Jade Bight 4: Schillig Roads
The Jade Bight 04
Schilling Roads
Welcome to another offering of the Jade Bight Saga!
I know I said I was going to take a few days off -- and I did take one day off. But I told myself I'd just work on installment 4 a little at a time. You know -- an hour here, an hour there. And that theory was working well, until I realized I had taken so many pictures!!! At that point I knew it would take a couple of days just to write up the text.
Plus -- over the weekend, I have been watching -- with much concern -- the events unfolding in France. The people of "La Belle Paris" have my deepest sympathies. I am an old soldier, and the majority of my life has been shaped by the lessons I brought away from the Army. I have seen war -- things most people will never comprehend. But I say here and now, that this act of such brutal slaughter upon innocent and helpless civilians can only be perpetrated by people that are less than human and certainly beneath the contempt of their fellow men. Just thinking about it makes my blood boil! But I will say no more. I do not wish to offend, nor do I wish to be reprimanded.
So...we begin --
After my complete failure on Wangerooge Island, I made every effort to plan this city with more care. I learned to be wary of "Industrial sprawl" -- which looks realistic -- but can eat up even a medium map if not guarded against. So, instead of just plopping stuff willy-nilly, I took the time to do a bit of planning on paper, like we did in City Planning Class back in the olden days. Schillig Roads would also be my first effort at introducing highways and rail lines to my new "realism" experience. As I said earlier -- in previous games I simply ignored them because they did not make a significant difference to the all-important population growth And there would be many more "firsts" with Schillig Roads because it was my first work on a Medium map space and I was determined to make the most of it. I will, however, let you be the judge of the results.
Before we move on -- I wish to publicly post a sort of disclaimer. We are about to look at pictures of cities containing a bunch of custom lots from a variety of authors. Some lots I have made myself, with Editor and the associated "prop locker". Some lots I have downloaded from an exchange, and then modified for my own purposes. Normally, I would not even think of a disclaimer, but I have seen some discussions on the site with members accusing other members of plagiarism and theft. I would not "steal" someone's artistic property. We all "share" these downloads out of the kindness of the author's heart and it would be a grave injustice to them to deny their authorship. I will, at all times, try to mention the origin of the lot, but may fail to do so out of forgetfulness, or a bad memory. I cannot claim authorship of any lot or prop because I cannot make a "Bat" to save my life!! If I claim any credit at all -- it would be my skill in taking other people's art and arranging it on a lot to better advantage. I do have a skill for the "layout" of a single lot or for a modular system. And I may well have a talent in adding props for a more realistic feel. Beyond that -- I claim NO credit -- and will attempt to give credit where credit is due. And I sincerely thank all those "Batters" out there that have provided me with so many hours of pleasure !!!
Just one more thing.... I should point out, that Schillig Roads is "a work in progress". You will note a good deal of empty space on the map. Some of them will eventually wind up covered in trees if I don't use them, while others have already been targeted for future development. But things did not always look this promising.
When the lost and lonely turned up to build on the shores of The Jade Bight, their only neighbor was the poor little community on Wangerooge Island. Consequently, the city fathers found it difficult to get any sort of economy started -- no one to trade with! And without economic stimulus, the city did not attract new occupants (Follow the money -- right?). So, after much deliberation (and a couple belts of Schnaps!), Schillig Roads' Mayor recruited some gutsy adventurers and set off into the North German Wilds to found more cities. He reasoned that more cities would mean more trade and social exchange. More trade meant more money. And more money meant more of EVERYTHING for everyone! The other option was to sit around for years waiting for very small neighborhoods to grow into not so VERY small neighborhoods. But that would have been like watching paint dry, wouldn't it? So now that the Mayor has founded all these other cities, and the region has begun to thrive, he returns to Schillig Roads from time to time to impart wisdom and progress to his first-born city. (Hence all those statues of the guy!)
