Patricius Maximus

It seems that all the oil tankers are at sea. Perhaps to collect oil from Franklin County or for export elsewhere. Ah, impeachment process. I wouldn't initiate any impeachment against a fellow member at this time. I agree with Sedimenjerry. The pier extension is the DWR's concern. Patricius Maximus, Head of the Department of Transportation

This is my 636th post here. I'll have my 666th post here also. - Patricius Maximus

Yes, we do have a few BATers over here. As hamish said, not many, but we do have them. I'm a newbie when it comes to BATing and modelling. I have found, however, that my talent seems to lie in BAT signmaking. A couple examples are in my CJ, Franklin County. Lastly, I agree that ST needs a project of it's own comparable to the ones at SC4D. The custom content section has been kind of dry for the past few years.

I don't have a high opinion of the Simcity Box. First of all, I have most of the content in it anyway. Secondly, the only way to get the Destinations expansion for SCS is to buy the whole box so EA can squeeze another $20 out of you. Putting Destinations in the Simcity Box is a kind of insurance for sales. Example -- a person buys the box, and hates SCS and it's expansion, but loves SC4. Naturally, the person would keep the box and not return it. Lastly, the Simcity hardcore are perplexed over the reason for buying the Box. However, I can think of a niche for it. Suppose a newcomer to the city-building genre couldn't decide if he wanted the complexity of SC4, or another "Simcity" game such as SCS or SCC. He wouldn't want to dish out a total of $50 for the three games. But he can buy the Simcity Box for $20 and see which one he likes for the price of one. Just a hypothetical situation. I don't think that it's a big niche to fill, but it is a way that the Box can get a trickle of revenue. - Patricius Maximus

When you get interchange mania, as I have

HIGH RISES IN CENTRAL FRANKLIN REPLIES: deathtopumpkins: 1) Thanks. 2) I remember as well... 3) It does seem to be getting big. sedimenjerry: I have considered and done it many times. A few examples are in the Patrician Showcase. I mainly use the BLAM fillers. Also, that Kenner Dinner Theatre must be a nightmare to get into . Goldfish4209: I have noticed that myself. I've downloaded some housing and offices from the LEX, so it should add some variety. crazyarchitect: Proposal accepted. Just pick out a building from the STEX or LEX and provide a link. bluemoose: Suggestion accepted. Also, I think you should try to isolate the cause of those brain blackouts. psander5: Suggestion accepted. Since East and Central Franklin are still conurbating, it won't be long until they close in on each other. I have downloaded and plopped the Wye Station in the area, and I am amazed how it blends in with the development: In Central Franklin, the first true high rises have been built. This one is an office building: And this one is the headquarters of the newly established newspaper for the region, the Franklin Chronicles: About a kilometer away, in East Franklin, a new subdivision has been built to house new immigrants that wish to work in Central Franklin: Meanwhile, in East Valley, the cliff spring has finally dried up: Also, some new houses have been built in East Valley for the residents who got wealthy from the coal mining: In Northeast Plains, some new houses have been constructed along SR-330. They were inspired by the designs of legendary architect Vlakhass. Lastly, some more shops have been built to attract more businesses and residents to Northeast Plains: That's all for this update. Feel free to post any of your comments, questions, and suggestions.

The Department of Transportation, in light of the misnaming, approves the renaming of the street to Portview Drive. I also support the installation of PEG 1 x 2 solar plants instead of the Maxis plant. To anyone who feels annoyed by the Utilities Commission: You can vote against Supercity124 in the next election if you choose to. There is little you can do about it at the moment. Patricius Maximus, Head of the Department of Transportation

You've got me beat as well. I see the volleyball picture now. The mistake I made was looking where you had the orange "no pic" label and not reading the signs . Anyway, I'm looking forward to more of your work.

The Department of Transportation has a plan to alleviate the traffic problems on the Coast Highway. Port Boulevard will be upgraded to a Full Road from the refinery area in the bottom of the pic to the Coast Highway. The Coast Highway upgrade will extend through the residential district. The DOT also recommends that the intersection of Port Blvd. with Coast Hy. near the oil derrick be replaced with a roundabout. The DOT leaves the roundabout portion at the discretion of the mayor. On another note, the update looks good. Hampus Villiage is turning out to be a nice looking area. I like the retaining walls. Patricius Maximus, Head of the Department of Transportation

