CTMandR

Well...It depends, are you talking about Midtowns and Downtowns, or Suburban areas? I see One-ways in residential downtowns, but never in the suburbs

Phew, ok, I'll try to answer all of these the best I can. Hopefully they help! 1. The most widely accepted mod is the NAM, or Network Addon Mod. It changes and improves a lot of things with the games transportation simulation, so for most newcomers people say it is a must. One thats also used is the CAM, or Colossal Addon Mod, which adds different growth levels to building, allowing much taller structures to be built. Those are the main ones, others are sorta add-them-if-you-like sort of mods, including terrain mods. 2. I don't quite understand U-Drive-It mode either, I always thought it was a sort of last-minute add-on to make the game have more appeal to players. However, whenever it says negative mayor rating, that most of the time means in the specific area where you completed the mission, so overall mayor rating isn't affected as much as the mayor rating in the particular area. 3. ...No #3? 4. Rewards like the large high school, large elementary, and large water pumps don't need to be built immediately. In fact, in some cases I never build these, because I can always use the smaller high schools and elementary schools. if you do decide to build these, however, be sure to check the funding bar. If you query it, you can adjust funding to have a certain number of students, so you can adjust the number to the amount of students currently attending. That makes maintenance cheaper in many cases, evening out income/spending. 5. I don't really have set tactics. My cities are for more visual realism, so I don't plan on making large cities most of the time. I'm sure someone else out there has a much better strategy then what I use. Sorry, can't help much here. 6. Buses! buses work wonders, especially if you place them everywhere. Also when your streets and roads get too clogged, one-way roads are great, but, they gotta go in both directions. A lot of the time I use a couple of train lines, but they're not everywhere. Ground Light Rail (it comes with the NAM) is great because it puts elevated rail trains in avenues and roads, and subways are also great, but slow down the simulator. This is just stuff you can use to alleviate congestion, not really a walk-through. 7. I gradually play. I know some people pause, zone everything and make sure everything is correct, and then hit play, but I can't really do that stuff. I usually jump around the city while the simulator is on, and when I have nothing to do fast forward. Population doesn't need to follow years. My population jumps sometimes, and sometimes just lingers around a certain number, there isn't really a set graph or anything as far as population vs. years of gameplay. 8. I personally think regions are really important, for realism as well as developing. There are people that can build one stand-alone city, but for most of us having at least a few neighboring cities really makes the central one develop much much faster. It takes more time, but in the end you get a really nice massive city. 9. Airports alleviate Commercial demand caps. This allows more commercial offices and services to be built. Seaports just transport freight out of your city, I don't know if they alleviate any industrial caps. 10. The Simulator in SC4 is designed to prefer freight trucks. The only way to get the Freight station to get used is to cut-off road access out of the city, or download a lot that only doesn't allow freight trucks out of the city, or download a mod that makes the game prefer freight train over freight truck. Theres a couple other ones I can't think of at the moment, but they're out there. Ok! I think I covered everything, although I'm sure someone else can answer these much better, I've just done them the best I could off the top of my head. Good luck!

