jwsteele

Utterly, absurdly gorgeous. Amazing work man.

Any plans for the Chicago BAT Project to ever do some of the art-deco infill for both CO and R? Lots of awesome architecture on a smaller scale (I'm talking the 4-12 story buildings that would be 1x2 or 1x3 tiles near the loop).

I am going to go on the offensive. SF is overrated to a small degree, particularly with regard to the lack of real public transportation. But how else is it overrated? Booming economy, arguably the best concentration of restaurants and bars in the entire country (only NYC trumps SF in terms of food, and even that is debatable), 20 minute access to nature, hikes, beaches, amazing cycling and wine country, dense urban environment that promotes walkability, and yet not so dense that there is a decidedly human scale to the city. Beautiful parks (Golden Gate alone is better than Central, easily, and then you have Land's End, Presidio, Fort Mason, Dolores), amazing bay view, density, amazing sports (made it to both the World Series AND Super Bowl last year), several world class museums (DeYoung, Legion of Honor, SF Moma, Cal Academy of Sciences, Asian Art Museum), amazing cultural facilities (opera, ballet, symphony), one of the most amazing music festivals in the country (recent headliners included PAUL MCCARTNEY, Radiohead, Stevie Wonder, Neil Young, Metallica, Red Hot Chili Peppers, mean come on). Not to mention iconic architecture and locations (Painted Ladies, Golden Gate Bridge, Transamerica, Alcatraz, Lombard Street, Coit Tower). I am obviously biased because I live here, but it is EASILY my favorite city in the entire country. If you came here and only visited Fisherman's Wharf/Chinatown/Union Square, I get it, you fell for the tourist traps. The cons are that it is too expensive (because everybody wants to live and work here) and that public transport needs to come a long way.

What is that circular style Parisian type building?  Beautiful entry!

Cathedral is looking amazing, although I think I'd prefer it with no ivy at all. At the least, the ivy needs reworking. I also agree 110% about the lack of skyscrapers with podiums in this game. Virtually every new building in my home city (San Francisco) has a podium, and yet you never see them here. That seems to be the design element of the future.

Any chance to get some R$ variations of this? I think we were talking earlier in this thread about how most of the R$ options look explicitly "slummy", yet originally the architecture would look the same as the R$$ neighborhoods built at the same time...neighborhoods are not created (usually) with the intention of being slums, and the housing stock for the real life R$ neighborhoods in San Francisco (where I live) is literally no different than those in R$$ and R$$$ neighborhoods.

Where did you get that amazing park with the city hall area?

Ridiculously gorgeous! When do you think Federation Square will hit the production line? So excited for that one...

Oh my gosh. Oh my gosh. Oh my gosh. Gorgeous. I have been actively seeking out this type of building (twin towers with a contemporary podium) as I'm seeing them a lot in new construction where I live (San Francisco), but can barely find any. This is perfect.

Everybodies cities are going to look like Melbourne replicas by the time this dude is done...outstanding!!!

How big is the cathedral going to be, lot wise? You are the only BATer I start planning space in my cities before months in advance...

Utterly jawdropping. Both this and Bank of New York (which is already sitting pretty in my CBD). No worries about the color...at this point, it's clear that there are widely varying opinions on what color the building should be and there is no way to please everybody, so just release what you like.

Unbelievably good!

On top of any rules regarding monument height, the main reason for DC's lack of skyscrapers is the fact that zoning throughout the city mandates that a building cannot be taller than the width of the street it sits on, plus 10 or 12 (I can't remember which) feet. So while the wider streets in the financial center can provide for bigger buildings than, say, Georgetown, there is no ability to build skyscrapers.

Your BAT is amazing, looks great in game! Quick ignorant question, what is the blue building next to it? Is that already released, or coming up?

Oh man, with this and Darknono's art deco things coming down the line, I could not be more excited for some of the new BATs. This look gorgeous. Also exciting to see renderings (to some degree) of the cathedral, Federation Square, and Hamer Hall have been started. I would love all three for my city!

These are outrageously good...

Hey all, My city/region is progressing very smoothly, and I have the workings of a dense CBD. While I haven't decided which location (I am sitting on two), I would love to create a gorgeous Civic Center. One of my favorites is my home town of San Francisco. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Civic_Center,_San_Francisco However, my region/city will eventually be a metropolis along the size of NYC/Tokyo/Hong Kong, much larger than SF. Also, I have not worked out the full story, but my dream would be my city to function as an autonomous region inside of the US, much like Hong Kong works in China. So, given that, what do you think are: A) Essential features for civic centers, especially given the back story B) Some interesting ideas for civic centers (like SF's Asian Art Museum) that aren't necessary, but unique C) Some good BATs (I am more interested in realism, so they do not have to be the "proper" function). Even though this is an American city, with general architecture mirroring Art Deco/Chicago/NYC, I'm more than open to more ceremonial looking European architecture given the picture above. D) Theories about location...does it necessarily have to be close to the CBD? Thanks all, the knowledge about both SC4 and city planning in general in this board is overwhelming!

I have been growing my region steadily, and am now at the 156,000 sim mark. The main large tile I started out with has a flourishing CBD with plenty of C$$ and C$$$ buildings, as well as a large park. I had placed a landfill not too far from the CBD earlier, and it is killing the ability to build C$$/C$$$/R$$/R$$$, despite the large demand for it, in prime geographic areas. I have landfill in other regions close by (although not directly connecting) that I would love to do a neighbor deal with. However, I cannot fully delete the landfill I have. Deleting the empty landfill just makes things worse, as then I still have landfill I cannot delete, and yet the trash piles up in my CBD, causing buildings to become abandoned. Any ideas for how I can effectively become a landfill free city, with minimal damage to what already exists?

Awesome! Thanks for all the advice. For whatever reason I made the assumption that W2Es pulled garbage OUT of a landfill, which is apparently completely incorrect. So, I'll just built more W2Es for now, and delete road access to the landfill.

One trouble that i have in any other transport system is that it needs to demolish too many buildings.. is there any other way to build a nice monorail/elevated rail system without doing much destruction? The way I have it set up in mine is that I use roadtop bus and subway stops, and have numerous bus stops with an intention of funneling them to my subway routes. In the CBD, parks, near landmarks, etc I may demolish buildings to put in a larger or more ceremonial subway stop, but for the most part I can get by with the roadtop versions. I also have groundrail lines that act more as a way to get citizens of my outer suburbs into the city itself, with subway stations right across from the train station (with the subways being used to get around the city itself, vs the commuter aspect of the train). I play more in a "natural growth" style (ie not pre-planning ahead and just letting cities grow naturally), so therefore I do tend to use transportation systems that do not have to demolish buildings more-so than those that do.

From a purely realism standpoint, that is extremely comprehensive for a subway system. Generally, a subway system will have a stop every 4 to 8 blocks (depending on block size, if the stop is on the wide or narrow point of the block, and sufficient points of interest) even in the densest areas. For example, take a look at NYC and London's, and also SF's BART line for a good example of how the distance between stops shortens extensively as the neighborhood becomes denser. To me, that looks like significantly more lines than would ever exist in a real life city. Your coverage might more accurately display bus routes, which can normally funnel citizens to subway stations. Buses, particularly in a dense CBD, are often infinitely more extensive than subways. Now, if you could care less about realism, the subway system will probably be able to support your city for some time, even acting alone.

Oh man, if you end up being good at Victorians/Queen Anne homes, this game is long long long overdue for San Francisco wall to wall Victorians. My dream has been a set along the lines of Spa's Halifax boxes in terms of color combinations, but even one would do!