Gunnster3

In reading these posts, I still can't get over people saying that language hasn't changed much. The best example of how the English language has evolved in 500 years (or less) that I can think of is a comparison of William Shakespeare's works to today (most of his work was done in the late-1500s and early-1600s). While mechanics and sentence structure have not really changed significantly (notwithstanding his use of iambic pentameter, which was obviously not representative of the typical day-to-day structure of speech), prose and common vocabulary have changed immensely. Proving this point, the terms and vocabulary used in his works would have been commonspeak to most in those days, whereas most students reading his works today need reference materials to understand the same verbage. In short, the notion that a Martian language variant is necessary is absolutely plausible. I would submit that the variant should be a spin-off of the English language, primarily because, currently, the universal aerospace language is English (mostly due to the historical dominance of the United States in that area). This may or may not change as other countries are moving into the aerospace scene (the U.K., India, China, Japan, and others have rising space programs). Even so, it's hard to imagine that any effort to get humans onto Mars wouldn't involve efforts from the U.S. in some way (due to the complexity of such an endeavor as well as the financial burden, it would likely involve astronauts, engineers, and scientists from multiple countries working in tandem, similarly to research and development on the International Space Station), increasing the likelihood that the language that evolves there would spin out of English. Now, it's very likely that the resulting dialect would involve the fusion of multiple languages with English in order to make communication easier for non-English speaking individuals out there. I still feel, though, that the general framework of the language would revolve around English--that is to say sentence structure. It's the terminology used that would likely evolve the most. These are just some thoughts.

Holy crap, there's a lot going on... lots of good stuff. DTP, keep up the good work. I've enjoyed simply watching this continue to develop over the past week. Other than that, I've got nothing to say. No proposals, nothing. How you aren't ready to kill yourself over there, I don't know. Kudos for keeping your sanity.

DTP: Great update. Definitely a lot of growth going on! You inquired about the pond, and I think it should stay, primarily because, for the sake of realism, water retention ponds will be necessary do deal with water runoff from the highway. I say keep it! With regards to supercity's proposal, I have to say that I like Psander5's revision to allow for buffer room between the development and the highway (I too prefer that to sound walls, but I understand that the latter are sometimes necessary). Now, I'm not sure what's immediately east of the proposed/revised residential development, but it seems that, if commercial development is needed, it would fit in nicely there and would meet supercity's desire to see commercial development without infringing on the nearby farmland. The Planning Department and others may want to take that into consideration. Just a thought.

DTP: Fair enough. Oh, and that reminds me, you asked about whether the abundance of Starbucks locations is true. In fact, it is. Here in Jacksonville, FL (where it's hot as hell year-round), there is an area known as the Town Center, a large outdoor mall with just about anything anyone could ever want (except a high-end department store). It spans about one-half mile from end to end, maybe a bit more. There are four Starbucks locations within it (a standalone in the northern shopping center, one inside the Target, one inside the Barnes & Noble, and another standalone location in the mall toward the south end). If you were to drive in literally any possible direction away from it (staying on a road, of course), you'd run into another Starbucks within one mile. So, yeah, it's sad, but true. Also, moving east of there, there are two Super Wal-Mart locations within two miles of each other, as well as a Super Target between them. Because of the upper middle class part of town they're all in, none are considered ghetto, but I dare say it borders on ridiculous, no? I just thought you might find it interesting.

DTP: Haha... so does that mean the citizens have informed the mayor's office that they are banning Wal-Mart to protect the local business interests? That's funny; I like it. (Obviously I don't agree with the economics of that, and surely you already assumed that based on my other posts, but it does add to the realism of the area.) I do like the idea of the sports complex. It could create a nice area to then surround with new development.

TimeMaster: I was thinking about your plight and I think I have the answer. I can't speak for all of the fast food restaurants, but it seems that most are considered CS§. Bearing this in mind, you have a great way to control them as Head of Department of Health and Education, though, because of the politics, it must be indirect. One of the factors that affects demand for certain levels of development, as you well know, is EQ. My suggestion is push for a really great, well-rounded education system. In doing so, demand for CS§ will fall (which, essentially means demand for fast food restaurants). The implicit cause of this is the fact that well-educated people will, in theory, have a better understanding of how to maintain their health via a healthy diet and avoid such eateries, thus decreasing demand for them. Furthermore, well-educated people will, generally, have higher incomes, which will create demand for higher quality restaurants (whether that's healthier or not depends on the restaurant, of course), or, so far as the game calculates it, higher wealth commercial services. In short, don't fret. You do have a way to control this constructively. If anything, this element within the game engine should show just how accurate the simulation really is. I'm rather impressed by the Maxis folks. Finally, it should show you just how much power you hold in your position. When you're in control of education, you're in control of the future of Virgin Shores and its attractiveness to high wealth businesses and industries. [EDIT] By the way, since we're doing all of this fast-food stuff, why don't we just go all out and get a Wal-Mart too? Does this not also cater to the middle and lower classes?

supercity124: I'm sure that any channel would be diverted to avoid the wind farm. I have confidence in our Mayor and city planners to avoid such a basic issue.

