CTMandR

Hot Chocolate: Thanks for commenting! You could try using GIMP, it’s very much like Photoshop. Tigeria: Thanks for commenting! Indeed, personally, I could never survive such a winter. TekindusT: Thanks for commenting! Glad you like the railroads, there is certainly more of that to come! Also, I think its interesting viewing snow-like photos when the weather outside is much different. Detective Stan: Thanks for commenting! R0ger: Thanks for commenting! The street layout is classic of my CJ, so glad you like it! ImVhOzzi: Thanks for commenting! Jamonbread: Thanks for commenting! Indeed, SimCity falls a bit short with snow, so I had to supplement it myself in order to achieve something that looked actually snowy. Area49: Thanks for commenting! Good suggestion too! K50dude: Thanks for commenting! Zulu2065: Thanks for commenting! You’ll see how he gets home momentarily, too! Schulmanator: Thanks for dropping by! Baliam12: Thanks for stopping by! _marsh_: Thanks for commenting! Haha, well, you can always do the sandstorm effect. After some deliberation, the townsfolk were nice enough to give Tom enough money for a one-way plane ticket to anywhere on North America- provided he do enough errands and chores for the town in return. Soon enough, Tom found enough money and somehow got onto another train headed south. The train wound its way through forests, descending from the mountain top towards a valley. As the train got the valley, it had to cross a large river. The Bridge was quite nice, and Tom recognized that the style was popular with French Viaducts. As the train crossed the bridge, it headed back up, towards a plateau. Soon, the train made a stop at a small airport, ‘Halifax Regional Airport’. Inside, Tom found a direct commuter flight to his home city, and booked the next flight. In a few hours, Tom was headed out to a small one-prop driven plane. Once everyone was boarded, the plane headed to the end of the runway… And, as it was given the all-clear, the plane took off The runway was amazing! It sloped down and was extremely short. Planes taking off would sometimes dip below the mountaintops before resurfacing, which would always scare Air Traffic Control. Tom’s plane was soon up in the air, and Tom was heading away from all his adventures in Halifax County. However, Tom was headed to his home, Tehachapi. ----- Thank you everyone who has read, enjoyed, and commented on this CJ! I feel that it has been the more successful of the two I have, and i'm terribly sad to see it end. However, I have exhausted the small Halifax County, and must move on to bigger things. So once again, thanks everyone, and I hope you all thoroughly enjoyed reading about the adventures of Tom! Don't worry, i'll be starting my new CJ very soon. At this point, I'll take any requests for me to make any sort of thing in Halifax County, as it is now my 'rural experiemental' region. Anything from a lone well-taken photo for a background to a larger tutorial, or some sort of banner for you guys. If you ask, i'll try my best to complete. So, there will still be updates, but the main storyline of the CJ has officially ended. I look forward to seeing you all in my new CJ!