lordmungus: You bring up a very good point with the buses, and I think this is also what the council was leaning towards. Thank you for your input! hope you like the next update! Bergulf: I see you're new, nice that you like my CJ! and hope you follow it! As for the GLR line, I was thinking about extending it as well, but I don't think there could be a seperate route for it. I could, however, re-route the mainline so the more scenic area, and make the GLR go where the main road is right now. I also like the idea of look-outs, I think i'll add them. Thank you for all your suggestions, and i'm from the USA, Southwest actually, I just like more Northwestern areas. I'll also PM you about those bus routes, it would be very helpful to have that kind of transit map. Paul5: Those roundabouts came with the NAM, when installing, look under roundabouts and street roundabouts, there should be a check. Thank you for your comment! hope you follow my CJ! In other News: (like my new proposal descision banners?) The recent city proposal to build a new GLR line has passed! However, the council is still debating whether the GLR line will be on its seperate track or in the main road. That descision will be made soon, and construction will begin immedietly afterwards. Without further deliberation....the! “Going through Valencia, it seemed that the town was still a nice little place, with the small town feel. I passed by a rail station, which I thought was odd, given the steep terrain in this area.” “The bus followed the rail line, which led past city lines, and into Gertmond, the newly established city I was supposed to be in. Though Gertmond is very new, it already has a population of around 1,200 people, the majority of which work for the single Iron mine and Coal pit.” “I arrived and went to the mayors house. He was a very tall and thin man, someone who typically wears a top hat and seems to take charge easily. He greeted me and invited me in for coffee and tea. The Mayor told me all about how it was great that there was the discovery of Coal and Iron here, otherwise the city wouldn’t have been formed. The industry is the life blood of the city, and sustains 90% of the population. However, he regrets letting them expand, because recently there have been many complaints of people getting sick due to bad air, and he was recently forced to put in a local police station, because crime had gotten crippling in the area. He then told me about how the city is developing farther away from the mining site, but still within city lines, and told me that’s great, because Crime won’t be so bad there, and its farther away from the negative effects of Iron and Coal processing.” “The mayor also told me that Gertmond has a small farming community, but that that’s being overrun by suburbs.” “The mayor looked a little sober after telling me these things, maybe he didn’t like the direction his city was taking…but, suddenly he seemed to lighten up, and pulled a photo from his drawer…” “He said to me ‘This is the favorite part of my quaint town! It’s a small mountain route that leads up to a pond, surrounded by curious boulders, I occasionally like to go up this route and view my city, breathing in fresh mountain air and taking in the majestic views.’ He seemed like a man fond of nature. I wonder how he got to be mayor of a…rather dirty city. Finally, he showed me something that the mining companies were proposing.” This is where you can Vote! Gertmond Mining Inc. wants to create a new Coal pit, and well as proccessing facility. It promises at least twice as many taxes as the city currently has. However, it also promises to bring along increased crime, pollution, and fire threat. Some say with these new taxes, the mayor can beautify other areas. Others talk about wasting all the taxes on police, firefighters, and pollution cleaners. “The mayor seemed kinda against it, as I would expect. But, he said that it could bring the city lots of money, money he could use to make the surrounding area nice. Lastly, I left his house with a photo:” “I seemed to be getting a lot of city overviews as gifts these days. Anyway, it was back to where I started now, LexingtonBay. I read in the paper that there was an eruption between a land owner and the city council recently, as well as large debates over where to develop next. Looks like Lexington Bay is going to be the first city to grow up instead of out.” That's all for this update! stay tuned! I hope I can make the next one Xtra large, because the past few were so small. As always, suggestions and comments are what I love!

Bergulf: Yeah, the roads are pretty cheap and ncie by themselves, but, congestion will get the best of them eventually. And thank you for the comment! I hope you follow my CJ! panoz360xbox: Those are part of PEG's Marina kit, which can be found on the STEX or the SimPlex, and thank you!

Paul5: I was considering building a highway as opposed to a 2-lane road, but for the moment my RHW mod is not working, so i'll either have to fix it or use the Maxis highways. For now, Highways are just in the planning stage, but soon to come! Thanks for commenting! lordmungus: I agree with every point you have there. I too found that the area where the expansion will be is very thin, and have yet not found a solution, because both sides are developed to the shores. As well, an increase in traffic would be pretty undesirable, as that road is already one of the main thouroughfares in the area. All in all, you bring up some good points, ones that I beleive shifted the councils veiws on this new development. I hope you continue to follow my CJ! thanks for commenting! In other news: The proposal up for the expansion and joining of the two Marina's has been rejected, the main reasons being cited are proximity to opposite shore and a current lack of funds. However, a new one has already entered! Stay tuned to see. “Today was a cloudy day, and as I got onto the bus the whole world seemed to be getting darker. I was still a bit tired from the last day, so I took a nap on the bus ride to Tavlon. When I got to Tavlon again, it seemed that all the fog cleared! It was once again a sunny day in BrookStone. I heard about a new district up on the Mesa above Tavlon, so I hopped on another bus and took this great road up, which I remember used to be a street.” “I got to the downtown area, and looked around. This was a very nice new development! There were high-end shops, offices, and nice middle-wealth stores as well! It seems Tavlon is coming along well. I wasn’t to meet the mayor this time, as I was actually supposed to be heading towards a completely new city recently established south of Valencia, but I thought that I would check out new developments here, and they were stunning!” ”I even checked out a new industrial district, built because of the greater production of logs in the area.” “I went down the road farther, and there were even houses right up near the city lines.” “I thought of how much development there was, and then it occurred to me that maybe they’re planning more, so I quickly took a bus back down the road, and slipped into the building where the council usually meets to discuss issues, I was just in time.” This is where you can Vote! Since the recent developments in the mesa above Tavlon, there has been a rush of new people, and traffic. The recent road upgrade has alleviated much of it, however planners predict that in the near future, capacity will have to be doubled or there might be 24-hour traffic jams. The route cannot be widened for an avenue, so the next best thing is a Light Rail line, which would run from the mainstreet of old Tavlon to the mainstreet of new Tavlon, and this is supposed to alleviate the traffic. Many are for this proposal. However there are a key few that argue that buses work just as well, but for far less money. “They were debating over a new LRT Line, and most people seemed to be for it, because of the added traffic. I also saw an overview of the city and its new developments.” “New Tavlon was in the upper right, while the original Tavlon was on the bottom left. That concluded the meeting for the council members, and I saw that the time was already 1p, which means I would be late! I quickly got on another bus (so many buses! I love the transit system!) and rode my way out of town. I would be going through Valencia and into the new city, Gertmond, which I heard was founding on a discovery of coal.” That concludes this update! it is rather short, as I am still working on the new city. As always, your suggestions and comments matter to me! I will always address comments in my new update, so if I don't reply immedietly, well...may patience be with you!