In light of the fast food issue, I feel that I have to comment. First, limitations of any type go contrary to basic economics. A thriving economy will naturally lend itself to expansion of quick-order restaurants to cater to the busier populus. If demand is present for such establishments, entrepreneurs will seek to open fast food restaurants to profit from that demand, which is good for the economy because it creates low-end jobs, decreasing unemployment and generating taxable revenues within that economy. Low-end jobs are a necessity in any economy to keep employment high among lower educated citizens that are unqualified for other jobs. Second, SC4 doesn't take any of the health factors into account as it pertains to types of restaurants (it'd be cool if it did, or if someone wrote a mod that added that aspect to the simulation, but that's not currently the case). Finally, in the attempt at promoting realism in this region, it only seems reasonable that there be an excessive number of fast-food restaurants. Speaking of excessive numbers of establishments, it seems like Starbucks needs to open up a location on every street corner (see: https://www.simtropolis.com/stex/index.cfm?id=4040). That's just my two cents.

Wow... I go out of town for two days and this happens. I'd reply to the last things said that apply to me, but they were so long ago, they're irrelevant now. Let's just stick with this... As candidate for Head of Department of Recreation, I noted that I will propose two developments immediately upon my election, which can both be seen on Page 21 of this thread. The first calls for a new boardwalk to be placed south of un1's resort. The second calls for the recreational development (parks, hiking trails) of the protected region between the industrial and residental zones on the north end of the city. These developments will continue to increase the land values in those areas, contributing to population growth, job growth, and economic growth. As candidate for Head of Utilities Commission, I submitted exploring the possibility of clean, safe, geothermal power. My post was tounge-in-cheek with regards to other power sources (i.e., nuclear power plants obviously do not spawn zombies). Obviously there are other safe, clean sources of power. My ultimate point in this area is that there is little room for improvement. Power, water, and other utility needs are currently met within the city with excess capacity available in the short-run. My point was that we need to, and I'm willing to, explore options not yet mentioned in the thread. As a candidate for either, I have an open mind to any way that we can continue to make Virgin Shores a more attractive place for sims and their families to live. Plus, we can all have fun and approach this with a good sense of humor.

DTP: True on the sports teams, but, that's not to say that as the city grows, there won't be infrastructure to support it, right? Or has that been ruled out as a possibility? I'm merely attempting to demonstrate to the voters that I am keeping an eye on trends amongst the simcitizenry and am open to pushing for such development once the city is in a position to support it financially and infrastructurally. Also, I'm aware that I cannot submit proposals. They were more intended to show ideas that I have for the future of Virgin Shores and things that, once elected, I would submit for actual proposal. My apologies for making it seem more official.

Solar power is great... until the sun goes down. Wind power is cool... until the wind stops blowing. Nuclear power is spectacular... until most people get cancer and die, and the survivors have no money left because it's so expensive, plus the cost of fighting off the zombies that spawn from the dead being buried in radioactive soil is really high.1 Is there a solution, though? Don't we have to sacrifice something, somewhere? What if I said there was a form of electricity that provided the clean, cancer- and zombie-free power of wind, solar, and nuclear 24/7 for the same price as a cheap coal power plant?2 Does such power even exist? It does. Using heat from the earth, geothermal power plants are able to cleanly generate electricity while doing no harm to the environment. This works similarly to nuclear plants by using the earth's heat to evaporate water that, in turn, spins a turbine that generates electricity, but without the use of dangerous, radioactive isotopes. As Head of the Utility Commission, I would begin implementing such power plants in smaller forms, keeping the pristine Virgin Shores environment clean, while providing more power, 24/7 at a lower cost than our current solar and wind power structures. Geothermal Power: Clean, Cheap, and No Zombies... The Future of Power. 1 Nuclear plants in real (human) life do not cause cancer in their modern forms, nor are they prohibitively expensive, nor have any reported zombie outbreaks resulted from radioactive soil. 2 Price per megawatt applies for standard 5x4 PEG Geothermal Power Plant at §.04. Smaller plant yields cost of §.06 per megawatt.