_marsh_: Thanks for voting! I like taking chances too k50dude: Thanks for voting! TekindusT: Thanks for voting! I'm glad the story caught your eye, and I hope these coastal shots live up to expectation! i_am_an_alien: Thanks for voting! Gee, lotta people like the coast Mars250: Thanks for voting! Jamonbread: Thank you! took me a while to get all the farms. I honestly do not know exactly how I got the FAR road tiles to not have pavement, but you could try checking off a box when installing NAM, it will probably be there. stoney525: Thanks for voting! simcitymasterman: Haha, I don't think Tom is in Britain, or even the east coast, judging from the terrain and trees. However, thanks for voting! TomMCityfan2: Well, thank you for voting! I would have to say north! DarthViper3k: Yeah, seems like the area where Tom is at needs to be cleared up, though, I don't even know where he is. Thanks for voting though! and a very good reason to go north! wakkaolaf53: Pardon me for such a long time with no update, but, thank you for voting! In Other News, Tom is going North! To those of you who still remember my CJ, I’m back! After about a month of wrestling and haggling for new parts and getting help from numerous people, I’ve got my computer back and recovered most of my files! And now my computer is bigger and better than before, so I’ll be able to quickly produce updates, hurrah! I would also like to thank all of you viewers and followers for understanding my situation, and waiting patiently. Anyway, enough with the rambling, I present the newest Halifax CJ update! So, Tom decided to go north, and started driving… and driving… and driving… Soon, he came upon a small stop, a simple Gas station and general store. Tom stopped at the gas station to fill up As tom was filling up, the Gas station clerk came out to meet him “How ya doin’?” the clerk said “Pretty well, and you? Are you the owner?” replied Tom “Yep! My names Ben, and I been runnin’ this place for about 50 years now” Ben exclaimed “Wow! Long time, say, which way to the East Coast?” Tom wanted to know, just incase he was going the wrong way “Your on the right track, keep goin’ north and eventually you’ll find a route east.” Ben said “Great! Thanks! Say, who lives here?” “here? Oh, I’say, 20 odd people, including myself, we call this little town Marchant, not much happens here, lot of travelers though.” Ben was looking around, half-inspecting his gas stop. “Hm, well, I guess I’m just another traveler.” “Yeah, but not the usual, whats up with the suit and tie but the old beat up truck?” Ben inquired. “Long story, anyway, I best be on my way, nice talking with you ben!” Tom said “you too, stranger!” and with that, Tom was filled up and on his way. A little farther up the road, Tom crossed a bridge named “J.K.MemorialBridge”, and chuckled a bit at the name. Farther down, Tom reached another fork in the road. However, one side was under construction, and apparently closed, so Tom kept going north and soon, Tom was upon another town, with a small sign that said “Welcome to Fremont” There were flower fields everywhere. Tom drove into the town center, and noticed a very large Best Western. He parked at a local convenience store. Tom stepped inside, and brought a candy bar up to the clerk. “How are you doing today, sir?” the clerk said “Fine, and you?” Tom replied “Very good, that’ll be a buck thirty” Tom handed the clerk a buck fifty “Say, what’ with all these flower fields in this town?” Tom asked “Oh, they’re our main attraction, tourists come here to pick their own flowers all summer, and that’s why Best Western moved in.” the clerk replied “Oh, that explains a lot! But, is there any other place to stay?” Tom said, it was getting late, and Tom was a bit tired from all the driving. “Well, theres a small run-down bed and breakfast, or you could bunk at one of the farms up the side street, they don’t grow flowers, and sometimes you can sleep in the barn for free.” “I’m gonna look like a vagabond” “But it’s free! The town actually said they might want to encourage more non-flower farms, but the climate here is best for flowers.” The clerk replied “I never knew flowers had ideal growing conditions” Tom noted “You’ll be surprised” “well, thanks for the info! I might be seeing you around” “You too!” Replied the clerk. --- This is where you can Vote! The City of Fremont is debating opening up more land to farming, and encouraging staple crops, such as wheat and corn. Some say that encouraging varied farming will help if there were ever a “economic flower disaster” and will also help Fremont be more self-sufficient. Others say that the land should be put to other use, or be left alone, they say Fremont already has enough farms. Therefore, there are three options: A) Allow new farms to be built. This will help diversify Fremont! B) Allow all industry to build on the land. Fremont could use a better economic base C) Don’t build on the land, Fremont is doing just fine. --- And Tom was off, he took a gravel side street, and soon came upon a corn field. He knocked on the door of the house, and an old lady answered. “Yes?” the old lady said “Yes, I was wondering about if you have a barn?” Tom asked “Gee, you just missed it! We had a barn here just a week ago, and recently tore it down.” The old lady looked surprised “Oh, man! Well, that was all, thanks for your time!” Tom said “Thank you for dropping by!” The old lady didn’t bother to ask why Tom needed a barn. Tom left again, headed farther north, to the bed and breakfast. Soon, he came upon it, it was a small one-story house situated next to the local church. Tom stepped inside, and was greeted heartily by a middle-aged woman holding a couple biscuits. “Can I help you?” the lady said “Yes, I was wondering how much it would be to stay the night?” Tom asked “Well, we offer a room for about $30 a night, complete with free breakfast and tea!” the lady replied Tom stopped to think about it. Should Tom keep driving north into the night, or should Tom spend the night? He was feeling tired, but didn’t know if he should spend money to spend the night at a place. --- That’s all for this update! Look for another one very soon! Or, at least until enough people vote, haha. Once again, glad to be back everyone! Hope you like the new post!

