CHR

 Those rural shots look great. It must take forever to plop all that stuff.

 That RHW is looking great! The interchanges take up a lot of space though...

Thanks everyone for the comments. @ iGod Some of the buildings look a bit strange. Almost all the buildings have grown (including those two blueish ones by the canal - which looks quite nice I thought), so a few look out of place. I think I might need to do some demolition... @ ROFLyoshi I like canals in cities too, although they can be a bit difficult to build at times. This one was actually built because I hadn't yet started the industrial area up the top, and I was considering various sources of power. Why not hydroelectric? So I did.

The settlement on Corsania captured the world’s attention. Despite this, the board responsible for running Corsania did not allow development to run rampant, after all, space on the new planet was plentiful and they wanted to use it well. The Hole, as it was being referred to across the globe, had appeared on the side of a gently sloping hill, near the water. Urban planners were assembled to work out how best to establish a colony. The first colony was called Millbrook. They decided to terrace the slope, with the exception of the area around the hole, to prevent potentially damaging it. As this was completed, they began laying the first roads, parks and building foundations. Next to The Hole they built a park and various government buildings. A small subway, ready for expansion later, was tunnelled and people began to move in. Soon the population had swelled to over 5,000. An overview of the city: Next is a view from the terraces behind the town, across the government area and parks. Now, a view across the government area and past the lower residential zones, to the sea. Note the infrastructure, including a hospital, schools and emergency services has been built ready for the expected influx of immigrants. Finally, a picture of the upper residential zone. The current development plans have the town filling the terraces, while another industrial town will be established near by to decrease the dependency on the link to earth and to help develop the new lands. Here are the results of a survey of the island before colonisation. It is long and thin, with a large bay. Millbrook is located in the middle, on the bay, Now, audience participation time! Firstly, you may have noticed I have been using some parks on the edges of the terraces (the ones up the back) to make them look nicer. I think it would entirely spoil the effect if I put these parks on all the terrace edges, yet the edges don’t look great by themselves. My question, what should I use to make the terrace edges look better? Secondly, what do you think I should do with the waterfront here? Some ideas I have had include: Pegasus’ Old Wooden Waterfront Two (perhaps a little too laid back, touristy for the capital), the Marrast embankments, leaving it as a beach, or a completely different seawall/waterfront kit of your suggestion.

Today I want to show you the city of Millbrook, capital of Corsania. The entire tile has now been filled, although I plan to do something with some of the terraces. You can see the outer parts of the city have attracted significant investments from people wanting to move to the new planet. Note: it appears the grid was not turned off, but luckily it’s not too noticeable… We start our tour of the new developments down by the water, where a number of residential, and some commercial buildings have been constructed. The beach has been left for the residents to relax on. A number of parks and plazas have also been constructed around the city. More apartments have been constructed on the upper levels of the terrace. A small industrial area has been built here, around the elevated metro system entrance. Back by the coast on the other side, a large commercial area has been built on partially reclaimed land. There are some more parks on this side of the city, as well as more homes further up the hill. There are a number of large buildings here, housing many people and offices. A spring up in the mountains has been redirected through some canals to form some small lakes, on top and below the terraces. The hydroelectric power provides much of the energy for the city. Behind the dam, a number of large office buildings have opened. They get excellent views over the water and the government district. The government district is in the centre of the city. The buildings in this area are lower than other parts of the city. To conclude the tour, a view down the city. The story will continue in the next update, hopefully coming over the next few days. I have been working on some of the plot details, and things should be able to progress now.

Today I want to show you the city of Millbrook, capital of Corsania. The entire tile has now been filled, although I plan to do something with some of the terraces. You can see the outer parts of the city have attracted significant investments from people wanting to move to the new planet. Note: it appears the grid was not turned off, but luckily it’s not too noticeable… We start our tour of the new developments down by the water, where a number of residential, and some commercial buildings have been constructed. The beach has been left for the residents to relax on. A number of parks and plazas have also been constructed around the city. More apartments have been constructed on the upper levels of the terrace. A small industrial area has been built here, around the elevated metro system entrance. Back by the coast on the other side, a large commercial area has been built on partially reclaimed land. There are some more parks on this side of the city, as well as more homes further up the hill. There are a number of large buildings here, housing many people and offices. A spring up in the mountains has been redirected through some canals to form some small lakes, on top and below the terraces. The hydroelectric power provides much of the energy for the city. Behind the dam, a number of large office buildings have opened. They get excellent views over the water and the government district. The government district is in the centre of the city. The buildings in this area are lower than other parts of the city. To conclude the tour, a view down the city. The story will continue in the next update, hopefully coming over the next few days. I have been working on some of the plot details, and things should be able to progress now.

