Jade Bight 11: Island Of Sylt
JADE BIGHT 11:
Island Of Sylt
Welcome back to The Jade Bight and the ongoing developments along the North Sea. Again, I encourage all visitors to leave a comment and offer an opinion or two as you see fit. All advice is welcome.
This time we will travel to the Island of Sylt:
Sylt is a large, and very prominent island lying off the northern coast of Germany, and is part of Nordfriesland district of Schleswig-Holstein. It is well known for the distinctive shape of its shoreline and is the largest of the North Frisian Islands. It is notable in history -- largely, and perhaps only -- because its' location made it attractive to Germany's enemies. In the 19th Century, Sylt's strategic location and easily defensible shores made it a prime target for an attacker seeking to establish an advanced base in the North Sea. It was an ideal location for a naval outpost for blockade purposes, or as a base of operations for an amphibious invasion of the mainland. However, the beginning of the 20th Century saw this value somewhat diminished, as the advance of weapons technology made it vulnerable to heavy artillery based on the mainland, as well as to attack from the air. But these modern weapons of war did not deter the British Admiralty from proposing several plans to seize the island during The Great War.
I should mention that Sylt, as the farthest north of the German Frisian Islands, would really not have figured into the Jade Bight Region. But -- with such a unique shape, I could not bring myself to leave it out of the region, and instead, placed it on the far west map edge.
Sylt has actually only been an island from 1632 to 1927. In January of 1632, a massive southwesterly Atlantic gale surged into the North Sea and inundated vast stretches of the British Isles, Holland, Germany, and Denmark The Grote Mandrenke (Middle Dutch for "Great Drowning of Men") -- or -- Saint Marcellus' flood (Feast Day) -- was responsible for an estimated minimum of 25,000 dead. The storm tide quickly swept far inland, catching the populace unawares, breaking up islands, making parts of the mainland into islands, and wiping out entire towns and districts. This was characteristic of the weather at the beginning of "The Little Ice Age" and repeated flooding and storm surges from the 13th Century onward not only helped to create the Great Zuiderzee, but destroyed the narrow land link between Sylt and the mainland.
REMEMBER JUIST -- ?
This view is for those of you that mentioned that the Island of Juist (the previous installment) looked more like a peninsula than an island. You see here, the north tip of Juist, where the road and rail connections are carried across on bridges. Juist was, after all, a "service city" and provides power and trash removal services for Sylt. That required a land link -- or at least a bridge -- linking the two islands. A ferry would have been more realistic, but would not have satisfied the service requirements. I threw in a picture of a southbound freight on the trestle bridge -- you know how guys are about their train sets! (lol)
SOUTH END:
This is the southern headland of Sylt, sometimes referred to as Hornum. Due to storms and tidal action, the island is somewhat unstable and this area in particular suffers from beach erosion. Attempts have been made over the years to build seawalls and jettys to retard the erosion, but sustainable effects have yet to be attained. In times past, the area was inhabited largely by fishermen, but they moved to the north shore when their coves either silted up or were washed away. Before the fishermen, the headland was notorious as a haven for coastal pirates and smugglers. Rather fitting that it should now be inhabited largely by the wealthy -- kind of like keeping it in the family -- you know?
SOUTH BAY NEIGHBORHOOD:
This is a high-rent neighborhood on the east side (or South Bay area) of the headland. Very up-scale residences with parks and a seawall promenade. The obelisk was erected around 1895 by the Emperor and is dedicated to the famous pirate "Yellowbeard". The Emperor was making yet another attempt to rouse patriotic fervor for the new navy he was spending so many Marks to build. It was said that Yellowbeard successfully defended the island against an English Invasion in the 18th Century. It was as good a reason as any to build another dreadnought battleship -- right? The truth of it is that the Royal Navy came ashore to burn out the pirate haven. Rather than lose his ships, Yellowbeard fled into hiding among the mainland marshes, and returned only when the English sails were out of sight over the horizon. But the obelisk makes for a more impressive version. (lol)
NOTE: This is one of those high-end real estate developments several people recommended. Tariely made it clear that I was allowing nature to have all the good property instead of selling it to the very rich.
SOUTH BAY JETTY:
This is a small public jetty in the South Bay. It's convenient for the main settlement and sheltered from the storms. I know many of you don't use the Maxis Marina -- but I think I got the height just right on this one. I like to use them for the automata. The small boats sailing about are a pleasant distraction -- much like the whales.
