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Ionica

A City Journal by MilitantRadical

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Ionica - Behind the Curtain

MilitantRadical

Entry posted by MilitantRadical ·

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Every once and a while I like to pull back the curtains to show you what I'm doing behind the scenes. Lately I've been alternating on working on three Zones.

The first is Avalon which I've been working on repairing for months. Avalon is the only Zone that has survived the move over to my new region (Ionica) and I don't want to start from zero because I think it has some distinct features that are part of Ionica's identity.

In the GIF below you see Avalon in 4 stages of development.

The first one, with a lot of beaches, is Avalon c. 2058. The second is from 2198, right before the bicentennial. The beaches have been replaced by rocks and retaining walls and there is an updated version of the bird's nest stadium. The third is from around 2238 in which substantial changes in the upper 3rd of the Zone and the core have been made. The final image in the GIF is from 2250, and that is what Avalon currently looks like. I am very close to being able to press the play button and am almost itching to do so, but I have to do a few final checks. One of the biggest improvements which I haven't shown here are the subways. It would be too embarrassing to show you what a mess they were, but that has been sorted out. I also changed the Bird's nest stadium because I intend on using it somewhere else.

Best to click on this GIF to know which image is the first. I forgot to put a date on each pic.

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The island in the lower third of Avalon has been totally changed. For a very long time I had a Maxis airport there but it doesn't make any sense to have an airport in the middle of dense city so that has been replaced by two heliports.

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As you can see the roads used to be a total disaster so I've attempted to bring order. Shout out to Bipin for the Turbo Roundabout which I am using for the first time here. Older versions of Avalon had huge problems of roads crossing rails but now i've used either elevated roads or underpasses to improve the flow of traffic.

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The waterfront has also been improved with two shipping ports and the coast guard.

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Again, the convoluted network of avenues has been simplified and rails have either been elevated or directed to subterranean lines. A highway that cut across the city has also been removed because it was redundant.

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This is the newest Zone I'm building called Walden II. It is on a medium sized tile connected to Pater (the blitzball zone). The canal you see is the continuation of the canal that runs through Pater. They are moonlight Downtown Canals.

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This is a picture from Veritas. I'm currently remaking the Zone from scratch starting with City Hall, which you see below, and the government buildings I want to have at the center.

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Terring: Impressive as always :D

Thanks for staying tuned in.

TekindusT: I love the magical and mysterious aura everything has on this CJ...

Thanks. Kind of going for that Wally Pfister Dark Knight look.

Ace❤: The reflection of that cruise admist all those skyscrapers is hauntingly beautiful. Amazing work!

Thanks. It wasn't originally my plan to have an entry featuring Photoshopped yachts, but after I tried that one I was like: "Eureka! This is it."

simcityplayer15: Wow, what amazing sites you've built here :). It looks so active. Great city and job good sir :thumb:

I'm glad you like it. Thanks.

sejr99999: thank you for this tour of your splendid city at night Love it!

Thanks.

80sreject: You are an artist, beautiful!

Yes, go ahead, stroke my...I was going to say ego. Thanks.

Lord Branham: Marvelous!!!! I still adore your mastery of this game! Love the last picture!!!! Once again Bravo!!

Glad you enjoyed it. Thanks.

sri2: amazing. and the last pic- just stunning. is that actually a stadium, a lot you got somewhere? seems very nicely integrated here. nice job!

Thanks. It is the Zanarkand Blitzball Stadium.

Schulmanator: VERY cool! Nicely done and looks AWESOME!

Thanks.

KonstantinII: Where did you get those boats?

Unfortunately the are Photoshopped in there.

Hazani Pratama: Beautiful!

Thanks.

tankmank: Amazing once again, love the use of the canals in your city, it breaks up the urban expanse and skyscrapers. One suggestion would be to download a different train for your railway, i think it would look a lot better

Thanks for your input. I've been meaning to get a new train for my railway but just kept putting it off. Your comment gave me the right kick in the butt I needed. This pic is for you.

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RepublicMaster: Everything fits nicely! I like the canals and the photoshopping brings out feel of the update! :D

Thank you very much.

ThomasSimpson: Fantastic! It looks really good, I like the way you built the city up around the cove.

Thanks. It was something I was planning for a while but didn't know how to do until my 'skills' reached a certain point.

CorpusDei: That 2nd to last picture, with the curving RHW and SimPeg Parks (IIRC) doesn't even look like SC4 any more - it looks way more amazing.

What a fine compliment. Thanks a lot. I think you are looking at a simple avenue. Unfortunately I don't have RHW and I don't think I can install it right now.

Sylvio Jorge:SO beautiful! Like CorpusDei said, it doesn't even looks like SC4 anymore.

Awesome. Thanks.

kalsim23: Is that the Zanarkand blitzball stadium from Final Fantasy X?

It is indeed.

SimCoug: Great work - I really liked the last image with the moon reflection.

Thanks. I almost wanted to go with the boy in the moon logo from Dreamworks. It didn't work as well.

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tankmank

Its great to see that you changed the trains, it looks great. As for the update it's great to see the progression and change the zones have gone through, something most people don't show 

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KonstantinII

Even big cities like New York and Shanghai are constantly being rebuild and infrastructure being improved.  Are there any traffic jams in Ionica?

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Bipin
I heard you shout, I heard you loud and clear MilitantRadical! Thanks for using my turbo roundabout. Bye the way, I didn't see them, so in case they weren't added you may wish to include some entrance/exit ramps. You can use MIS and/or OWR for this. It should attack to the tiles parallel and next to the sunken section.
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MilitantRadical

By the way, I didn't see them, so in case they weren't added you may wish to include some entrance/exit ramps. You can use MIS and/or OWR for this. It should attack to the tiles parallel and next to the sunken section.

 

Thanks Bipin. I studied the examples you posted. For this time I just wanted traffic to flow the way it is presented, but the next times I use them I'll do as you've intended.

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SylvioJ
It's so great to see the evolution of your CJ. Your cities were already great, but now they are unbelievably awesome. Congratulations. (I also loved the new train, it fits so nicely in your cities!)
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Ace3

I love how much attention you pay to both architecture and transit networks. It creates a very dream-like CJ. In this update what really struck me was that double arch gateway in the second to last picture next to the moonlight canals. Beautiful touch. Amazing work overall. :thumb: 

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MilitantRadical

Very nice! But are you planning to use the RealHighway Mod?

 

I'll look into it on the next NAM update. Can I install RHW without interfering with the highways I already have? 

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SimCoug

It's always fun to see a 'behind the scenes' update.  Great .gif by the way - that was fun to watch.  

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