Replies @ ROFLyoshi I tend to just get the road tool and go - usually because I'm doing high density areas. I think you're right that I should change them to streets. @ Shadow_prophet Yeah, I am planning to change those walls...

I didn't realise you could get Linux to look THAT Windows-like. Might there be some copyright issues...

"Because of his size and the previous deaths, trainers were not supposed to get into the water with Tilikum" I would have thought that, with previous deaths, it might have been time to not get near him at all...

Those suburbs look great. The diagonals and trees give it some nice variation.

All these great set tram set ups make me want to do it myself properly. I keep getting sick of the crashing bug and give up on my trams most of the time!

 Really great pictures. Everything just looks perfect!

Looks interesting, Civ 4 is quite fun to play with all the expansions they have for it, not too difficult, not too hard. The hexagonal tiles is an interesting idea, I think it might just work!

I prefer to get something which is a bigger brand name, but I am not willing to pay that much more for them. I find that the cheap stuff is often similar quality to the more expensive brands for many things, especially with smaller stuff. I still have a cheap brand DVD recorder which we got on sale years ago (something like half the price of the other ones). It broke down once, shortly after we got it, sent it back under warranty, and have had no problems since. That said, when I got a computer and a camera, I went for more upmarket ones, and they have lasted/will last me fine for some time to come. Electronics is somewhere where I think it pays off to buy reasonably cheap, because the expensive gadget today wont be as reliable or as have as high specs as the cheap one in a year or two. In terms of actual shop, I really don't care where I buy things. I figure that they just resell the goods, they are the same at any store (with the possible exception of food...). I have to agree that the internet is very useful for finding good bargains to.

It would be very hard to keep an entire large nuclear reactor hidden from the world. After all, it needs scientists to run it, staff to guard it, regular shipments of supplies, not to mention the resources needed to construct it. Any of those people working there could give the entire secret away, and if not, it might be suspicious all the equipment going to some remote location. I would suggest that the commanders in Iran are working on the idea that you can't keep a whole nuclear power plant hidden, so you might as well keep it in the open. I think they realise that their reactor will be vulnerable and they are just hoping that no body will stop them when they decide they want to build a nuclear bomb.

Iran has allowed IAEA (International Atomic Energy Agency) inspectors know about their two reactors. All Israel has to do is search Google... http://www.ogleearth.com/2006/04/new_satellite_i.html, for example. Israel has some of the best military technology around. I am sure they would have a bunker busting, or similar, weapon which could be used to strike the facility.

Your city layout is very nice. I like the forests throughout the city. I think you need something else for the edges of those terraces and around the rivers. Searching for walls (sea walls, residential walls, terrace walls etc.) on the STEX should bring up something.

Originally posted by: mightygoose Iran has completed reactors processing active fissile material. Any attempt to disable the facility would invariably cause a containment breach. This is unacceptable in the current political climate and no western nation would undertake such action. Israel however may well be willing to attack as Iran is one of its most hated enemies. Such an attack would terminate any support from NATO and leave Israel in a very little to lose situation. Considering they have a proven nuclear arsenal, I cannot imagine how badly such a large destabilisation of the area would end. Containment fallout, renegade Israeli state and a very politically unstable Iran looking for revenge would all be factors in a new Middle-East meltdown. Just imagine what that would do to oil prices. I believe if that were to happen, NATO & the UN would condemn Israel and scapegoat them while denying any input or approval. NATO would only step in if a direct nuclear strike was launched by Israel in retaliation to some form of retaliatory conflict or bio-chemical attack. quote> If Iran tested nuclear weapons "in the lab" (i.e. a nuclear bomb, incapable of being used in an actual missile) , like the North Koreans have, naturally Israel would feel very threatened. I think the real question is how far does Iran have to go, and what would be the resulting action from Israel? after such a nuclear test, I think Israel would feel a need to respond militarily quite soon (certainly before Iran developed a way of putting bombs into missiles) - both due to their hatred of Iran, and the threat to their military power. However, I think that rather than the all out nuclear attack that some people have suggested, they would go for a conventional strike against Iran, considering that they have a large modern army essentially just for that kind of purpose. In terms of the potential for fallout, I think the Israelis would consider the potential for an unstable state to have nuclear weapons on their doorstep to be a greater problem. I don't know specifics about reactor design, but I believe most modern reactors are quite hard to actually meltdown. As such, only localised contamination would occur in Iran. Comparing that to the threat of nuclear attacks, such contamination seems trivial. For NATO, and especially the US, Israel represents one of the most pro-Western countries in the area - they would be reticent to do much more than publicly condemn Israel (i.e. slap on the wrist, "naughty country, don't do that again"). In short, there is little they can do to stop Israel bombing Iran. If Iran attacked Israel, I think the West would be forced to get behind them, not only to protect the Western influence in the area, but also from the US point of view, to keep the pro-Israel voters happy. The West would not sit back and allow Israel to be invaded regardless of what they might have done to provoke Iran. In terms of an unstable Iran, I think the more Iran is destabilised the more likely it is that the government will be overthrown. As long as the Iranian government doesn't have nuclear weapons, there is little they can do to hurt Israel, which has the backing of the West and nuclear weapons of its own. As long as the Middle East looks unstable, and the West is dependant on oil, they can't afford to lose their last ally over there - Israel, and so they have support anyway.