TWO VIEWS OF SCHILLIG ROADS:
Schillig Roads is a medium-sized seaport of (currently) 37,391 souls. The weather is, sometimes, clear and sunny -- but more often than not -- it is grey, overcast, and prone to gales that blow up suddenly from the English Channel. The citizens are a hard-working lot; approximately half of them are the low earners, while the 5,000 at the top are the rich S.O.B.'s !! Most Schillig Herren und Dammen have just about maxed-out their educational opportunities and enjoy a youthful existence somewhere in the "20 - 30 something" range. The average income is around 65k -- so those rich SOB's must REALLY be livin' LARGE! Grampa, on the other hand, can only expect to reach age 70 before they plant him! The City Budget is in great shape -- even though the mayor lives in a big mansion in the uptown district and tends to throw a lot of wild parties. Go figure! But -- traffic is not a problem, and the trains do run on time!!
SPEAKING OF THE RICH --
This is a small up-scale suburb just on the northern edge of the high-rent district. The marina belongs to the country club set, but the resort hotel is where they keep the bar (aged Scotch, I'm told). Gossip in the hotel bar says the guy that owns the big, green, yacht makes his money in the Gentleman's Card Room -- Bacarat sometimes, mostly Poker games, though.
The Marina is one of the modular sets by NBVC and I find it very useful for small, neighborhood locations like this. The large cabin cruiser and the three small sailing yachts are by Calligrafix and I re-lotted them. They are attached to a "plop" lot on the shoreline covered by Girafe's Ashe trees. The two trunk cabin cruisers and the ketch by the hotel are from PEG, and MGB very kindly turned them into a water "plop" lot. The rich do enjoy their toys, don't they.
SITTING BY THE BEND IN THE RAILS --
In the lower left of the picture, you will see my 2x2 custom lot -- The Rhinelander Platz. The two fountains are also custom lots I made from the "prop locker". I make a lot of custom lots like these. Since I like the "Imperial Period" of Germany -- I like the impressive statuary that was erected at the time. The "lot exchange" sites (STEX, LEX, etc) are just packed full of parks and flower gardens, but 1x1 "plop" statues are at a premium. When I find something I can convert into a stand-alone statue -- I jump right on it. It's my greatest regret that no one has yet seen fit to "bat" a "big" statue of Otto Von Bismarck. We need more statues, people!! Once again I have used Debusseyman's L'Assomption building as a library. I love the neo-classical buildings from Berlin that he has given us. He was a true "master" of "Imperial" architecture. (I presume he no longer "bats" since nothing new has come out in a very long time. Great shame -- he was talented, indeed!)
DOWNTOWN BEAUTIFICATION:
Here was this odd section of turf -- just begging for something unusual -- so I plopped down the Observatory of Athens and decorated it with some 1x1 gardens, the Lions Of Bertholdi, and the Sim Explorer monument. Just down from it, I placed two Prussian Memorials and a small version of the Fountain of Minerva. The Prussian Memorial was the first custom lot I ever created. The centerpiece is "The Column of Heroes" lot. Just across the street from it, is another 2x2 lot I made called "The Potsdamer Platz" with two more custom fountains from the "prop locker".
Part of my quest for "realism" includes making room in the city for fountains, statues, and plazas. The overwhelming drive to reach higher and higher population figures discouraged any sort of city beautification that took up space. Nothing but streets, subways, and pencil-towers. No statues -- and you wouldn't be able to see them through the pencil-towers, anyhow!! I've traveled to some of the most beautiful cities in the world -- and they all had parks, statues, neo-classical buildings, and tree-lined boulevards.
GOVERMENT BUILDINGS:
The City Hall, the Courthouse, and the Mayor's Mansion. Notice the mayor's house is on the left -- must be a Democrat! (lol-lol) Must be nice to live in a posh neighborhood, one block from work, with limousine service -- and The People pay for it!! (Having said all that -- he may well be a Republican!)