TekindusT: Thank you, Congratulations on your Trixie too! Also, thank you for giving your opinion on my CJ! lordmungus: Thank you for your input! I never quite realized how important the landsacape and natural areas of my CJ mattered, I think it has become clear though, after these last few updates! AngelOne: Thank you for your input! I am in the process of trying to fix the loop, but I think a lot of the residents that moved in are here to stay. simcitymasterman: Thanks for your input! option C is one I am seriously considering as well, it would be nice to have update this CJ every once in a while. k50dude: Thanks for your input! I like the idea of keeping this updated until I can start my next one. In Other News: I have decided after much deliberation that I will continue the BrookStone Region, at least until I can start my next CJ. (I've already got the region started off, i'm very excited to introduce it! soon!) I may even continue the BrookStone Region after that, although updates will be much sparser as I will be focusing on my new one. Thanks to all that have followed this CJ and commented! It's also anyones guess how this region will develop in the future. -Authors Note: I am working hard on trying to Rectify the Eternal Commuter loop, however it seems that these big buildings are here to stay! I think in the next update all the commute things will be ok. Early in the morning I checked out of my hotel in New Calgary and made my way across the road to the nearest subway stop. Even though the new high-speed rail line is in place, it still takes some hours to get to LexingtonBay. The subway took me to the Rail hub, and by the time I was on the train and on my way, the sun had come up over the horizon and was shining into my window. (A box? Preposterous! I can't beleive I missed it!) After a few minutes, I passed by the newest development in Calgary. The area was supposed to be a nice waterfront marina with high-rise condominiums and fancy office buildings, but no developers wanted to construct there, there was little demand in that area, it was all back in New Calgary. Eventually, the land was sold off to a housing developer, and now the only things that exist are track houses and a half-built marina, along with random apartment complexes. I thought that this area should rebound sometime, if not soon. After a little while, the train entered Lexington Bay City lines, and I was greeted by a pencil-tower, which I would later find out to be ‘loft seaside condos’. We were nearing the last stop on the line, so I started preparing my luggage….what little luggage I had. The last stop on the High-Speed rail line was another transit hub, as it was also the end of the line for the slower ground trains, as well as the Western Terminus for LexingtonBay’s Light Rail line. I took my baggage and hopped on the Light Rail…or Tram. On my way to DowntownLexingtonBay, I passed the Amguard Consulting complex, two buildings built across a plaza. I read in the newspaper that these were completed recently, and were planned to have a skywalk connecting them. However, when construction was nearing completion the skywalk fell, and that part of the project abandoned. I arrived in DowntownLexingtonBay, and proceeded to try and find city hall. As I was walking around I noticed that the rampant development and expansion has really cut into the hillside, which, along with the development of suburbs, has taken away the last of the ‘small town’ feel of the city. LexingtonBay is no longer a small development nestled away in the hills, it has risen through the ranks and solidified its position as a global economic contender. I find that the magnificent towers contrast the dwindling hillside rather well. Anyway, back to finding City Hall. Eventually I arrived, and, once again, just in time! I squeezed my way in with some other media people, and the speaker announced that this was the most pressing issue for today, and could not be put off any longer. This is where you can vote! Due to the Recent explosion of Commerical Office buildings and large condo's and apartments in Lexington Bay, The city's transit system has been overloaded, and is nearing breaking point. City planners have proposed an expansion of the 2-line route that runs through downtown Lexington Bay, and recommend having the line go to the Eastern residential neighborhood. The expansion will also put 4 tram lines, instead of the traditional 2. The vote is pretty straight forward; Build the line or not? Also, planners have recommended a phase II, which has yet to be voted on. Looks like with all the new development, all of LexingtonBay’s transit options are running above capacity. The photos on the chalk board were quite self-explanatory, and I hardly needed to listen to the speaker. Afterwards, I made my up the hillside, and onto the area where LexingtonBay’s Ritziest residents stay. However, no matter how rich this area is, it’s still amazingly congested. Maybe because the only road through the hills is this one. Regardless, I continued on, and a little while later I noticed that LexingtonBay was starting to attract more high-tech industries. These industries built themselves into the hillside, and because LexingtonBay and Calgary are growing so much, there seem to be more of them every day. Sooner or later, they may have to go _into_ the hillside….or somewhere else…or something. Eventually, I reached the bottom of the hill, opposite to DowntownLexingtonBay. This neighborhood was where I was going to stay the night. Tomorrow, I’ll be going to Lockheart, as a small stop on my way to Trenton. My hotel of choice was the prestigious _Le Grande_ Hotel, which housed many of the famous people that went through this area, including….well…I’ll remember sometime later. The hotel itself was very nice, it was situated at one end of the commercial area, and very near some suburbs, which made the hotel a very quiet one, but also very near high-end shops and the like. I checked in and looked out my window just in time to see a huge car crash. I think the city is going to need that new Tram line. --- Hope you all have a great New Years! Look forward to a few more BrookStone Region Updates! See you all later!

