Chester
Entry 28: Pololomia -- Chester
Sorry for the delay but Simtropolis has been down in the last several days and has been recently quite choppy.
Now then, this next area is one I'm particularly proud of as I crammed in a whole bunch of stuff: railways, railyards, diagonal areas, a highway, a rural suburb and quite a bit more!
1.
To the right is the M7 motorway. To the left, between the M7 and the railway lines is Chester. Further right of the M7 is the start of South Chester.
2.
Just a simple MWH interchange.
3.
A very light industrial area (small factories) right next to the M7 and the railyards.
4.
5.
6.
Making good use of Simmer2's railyards and railway sidings.
7.
This scene wouldn't have been possible two years ago!
8.
For the tree fillers I mainly use SFBT's diagonal fillers (complete with fences) and Gn_leugim's Forest Parks. For the fence at the top of the picture I used FrankU's Dutch Parks.
9.
The good thing about Simmer2's railway lots is that they are big and excellent fillers...
10.
The downside is fitting them into an area as they take up a lot of space!
11.
One final challenge are the dirt textures which occur on the RRW when they come into contact with lots. I use dirt tile lots (which have an almost similar texture) and SFBT's diagonal dirt/forest fillers to create those seamless textures.
12.
Chester has an odd shape because to the south there's the M7 motorway, to the west, north and east are various railways which define the perimeter of Chester.
13.
The next several pictures are from the diagonal suburb squeezed between the two railways.
14.
I've been experimenting with diagonal areas before but I always held back on the scale. Now I'm creating diagonal areas the size of several city blocks to really break the grid.
15.
16.
I wish there were more diagonal housing sets, but I make do with what I have!
17.
If there were FA housing sets and adequate FA fillers I would be gridbusting all over the place. With those kind of toys I could make SC4 look like Cities: Skylines, I kid you not.
18.
Now we're coming to the centre part of Chester.
19.
If there are enough trees then it's possible to place in limited factories/warehouses of a small size.
20.
The idea behind this area is as follows: it was built in Victorian times (19th century) with the factory in the centre, the owners of the factory built worker housing surrounding it. The worker housing is the terraces, so they are small but densely packed.
21.
This would have been a very small town but the city of Pololomia expanded so much in the 20th century that it gobbled up the old Chester.
22.
Another future project is building a British city. Throw in some modern Dutch buildings, which can substitute for late 20th century UK housing developments, and it should be possible to create an entire city tile chock full of British architecture.
23.
The point is Chester is a small prototype of a much larger future project.
24.
25.
26.
Now we move to the east parts of Chester and this is where it gets interesting!
27.
This is where I chuck in more rural, and larger, lots to create a rural suburban feel.
28.
And sometimes it's good to have boundaries- such as the M7 motorway.
29.
Boundaries create gaps between transit tiles and RCI tiles, these gaps can be filled up with MMPs!
30.
Thankfully the MHW is very MMP friendly- even the diagonal and FA sections are very MMP friendly.
31.
This allowed me to create fields going right up to the motorway and also small woodland areas to mask the gridded residential.
32.
The rural suburb is the final stage between the city suburb and the countryside- a countryside that is either natural or comprised of fields or both.
33.
For the areas between the houses and the M7 I decided to go for a light MMP approach.
34.
The large 7x7 lots, to the left, are from C.P.'s Victorian Houses.
35.
They are incredibly versatile since they can be used as a lone hamlet or for the creation of super low density residential or for US Mid-West areas...
36.
And this allows the area to breathe... To be open and freer as we move closer towards the countryside.
37.
38.
39.
At last we come to the countryside and the transition is complete!
40.
The use of small woodland areas is something rather British as little pockets of woodland can be seen approaching various villages and towns in the UK.
41.
42.
And the final overview of Chester.
This Saturday I will post an update on Cindersville- the latest city tile I am developing. This time I'm ditching the uber-flat terrain and instead I'm building on hills and in valleys.
Thanks a lot for your comments and likes! I really appreciate it. 
-
13
-
1
-
1
6 Comments
Recommended Comments
Sign In or register to comment...
To comment in reply, you must be a community member
Sign In
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In NowCreate an Account
Sign up to join our friendly community. It's easy!
Register a New Account