CITY CENTER:
This kind of got away from me. European cities especially, have city squares and sometimes a central one where most of the government buildings are located -- ministry of this and that -- Ministry of Silly Walks -- and art museums and the opera house. I try to concentrate those sorts of buildings in a "city center". Some people scatter them around the city in order to spread the area effected by their bonus qualities -- but I think the bonus effect and "cap buster" effects will work just fine this way. I like something "monumental" and ornate for the city center. Being a "Yank" I naturally favor the Washington Monument. I like Oppie's Canals for ornate architecture areas -- I haven't, so far, used canal sets for anything else. I may have to look into industrial canals -- but that's later. I simply made the city center too big. But it's difficult to work with the Washington Monument -- it's a 3x3 lot. Avenues and highways are 2 squares wide -- and it is nearly impossible to "center" anything that is 3x3!!! But it looks good at night ! (lol)
Down to the lower left you will see two of the Maxis Butts Condos. I re-lotted those as some of my first "grow residentials". The Riverside South Condos pop up from time to time and nearly wore out MGB's patience while he was teaching me! (lol)
FARMER's MARKET:
I always found the Farmer's Market kind of bland, though useful. In an effort to "spiff it up" for my new cities, I combined it with some IRM parking lots and the BSC modular park kit complete with the Cerulean Tower. Looks pretty good now!
FREIGHT DEPOT:
This one makes me laugh. I plopped the depot down thinking I was gonna get some freight traffic moving. Imagine my shock when I saw passenger trains running !!! I think it's a "Nob" lot, and he doesn't label them for some reason. All of his lots are left blank, so you either have to guess at them, or go in with Editor and fiddle with Japanese stuff, hoping you're getting it right. But it looks good!
Notice the filler detail with freight, trucks, etc. Each of the industrial buildings gets the same treatment. A bland-looking Maxis building will take on an entirely new look with a few filler lots you can whip together in Editor right out of the "prop locker"!
INDUSTRIAL DETAIL:
I am really quite tickled with detail work. After trying it once, I was hooked! MGB once pointed me in the right direction by showing me some of his industrial work. Adding the filler lots really brings your industrial areas to life. I make sure the filler lots have as many people as practical to provide a sense of movement, and I try to tie in the fillers to what ever type of industry it is -- i.e., cement bags at a cement plant. I zone a large area and let it grow. Then I come back and decide which factories I will keep -- and bulldoze the unlucky ones. This method allows room for filler lots -- and trees. I have not yet experimented with large industrial zones covered in concrete. I'm saving those types for the inland cities. The filler lots come from a lot of places -- some I've made in Editor -- others belong to T-Wrecks' IRM, and especially NBVC's Modular Container Port. NBVC provided a very useful modular set with concrete, fences, and road textures -- and -- it blends perfectly with PEG's "seaport look"! Anyone looking to make a massive and realistic-looking container port should have his set. It also has the added advantage that of all the sets I looked at -- his actually had "active" links to dependencies!!! Others proved to be useless because you could no longer track down the dependencies -- or you got into a situation where dependencies had their own dependencies -- "ad infinitum"!!!
WATER PUMPING STATION:
Here you see the water pumping station for Schillig Roads. It's funny -- in the "vanilla" version of the game, everyone ignored the water supply to the point of forgetting it was there. It was common to find a spot far away from pollution sources and simply squirrel them away -- out of sight, out of mind. When you suddenly ran out of water, you had to pull up the map just to find them again!
I have taken the opposite approach. The water pumping station where you live is not tucked behind a tall building to hide it. Usually, it's a fair-sized installation with emplyees, etc. I've used T-Wrecks' parking and his gate, along with my custom security fence kit, to include parking for the gate guards. One cannot be too careful in these troubled times....
BREAK-BULK SEAPORT COMPLEX:
This is an overview of the break-bulk seaport complex. Schillig Roads is not a large seaport, as such, but it represents part of the "seaport sprawl" that spills out of the massive complex in Wilhelmshaven, to the south. You see a PEG break-bulk seaport on the left, and PEG's Vandy Shipping on the right. The break-bulk is road and rail enabled for freight handling, and the Vandy provides jobs. The cargo docks are supported by a small freight enabled rail depot, and a small rail yard. The whole of it is enclosed by a security fence and is surrounded by a forested buffer area to keep the noise and activity from annoying the locals.