lordmungus: Thanks for your vote! I also think there aren't enough rec facilities in BrookStone. Also, one vote for C! Schulmanator: Thanks for your comment! Quite an honor to have someone of your stature visit my CJ! And I'm glad my roads could make the top of a "most likely to swerve" list simcitymasterman: Thanks for your vote! Thats one vote for D! Paul5: Thanks for you comment and vote! Thats one vote for B! k50dude: Thanks for your comment, its kinda like my way of keeping this CJ interesting. Also, thanks for you vote! I'll split it up, like you said, and say two for D on red, and two for B on yellow! Anarcho-X: Thanks for your comments once again! Its really great to see that you can always find great things in my updates . hehe, win, hehe, brings back memories. Also, thanks for voting! thats two votes for B! In Other News: After an extremely close vote, the council has decided to create a regional park and campgrounds of space A, and develop space B. Thanks for all who voted! Construction does not have a scheduled completion date, so the time it takes for this to get built is indefinite. I got off the train at Valencia, and started going by bus again. Valencia was much the same as the last time I was there, so I gave myself a break and took a nap for a little while. However, the moment I entered into Tavlon, I realized something was different. It was… oh so slightly hazy, a sort of…heavy fog. I found out why soon enough. Tavlon had developed quite a range of dirty industries, one of the most notable being “Jason’s Diesel generator testing”. I got off at the next stop, and walked down to the mayor’s house. He was gonna show me around town again, give me a little personal tour, since I was going to write an article for the newspaper specifically about Tavlon. (I wonder how many of you readers forgot we were following a journalist, hm? Haha! I sorta did myself) First, the mayor showed me what he said was the richest part of the city. It was a slim block of high-wealth houses. He said there used to be a whole neighborhood like this, but they have since moved out. Then, he took me about 2 blocks down past his own house, and showed me why all the high-wealth residents were moving out. It appeared that all of the high-tech industry of the city was moving out, and some more low-tech industrial plants were moving in their place. The mayor and his council were still confused as to why this was happening. The mayor was glad, however, of one high-tech company that decided to stay. LEDPro, an LED-manufacturing company, was one of the large High-tech companies left, mainly due to the convenient location for resources. The mayor said things only got worse once one arrived at New Tavlon, and we hopped on one of Tavlon’s new trams. We went up the hill, and on the ride there the mayor told me that the city recently renovated this route, and managed to integrate the tram into the road. He told me they had to do this because otherwise retaining walls would be needed, to combat landslides. With the tram integrated, they could allow a more shallow slope, decreasing the chance of landslides. Soon, we arrived at the top, and I realized just how bleak the situation for Tavlon was. Despite the new tram system and new parks, slum-like apartments had been built, there were smokestacks on the hill above, and trash was piling up in the streets. I asked the mayor why there was so much trash, and he explained to me that there was no flat land to create landfill with, and the residents are opposed to an incinerator. The only option was to ship trash out of the city. However, Valencia is too small to have a waste disposal center, and so it Quentin. The only option is to send it to Calgary. This is where the next problem arises, Calgary already takes trash from LexingtonBay and Lockheart, so they are running out of ships and trains to send trash away with. The bottom line is that Tavlon can only afford to send Some of its trash out, and the rest is left within the city. The mayor says it’s a quickly escalating problem, and contributes to the poor state of the city. The mayor took me up another hill, and showed me Tavlon’s industrial sector. I was nearly choking on the air, so I decided to hang out in the tram. The mayor told me he and his council deemed that this was one of the prime reasons for Tavlon’s overall poverty. He also told me that they found out this is the economic foundation of Tavlon. That’s where all of their problems originate from. They can’t exactly encourage industrial development, because it will eventually lead to the implosion of the city, from residents moving out. However, they also cannot destroy the industrial sector, because it too will lead to residents moving out, form lack of work. The mayor said that they must isolate the sector, or Gentrify the area as a whole. This is where the council is voting on. There are multiple options, all of which will do the same thing, although some might do it better, and that is what is they are voting on. The mayor showed me an overview of New Tavlon, and I bid him goodbye, and good luck, I had to go to another city to spend the night. This is where you can vote! The council is deciding on what method it should use to improve the conditions of the city. The council can only carry out one of these, however, it may have the funds to carry out option A as well as any other one. It is up to you, the public, to decide what improves the city! Option A: Ship all of the trash out to Calgary. This is quite a large task, as it involves politcial obstacles as well as monetary ones. The council and mayor would have to convice Calgary to take trash into the city, as well as fund more trains to ship it out. However, it may be one of the most effective strategies as well. Option B: Install a network of Algae houses (pictured above) You might have seen these before installed in Calgary, and now their back! Installing a network of these around slums and industrial sectors will dramatically reduce pollution, and encourage higher wealth businesses and residents to move in! However, this is a costly option. Option C: Grow trees. Just like Option B, except far cheaper! Planting trees around slums and industrial sectors decrease pollution and raise desirability, however the major drawback is that they cannot proliferate into the neighborhoods, creating pockets of pollution. Option D: Entice higher wealth factories by creating plazas and tax breaks for them. This one is a cheap proposition, but is also more likely to fail. Without an educated public, high-tech factories may not want to move in, despite incentives. Option E: Introduce higher education to Tavlon. doing this takes up valuable real estate, but also is very likely to attract rich businesses and residents. It is in the middle of the cost spectrum, as well. I took another bus out of the city, and into Calgary. This is where I would spend the night, and the next few days, I would participate as one of the councilmembers!

