Daeris

Well said @Cyclone Boom, and thank you I certainly will turn the shadows down.

Thanks for your reply and helpful concepts Flann! Yes, this is a very helpful approach to consider.

Thanks again for that response Corina. Here are some thoughts/questions I had. I hadn't thought about this, but that does sound like a good idea. Plus, with it being railroad, for RP purposes that also kinda makes sense since the railroad was such a big project in the early 1800s, before a lot of other widespread infrastructures. I would definitely be open to laying down a railroad line through the region; perhaps something basic, and of course something I could expand upon later. Let me ask, what is the major reason you feel this is necessary to ensure the simulation is working properly though? I understand it's likely going to vastly help your early agricultural industry, but you seem to emphasize you consider it a necessity. Also, do you try to run the rail right by a lot of your farms? Again, super good idea, and also kinda fits in for RP reasons! Another smart move! I'm in Michigan (grew up south of Detroit), so we have that midwestern blood in us! I'll have to check up on some of the maps you describe to get a better visual idea of the birdseye developments. I'm so glad you did, and you're welcome to any time! Seeing the overview of your region made me want to ask a quick related question. Since you play with the natural growth concept, what do you primarily look for when selecting new regions to play with? I only went through the first 13 or so pages here on the STEX, so I feel like I need to hunt down more regions for my future playthroughs, but I'm curious what you recommend keeping in mind here. Do you design/customize your regions yourself? Here's where the game simulation and the real world differ. The game is geared to really help things move along towards higher population density and mega sized cities. However, you can consider the demand for residential as excited Sims who want to move in, but you are not obligated to give them all a place to live. The only time you must grow more residential is when the demand for agriculture is so low the farms won't grow. OMG this is absolutely GENIUS! As I eluded to, I kinda felt like I was missing a big mental puzzle piece about how to go about playing with this style, and I think this might just be it. You're 100% right, that the game and real life differ in this capacity. I shouldn't view the strong Residential demand as indication that I must expand the residential areas (especially when I don't even have farms widespread through the available clearing yet). Instead, I can view it as simply the potential residential demand for when that particular area develops. Other than dotting the landscape with some villages as you've said, if farms will grow first, they should! Speaking of little villages/towns, it seems that you sprinkle multiple of them through certain logical spots in one city-tile, is that correct? In other words, a large city-tile may have more than one small village, correct? Or do you try to limit a village/town to 1 per city-tile? If the former, and you sprinkle several villages within one city-tile, may I ask how you go about naming that city-tile? Do you name the villages in your head or with landmarks of any kind, for RP reasons? My first concern is what traffic settings you chose when installing NAM. Based on your pics, it seems you shouldn't have red congestion yet unless selecting the Classic option. I went with the Low version which allows up to 1500 on the streets before they get angry with me. My reasoning is that I can then use various SAMs for what I wish to simulate. Yeah, thanks for checking on this. I'm was originally on Ultra, but after my form post a few days back (regarding why my dirt roads were holding so much traffic) I did use the traffic controller to switch my capacity down to LOW, like you. Perhaps I overexaggerated my congestion. I am seeing some red on the streets in my most populous towns, mostly at the intersections - however - I feel like this is likely mostly because I let my residential areas sprawl too much in those cities. For example, in my biggest city Grandtrix, population is 14,000. See, so I let that grow too quickly this playthrough (but hey I'm learning!). Here is what some of the intersections look like in Grandtrix: So yeah, I will double check, but I'm fairly sure I'm on the LOW traffic capacity setting (I'll double check), and I think this is just a case of me letting things grow/sprawl too quickly for this playthrough. I love that you do this; I do this too, and want to basically show gravel/brick street in certain areas, but of course mostly stick to the PEG dirt streets everywhere else at first. Quick side question regarding this... I noticed that sometimes when connecting 2 different style streets together (ie connecting brick and dirt together), sometimes the the dirt street will kinda override the other and make it difficult to get it how I want it. Seems sometimes I need to use the bulldozer to fine-tune what street style I want where, so one doesn't override the other visually speaking. Do you get this too, or have any recommendations there? I have the BSC Functional Seaport mod (not the whole thing though, because those dependencies THO, lol). I haven't used it either, but if you're like me you might like the look of the BLS Rural port that is offered within. I just downloaded the dependencies for this and one other of the BSC ports. Thanks for this! Also a great philosophy to share! That sounds like a great approach, and will be very helpful for me to resist all the Residential demand (like you said, not until farms are populating everything or won't grow). I definitely like the sound of this approach, and it's hyper realistic. Quick side questions regarding wind power... do you basically plop a windmill or two somewhere and then use the giant agricultural zones to act as power lines transferring the power through the zones? Or do you place a new windmill for new farm often? Speaking of windmill, I almost feel the wind turbine breaks my RP a little bit, and seems slightly out of place. I know windmills didn't exactly produce electricity way back in the day, but do you know if there are any wind turbine re-skin mods or anything? I almost would prefer to use some windmill skins for power, up until I'm ready for big towns to develop. Also, regarding fire, hmmmm, you seem to make it sound like this might definitely be a potential problem. Great idea on the mod, and thank you so much for sharing. I think I may take advantage of that if it's something you really recommend. Or do you think it's doable if I simply place a small fire department when the public demands it? Lastly, does hard difficulty to anything other than change the starting money? Yeah, you're right, and your stuff looks so good. You've done a great job of not only letting things develop naturally and realistically, but you have made your stuff look so realistic too. I'm so glad such a prominent person like you is very experienced with this type of gameplay. I'm a fangirl for sure! =p Speaking of the look of your stuff, a few questions there plz: Do you use the SPAM mod, or no? I am currently using SPAM for the extra crop types visually, so anything you can recommend here might be helpful to increase realism and diversity. Also, as mentioned, I absolutely love that you have overgrowth around your fields and cutting/snaking throughout the landscape. It's fabulous to look at, and so very realistic. Do you have any recommendations for trees or bushes you've found to help create this overgrowth look the most? After following your lead, I found a few bushier trees that I like, which I think are part of the tree controller mod I have installed. As for the larger forests you have snaking throughout, how to you decide where those should go? Do you use the flora blast command to help with this in any way? Lastly, do you notice that painting/plopping so much overgrowth slows down your game in any capacity? I have a moderately beefy PC, so I'm not too concerned by it, but I think I should start to consider doing anything I can to optimize my game so it doesn't get out of control. Eventually I should probably clean up my Plugins folder and optimize it for efficiency so the game loads everything sooner. Anyways, sorry that's a lot of questions, but I love the way you incorporate nature, because that gives you something for development to swallow up later when you start expanding. I just love it. Absolutely LOVE the look of that sub-division. Again, coming from a midwesterner like me, that is just so darn realistic looking, with those curved streets and giant houses. =p Anyways, geez I bombed you with questions! I do apologize; please no rush to reply of course, I'm just so thrilled that you tackle this style so masterfully imo.