BREAK-BULK CARGO DETAIL:
First -- let me say that I NEVER use the Maxis Seaports. They look like children's toys compared to PEG's work -- and you never know which way the ship will sail -- or even IF it will sail. A failed effort at automata if I ever saw one. I've always considered the PEG seaports to be "top drawer" art work and reasonably functional. Obviously, the multitude of activity in any real-world seaport had to be condensed into as small a space as possible for game purposes. But I think they missed an opportunity. I have filled a reasonably small space across the street from the docks with a cargo handling area. Goods coming from the rail depot are stored here while awaiting shippment -- and goods coming ashore are stored awaiting rail or truck transport. It only seemed logical to include that step.
FREIGHT TERMINAL & RAIL SIDING:
The major freight distribution from the seaport is by rail. The freight depot is by SimGoober -- he has two included in the download, and I picked the one with the least containers since this is a break-bulk seaport. Once again, I have used the CDK3 basic docks as visual fillers for loading platforms, etc, and the jobs. The freight car rail sidings are by SFBT. I have interspersed the entire yard with filler lots -- some of my own, some by T-Wrecks, and a variety of other 1x1 "ploppables". Note the "decaying", blackened water tower at lower right. BSC provides several good rail filler-type lots -- 1x1, 2x1, and 2x2 -- parking, signal boxes, etc. But they almost all require road access, so you have to be careful where you place them. I have since fixed the issue.
STEAM RAIL SIDING:
Awwww -- ! Now THIS is my "Baby". I was fascinated with steam locomotives as a child and was fortunate enough, later in life, to spend a good deal of time in Germany when they still ran steam engines. Every morning, on my way to the kaserne, I would stop along the rail line and watch the morning "steamer" go by. The engineer got used to seeing me and he would play merry H*** with his whistle. Wonderful man! (It just goes to show -- no matter how old you are -- the inner child remains!)
I think the engine props are part of a PEG Resource pack (maybe). I borrowed a small rail siding from NBVC's Tank Car Filling Terminal, stripped off the props, and plopped the engines down. I used the "effect" smoke from the Advanced Research Center to simulate the steam you used to see billowing from an engine at rest. The NBVC track is enabled at both ends, while the SFBT sidings are only enabled at one end. I do not possess the experise to enable traffic on any lot, so I have to get creative when I want something badly!! (lol) You will see those engines a lot!!
TUGS & PORT CONTROL:
Every good seaport HAS to have tugboats. I'm not at all sure how members manage to squeeze all those ships into all those tightly packed seaport cities WITHOUT tugs -- but you hardly ever see them. The tugs are by Somy and the large, modern structure next to them is the JRJ Transit Control Tower. Since there were two major industries (cargo & LNG) sharing the roadsted, I felt it necessary to build a control tower to keep the maritime traffic coordinated. JRJ did a wonderful job and I could not ask for a better control tower!! And THANK YOU Somy, for providing for "the obvious" with your usual talent.
However, I do have a beef with the "batters" out there. Let me first say that I know nothing about "batting" excpet that it looks massively complicated, and horrendously time-consuming (read - tedious). BUT -- why has no one excpet Somy bothered with tugboats??? The New York Port Authority has some of the most unique looking tugboats you'll ever want to see. And the Europeans have those big, fabulous looking seagoing tugs. A dock with some tugs tied up -- mix both the US and the European tugs -- and then make a couple of lots we can randomly plop out in the water. AND ESPECIALLY -- at least one water lot on the DIAGONAL. Ships are absolutely beautiful out in the water. Men of the sea going about their business from the Flagsted Light to Sydney Harbor. The whole thing fairly evokes the "romance of the sea". And then you blow the whole visual thing because the boat only goes right or left, or up and down!!! JEEEEZ!
SCHILLIG ROADS LIGHT:
Every good port also needs a lighthouse!! I always place the Maxis Lighthouse near the ports because of the "boost" it gives them. But I think you need a BIG lighthouse to mark your city. (For all those "square" ships out there! lol) I took Franku's Dutch Lighthouse and reduced the lot size to a 1x3 so it would fit just about anywhere without taking up too much space or requiring you to add large amounts of land to place it. You can, if you so desire, make simple filler lots for a house or storage shed and place them as modular addons. I HAD to use Franku's lot because he had the "light" in the lighthouse. I know that sound's like a joke, but I don't know how to get the light effect UP in the top of the lighthouse!!! I also replaced his lighthouse with a NEXIS Lighthouse prop. I'm about ready to do another one using black stripes to provide more variety. The base was covered with NBVC rock and I threw in some T-Wrecks parking to compliment the necessary road access. I have since learned how to disable road access and will do that on the new lighthouse.
