of habitat fragmentation by penetrating and dividing wildlife habitat. Roads are necessary for transportation, but they can also decrease habitat amount and quality, increase mortality due to wildlife-vehicle collisions, prevent access to resources on the other side of the road, and subdivide wildlife populations into smaller and more vulnerable sub-populations. A common solution to this problem are wildlife crossings, structures like green bridges and wildlife tunnels that allow animals to cross roads safely. Wildlife crossings are indeed awesome, but do you know what could be even more awesome? Entire underground roads! When possible, of course. This is how we solve the problem of habitat fragmentation, combat climate change, and prevent roadkill. By having entire roads under the ground! See? This is how regional roads should look like. And yes, in this photo there is a road. Don't believe me? Try to spot it. Madness? Madness? This! IS! FAIRVIEW! Sorry, I couldn't resist And yes, you can use the underground roads to connect the seaports with the mainland. There are still some gaps that haven't been filled yet, though. In Arcosanti-3000 and the Venus City there are still some empty areas that haven't been touched yet. I'll keep them as they are for now, because they're perfect places for possible future expansions and developments. Satellite cities? Farms? A university? Who knows what we'll need someday. This is why it's very important to leave some room for future improvements, because you never know what you and your Sims will need. There is no perfection, no utopias. Only an endless road of constant changes and improvements. Be flexible. Be adaptive. Or, as Bruce Lee said, "be water, my friend". The next new entry will hopefully not take me that much time to prepare it. With the patterns ready, it's time to begin the construction of our utilities and civic infrastructures, prepare the zones, and start the fun.
Follow Fairview Or follow this guy's fate - 23
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@TheMurderousCricket Thank you! I've since found better ways to detail the sides of the streams with more appropriate flora for the climate! It has been some time since the last update; the computer I play SimCity 4 is effectively a desktop from now on after its battery went bust so I am leaving it in my weekend home. Obviously I can't play SimCity 4 on the weekdays as a result! Also, shoutout to the guys from the SC4 Show Us.... thread for giving constructive suggestions on improving MMP realism, especially alongside rivers and streams! All of this is MMP so it has been a lot of work indeed to achieve this end result. Back to the city journal.... ================================================================================================================================================================= The village of Gunung Gundul is the city tile just west of Citanggung, continuing the downstream path of the Citanggung river. By the way, "Ci" means river in the local language, so basically....ATM Machine! (chuckles) Gunung Gundul is named after the nearby mountain of Gunung Gundul, appropriately named as due to strong winds at its peak, it doesn't have trees. "Gundul" means "bald" in the local language. Like Citanggung, the village is mostly scattered settlements along the main road, with farms along the entire valley. Here, the river takes a bend, with the river valley only occupying just one corner of the entire 4x4km tile. Lets' start the tour.... Entering into Gunung Gundul, the first signs of settlement is this collection of small roadside businesses and the town school. A bridge connects the other side of the river, where people have settled along the steep and extremely narrow valley. Across the bridge and down to the foothills lie a thin, yet dense settlement and more farms. Most villagers here are low income farm laborers who work seasonally during harvest season and migrate to the main town of Rancabodas for whatever manual labor work is available, outside of harvest season. This is theoretically the center of Rancabodas, where the valley widens on one side, so most farms are here. The local clinic is here, so is the village hall (it is actually a Police Station lot but okay!). A local facility recycles lead acid batteries.....the people here aren't educated enough to care about the dangers of lead pollution on crops! Mo Moving north, the valley starts to close, here lies the village's only fuel station and the village's other school. Both are elementary schools. High school and middle school students must commute to neighboring Watukapur to continue their education. Here the Citanggung river is joined by an unnamed tributary stream from a nearby spring at Gunung Gundul. The valley from that point on is too steep and unstable for built development to continue. ================================================================================================================================================================== - 22
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Nextown is a "Rising Success"
After taking almost two weeks away from Nextown, Mayor Xavier Calhoun returned to upgrade living conditions, rezone land, and build a casino (of course). By balancing the budget of "Nextown" I was able to view the structure/dynamic of the city. Using techniques learned from "Clifton Peak" I was able to grow Nextown into a more dynamic and efficient city.- Read More
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"Clifton Peak is a Success"
"Clifton Peak" has reached a peak, lol. Today I was able to create networks of travel for my Sims that were "highly effective". Whole neighborhoods travelled to specific destinations for work. Meaning that placement of zones are highly effective. Continuing this strategy with other cities is sure to produce similar results. The next stop for "Clifton Peak's" progress....a "Space-Port"....to be continued- Read More
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That's a lot of industry! Im curious, where are the commercial zones in the city? I couldn't spot them. -
By ilikehotdogsalot · Posted:
Lovely airport! Nice to see Pan Am made a comeback in your city! -
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By Tyberius06 · Posted:
Very cool images and nicely designed airport! Great work! -
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those patterns are really cool! You're a patient planner. congrats!
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Can't remember what I voted last time. I think it was a few farms. Anyway I'll go with SAND DUNES today. -
By justforfun · Posted:
Ploppable textures would amazing! Meanwhile I also made a small set of S3D fillers. Of course they don't work so well on slopes, haha.
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