A TRAVELLER'S PERSPECTIVE REPLIES: deathtopumpkins: 1) A complex situation. I see that you're showing it off in your "other" CJ. 2) I prefer to plop them myself, but thanks for the recommendation. 3) It's part of an "overall" plan for the area that I can't show quite yet . sedimenjerry: No, I couldn't . Splime: 1) I use the California defintiton of a freeway and an expressway. For more info, see below. 2) I'm glad you like it. rjm35: Development is commencing in some spots. jacqulina: Thanks. **ANOUNCEMENTS** I would like to give the definitions I use for "expressways" and "freeways" within my regions. To meet my definition of a freeway a road must fulfill these criteria: 1. A divided highway with at least 2 lanes in each direction. 2. Total control of access with no at-grade intersections. 3. No entrances to structures. To be classified as an expressway a road must fulfill these criteria: 1. At least 2 lanes in each direction. 2. No entrances to residential structures. 3. Partial control of access. Those who follow the Show Us Your Interchanges! thread know that I have developed a parclo classification system for my personal use. It is based on the Ontario system, and neatly describes every parclo I have built with three-character efficiency. Here's how it works: First Character: ‘A’ is used if there is 2 full loop ramps in opposite quadrants. ‘B’ is used if there is 2 full loop ramps in adjacent quadrants. ‘C’ is used if there is only 1 full loop ramp. Second Character: 1, 2, 3, or 4 is how many quadrants the interchange contains. Third Character: 0, 1, 2, or 3 is how many quadrants contain only directional ramps and no loop ramps. Today we will take a trip down the new freeway from the perspective of a southbound traveller. This update uses signs from Kurumi's SignMaker program (link). Some numbers of the freeways are subject to change in the future. This was inspired by DTP's Other Cities, which uses signs from the program. In every photo, the direction we're headed is at the top. Also note that my pictures are compressed to 800 x 600, but the full resolution image is avaliable by clicking on the image. The signs may look awkward when compressed, so click on the images for best clarity. For reference, here is a map showing the junctions along the freeway: We start in the far north, in East Lebanon, on a roundabout. (Yes, the number of the freeway is SR-51). We go south to Junction 1, which is a volleyball interchange: Going furthur along there is Junction 2, a cloverstack interchange: Then we pass under I-14: Approaching Junction 3, signs signal a collector road and a diamond interchange. The collector sign is blue according to the region's standards: And we pass under Main Street: And here is a new parclo in a new town called Adamsburg. The parclo is an A20 under my classification. And we now go furthur south to Junction 5, the Semi-Directional T in the previous update. A few kilometers south and we come across another new parclo. This one is also an A20. Entering Fort Centralis, the median widens and the freeway splits in a Semi-Directional T and merges into I-409: Going eastbound, a sign informs us that SR-51 ends here: Another Semi-Directional T takes traffic to Main Avenue: I-609 curves and has an interchange with Eastern boulevard: Furthur along, in Lakeview, two signs inform drivers of their options on the cloverleaf interchange with I-9: And after that I-409 ends and turns into an at-grade avenue: And, as shown previously, the road terminates at the beachfront: Please note that the at-grade stretch after I-609 is classified as City Route 609. That is all for this update. In the next update, some development will be shown in the area, along with a few new interchanges. Please post comments and/or suggestions.

Site A for me. It is on a nice, flat location, no water reclamation is required, and it's close to the rest of the region. I like the region view and the labels.

To put the question to rest, the area mentioned is owned by the City of Virgin Shores. I do not see any use of power lines either, because they are underground in developed areas as mandated by Ordinance 2a. DTP: I see that you've put a link to my CJ's in your sig. I think it is a great compliment for any CJ. Thank you. Archean: Have you looked in the seaport menu? The Department of Transportation reports that Center Street has no problems, and is getting it's use. The installation of a roundabout on the western intersection will prove to be more efficient for the area as long as traffic volumes are not high. Patricius Maximus, Head of the Virgin Shores Department of Transportation,

I see that my reply banner has been used. It looks great. That substation looks good also. The DOT has nothing to report at the moment.

Here's mine:

For posting misinformation. The map is not in his sig, it's his avatar.

I'll be looking out for the new update. And for my residence I pick this one: It's a nice little house, and it's at the center of new developments. I can also visit the museum .

Congrats Haljackey! You've hit 15,000 views! Perhaps you should remove the question mark .