Mars250: Thanks for your comments, and your vote! I've listened to what you suggested, and thats why I created something just for people like you, you'll see later in the post. Also, one vote for C! K50Dude: Thanks for your vote! One vote for A! Paul5: Thanks for your vote, and thats two votes for C! simcitymasterman: Trams come with the NAM, I believe. You can check off a box when you install them. Anarcho-X: Thank you very much for your comments, they always help me improve and feel better about my city-building style. Also, like Mars250, I have a surprise for you! Three votes for C! Hooray! naftixe: Thanks for your comment, and your vote! I was also thinking it'd add character, but maybe I just like trains too much . Two votes for A! tim.12.game: Thanks for your vote! I like your idea as well, but it might go off the track a little from my realistic goals, however thank your for your comment! Also, three votes for A! In Other News: After an extremely close vote, the council decided to build the new tram system! Initially, votes were counted and it was a tie between option A and option C! However, one man stepped into the building and cited that if the tram system is built, and is built right, it would itself attract high-wealth residents! Some doubt if that is true, however he was the tie-breaker. Work on the new line will begin immediately! For those who have been itching to see a satellite view, look no further! Click the photo for a Full-resolution photo! Its Huge! After much talk and babbling, I can now present the... Bright and early in the morning, I woke up, checked out of my hotel, and hopped on a bus. I was still tired, and the air outside was still dark, so I didn’t bother looking out my window for a while. By the time the sun was up though, I was greeted by something I don’t usually see in BrookStone. Masses of Warehouses and factories, as far as I could see. It turns out, that due to the population explosion in Calgary and LexingtonBay, Lockheart, with its lax developing laws and minimal regulations on pollution levels, has become an industrial powerhouse to serve the populations of the two cities. I apparently was passing a brand-new sector, and one of the largest Lockheart has built yet. Farther off, and I could not see this, more and more trees were being cut down by ever-expanding logging businesses. It seems that with population expansion must also come the expansion of dirty industry. Lockheart has among the most pristine landscapes in BrookStone, yet only about 5% of the land is protected as park space. The rest is open game for industries wanting to set up shop. However, I was soon past Lockheart, and entered Trenton. Which, incidentally, looked far more beautiful and unspoiled than the city just 2km north of it! The suburbs I passed through were absolutely stunning, and I traveled along with Trenton’s brand-new Tram line! I saw a lot of new suburbs popping up to replace farms, and they did look really nice! It seems like Trenton is climbing up the social ladder. Later on I would be told that middle class residents make up around 38% of the population in Trenton. I noticed that one of the existing commercial parks had the tram line run into it, and I say the boys in urban planning sure did I good job blending it in! Although, that’s just my opinion. I finally got to the newest part of Trenton, the great new boardwalk that has been built! It was very large, and I decided to hop off the bus and walk or take the tram from here. The edge of the docks featured a fishing pier and a fisherman’s club. Businesses predominantly take space near the boardwalk, however affluent members of society dot the docks and live up in the hills behind the boardwalk. Main st. even features a ferry terminal and food court! This was the end of boardwalk, and it took me nearly half the day to walk! It was also the end of the tram line. I went into the station, and noticed a bulletin. It was a proposal for which new tram design should be used, and they all looked very nice and very fitting for Trenton. This is where you can Vote! Trenton's new tram line is great, but all tram lines need trams! It seems the council just can't decide what tram to use, so they've chosen the four best, and put them up to vote! A: This tram is very modern, sleek, and efficient, however it might not fit in with the less-than-modern surroundings B: Based off Toronto's tram, this one is a single car, and fits in more with the style of the city. It also has quite a large capacity for one cabin. C: This tram is much smaller, and therfore more manuverable than B, however it has a smaller capacity. D: This tram is just multiple C-Units hooked together, they may stop traffic, but much more carrying capacity. However, I did not have time to look at the pros and cons of each one in depth, since I had to catch the next train. I was off, but this time, to one of the more remote cities, Quentin. I would be making my way through Quentin, into Tavlon, and then back to Calgary and Spokane again. Have a good night! ----------------------- For those of you looking to make a BrookStone-style region, I present... Making a region is dreadfully simple, start with this map, The Republic of Wamusco, by Vandy. Spokane and Karling are actually out of this radius, since I expanded it. Please, PM me if you want the expanded map, i'll try to get that on the STEX. As well, these are essential mods, you'll spot them all over my CJ. -Big Red Fish's slope mod, found Here. (Beware, this is a very extreme mod, I only use it in my BrookStone region, and sometimes I have to take it out) -Cycledogg's Columbus terrain mod, found Here. (I believe that is it, PM me if it doesn't work.) -The NAM (I hope I don't need to provide a link, just search NAM on the STEX or LEX) -The Single Track Mod, which can be found Here. (LEX Required) -Mattb325's houses, all of them, or some, if you can't fit all of them. Click Here* and start downloading! (LEX Required) *I actually don't think this link will work, so go to the LEX and type 'Mattb325' in the creator search box. -Lots of Ill Tonkso's stuff, I download the smaller buildings. Link -Farm lots from BSC. Go to the LEX and look under 'Farming' and 'Farming SF' in the drop-down Category menu. Sorry, I just don't have the time to find all the farms myself. -The SAM, found Here ------------------------------------------------------ Allright! So hopefully you found everything relatively painlessly. Now, I've just provided some tips, because in reality, everyone has their own building style, and each building style is great in its own way! So, a couple of pointers: --Lay down some rails. To me, roads are less important, since rails were the main carriers of people before suburbanization. I always lay these down first. --Find a suitable location. A giant hill is not suitable. A valley or coastal plain is much better. start in flat areas, then work up the mountain. --Don't be afraid to start with just some farms and a couple houses. Thats how things happen in the real world! --Water and education don't come for a while, water after 500-1K residents, and education after 1K -2K residents. --Plan out your routes. You are limited by the slope mod, so it if very critical to plan a route that will make the road blend in with the surrounding terrain. use the Radiation graph to find out where steep slopes are, if you can't identify them in the game. --Don't be afraid to use the levelling tool around the ocean. I do it to create more land, and to make my coastline straight. It's just easier, and not very many people can tell that the area used to be rough or natural. --Do be afraid to use the levelling tool around hills. Don't flatten out entire hills. As much as you can, avoid cliffs, and avoid flattening out large swatches of land --Zone whats in demand. I'm starting to sound like CSG and his natural growth, but its how I do it as well! --Bus stops and fun! Bus stops are essential, then trains, then trams, then subways. Last but not least, have fun with it! feel like doing some sculpting today? Go ahead! make a new business park? thats ok! Feel like destroying some farms? its all part of urbanization! Good luck guys!