NORDSEE LNG; Schillig Roads Division:
THIS is the "piece de resistance" of Schillig Roads. I am very proud of this and DO hope you like it.
Nordsee LNG is the "anchor" industry for the city. My personal system requires each map to have some sort of focal point. It could be the thing you most enjoyed building, or perhaps the thing you most want to show-off to other people. All of my medium and large maps will be based on that theory. In ideal situations, they will always have an anchor industry, and may well have some other feature of significance. The land mass beneath Nordsee LNG is based, loosely, on LNG terminals found in Scotland and Louisiana.
A bit about the process of construction...
You've heard me complain about the 6x6 oil refinery?? Well, here is my answer to that.
My first step in planning a major industry build is Wikipedia, where I obtain a world-wide list of LNG facilities. With Google Maps, I search them out, looking for a unique layout, or pieces of different layouts that I can combine. Next step is back to Wikipedia to find out exactly how raw product flows through the actual facility. LNG comes ashore from the gas wells out in the North Sea and has to be processed -- knowing the different "stages" helps in building a logical plant. Wiki helps me figure out what parts of the "physical plant" I will need for my Terminal. I draw up a product flow chart that helps decide the actual placement of various parts of the refinery. Wouldn't make sense to place a storage tank on the other side of a refinery from the raw material to be stored -- right? Now I go to Google Images to find pictures of what kind of equipment can be found in an LNG plant. I can't realistically "model" the plant apparatus if I don't know what it looks like. Once the layout has been determined, the physical plant needs are ascertained, and I have pictures of the facilities -- I go looking in my drop-down menus. There are tons and tons of stuff on exchanges that can be used to build or "represent" almost any industry. It may have been lotted as a refinery cracking tower, but it looks pretty much like an LNG condensation tower -- so use it!! If I can't find it in the drop-downs, or as a download, I go into the "prop locker" and make a custom lot that looks something like it. To repeat MGB -- "Go for the essence of the thing". Always connect your individual "units" with pipes or pipelines (above or below ground) and add roads, etc, that interfere with the equipment as little as possible. I am firmly convinced that this process will yield you THE most "realistic" LNG plant (or any other type of factory) you will ever hope to see. Sorry I went on and on about my methodical process -- but I HATE 6x6 refineries (and mountains).
I will do my best to point out and name all of the various lots for you -- but don't hold your breath! (lol)
TERMINAL CLOSE-UP:
The off-load terminals are frequently placed on a peninsula that has been extended from land out into the bay where water may be a bit deeper to accommodate large vessels. What you see here are two, matching, discharge points. Each one consists of the tanker, a pier with tanks, a discharge control office, a vapor condensing tower, and three spherical vapor tanks -- all connected in logical sequence with pipelines.
The tanker, pier with attached tanks, and green tanks are all "Somy" (Saints preserve him). The tower is a "Chapapotex Aerial Distiller". The discharge control office to the right of the pier is a custom lot from the "prop locker" to simulate the "master control" for that particular pier. The white multi-pipe lines are from NBVC's Oil Port, and the "steel-looking" pipelines are from the ISAT Pipeline Set.
The most difficult part of the whole thing is laying out the units so that they can connect with pipelines. Note the pipeline crossing the road from the shore terminal, and the pipelines crossing the road at the top of the picture on their way to the rest of the plant. Everything is linked together in the logical product flow sequence -- and that took a bit of doing. BTW -- the night lighting on these lots is absolutely stunning!! Somy even put lights on the tankers!! Genius -- PURE GENIUS!! If I missed anything -- drop me a question in the comments section.