I have to be 3rd to agree that making a large region really takes time, as most of mine I have been working on for well over 5 months. There isn't really a good way to make development go faster unless you have a super demand mod, or lots of money. Also, Mikeaut 1 made a good point with the transportation network, since thats what I start on first. Highways, railways, Transit networks, and even some Ave's and roads is what I start out with. For me, maintenance never seems to be too big of a problem when starting out cities, since I develop enough to bring in good taxes.

Wow, thats really incredible! It all looks so good as well! I wonder when  you'll cross the river, and start developing there.

No problem, and thank you! Also, you make a very good point with the development, but since I already have the next update, it would be a little odd to change it, so I'll inform the council, and this issue will probably come up in a later update.

“I rolled into the town of Demin, and got off at the…rather small train stop. Now I just needed to find my hotel…” “I went across a small bridge and found it, it was more like a motel than a hotel, but there was a convenience store nearby, which was great!” “Tomorrow I would begin my small tour of Demin, but for now I had to sleep. In the morning, I got up and met the mayor personally, and he told me about how Demin is a so-called “emerging city” as its located on a steep hill, not many people wanted to build, however there has been a recent boom in housing, most people commute to Inangrahm or Lockheart to work.” “He explained Demin doesn’t have much to show for, and has literally no tourism. Its home to some small suburbs, and a train maintenance shed, because this is the end of the line. Other than that, there are some people that are daring enough to come and climb the nearby mountain, Mt.Cloak.” “After a short walk around the town, the Mayor invited me for tea, and I graciously accepted. Following that, I took the train out of the city. I was back to Calgary, to check on development there.” "After tea it was only about noon, since Demin is so small, we travelled around the entire city in around 3 hours. I thanked the mayor for his hospitality and made my whay down to the train station, and caught the 1 o'clock train out of town. I was heading back for Calgary, because i've heard word that they've created a whole new waterfront area." That's all for this update! Unfortunately I beleive my outlying cities are rather...dull and boring, maybe thats just because they're outlying. However, I am considering giving each one a unique trait or development no other one has, or just avoiding boring ones all together, hopefully the next updates will be much more eventful! Also, some might notice a new BrookStone Regional banner, because i now have two sets of "BrookStone Region" and "Replies" banners, and i'm planning on creating more, so be on the lookout!

lordmungus: That's part of the NAM, and can be checked off when installing. I don't know which part of the NAM, but its under one of the options. And now, the... “It was real early in the morning for me, 6:00am, but I had to be somewhere my noon, and I knew my trip would be a while. I’m traveling from Valencia back across the map to Lockheart, via the only rail line in the region.” l (How could I miss that misplaced peice? V ) “Lockheart is located just south of LexingtonBay, in a mesa. It’s a very industrial city, with logging companies being allowed to set up large operations in some areas, and industrial companies serving the logging companies but also the entire region. On a side note, it was interesting how this region's trains have changed so abrubtly from TGV's To Amtracks...I don't know which I like better!” “Lockheart has just 1,500 residents, but can boast the largest train yard in the region, and a major processing center for manufactured and raw goods.” “As is stepped off the station, I headed towards Lockheart’s small government building, where I would be given a tour. I stepped inside the building and was promptly greeted by someone named fred. He said he would lead me around town for today.” “we got into his car and started driving around, and the first spot he showed me was Lockheart’s biggest logging operation, producing around 50-100 logs per day. He then brought me around to Lockheart’s rail yard.” “He said to me that since there isn’t much to see in Lockheart, there aren’t many people that travel through here, and hence most of the government workers are for transportation and environment, as well as economy. He told me that he was actually an environmentalist worker, but substituted as the manager of tourism. after the show at the rail yard, Fred showed me around the Lockheart’s emerging suburbs, where many of the middle-classmen stay, then he brought me back to the government building, to show me an overview and a new proposal.” “the proposal was to upgrade the now single-track line out of the city on the East side to a double-track line, allowing for more industry to be built.” This is where you can vote! The council of Lockheart wants to upgrade this single-track line to a double-track line, in order to line up with the double-track line already established in Calgary. Many say this is a good idea, as it will allow for more freight trains to pass through the city, thereby increasing industrial traffic and output. However, some say the money could be better allocated, like to the establishment of an educational system. “He also showed me a photo of an area that has been purchased by developers, and will become new suburbs very soon.” “I hope the developers build this area soon...its so...boring now. We went back to the government quarters, and before I said goodbye, Fred handed me a photo, it wasn’t a postcard, but the tourists shops that are here usually use this one. After that, I bid goodbye to Fred, and made my way back to the train station. I would be in the next town by 8, with just enough time to check into my hotel.” Thats all for now! and look out for a new introduction page within the next day or two!