I think it is quite likely that if Iran was getting close to building nuclear weapons (especially if they had tested them), that Israel or the US would simply use conventional weapons to destroy the program. Israel did this to Iraq in the 80s (see Operation Opera - Wikipedia). Israel got a bit of a slap on the wrist, but ultimately little came of it. Iraq was only in possession of a reactor - not having actually tested weapons. I see no reason why Israel would stop itself bombing Iranian reactors if they suspected they were close to making a nuclear bomb. The other major problem I see to a nuclear weapons program is domestic instability. 45% of government revenue (according to Wikipedia) comes from oil/natural gas exports. If Iran pursues a nuclear program aggressively, the rest of the world will have no choice but to impose tougher sanctions on Iran, and reduce this income. Less money means the capacity of the government to function (and to produce nuclear weapons) is reduced. As was seen at the last election, there were considerable riots. This suggests there is already considerable discontent. Iran also has a reasonably well off society (18% below poverty line, CIA Factbook), and the general trend in more developed countries is towards democracy (once a person has food, shelter and feels safe, they start demanding a say in politics...). The government of Iran will be faced with a choice: pursue nuclear weapons, resulting in tougher sanctions, resulting in economic trouble, furthering the civil unrest; or they can abandon nuclear weapons, giving them the money needed to continue to keep the government in power as it is. For the moment, it is not unreasonable to, from the Iranian government's point of view, to consider a nuclear program a good thing - after all, it provides military power and could be used as a common goal for the nation - uniting the people behind the government. However, once sanctions are applied more heavily, as was done to North Korea following their tests (although sanctions were less successful there, simply because the West doesn't trade as much with them), Iran will have little choice but to abandon the program, or face more and more civil unrest. In short, between sanctions and the ability to conventionally strike targets if necessary, I think Iran would have a difficult time becoming a nuclear armed state.

Development has continued in Corsania at a steady rate. Steep land further afield has been terraced, with work being done in the two new cities of Logan and Thayer. Logan is to contain mainly more residential and commercial developments, while Thayer is an industrial port area. Factories have already been built in Thayer to satisfy the demand for construction materials in Corsania. The land is terraced to allow construction on the moderately steep slopes of the hill. Something interesting appears to be going on at the upper terrace construction site. Brian groaned as he hauled himself out of the folding chair. Lunch break was over and everyone was heading back out to continue work. The shortage of supplies in Corsania meant the whole team had only one digger to work with. They had been gradually eating their way into the side of the hill, removing dirt and rocks so that new factories could be built. He looked out over the bay, along the untouched coast, the sea shining under the light of another sun. Digger Operator: S***, hit something! Brian looked over to the digger, they were digging near the surface, not where you would expect bedrock, but the grinding of metal on stone was hard to miss. The last thing he needed was to break the only digger they had. Walking over, Brian looked into the hole. Sure enough, there was some pale grey stone just under the surface. Brian waved his arm at the digger. Brian: Move her back, we'll see if she's damaged. As the digger reversed, it appeared more damage had been done to the bedrock that the machine. Brian approached the hole to gauge what would be needed to blast through. As he looked over the edge, he realised what he had assumed to be scratches from the digger, was in fact writing. It looked nothing like he had seen before, an ornate pattern covered what must be a huge, and now fractured, room under the ground. The writing looked like nothing on earth... probably because it wasn't... The team of archaeologists, rapidly assembled, worked out little more than Brian had when they too climbed down through the broken stone. They too saw the beautifully carved walls of the small room, they too wondered what the words of this unearthly language meant and, just like the site foreman before them, wondered above all, why there were deep dark blue crystals covering the floor like fist-sized grains of sand. I will leave the story there... So that you can see some more pictures of Thayer! Here is an overview of the new port. And here is a view over the industrial development so far. Replies @ ComputerGuy: I am planning to use some of the PEG seaside sets in Logan. The hospital is the Bywater Springs Medical Facility, at SC4D.