FLAGSTED LIGHT:
This is the Flagsted Light -- one of those Nexis lighthouses I re-lotted off a "Franku" lot. If you have even a few coastal cities, you find the lighthouses becoming repetitive very quickly, and the Nexis props are very good. I have to thank "Blunder" for agreeing to post his seawalls to STEX. It was very kind of him to do so, and I'm sure many people have been very happy to get them. I like them very much and was desperate to use them, so I did a small combination with my lighthouse as a first effort. Doubtless they would have looked better in a larger display, but a bit of rock filling and some trees, and they turned out pretty good.
SOUTH SHORE PARK:
This is another one of those high-dollar residential spots, completed with a seashore park and a small monument to Herr August Gottzenrokks. He's the rich developer that bought the barren south end area and turned it into a fancy bit of real estate.
SOUTH SHORE BUSINESS:
This is some more of Herr Gottzenrokks' work. He built the fancy seawalls, beautified it, and rents it out to very up-scale business. Lots of money in his bank account! I REALLY like "Blunder's" seawalls.
WEST SHORE INDUSTRY:
This is a bit of industry that moved in along a stretch of the west shore of the island. The north end of the island (Konigshafen Point), was acquired by the government around 1800 for a lighthouse and lifeboat station. And, as is the way with governments, they took a big chunk of dirt and fenced it off. Neither the residents nor the businessmen wanted to get too close to these installations (they usually make nice targets for enemy battleships), so that just left the greedy industrialists to occupy the intervening land.
I threw in another picture showing the detail of the filler lots in the industrial zone. I try to make sure almost every factory gets some sort of "detail work" with the filler lots. In future industrial settings, I plan to start building specific industry rather than allowing Maxis to grow the bulk of it. This will allow for better planning and even more detailing.
THE HINDENBURGDAMM:
I should have taken a somewhat larger shot of this area to show the causeway aspect, but it slipped past me -- so I will explain.
During the winter months, thick ice in the Sound often prevented ferries from running for weeks at a time. And by 1925, Sylt had become so prosperous it was decided a permanent link to the mainland was required. A bridge arrangement was discussed, but a causeway was determined to be less of a risk. By 1927, a fine earth and stone causeway was completed with a double-track railway line to connect Sylt to the mainland. Thus ended Sylt's days as an actual island.
For game purposes, I decided to make a break in the causeway and build bridges to make the final connection. I thought it was a fine opportunity to try my hand at making a shallow channel beneath a low bridge structure rather than one of those tall bridges with ugly approaches. I also included a road connection -- what the heck! You've got a nice shot with some road traffic and the 7:10 commuter train to Norden crossing the bridge.
WADDENSEE SOUND & POLICE:
Due to the odd shape of the island, it was necessary to place a police station out here somewhere. The causeway was narrow and already crowded, so I opted for the Police Boat on the south side in Waddensee Sound. Not bad.
WATER TREATMENT & PUMPING STATIONS:
Again, with the causeway being a bit crowded, I decided to put the treatment plant and pumping station on the south side. Notice another rendering of a salt marsh over on the left side, and the "Tahoe Water" ponds around the pumping station. This was only my second attempt at using the Tahoe water -- but it turned out OK. I think Tahoe will look better on a larger scale. I have, more or less, given up on the "Diggis Ponds". The banks are too resistant to MMP landscaping attempts.
FISHERY & CANNERY COMPLEX:
This is an overview of the north shore of the causeway where I placed the fishing docks and cannery. It's a prominent location for what would have been the base industry of the town, but is away from the residential while being well connected with rail and road links.
FISHERY DETAIL:
The fishing fleet is made up of PEG's Capt. Jack's Landing -- very professional looking operation. There are a couple of filler piers and lots between them. Behind them we have the PEG CDK3 Basic piers used as loading platforms. And then a rail siding to ship all those fish around the region. A nice, compact, little arrangement.
CANNERY DETAIL:
Any fish that doesn't leave Capt. Jack's as a "fresh" delivery, gets sent next door to this cannery. Here they are processed and sent out by rail to distant markets, or by truck to local markets, or even by scow to those really hard to reach markets. Anything not worth putting in a can gets ground into fertilizer -- "Waste not, want not".
You have a similar, basic arrangement, with the cannery, a rail siding, and loading platforms -- detailed with filler lots and parking. The cannery is the old "B & T Crawfish Cannery" with a simple re-lot. I added a seawall pier to allow for dock side loading, and beefed it up a bit with some more props to make it look more functional.
CARGO DOCKS:
Also on the north shore, we find a small freight dock with a "RoRo" carrier unloading a few containers before casting off to continue her weary passage from port to port. The extension on the left is a re-lotted PEG warehouse, while the extension on the ride side is composed of T-Wrecks, NBVC, or custom filler lots. Directly behind the docks is a cargo handling pad with some parking and mostly made up from custom filler lots. The rail siding is customized using NBVC tracks and PEG cars and locomotives, with Maxis "steam" effect. I would have gone for a slightly more elaborate layout, but it is only an island and somewhat limited in space.