wow, i'm considering putting more trees down after seeing that region! I usually download a custom region from the STEX, take a good look at it, and indentify where a downtown would look best, I start at that city, making it a small community, and then from there, work on the cities surrounding it. After theres enough demand, I slowly start building upwards, which sometimes means re-zoning areas to fit better and changing roads. But in the end, I always come out with a nice gradual region. Suburbs, then midtowns, and then finally downtown. I never develop on hills or mountains unless I can think of a reason why, like super-high demand or if theres mining or logging operations. Doing this seems to create a pretty realistic city to me, but of no particular regional style

lordmungus: You bring up a very good point, and I think your opinion will be the deciding factor when the council votes! In other News: The council has recently voted to upgrade the street! With many residents voting "ahh, why not", work will begin soon. “I was sitting in the bus, looking around…not too many people, a couple farmers, a old lady, and that was about it. I was headed down from the mountains into a valley, where the town of Valencia sits, with a population just over 700 residents.” “The ride wasn’t that long, maybe 20 minutes, half an hour at best. I stepped off in front of some shop, I was guessing these were in the only shops in town. To my surprise, the mayor of the town came up to greet me! He took me back to his house so we could talk about the town, and I could jot down some notes.” “The Mayor told me about how up until recent the town was just a shy 400 residents, living in the valley and tending to the handful of farms (one of which happens to be a famous palm tree growing farm).” “He said that now, due to the ‘explosion’ of development in Tavlon and Calgary, that the plains just above the valley are also starting to be developed, and that he feels its an unfortunate turn for such a town, where he believed that the new development will bring unwanted crime and congestion to the city.” “We took a walk down main street, and he told me that every store that stands has been here for at least 30 years, save for the new K Mart that opened 1 year ago. I talked to the mayor about what was further down the road. He said this is the last point of civilization until you get to Hans, which is about 100, 150 miles down the road. I asked if there were any hotels, he said that there were none, but for tonight I would sleep at his house. (By the way, this mayor’s guest bed is extremely comfy)” (On a side note, sorry for the short update, i've been working on updating the introduction page, and haven't had much time to play SimCity recently. However, I hope you all still enjoy this update!)

jrhnemo: Thank you very much! I hope you will be following my CJ! Shulmanator: Thanks! stoney525: Thank you! And I am using Jeronij's modern wall set, if you go on SC4D, they have it here. As for the Marina's, I'm using PEG's marina set, you can find them if you search the STEX, but they're all bundled at simpeg.com In other News: With the recent voting on Calgary's new devlopment, the proposal has passed! It was close, with 65% voting for and 35% voting against, but the proposal passed, and work will begin Immedietly! “Gasp! My room, it didn’t have an alarm clock! What? 11:30a already?! How is this possible? I got onto the nearest bus, and after a few changes, I was well on my way to Tavlon, the next village I was visiting. I heard a couple of things about it before; around 1,600 residents, and nestled high up in the hills outside Calgary. I also heard that Tavlon is most notable for its pristine ponds and lakes, given that there are extremely few visible freshwater sources in BrookStone.” “I went up a windy road and got off at the bus stop of what appeared to be the main street of the town….village, Tavlon could be either.” “I made my way up to the mayor’s house, where he personally greeted me and invited me in. He proceeded to tell me about how Tavlon is a very mixed town, with a healthy population of everything except for commercial office and agricultural. However, he said that the original industrial park has become too noisy and polluting for many of the citizens, but that they bring in so much of the town’s taxes that he can’t afford to let them go.” “He told me many of these industries serve the nearby forestry company. He showed me a little map of his future plans near the forestry company:” This is what the citizens of Tavlon (You!) can vote on! This route serves as one of the two roads that lead out of the town, and for now a section of it is still a gravel street, as opposed to paved road. Its getting heavier traffic now, due to development higher up in the hills, however paving a road would require a more shallow angle of ascent, meaning that upgrading the street would mean changing the route its on, disturbing surrounding wildlife. However, it still remains that this street is getting far more traffic, and has higher maintenance costs because of the extra load. “After his proposal the Mayor then proceeded to walk with me to the town’s power plant, water tower, and largest pond, Hobs pond. These three are the town’s focal point for tourists.” “From here I bid my good-bye to the mayor, and walked down to my strangely modern motel in such a small town….oh well.” “Tommorrow I’m going to keep going along the road, I reckon eventually the buses will turn around, and I believe this city is on the farthest reaches of BrookStone.”