"Nob" PIER DETAIL:
I started out planning on the "Nob" pier at the end of the peninsula, because none of the lots in the LNG complex provide jobs. All of this eye-candy is absolutely magnificent, but it provides no employment or tax money for your city. The Nob pier provides 625 jobs and represents the cargo handling facility that you would find at a processing complex of this size. The peculiar shape of the peninsula dictated the need for fire and police protection, so I used the PEG piers in order to avoid cluttering up the LNG plant. The only police or fire boats that I could find belong to the PEG Boardwalk system. I would have preferred something more industrial and I find working with the PEG Boardwalks difficult. Even after you use their leveler tool on the shoreline, the lot placement can be tedious. The corner lots are especially difficult and, as you can see, they don't blend in well with adjacent stuff. I guess you can't have everything. I used PEG RCI docks to extend Nob's pier on either side. And you will note the fenced parking areas, cargo and trucks, and other filler lots dotted here and there for effect. Some of them are mine, and others belong to T-Wrecks. You will also see the use of Girafe's MMP Ashe trees filling in blank areas here and there. The seawalls are, of course, NBVC's Ripp-Rapp Rock. Once again -- beware the steamboats on the Nob Pier Lots.
SOMY LNG PIER:
I threw this picture in because Somy's stuff deserves a close-up! (lol) Note the "discharge Control building" just behind the parked trucks. I whipped that up by jamming two props together to make a small office. Somy's art is absolutely amazing. His attention to detail is only rivaled by Debussey man. Maybe not exceeded -- but certainly rivaled!
VAPOR FLAIR TOWERS:
This is the upper end of the peninsula, and I will not go into too much detail here. The 4-tank sets are by SFBT and the flair towers are by Somy. You will note the storage, parking, and equipment filler lots scattered about. Again, I think the detail added by filler lots makes all the difference in the realistic appearance. You may notice that just below the SFBT tanks on the left, the road rises up a gentle incline to the top of a plateau. I placed the main processing plant on top of the hill and used the NAM32 "riser" lots to build a perfectly smooth slope for the road. Something I just recently learned how to do. If you look just above the road, you will see a retaining wall in the shade. Those are the brick JS v.3 seawalls used on land. I saw that in another picture sent to me by MGB. Very useful.
LNG PROCESSING PLANT:
This is an overview of the main part of the processing plant on top of a wooded hill. I tried very hard to keep it compact, following a logical flow, with no unnecessary sprawl on top of the hill. The two large tanks, two small tank processors, and the tower are all Somy's stuff. The two smaller tower lots kind of in the back corner of the hill are mine. I used several different buildings and props to make them in order to fulfill a product processing need. I took great pains in landscaping the sides of the hill. I had never done a hill with the Meadowshire Terrain Mod and was wary of messing it up.
FILLER LOT DETAILING:
Here's another shot of the tank storage area showing the extensive use of filler lots to add detail. Note the heavy use of pipelines and how they all flow in a logical sequence. Everything is connected -- from ship to distribution.
MULTI-USE DOCKS:
This is the lower end of the main processing plant. The silvery-looking unit is a "Chapapotex Vacuum Distiller". I have scattered filler lots throughout, and since the processing plant provides no jobs -- extensive use has been made of the CDK3 docks where appropriate.
TRUCK DISTRIBUTION:
Here we have the truck distribution point. I was forced to use regular tanker trucks as vehicles since there does not appear to be any tanker trucks "batted" for LNG hauling. Lamentable -- but we must make do as best we can. The white pipes and tanks are NBVC's oil port, and the surrounding docks are, of course, CDK3. The small rail siding is by SFBT and provides an entry point for incoming freight to maintain the operation of the facility. Once again, you see my steam engine lot !! I had to improvise a "filling" procedure for the trucks by using one side of NBVC's pipe bridge as an overhead hose transfer. Couldn't find anything in the "prop locker" that looked like a tanker truck filling station! But I thought it turned out well, nonetheless.