HIGH RENT ENCLAVE:
Here's another one of those residential enclaves occupying prime seashore property on the South Bay. Nothing too fancy -- just some water frontage with a small walking park along the shore.
CRUISE SHIP TERMINAL:
Down at the foot of town, fronting on the Waddensee Sound, we have Somy's magnificent cruise ship terminal. The "SS Dina Caliente" has only recently disembarked her passengers and is being cleaned and re-victualed for her upcoming Baltic Sea cruise. At the base of the terminal, I used the wing piers from the PEG cruise ship terminal to fill out infrastructure a bit. I find the Somy terminal much more attractive than either the Maxis or PEG terminals -- especially if your not really interested in the ship automata. As always -- Somy's work is spectacular!
SS NINA CALIENTE AT SEA:
Far out to sea, we find the cruise ship "SS Nina Caliente" -- recently departed -- steering south through the Waddensee Sound. Once into the North Sea, she will transit the English Channel, then commence a series of stops along the French and Portuguese coasts as she heads for the Canary Islands and a luxurious week of sun and sand. Once again, Somy's ships are nothing short of a work of art.
LEE SHORE ANCHORAGE:
Here we see a few small boats and yachts anchored offshore of one of the better neighborhoods. It may be that they were simply looking for a scenic place to throw out the anchor, but the evidence says otherwise. There is, after all, a small jetty with two speedboats moored nearby (or -- as close as I could get them to the jetty). And if you look closely, you'll see one of the yachts has deployed a "zodiac dingy". My guess is that the owner of one, or maybe more, of these yachts is a house guest at one of the big homes.
I believe that settles the recurring question of how people aboard all these anchored yachts get ashore.
HIGH RENT NEIGHBORHOOD:
This was supposed to be "my big, fat, high-rent real estate with a shore side park" thingie. It's got low density zoning, several big homes, a very nice park arrangement that links up with the cruise ship terminal. On the left you see the statue of Bismarck I'd been wanting (it turned up in the LEX Advent Calendar -- THANK YOU!). It's got a pier for the yachts offshore to use. And it's even got parking!! All those things everybody wanted. But -- for some reason -- I couldn't get it to grow all of the rich folks' homes I wanted. So -- "my, big, fat, thingie" is only a partial success.
MAIN SETTLEMENT:
This is an overview of the main settlement on the island, often referred to as the Arksum area. I'm afraid it's nothing spectacular. There was really too little room to get creative, and there was a lot of stuff to be squeezed in. But it's a nice, orderly little town.
KONIGSHAFEN HEADLAND: Two views
This is the northern arm of the island, which the Government pretty much took for themselves. The tidal action and frequent storm surges in the area have been responsible for a gradual but continuous loss of shoreline along the southern arm, while at the same time, it is adding shoreline slowly but surely along the northern arm. This explains the "beak-shaped" point forming on the lee side of the headland.
SWAMPY POINT:
This was an attempt to make something like a coastal swamp. The land has been building up over the years, some trees have moved in -- but every storm tide that washes ashore fills the low spots with water and leaves a boggy morass. It's not bad -- but I'm not really sure I succeeded. I think it looks a bit too crowded. Your thoughts?
COAST GUARD COMPLEX:
This is an overview showing a bit more detail of the Coast Guard Complex and the Frohnau Transmission Tower. This is one of the tallest towers in Europe and certainly the tallest one on the North Sea Coast. The tower's construction back in the 1960's stirred up a good deal of curiosity and caused more than its' share of loose talk. Within days of turning over the first shovel of dirt on the tower project, another mass of contractors and workers arrived to begin work on the Coast Guard Station. There had never been any government construction this extensive on the island. However, the government pretty much keeps to itself -- they don't bother anyone -- and the money they bring to the community is very much appreciated. Why, Capt. Jack sells tons of fish to the base every month -- but the Coast Guard comes to pick it up by truck. They won't even allow one of their own "contractors" on the base.
Then there was that night when a special freight train rolled through town in the wee hours of the morning headed for the base. A couple of men going home from the late shift at Schwartz Chemicals saw the train and the loaded flat cars covered in heavy canvas tarps. One of them, an ex-soldier -- said it looked like battle tanks to him. Then he squinted his eyes, deep in thought. "Why is that damned tower so important they gotta bring tanks up here to guard it?" He shrugged and kept walking toward his car. "Mind you -- that tower's talkin' to something way far out there -- or real deep. I bet it's them Nuke boats based over in The Bight!"