THE BOOM FADES AND CENTRAL FRANKLIN BUILDS UP REPLIES: deathtopumpkins: 1) Not through Forest Bluff. 2) Glad you like them. 3) Well, it's supposed to be binobi: 1) It does seem so. 2) At some point, yes. It's mostly low-rise at the moment. sedimenjerry: 1) Page Flip Bug. Change the STARTPAGE number. 2) It's up north, but nowhere near the Arctic Circle. It is midsummer after all. 3) Perhaps a new bypass can be built... 4) Well, it's about a thousand kilometers away. First of all, here is a region view showing all the new developments: Click for FULL resolution. The housing boom has faded out to previous levels. The real estate developer, having made millions, is getting ready to move out to other ventures. He's looking all over Franklin County and Virgin Shores for people to sell the remainder of his land to. In Hanging Cliff, some limited growth has occured on SR-330 as the last gasps of the housing boom: Also, the roundabout at the terminus of the trumpet spur has been upgraded to an avenue roundabout: On the roundabout, several shops have coagulated into a strip mall. The mall was designed according to the Simgoober Plop-A-Shop model. Lastly, in the residential district, I was thinking of replacing this passenger rail station with a custom station. If anyone knows of a station that would fit in here, please reccomend it. Meanwhile, in Central Franklin, bunsinesses have continued to build out eastward. Notice that the intersection has been converted into a roundabout: Lastly, some of Franklin County's first tall buildings have been built in Central Franklin here: That's all for today. As always, please post your comments, suggestions, and questions.

I am aware of the price drop. I've seen it go from $60 to $20 in my local stores in less than a year. Contrast that with SC4, which started at $50 and went down to $20 in 3 years. I wouldn't be surprised if SCS went down to $10 in a year or so. Games that are 15 years old are selling at at least that much. Also, the nearest Target to me had more copies of SCS than SC4, which indicates that SCS's five-year-old predecessor is still outselling it. Pathetic. - Patricius Maximus

The Department of Transportation approves an upgrade for Center Street to a Full Road from the western junction in Hampi's illustration to the next junction to the east. The DOT recommends the upgrade regardless of whether the southern land will be taken or not, since it will likely be developed in the future. On another note, I wouldn't mind having a residence in Virgin Shores. Just make it a mid-wealth house, since it'll only be part-time .

Looks very British. A roundabout with right turn ramps. If there won't be heavy traffic, it'll function just fine.

I like it, especially the microwave plant and the interchanges. Looking forward to the next update, and congratulations on your milestone

This kind of reminds me of my own Patrician Showcase. You have a great opening, and I see some interchanges that look similar to mine . I love the sloping, and the signs added into the pics. I also see that you took my suggestion about the volleyball interchange. Overall a great start. - Patricius Maximus

RECONSTRUCTION FOR THE FUTURE REPLIES: sedimenjerry: 1) No problem. 2) Yes. There is a transfer every 5 km or so. Splime: 1) Thanks. 2) Hmm... With high volume yes. With low volume no. For example, this intersection on the Central Expressway near San Jose: haljackey: 1) Thank you. 2) I tried to make it compact, so it may be a little curvy . deathtopumpkins: 1) Maybe and maybe not 2) Really? Perhaps you should build a volleyball there. They're very compact, and they grade-seperate the two freeways. sedimenjerry: It'll be upgraded more than that... The new freeway is complete. Here is a map of the junctions: Also, Junctions 2 and 3 have been reconstructed in anticipation of heavy traffic in the future. The new interchange combines a diamond and a colverstack with overpasses and C/D roads to eliminate weaving on the freeway. Here is a closeup of the diamond portion: And the cloverstack: Furthur along, in the newly completed portions, we come across Junction 5, which is a parclo interchange: Going eastbound we enter the limits of Fort Centralis, a major commercial center. It terminates into a Maxis highway at Junction 6, via a Semi-Directional T: The highway continues eastbound towards the beach, intersecting a few avenues along the way. This stretch of freeway is older than most in Patian County. Furthur eastbound, another avenue intersects the freeway. Notice the elevated rail system: It then intersects another freeway with an older cloverleaf interchange, one of the few in the region: As it approaches the beach, it turns into an at-grade avenue, and terminates at the beachfront. Please post comments and/or suggestions.

That reassures me. I was having some worries about the transit system. Transit is the most important aspect of my city-building. Without lots of transit options, you can count me out of CXL . I would advise using the RHW project as a guide as to what people want with their freeways. I'd also like some turning lane roads, 6-lane boulevards, medianless boulevards, and stuff like that. Also, I'd like some reversible lanes! This is one thing no modder can do in SC4. It'd be nice in my cities if I could have a reversible expressway, such as this one in Sydney: I'd leave it up to you people how to make this work in-game . Lastly, I can wait until after release for a BAT Tool. Just look at the SC4 BAT