SteveMSim: Thanks for your comment! I've had so much time with all of PEG's stuff, it kind of comes naturally. I think the terrain actually enhances the 'natural development' feel of the CJ, since I can't develop it if the area is too steep, so I have to fit houses into awkward spaces. I hope your CJ turns out well! I've been viewing it, and I really like what I see. Feel free to ask me about anything. Also, thank you for your input on the oil port, it'll really help the city council decide! Paul5: As always, thanks for you comment and input! Anarcho-X: Glad to see you back! Hope you didn't wait too long for this update . Thanks! When I was first making this journal I really wanted to find something that would capture more readers, and it seemed having them vote on the direction the region takes was really a great, long running idea. Also, thank you for your vote on the proposition! I think its a deciding vote, and I agree that its more realistic. panoz360xbox: Those are PEG's OWW lots, which can be found here (You'll have to register at the PLEX. Or you could look up 'pegasus' on the STEX, and dig through his hundreds of uploads to find what you want, or just download everything!). Thank you for you comment! I'm glad this is your favorite CJ! And now, I present the... As I made my way through Calgary and Tavlon, I wondered what Valencia after all this time would be like. I have only ever been there once, and it was a half-day visit. This time, I would be there around a day and a half. As the bus I was on entered Valencia city limits, I immediately noticed more farms had been built, and many of the streets were getting slightly better, they had dirt now. As I rode further towards Valencia’s town center, wheat farms became more and more common, I was beginning to think that someone had built a free grain silo somewhere… I also noticed this, it was a large radio antenna, which was great! I could now turn on my mini-radio and get a signal. I think it broadcasted to at least 3 different towns in BrookStone. Finally, I was down by the mayors house (Notice, more wheat fields!) and I knocked on the mayors door. He came out and warmly greeted me, and then started walking with me around town. He told me that wheat has become very popular around here, and recent high levels of rains had made it possible. He said the town was becoming more of a middle class town, and that some people wanted to see the town expand, but so far he’s managed to keep the small town feel. We visited some small groups of homes, and I noticed that everywhere, there were different farms! Wheat farms, Corn farms, flower fields, bean fields, everything! And the dirt on the streets never seemed to kick up into dust…odd. We went down to the town center (more wheat fields? Jeez!) and I noticed that stores had become more high-end, no more mom-and-pop stores. I asked the mayor about it, and he said that he enacted a policy allowing higher density commercial buildings to be built, thinking that the previous stores could expand up. Instead, boutiques moved in, and although some of the residents like it, the mayor felt bad for the old stores. Other than wheat, I saw corn. Large corn fields, Huge corn fields, they were fewer than the wheat fields, but larger…huge! However, some things didn’t change. This Orange Orchard for example was still around, and it was actually made into a historical landmark by the town (The Oranges are great here, by the way). The mayor told me that because the town was becoming more middle-class, he’s been able to afford in education. Currently, there are 2 small k-12 schools, holding a whopping 70 students! This is where you can Vote! The Council has recently aquired this bankrupt farm, once a great landmark in the city, and there have been multiple suggestions as what to do with it. The following are the best 5: A) Make it into a historical farm. This farm has been the pride of the town for many years, it would be such a shame to see it run down. B) Convert it into a more profitable farm and sell it to private owners. Make this farm into a productable farm again! C) Allow residential developers to build on them. Valencia could always use more residents! D) Create an office park. Start turning Valencia into a more commercial area by letting businesses set up shop here! E) Make it into a park. The surrounding hills are a nice getaway, but sometimes a more tame park seems like just the thing! Finally, the mayor showed me what was before the council today. It was a kind of sad proposal. Valencia’s most famous landmark, the palm tree farm, had gone out of business. The company went bankrupt, and the town purchased it from the bank. There were several options on what to do with the land, all of which the mayor told me in detail. However, until a decision was made, the property lay vacant. After this, I spent the night at the mayors house (again, his guest bed is just so comfy!) and the next day, I purchased some water, and started walking on one of the new dirt roads I saw yesterday. I asked around, and its supposedly lead to a small farm and a couple of houses some residents made, since they were too poor to buy land in Valencia. I was going to check this out. Until next time! ---- On a side note, the project to ship all of Calgary’s garbage out of the region is coming along well! An area has been created to load train Gondola’s up with garbage, and have it shipped out by rail. Phase II is just starting. It will be to convert the current garbage disposal area into a one that will ship garbage out by barge. Here’s some photo’s of the rail set-up. Thats all for this update! tune in later this week or this weekend for another one! Have a nice week!

TowerDude: Thanks for commenting! Maraus: Thanks! TekindusT: Haha, splendid Idea, I’ll have some green to contrast your grey. HotChocolate: Thanks for commenting! By the way, Hot Cocoa is great, wakes me up in the morning Samerton: Thanks for commenting! JGellock: Wonderful! I’m a very big rail fan myself, so playing around with rails in SimCity is among my favorite things to do. K50dude: I’ll try to make a wallpaper outta it, might become mine as well! DCMetro34: Thanks for commenting! Canadiansim: Thanks for commenting! The STR is an add-on to the NAM, and it can be found on the STEX or LEX. ImVhOzzi: Thanks for commenting! I have, however Civil Engineering and Urban Planning are tops for me. Zulu2065: Thanks for commenting! Simcitymasterman: The BrookStone Region is sort of stuck in limbo, as far as I’m concerned. It was a small region to begin with, and it seems its maxed out its growth. So for the time being, I will not be showcasing any more of The BrookStone Region, as there is simply nothing else I can show about it. However, I am working on a brand-new region, which is much, much larger, so once I introduce that it will take over as my main CJ. Hopefully you will like the new one! For this update, I’m going to experiment a little with snow (In the middle of August? How could you!) Since Tom has climbed to the top of a mountain, I felt it fitting to add a snow-capped town, and to try and use a little photoshopping skill. Unfortunately, I don’t think the snow came out great. Tom dozed off in the train, and was harshly awoken by the train sounding that it had come to a stop. Tom glanced out the window, and was completely shocked. Everything was snow-covered! There seemed to be a small snowstorm too. The train stopped at the only station for the town, Tom walked out and saw the name “Rock Springs Station”, indicating that this was Rock Springs. It didn’t seem like the place had much going for it. Rock Springs is a coal mine town, where about 95% of the population work at the local coal mine. Over time, and with no economical way to get rid of it, Coal tailings piled up, leaving the town with an unsightly pile of coal that turned all the surrounding snow black The mining operation was immediately adjacent to the tailings pile, and had a few surrounding businesses. Much of the coal was shipped out by train, or used to power the town. Tom was getting cold, as snow was something unexpected for him, he started going towards a less industrial part of the town in hopes of finding a place to stay. Tom passed by main street, there were hardly any shops, and a small church. Soon though, a local asked if Tom needed some help, and offered up a place to stay, which Tom gladly accepted. The local explained that there was in fact a nearby airport, which could take Tom home. The airport was dead south of Rock Springs. Tom was ecstatic! He could finally make his way home, if he could find the money… That’s all for this update! If you have any suggestions on how Tom could get an airline ticket home…do say!

