Introduction - What is this all about?
"A long time ago came a man on a track
Walking thirty miles with a sack on his back
And he put down his load where he thought it was the best
He made a home in the wilderness
He built a cabin and a winter store
And he ploughed up the ground by the cold lake shore
And the other travellers came walking down the track
And they never went further, no, they never went back
Then came the churches, then came the schools
Then came the lawyers, then came the rules
Then came the trains and the trucks with their load
And the dirty old track was the Telegraph Road"
- Telegraph Road, Dire Straits
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Welcome to Telegraph Road, a City Journal that will play by the rules of Natural Growth. A city with an ongoing story and history as it grows.
You're obviously familiar with most people play Cities:Skylines; they have a plan how they want to build their city and they are in control of everything. They oversee their cities in every way. But does this happen in real life? Not really. This is where Natural Growth comes in. Instead of seeing it all, you'll look at your city from different perspectives and place yourself in the shoes of project managers, entrepeneurs and citizens. This is an imperfect, but a pretty interesting approach to build a city. I've never done this before, as I used to build pretty well planned in SimCity 4 and Cities:Skylines. But I'm not afraid to take a challenge. 
But how does it work? Let me explain...
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How does it work?
The major inspiration for this CJ comes from the Natural Growth playing style, as described by CSGdesign. However, a different game plays by different rules, but basically, the playing style will be the following:
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Plan small and only on the short term.
You need to think from the perspective of all actors. You will be looking at this from a low-level perspective. Sure, you can plan an estate in the hills because it offers a nice view or avoid a forest because the national government designated the area as a protected area. But you don't lay out entire districts according to a strict plan or entire infrastructure complexes. Want to build a highway? You'll have to evaluate each and every interchange you're going to build and you probably won't end up building the entire thing at once, but in parts. -
You're on a budget
Governing is deciding how to divide limited resources. And money is an important limited resource. You can only build what you can afford. The cashflow, as well as the city's available budget needs to be evaluated for every decision and will be a limiting factor for every choice and you can't get everything you wish for. -
Don't think as a mayor. Think as a project developer
You may want a lot, but at the end of the day, someone has to build it. And since budget plays a role, they will decide what's the most cost-effective measure. After all, you can only spend your money once and your contractors still need to get a profit out of it. -
Everything takes time to build
Need a hospital or fire station immediately? Tough luck. It will take a year to build one of those. Build a highway? That will take a few years before it's done. Decisions don't take immediate effect and will take time to complete. So you do need to plan ahead a bit and see problems coming, because otherwise it may be too late to take countermeasures. -
Supply and demand
The main driving factor of growth is demand. You only build things when there is a demand for it and don't build more than you need. If you can avoid over-capacity to save money, do it. Don't build for instance a wide bridge over a river because "it might be useful in the future". You build based on the demand you have now. Everything begins small and it will grow bigger and more advanced as time goes on. This will also mean that some necessary upgrades will only happen when the demand grows high enough, or they even may be long overdue. -
It's not paradise
Be prepared to face the fact you can't serve all citizens at the highest live standards. The city may grow faster than you can build facilities. After all, you have your budget and your priorities. There will be poor, uneducated as well as rich people in your city. -
All decisons influence the people who live there, and they will influence the city's decisions
Some decisions will make their lives better. They will encourage that. But don't forget that even buildings that make people's lives better may not be great to have in your back yard. NIMBY will play a great role here; citizens have a voice and they may take legal action to block certain plans from the city council. This is a democracy, not an authoritatian regime -
Play slow and small
Each update only covers one game year. This means that there will probably not much progression in each update. But this leaves enough time to make decisions for each year and get all parties involved in the process. I'm planning to do one year a week, but I can't guarantee there will be an update every week
This set of rules will require a slow and patient gameplay. But it offers some great opportunities:
- The slow pacing offers a great opportunity to tell a story about the city. Not only the city will grow in each update, but so does its history.
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The end result is a complete mystery for all parties involved. Since we can only look a few years ahead, we have no idea how the city will evolve in the long term. Past mistakes may be a huge pain in the ass later on, or maybe the development takes an unexpected turn. It's all a surprise! Don't you like surprises?
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Perfection is boring. The most interesting characters in stories are the ones with identifyable flaws. So why not having a city with flaws? I think it's going to be interesting when things actually go wrong or something unexpected happens. Who knows, maybe someone comes with a good idea that changes everything. Surprise me!
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You, the reader, can also join in and play a role of a citizen or project manager in this city, voicing your opinion about decisions. With enough comments, we can make this CJ interactive. The role-play could give some weight to certain decisions and that's great material to make this city feel more alive! And who knows, maybe a street in the city will be named after you.
So come in and join the fun!
So now that we've set the rules, let's have a look at where all of this takes place:
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Welcome to Nordale!
Nordale is a remote small town somewhere along the east coast of North America. The town is surrounded by forests and mountains in the north, and the Atlantic Ocean in the south. The town is located near the mouth of a river. In brief, you can say, the city is in an idyllic location.
The map I used is a modified version of the excellent looking Aurora Borealis map by Colorax257. I massively downgraded the main infrastructure on the map to one dirt road from east to west. After all, we have to start small. I've prepared a small town here as a starting poing of our development...
Our story starts in July 1932. From this point, the Natural Growth rules will apply, so this is where the real fun starts. So, what do we have?
- There are 750 people living in this town right now.
- The main road leading out of the town, highway 42, is just a dirt road. There's no funding yet to upgrade to an asphalted road, as the town can't afford its maintenance.
- There is a railway next to the town, but trains won't stop here, as there is no station yet.
- There are some basic facilities for the citizens. There is a small police station and fire station, as well as a elementary school, a clinic and a graveyard.
- The water supply is plentyful, though dirty water is... well... just dumped out in the open. There are no funds yet for proper water treatment.
- There is a small gas power plant. It can barely keep up with the demand, so it may require some new facilities to be built here...
- There is a waste dump present with plenty of space.
- In the town center, there is a church. The people in this town hold this place very dear and people gather around here weekly on Sundays. The church is at this point over 75 years old.
- There's plenty of demand for new homes and some demand for new commecial activities.
- The current budget of the city is $12 500, with a weekly income of around $400
And just to wrap it up, here are some areal shots to get an idea of the current geography
The stage has been set. Let's see where it will take us next time.So, what do you think we should do? Any suggestions are welcome. Take a seat in the city council and let your voice be heard!
Take care and see you next time!
-- Maarten (MandelSoft)
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