Below are two proposals that I'd like to see early in my term in office as Head of the Department of Recreation.

DTE: I choose to let my reputation on this board speak for itself. I don't waste precious time and money on glitzy campaign banners and slogans. I get stuff done... I get results. That said, I guess I'm technically running for two positions, which makes it hard to campaign. So here are some prospective platforms... I suppose I should tell people that, as Head of the Department of Recreation, I'll ensure that city land values stay high by building large parks, encouraging the development of ties with professional sports leagues to bring in stadiums and teams, and drawing in high-wealth sims with beautiful, expansive boardwalks and marinas. After all, high-wealth sims own companies, and companies provide jobs, and more jobs means increased productivity and prosperity for Virgin Shores and the world at large. More jobs also means a higher population, and a higher population means more demand for land, which will naturally increase land values based on the basic economic concept of supply and demand (supply of land is fixed and will thus increase in value as demand for it increases). I bet you all didn't realize the importance of parks, eh? Meanwhile, as Head of Utilities Commission, I'll ensure that demands for clean water, electricity, and garbage processing continue to be met. I will work to decrease response times by the Commission during rare times of outage due to disaster. Furthermore, you can expect my commission to always be professional and courteous in all correspondence (including in posts on this and other threads). So that's some basic idealistic, general platform. Specific proposals will follow.

DTP: I'm definitely going to give that residential/commercial-only region a whirl and see what happens. Wish me luck. Everyone else: Vote for me.

DTP: Yeah, that makes sense. I've never tried to make a city by using minimal industrial and maximizing commerial. Does that really work? I can see how matching the number of commercial jobs to the available labor pool could employ everyone. I always thought industrial zones were necessary. Interesting approach. I'll have to give that a whirl tonight. Paper looks good, BTW.

DTP: When I said "mini-town," I was referring to your post on page 19 where you said: "Yep, mass transit early on is always a good idea. I've established tiny isolated island towns with 800 people that have a bus service so efficient that they don't need to use cars before. It's pretty cool." What I didn't realize was that you said that they were "island" towns, which I didn't notice the first time I read it. Even still, I wonder if somehow a similar concept could be applied going forward. It could add an interesting spin on the region where there are self-sufficient mini-economies that are self-contained, yet connected to the city/region at large via mass transit and other infrastructure (is that an oxymoron?). I guess, in a way, this tends to happen naturally, but it could be interesting to actively plan a segment of the region this way.

DTP: Could you possibly implement that mini-town concept that you referred to into VS? I'd like to see that in action (pending approval, of course) once the bus lines are up and running. I've never personally attempted that and think it could be pretty cool, especially in a more rural-style development. As for the bus stations, RTMT is great, but I still want to see your other ones since you seem to have a knack for making things look good with custom content. A mix of both might be visually appealing in the city. While I'm primarily about efficiency, this CJ seems to seek a balance of asthetics and efficiency, rather than focusing on just one or the other. As such, I enjoy seeing all possibilities.

Just a thought on those bus stops: DTP, do you have on-street bus stops so that a full dedicated tile is not required for the Maxis bus stops? That would allow the city to keep receiving tax revenues on the developed tiles AND acquire the fares from the bus stops. Plus, I feel like they'd look better/more realistic. I do agree with Psander5 that getting sims accustomed to mass transit early on could be beneficial in the long-run for the entire region. Furthermore, it allows the DOT and the Planning Department to get a solid foundation for mass transit setup for future growth. The more that's established now (within financial reason, of course), the better I think it will be down the road (no pun intended).

Fair enough on the port size. I wasn't sure what the Hawk Island timeframe was, because I believe that there was talk a few pages back about it being in the design phase. I certainly look forward to that materializing. As far as the grandfather clause goes, I completely understand. I wasn't sure which came first, the ordinance or the development. I stand corrected. Also, I went out to SimPeg to check out your old Virgin Shores. I'd say that this one's a huge step up. This one, so far, looks a lot more polished with a lot more character; I'm sure partly due to the more advanced terraforming techniques, etc. that you mentioned as the reason for dropping the old one. EDIT: Just one final note, the ordinance doesn't mention that commercial can be located near high-tech industry. That said, I don't think, personally, that there's any problem having HT near CO or CS, as they're essentially identical types of buildings in terms of pollution, jobs, etc. You guys may want to consider an amendment or subsection in the ordinance to modify that.