Welcome! Feel free to jump right into the story! Tom woke up by the side of the road with a slight headache, and slowly looked around… ‘Odd’ Tom thought. ‘Wasn’t I just…in my house a second ago?’ Tom got up and took another look around. The only thing he could think of doing was walking, so he started walking. Tom walked and walked, and passed by a stream He was nearing some farms, but first, a quick drink. ‘Why are there farms? I hardly go out of the city’ Tom thought to himself. ‘Well…I suppose I should find out where I am’. Tom walked up to a small house, it looked like it had someone in it. He knocked. There was indeed someone inside. “Hello?” a voice from inside. “Yes, I’m a little curious as to where I am” Tom replied The door opened and a middle-aged man appeared “Why, you’re in Stockton! Are you some sort of tourist?” The man said. “I…suppose you could call me a tourist, yes. Where is Stockton?” Tom asked. “In Halifax, of course!” ----- Please note that this, like the BrookStone Region, which incorporate voting. However, the voting will be on many different levels, from Tom's personal descisions to County proposals. As always, comments and criticism is welcome, as I want to make this the best CJ around!

Lordmungus: Thanks for voting! And its great to see that the downtown area is developing nicely. TekindusT: Thanks for voting! And will do, I may even put one between them Schulmanator: Thanks for your comment, and hopefully you will find out soon enough! OsakaHugger: I hope the list I sent you was good enough, PM if you would like to ask about anything more specific Simcitymasterman: Hahaha, I’ll think about having a New Years party in my CJ, probably will. Thanks for voting too! AngelOne: Thanks for voting! Glad to see a lot of interest in my new CJ. TomMcityfan2: Thanks for your vote! Hopefully I’ll see you around! In Other News: the proposition to build a new Tram Line has passed with an overwhelming majority, and the project is scheduled to be started within the next month. Projected completion time is set within one year. Since the Le Grande Hotel was such a luxurious one, I took my time in checking out. I slept in on their nice beds, and had a large Brunch. So, when it finally came time that I left, it was already past 12pm. It was a short walk to the nearest Train station, which connected Lockheart and LexingtonBay. The tracks terminated in upper LexingtonBay, because they were too high up to go down and meet the tracks in DowntownLexingtonBay. It was a rather small station, and I heard that the Regional planning authority had plans buried around in one of their file cabinets to upgrade the station into a proper terminus. I only had to wait 15 minutes until the next train arrived, and by one in the afternoon, I was off to Lockheart. Of course, as the train left LexingtonBay and entered Lockheart, the sky turned from a bright blue to a darker, murkier brown. There were factories on each side of the tracks, ranging anywhere from Woodworks to Plastics production. These factories stretched as far as the eye could see, and It wasn’t until some time later that the sky cleared again and I could see some sort of blue. When the train finally got out of the industrial district, I noticed that things in Lockheart have changed dramatically, beginning with the missing sawmill that used to be the center of Lockheart, and new neighborhoods of very nice houses. In fact, when the train arrived at the station, there were an innumerable amount of different things! On one side, high-tech industry had developed, and on the other, Parks and high-end businesses were selling expensive….well…things. Seeing that Lockheart was still a small town, the mayor had invited me to see him, so he could tell me about Lockheart. So I headed down to the town hall. (Which was also new) It was a short walk to town hall, and when I got to the second floor the mayor greeted me heartily, grabbed his suitcase, and told me we were going to tour the city. I asked him about the town hall, and he said it was built just a few months ago, based on Eastern-European civic buildings. I thought it blended in very well. Outside town hall, the mayor had two bikes waiting (wait? The Mayor bikes?). He hopped on one and, as perplexed as I was, I hopped on the other one. We rode down to the EscherIndustrial Park, and the mayor explained to me that he was trying to “Gentrify” the entire city, basically. He explained that he was enticing more high-tech industries, as well as making the area more desirable to high-wealth people, by using the dirty industry taxes to create a larger health and education network. We rode past EscherIndustrial Park and into what the mayor called ‘the ritziest neighborhood inland’, or, the richest place that’s not coastal. Here, Managers and Owners of the various industries that dot Lockheart have houses and live happily, far away from the smog of Northern Lockheart. The mayor told me that a local group of citizens paid the city to have the streets repaved with brick. The little neighborhood was nestled in the hills, with only one way in, so we went back through Escher industrial park and made our way to a neighborhood a little closer to the industries of Northern Lockheart. The middle-class neighborhoods of Lockheart sit just high enough above Northern Lockheart that none of the smog blows their way. However, if you look into the valley, you can see a brown layer of smog that covers the sky. The mayor explained that he wanted to make these places as attractive as he could, so that eventually residents moving in would push out all the dirty industry that has accumulated in the city. We biked down to a local coffee shop, and the mayor opened his briefcase and showed me a photo of a small neighborhood in Eastern Lockheart. Since we could’nt bike on the highway, the mayor told me that even this small neighborhood, which used to be neglected and low-class, was now beginning to see some richer development, and mayor has ordered 3 parks be built to make the area more attractive. (Initial Proposal) The mayor pulled out another photo, and told me he wanted to link the small neighborhood with the rest of Lockheart, as well as giving more room to new residents moving in. He said that he is going to propose to the council a development of the area between Lockheart and its satellite neighborhood. He said this will help raise desirability, bring in new residents, and he can allow the logging companies to take the wood in the area. He said his major opposition is going to come from environmentalists, and from people that fear the new development won’t bring rich residents. (Alternate Proposal) He also showed me a photo of an alternative plan that he will present to the council, so that if they do not like one of them, then they can vote for the other one. This plan, he said, consisted of rezoning the purple zones to allow taller commercial buildings to go up, upgrading the street highlighted in green to a road, and moving the existing church, highlighted in orange, to a new location in one of the other neighborhoods. This is where you can Vote! The Mayor has presented various proposals in front of the city council, and the council has merged them into one vote. There are 4 options: A) Build the Initial Proposal. New places for residents means more higher-wealth workers, which means more high-paying and low-polluting jobs! (Pictured as “Initial Proposal”) B) Build the Alternate Proposal. New businesses attract their own residents, and help make the area look richer! The Purple will be converted to taller commercial zoning, the church in orange would be moved, and the street highlighted in green would be upgraded to a road. (Pictured as “Alternate Proposal”) C) Don’t build either one. The money can be saved for some other time. D) Build Both! The city does not have enough money to complete both, however they can merge the two proposals and hopefully have the best of both worlds. This may delay construction time due to politicians bickering over what to merge in and what to throw out. The afternoon was turning into evening, so I rode back to Town Hall with the mayor and bid him goodbye. My hotel was just a few blocks away, so I went to check in. I checked in at “The Cubic” hotel, recently built in a modernist style. After checking in, I went to go get some dinner. Tomorrow, I was going to visit Trenton, and I would spend a few days there, since I haven’t seen the place in a while. ----- Pardon me for such a short and rather bland update, but I've spent the entire week attempting to return my computer to normal, after parts of my motherboard got fried and I had to reinstall Windows XP. However! The next update will be much larger, and on Trenton! Hope you all have a good week!