I can't beleive i'm saying this, but impressive parking lots! An especially nice touch with the elevated Pedmall tiles, I can never seem to get my parking lots too well. And, where did you get the Royal Seaview Hotel?

Wow! really big improvement since the last time I popped in to look! Your cities are coming along extremely well, and are looking much more realistic to me (even though that might not be your intention). However, I do agree with Sky Guy that you should get a slope mod, but other than that everything is well! As far as the monorail goes, it seems fitting that it ends there, however if you want to extend it, the line could run to South Blackheath and into lake Warragamba. By the way, this is the original slope mod I used: https://www.simtropolis.com/stex/details.cfm?id=18043 However, if you just look up 'Slope Mod' on the STEX your bound to find a ton, or the LEX has some good ones, like Jeronij's, which i'm currently using

Great use of the Single Tracks, for Spurs! and your industrial buildings are very great. Keep it up, i'll be looking forward to new posts

"Hmph, how come I was the one tasked to this small, so-called 'developing' area? I mean, its hardly developing, and with 17,000 residents, its really quite small." "Anyway, I arrived at the largest docks, at Lexington bay, and could tell that this is also home to a lot of fishermen. I got off the boat and checked my watch. I had a couple hours until I had to meet the mayor and district comitee, so I thought I would walk around." "Right off the docks I saw a couple of souvenir shops and a lone gas station, this seemed like the main street of the entire town....not much to shop around with, but everything was very clean and seemed like the shops that were here were very nice shops. I continued to walk down the road, I was headed towards some Marina's I saw on the ferry ride here." "And I must say these boats are very nice for this small town, maybe they're summer boats for wealthy business men...and the actual docks themselves are very nice too, I'm impressed! However, it was time to make my way down to the council house, and I began walking back." "The Council house was situated on a hill overlooking the city, next to the few other wealthy homes in town. I was greeted by the mayor himself, and he told me that there have recently been a few new suburbs popping up, and proceeded to show me a couple photos:" "Already my veiws on this region were beginning to change, maybe this is the beginning of a large metropolis. Once we were done with the photos, he showed me what was before the council, a decision to let developers build on a plain higher up in the mountains." This is what you can vote on! The council must decide whether or not to let this area be developed, and your vote could heavily influence their opinion! if it is not developed, the mayor proposes a natural habitat for surrounding species, although that would take heavily out of Regional budget, and there are a slew of other spaces available. However, many say this is prime land, not to be tampered with. "once I got done at the council, it was getting late, I grabbed dinner at a local diner and settled in. Tommorrow I will be visiting the Regions largest city, Calgary." "Thats my Hotel, by the way, very cozy, i'll be well prepared for tommorrow!"

Looking good, I like the custom content in Doherty! On a side note, whats that big building in the center of the photo of Doherty?

This CJ looks really promising, I especially like the city blocks, and how you took your time to name the different neighborhoods in your city (Mostly because I do it to, heh)

Looking very good! Its hard to beleive the improvement since the first post! its looks like your have really steep cliffs right near your apartment buildings, may I suggest Jeronij's Wall set? they can probably be found on the LEX, and they'll make those cliffs look far more urban and developed. Hope to see this kind of improvement in the future! Your CJ can become a very good one

Heres mine, the Port of Deubon. Its relatively small given that its the biggest seaport in the region, however the region is small as well. The Port of Deubon mainly handles container cargo, but also has a break-bulk sector. As you can see, I like to use PEG's stuff a lot;

This is Version 1, i'm hoping I can get it to look better once I learn Photoshop a little more, hope you guys like it.

Progressing very well! I think the set-up you have looks very realistic

I personally like the Fused Grid layout, I usually section off large squares for development, and start randomly drawing streets across it, followed by smaller secondary ones that let me develop more space. Any space too small to build some decent-sized houses will make a great park! Hopefully this helps, and good luck with creating a realistic city!