Beyond that bit of occasional speculation, nobody knows who that tower talks to -- or who answers back!
CG PIER & RAIL SIDING:
The Coast Guard docks and administrative building were built on the same ground once occupied by the tiny harbor of Konigshafen (hence the name for the headland). The old harbor was, for all intents and purposes, silted up by the outbreak of the First Word War. It was necessary to bring in dredges and pile drivers for the heavy work, but the old harbor was widened and deepened until it could accommodate the new Coast Guard Cutters. 
Engineers and work gangs were brought in to lay a spur track line the length of the headland. This would, in effect, extend the railway from the industrial freight station right to the Coast Guard docks, enabling them to bring up heavy machinery or bulky machine parts to the base.
And finally, fuel tanks, warehouses, and machine shops capable of the heaviest sort of work were built to support both the needs of the base and the cutters.
LIGHTHOUSE POINT:
Konigshafen Light occupies the tip of the headland, and was built on the foundations of previous structures -- the first one in 1823.
The Lifeboat station and observation platform were added about 40 years later, with the occasional warehouse built as needs expanded.
The pier for the lighthouse was added near the turn of the last Century and is still in use today.
Just so you will know: The lighthouse is another Nexis re-lot. The lighthouse pier is by "Uki". The warehouses -- both red & black roofed -- and the observation platform are re-lotted from "Nob" props. And that's the "CAL Aberdyfi Lifeboat".
TANKER:
And, if you turn your "glass" north by northeast, you will spy -- far out to sea -- the Somy Lines Tanker "SS Lilith Pleasant". She is, like most vessels these days, registered and home-ported out of Panama. And the steady thump of her engines push her massive bow into the rolling swells as she makes her way toward The Bight. Once there she will, no doubt, make for Bremerhaven and the vast refinery overlooking the bay.
NIGHT SHOTS:
Last -- but not least -- the obligatory night shots:
NEW DIRECTIONS.....
The Island Of Sylt was the last of what I call the old cities. Sylt was fairly well advanced before I ever started getting any feedback, so I did what I could to work in the new ideas and suggestions without having to scrap the whole thing and start from scratch. All of these entries, up to this point, were largely experiments in scope and scale as well as technique and tools. I have been able to make good use of the feedback you have given me, and to utilize your advice to improve my "aesthetic game". I do believe there could have been more feedback, but the long and short of it is that you make do with what you have.
I have provided three pictures of the REGION to give you an idea where we started -- and where we have come to so far. For those of you that have been paying attention, it won't be too hard to pick out the various cities, and even their details. You may note in the last two pictures the random chaos in Wilhelmshaven and the other two cities near the bottom of the region. Simply disregard them -- they are my test cities. I use them to test everything from downloads and custom lots to landscaping techniques.
REGIONAL 01
REGIONAL 02
REGIONAL 03
One thing is certain -- my style will have to change.
I build mostly self-contained cities and towns. This is nice enough and has the advantage that all your assets are pretty much on the map in front of you. But it also means that no matter what size map you are working on, you end up dividing it (much like Caesar's Gaul ) into three parts -- RES, COM, and IND. Of course, it is much more complicated than that; where to put the seaport -- the airport -- the Eiffel Tower? Wait -- where is this railroad going? -- etc, etc. But basically you have to parcel out your map in those three categories. And if you get a bit too much industry, then there won't be enough map left to provide offices and shops -- or maybe, too little residential !!
And what about your "pet" dreams? Where do you find space on the map for that hugely fancy and complicated waterfront scene backed by a thriving commercial zone? Or that oil refinery that would put the real Shell Oil to shame? Or a seaport bigger and better than Rotterdam?
The simple answer is that you cannot do any of that on a self-contained map divided into 3 types of zones. There is simply not enough room and no way to balance the scale element.
I have decided the best possible thing to do at this point is to switch to a "regional" style of play. No more self-contained cities.
In future, each city will be designated as either RES, COM, or IND. And that designation will be the overwhelming focus of the city. If a given city is chosen to be IND -- then neighboring cities will provide the space for the RES and COM. Workers will commute from a city that is largely residential. Other workers will commute to yet a third city where the dominant theme will be COM. In the RES and COM cities, this should allow more than enough room to provide parks and proper space for landscape architecture.
From what I can tell, this is what the Maxis designers had intended all along. And though it seems a bit odd to be trying to wrap my head around it -- it seems the only way to get enough room to enable the creativity.
If anyone has any advice or tips on this "regional style" thingie -- please feel free to impart your wisdom.
Well, my friends -- that just about wraps up the sideshow for tonight!!
NEXT TIME:
Ostbuttel:
Even A Little Farm Takes Time
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