I had this problem before, and it could be related. If your crashing before they say "ea games" you might want to check that you have the drivers for your sound card/motherboard installed correctly. No sound card drivers causes simcity to crash whenever a sound comes up.

General Replies: But of course! How could I forget the region view? Thanks for the support everyone! _marsh_: Indeed! I can't quite remember the name, but yes, I saw some photos of mountain-top runways, and I thought they looked very cool TekindusT: I think I'll stick to more rural/natural concepts in this region, and leave the cityscapes and urban development to my other CJ, however, i'm open to new ideas here as well! All images are linked to their larger sizes, so feel free to click on them! As promised, here's a region view! You'll notice how downright puny it is. There are three photos; First one is just a plain old region view, second one is with names that correspond to the updates, and the third is the path that Tom took on his adventures. I'll be taking any requests now, and I think i'll be showing a couple more railroad viaduct shots, see how good I get with those. Until next time!

Great update! Thats such an awesome airport you have there!

Good start so far! i'm looking forward to seeing more

I used to play Simutrans, in fact I still have it on my computer. However, I never got quite good enough to turn a large profit on it. Great to see that you made it into a city journal! I'm excited to see where this goes.

Great update! It's a very interesting looking into a very different past.

1 & 5 should be residential, while 4 should be commercial. As for 2 & 3, I think they would make great farmland until the city develops more. Good entry! I like the water feature next to the university

Great trails! Your collection of trees is also very impressive, and you use all of them very well!

Reminds me of when I first started, especially the first photo, haha! Keep up the good work, i'm looking forward to more!

Wow! Great railyard, its very realistic!

Great update! The El-Rail looks really good! Can't wait to see some of the other stations!

I hear SimCity runs on only 1 core, which is probably why people are recommending getting a single-core processor. However, if you have the money, opt for a dual-core, since those work better in general computing (I also multi-task with Simcity open, so 1 core is dedicated to the game and the other core for my other processes). As for Graphics, SimCity 4 is not a very graphics-intensive game, due to its age, most graphics cards these days can easily run simcity, I use a 1gb DDR2 Nvidia GeForce 9500, and it handles wonderfully. More RAM is definitively helpful, however you can run on as little at 512mb or 1gig or RAM. The hard drive just depends on how much space you need, there isn't much of a difference between them (unless you get a Solid State Harddrive, those run incredibly fast but are also expensive). Most other things are personal preference, like what kind of monitor, speakers, mouse, and keyboard, they don't really affect how fast SimCIty4 will run, just how it feels playing.

Good work! You might want to consider getting rid of those red power lines, and replace them with grey/undergound power lines. Pegasus has a couple of different power mods on the STEX

Wow, what a massive seaport! Keep up the good work!

Great update! I really like what you did with the shoreline vegatation, of course, along with the entire town! Sounds like a good vacation spot too

great region! Looks like you've got a lot done, yet there's still a lot to do!