Thank you for your replies. Even if they can't use the red brick or dirt SAM textures with the current mod release, it is an extremely useful mod! I can design around it for sure, was mostly just wanting the street texture for aesthetics of course. Thanks again!

Corina, you just blew my mind and I think helped me fit some great puzzle pieces together! First off, thanks for your spectacular, well-thought out response! Your stuff is fantastic to look at, and if I can achieve even half of that look, I'll be happy! I haven't read and processed your whole reply yet (but trust me I will!); after I let things simmer a few hours (and I get some sleep), I'll offer up a response and further questions if that's ok? I absolutely love that you embrace this style as well! Don't ever think twice about sharing pics with me; your stuff looks so good, and it's extremely helpful for me to see and get ideas. I love how you create natural forests and overgrowth on the perimeter of your farms (geez that's so smart and realistic). Here's a pic of a farm I laid down literally 2 minutes after reading a bit of your post: Ok, I'm excited, but first sleep time. I'll get back to this thread in the near future!

Hi rsc204, Thanks for your mods! I have just downloaded the UnderBridge set, which is super useful, however I just had a couple of questions. Here is my first attempt at trying to set something up: Notice, when using drawpaths, there is no indication there is a path, but I'm guessing since I need to use a subway connection underneath the extenders, that would be why. When I use the traffic query tool, it seems to indicate with the arrows that it is being utilized. Does this look right to you? Also, for some reason the street textures didn't copy over my PEG dirt streets from the SAM streets. Did I do something wrong?

No garbage services yet. Nobody has griped about it yet. I'll have to do research when garbage services became widespread and commonplace in bigger communities, in relation to plumbing and paved streets. I think plumbing was starting to become more commonplace basically 1900 thru 1950. How I translate that into playing with this style is something I'm trying to figure out. I think brick paved roads were arriving in the wealthiest places also around 1900 or so, and in 1956 the interstate system was commenced (and technically not finalized until 2018). As of 2008, about 67% of US roads were paved. Again, how I translate these figures into the game I'm still unsure. I basically only want to provide upgraded roads and utilities/services when the city needs it and when it makes the most sense to do so. I think I'm on the brink of a coal plant, and offering some paved roads, and perhaps some initial plumbing in only the wealthiest of spots in-game.

Finances seem fine so far, all cities are pulling in much more than they are spending. However, I can see that as I start to lay some of the more serious road networks, I'm sure it will eat into my finances quickly. I do use CAM. I've downloaded mostly commercial lots (skyscrapers) that I think will benefit the most. I should probably try to find some "lower tier" residential and industrial CAMpatible lots. I am still learning how the new stages with CAM will affect growth, which I suspect I will see come into play more as the towns continue to develop and become bigger cities. One thing I'm rather surprised at I suppose, is the overwhelming Residential demand right now (it's consistently high). I'm not sure if this is affected by CAM or not. it was my understanding that RCI demand itself isn't really affected by CAM, moreso that CAM just slows and expands the growth stages (by creating more of them).

Hey all, I might be trippin' here, because I'm a returning player after not playing the game in probably close to 10 years, so I'm still trying to remember the balance of the game and its systems. Anyways, I'm trying to develop a region using the "natural growth" strategy, so I'm starting out with only dirt roads, and only zoning low density. I'm kinda taken aback by the capacity my dirt roads are handling right now. To clarify, I DO have the NAM installed, and I'm using the SAM portion, and specially the PEG dirt roads (which are streets). Here is an example: This dirt street here is handling over 800 cars and is showing totally green for congestion: Here is one with over 700 cars, and over 200 freight trucks, also showing absolutely no indication of having a congestion problem: Is this just a case of me not really recalling the capacity of what streets can handle, or might something be going on here? Thank you for looking and for any assistance!

Thank you, yes I just closed it down, opened and adjusted the TSCT.jar down to low, and I expect better results now. I'll boost it back up later when the cities grow!

Hi Corina, I've seen your posts/replies all over the forum, and you are super helpful! Thank you for seemingly being an awesome human being and still making this a great game to play in 2020. Thanks for your reply here, that is super duper helpful!