RAIL DISTRIBUTION:
You know -- sometimes I wonder what I would do without NBVC's work! His stuff is invariably high quality, well thought out, and useful in a multitude of situations. And his stuff always comes with a separate lot file! This is his "Tank Car Filling Terminal" rail yard -- and industry would be in big trouble without it!! Again, there does not appear to be any particular rail cars devoted to the transport of LNG, and I wonder why? LNG is a huge source of energy, and provides a huge chunk of Europe with an economy! Some enterprising "batter" out there could get a few pictures off Google and whip up a couple props to stick in some railroad prop resource pack. At any rate, NBVC has also provided me with a coal yard rail facility (but that's another city). You simply open this lot in Editor and go to work. It makes an excellent base lot to work with. Most of the other stuff in the picture you, doubtless, recognize from previous shots.
METERING FACILITY:
This is the Metering Facility. It sets at ground level with the Meadowshire Terrain Controller giving us a very attractive rock face backdrop. Just a little terrain dressing with trees and bushes and it looks pretty good. This facility measures the volume of gas flowing out to a local distributor or to pipelines connected to outlaying cities. Once that is done, the Administrative building next door sends out a huge bill for the purchase!! The small 2x2 lot next to the LNG tanks is a custom job I whipped up to represent the actual metering building. The admin offices are another custom lot using a Maxis building as prop. Access to the entire facility is closely monitored with guarded gates and security fences and the area is surrounded with a forested buffer zone. Look carefully and you will notice that even the Admin building has a public access separate from its access to the plant. This prevents persistent job applicants from wandering around the plant! (lol) "If we need ya', we'll call ya!"
CITY NIGHT SHOT:
I noticed some of the other journals include night shots with their presentations, so here's a wide shot of the city.
LNG PLANT NIGHT SHOT:
And here's a closer night shot of the LNG Terminal. If you guys like these night shots -- let me know and I'll do them more often.
RANDOM SHOTS:
The following are just some random shots, mostly very close-up, to give some of you folks some ideas for filler lots. You may ALL have this stuff already -- or maybe not. But I hope it will encourage some of you to make a few. Don't forget what they say -- "The Devil is in the details". And the more detail you add the better. Industry, in particular, was short-changed in the original release version of Sc4. Not enough props or textures -- and certainly not enough variety. Variety and detail -- IMHO -- makes all the difference!
RANDOM MULTI-USE (docks) SHOTS:
NEW NEIGHBORHOOD:
This just popped-up before publication of this installment. Note the use of The BSC Azaelea Garden and the Niagara Square obilisk. Makes a nice park.
SMALL INDUSTRIAL ZONE:
Here's a shot of a small industrial zone that just "filled in". It's quite a mix of industry. At the top is one of my custom grow lots: Ares Defense Group (IHT) and to the right is the (white) Nokia Building (IHT) by Matt325. The rest is dirty industry.
GUNDSTROM COPPER:
You're all familiar with Maxis Gundstrom Copper, and that's a burning unit and cooling unit that grew right next to it. The game has a bad habit of jamming stuff together, but it looked good -- so I kept them. I believe that's Bipin's Crawler Crane over in the corner -- out of the "prop locker" on a 1x1. You have to trick Editor to get it on a 1x1 -- but you can. Just start with a 3x2 and cut it down to a 1x1 before saving. The crane will overhang other objects, so be careful where you place it. Notice other filler lots to give the place better effect.
SMALL BURNING UNIT:
This is nothing more than a Maxis Small Burning Unit -- but look what you can do with filler lots! I think those are BSC parking lots made for the rail yards. And -- BSC parking over at Nokia.
BROQUARD CEMENT:
Here's good ol' Broquard Cement -- but it's been tricked-out with custom filler lots, T-Wreck's IRM filler lots, and some NBVC Container Port lots used for their concrete, fences, and textured roadways. Remember, NBVC's Modular Container Port is VERY multi-use. Matter of fact, I use it as the base lot for most of my industrial and ALL of my seaport custom lots. It's a KEEPER!
OKAY --
This has been a monumental effort -- probably TOO monumental -- several days in the making. But I hope you find it to your liking.
Now I'm REALLY gonna take a few days off and simply play the game.
But I look forward to your comments -- as always.
The Jade Bight 5: Harlesiel --
Coming soon!
-
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