Development has continued in Corsania at a steady rate. Steep land further afield has been terraced, with work being done in the two new cities of Logan and Thayer. Logan is to contain mainly more residential and commercial developments, while Thayer is an industrial port area. Factories have already been built in Thayer to satisfy the demand for construction materials in Corsania. The land is terraced to allow construction on the moderately steep slopes of the hill. Something interesting appears to be going on at the upper terrace construction site. Brian groaned as he hauled himself out of the folding chair. Lunch break was over and everyone was heading back out to continue work. The shortage of supplies in Corsania meant the whole team had only one digger to work with. They had been gradually eating their way into the side of the hill, removing dirt and rocks so that new factories could be built. He looked out over the bay, along the untouched coast, the sea shining under the light of another sun. Digger Operator: S***, hit something! Brian looked over to the digger, they were digging near the surface, not where you would expect bedrock, but the grinding of metal on stone was hard to miss. The last thing he needed was to break the only digger they had. Walking over, Brian looked into the hole. Sure enough, there was some pale grey stone just under the surface. Brian waved his arm at the digger. Brian: Move her back, we'll see if she's damaged. As the digger reversed, it appeared more damage had been done to the bedrock that the machine. Brian approached the hole to gauge what would be needed to blast through. As he looked over the edge, he realised what he had assumed to be scratches from the digger, was in fact writing. It looked nothing like he had seen before, an ornate pattern covered what must be a huge, and now fractured, room under the ground. The writing looked like nothing on earth... probably because it wasn't... The team of archaeologists, rapidly assembled, worked out little more than Brian had when they too climbed down through the broken stone. They too saw the beautifully carved walls of the small room, they too wondered what the words of this unearthly language meant and, just like the site foreman before them, wondered above all, why there were deep dark blue crystals covering the floor like fist-sized grains of sand. I will leave the story there... So that you can see some more pictures of Thayer! Here is an overview of the new port. And here is a view over the industrial development so far.

The settlement on Corsania captured the world’s attention. Despite this, the board responsible for running Corsania did not allow development to run rampant, after all, space on the new planet was plentiful and they wanted to use it well. The Hole, as it was being referred to across the globe, had appeared on the side of a gently sloping hill, near the water. Urban planners were assembled to work out how best to establish a colony. The first colony was called Millbrook. They decided to terrace the slope, with the exception of the area around the hole, to prevent potentially damaging it. As this was completed, they began laying the first roads, parks and building foundations. Next to The Hole they built a park and various government buildings. A small subway, ready for expansion later, was tunnelled and people began to move in. Soon the population had swelled to over 5,000. An overview of the city: Next is a view from the terraces behind the town, across the government area and parks. Now, a view across the government area and past the lower residential zones, to the sea. Note the infrastructure, including a hospital, schools and emergency services has been built ready for the expected influx of immigrants. Finally, a picture of the upper residential zone. The current development plans have the town filling the terraces, while another industrial town will be established near by to decrease the dependency on the link to earth and to help develop the new lands. Here are the results of a survey of the island before colonisation. It is long and thin, with a large bay. Millbrook is located in the middle, on the bay, Now, audience participation time! Firstly, you may have noticed I have been using some parks on the edges of the terraces (the ones up the back) to make them look nicer. I think it would entirely spoil the effect if I put these parks on all the terrace edges, yet the edges don’t look great by themselves. My question, what should I use to make the terrace edges look better? Secondly, what do you think I should do with the waterfront here? Some ideas I have had include: Pegasus’ Old Wooden Waterfront Two (perhaps a little too laid back, touristy for the capital), the Marrast embankments, leaving it as a beach, or a completely different seawall/waterfront kit of your suggestion. Thanks for the welcomes and comments, I hope you enjoy this update as well. Not so much a story update as an update on the city building.

 Thank you to everyone who commented on the first update. I hope you enjoy this one too!