Dubya

Welcome to my first city journal, Indica Hills. I first created this city back in Sept. of 2004, and at times updating the city. The city itself is well over 300 years in the game, and is almost fully developed. The development of the city itself is very European in style, you won't see any low density development, and is very "organic" in layout imho. Also this city is only part of a massive region that hasn't been developed yet, Indica Hills is currently the only major city at the moment. I'll continue to update this thread with more pictures, but heres a few for now... This is a view of most of the city, the sea is in the most northern part of the city (use the compass on the top right corner of pic) and the most southern part of the city (top of pic) where there isn't any trees will be the site of further development of the city. Plans are that sports venues will be built, university, and various other city service venues. Also planned are more rowhouse style suburbs, and more commercial development. Here is the CBD, though it wasn't the original CBD for the city. In the background you can see parts of the old city, and the old city hall, which is now a shopping mall. Another view of the CBD, part of the Southern suburbs and Midtown Industrial park can be seen in the background. A wealthy neighborhood, one of the oldest, located on the northern end of the city, and the Library, and City park to the right. This is one of the far western suburbs of the city, it houses mainly the Middle Class, and is surrounded by the Sea to the North, the Western commercial district, Westside Industrial park, and Midtown Industrial park (not pictured). To the right is the Western Commercial district, to the left is part of the western suburbs, and to the north is part of the southwestern suburbs (seperated by the west by the city zoo) and part of the Midtown industrial park.

Your region looks very interesting, I love the attention to detail you put into carving through hills with the highways and railroads. Love the boulders and rocks that are around the river banks, very realistic, can't wait for more!

Wow, the countryside is very unique with the placement of the Forests, reminds me of a cluster of Plant or animal cells. The villages and farms in the countryside are beautiful, and the road that leads from the top of salt bluff to the bottom was amazing. Well done!

Replies: patfirefghtr - Thanks, my pc isn't as fast as you may think, I've been working on this city off and on now since Sept. of 2004. cityhawk - Thanks, though its quite easy, just have to have patience when laying streets, and zoning. Nardo69 - Thanks, I agree somewhat on the age contributing to the atmosphere, it could be a factor, but I've seen some CJ's here in the past few days that have really impressed me, not sure if the age of gameplay was a factor though. Mikeaut1 - Thanks, though there are some stuff that I'd like to incorporate into the city to make it realistic. Like a main train station, though there isn't much room, and I want to be careful on changing anything thats already developed. Sisu - Thank you, I agree that the terrain helped the asthetics of the rowhouses. tomdapom - Thanks, though the idea of trying to create this city as large as San Fransisco is interesting, since this city and neighboring cities are part of a peninsula like SF. Caddielook - Thank you. sloppy182 - Thanks, it takes patience. Again thank you all that have commented on the city, I appreciate it... I'll be adding some updates in a couple of days, in that time I'll add further development to the city.

Very creative in the technique used to create the terrain, excellent graphics, looking forward to more.

Wow, amazing work on the CJ, great history and story. Your cities look very impressive, empire like.

Thanks Battlecat, and Bat. Simmax, I've tried my best to keep the steepness of the roads as realistic as I could, some areas I could've done better by laying diagonal roads, but I know what you mean about some roads looking too steep. Pickled pig, when zoning your residential or commercial areas that you want rowhouse type developments to occur, use a checkerboard type zoning style. Mix the medium and high density residential and commercial zoning, don't have two of the same density touching each other if at all possible. You can also mix in commercial zoning into the residential area, which I should've done more of, but oh well. I've included a photo for example below: Here are some more photos of the city at night. Some more updates to follow in the coming days.

Amazing CJ, love the seasonal trees, and awesome terraforming!

The golf course makes it look like a city in southeastern U.S. or the midwest, very realistic, well done!

Wow, I remember when you first started Digby, I'm amazed by the progress and the effort you put into this CJ, amazing work man!

Thanks hamster, about the rowhouses, when I do the zoning, I just usually zone 1 tile or 1x2 tile in Medium and High density residential. You have to make it kind of like a checkerboard, don't have the Mediums touching other Mediums, same with Highs.

Very beautiful, very detailed, well planned out, beautiful work Darmok!

Thanks for your comments mayormommy, yeah I've been tweaking this city for quite some time now, though I've been giving it more attention these past few days then I have in months. Oh and about me rarely posting here, I'm just lazy.

Looks great, can't wait for more!

Thanks Eggie! Also forgot to mention that I used cheats, and the blackhole waste management lot, and the fountain that gives you alot of money. This photo shows the layout of the city's streets and highways. This is part of the southern suburbs of the city. Southern Suburbs Southern Suburbs Parts of the CBD, Midtown industrial park, southwest suburbs, southern suburbs, and also Monument Roundabout. This view shows the original CBD of the city, which is now the entertainment district. Further to the right from the photo above is another part of the original CBD, you can find the new city library here along with the main police station. This view shows the original city hall which is now a mall, and parts of the Historical district. More updates to follow, later during the day.

Looking good so far, love the farms, and the interchanges.

Eight more photos added, more to come. Various ariel views: In this view, you can see the historical district or old city almost surrounded by hi-rises. The neighborhood to the south of the historical district in this picture, is the uptown district, which houses the upper class, like the historical district, just higher in density. This photo shows some of the preserved historical buildings that border the CBD. This view is just a little bit above along the tracks from the photo above. Here is a view of parts of the uptown district, and views of the city park and library. To the left of the photo is the southern most original part of the CBD, in the top of the photo you can find the current City Hall. Also about the traffic congestion, I disabled the traffic mods temporarily.

Wow, you've made a beautiful city with an awesome layout, and I love how you developed a well planned mass transit network. Also love all the parks and the terrain itself, gives the hi-rises plenty of space, I love it. Keep up the good work!

(Warning long post) My country (USA) in 2050... -After another great depression which would bring reform to America's banks and gov't -America would gradually rebuild after the 2nd great depression -America would become an agriculture dominant economy -Urban sprawl wouldn't be practiced anymore, since it is economically inefficient and since the automobile will be alot more expensive to own and operate (Driver's Licenses won't be easy to obtain as they are now) -Also with Urban sprawl a thing of the past, some suburbs will actually be torn down to make way for farms -Low density American cities like Atlanta would redevelop and become more dense, due to the higher price of real estate, the vast suburbs of today that housed middle class Americans will become home to the rich, the mansions of todays rich will become home to the ultra rich or become apartments for the rich. -Cities will utilize tram networks, as well as developing well planned bicycle paths such as those that are common in cities in The Netherlands. -High speed electrified rail will connect the cities of North America -Also the population will reach 400 million The world... -America wouldn't be the superpower or military power that it is now, the EU will become the world's largest and strongest superpower, as well as the world's economical superpower -China will endure another civil war when the farmers rise against the gov't and overthrow communism, bringing back democracy or reinstating an Emperor similar to Japan's -Israel will reform, with its population finally realizing that fighting each other will only keep Israel from moving forward, so Israel reforms and becomes Israel-Palestine, a democratic nation with a gov't ran by both Jews and Arabs and other peoples, Israel will become a tourism based economy, also it will join the EU -Africa will still be developing, though it still has alot of progress to make -India-Pakistan will be at peace with each other, after the demise of India's caste system, it will become the world's education mecca, becoming the place that people from all over the world go to, to recieve higher education -The Middle East will likely remain unchanged, though countries like Saudi Arabia will finally follow the UAE's model to invest in alternative businesses since oil won't be in demand as it is today, the UAE will become "The Netherlands" of the Middle East, not part of Holland, just similar to what it is in today's Europe. -Iraq will either become a part of Jordan or Iran -Southeast Asia will become the world's manufacturing powerhouse, and continue to be the technological powerhouse of the world, North Korea will become like the China of the present -Australia would be a tourism dominant economy -Canada would stay the same, just with a larger population -Mexico will become North/South America's manufacturing power, which will be a wealthy nation -Brazil will be a tourism dominant economy -Argentina will be the financial power of South America As far as flying cars... not common, more flights to space will be more common, but will remain very expensive, travel between the continents will be faster as airplanes will become faster, and some even reaching space for minutes then back to its destination Conventional cars will become predominantly hybrid diesel (BioDiesel not petroleum based) powered vehicles, Electric cars still being too expensive for most, also SUVs and pickups will be rare Finally, I hope the environment won't change much, and won't be controlled by man either.

http://www.emporis.com/en/il/pc/?id=110137&aid=8&sro=1 I'd like to see this skyscraper in Sc4. The pictures are from the Emporis (Skyscrapers.com) website so I couldn't attach them here.

When did this become about facts and such, I only stated that wide grassy medians should have trees or shrubs to block the glare of oncoming traffic while driving at night, and of course to keep vehicles from colliding into trees or shrubs if you will, the use of guardrails.

Xiao, sorry to hear about your accident, good thing you weren't hurt as bad, although hitting your head on the windshield must of been a $%&^!. Don't worry about your car being damaged, it can be repaired or replaced. Ironically I was involved in a accident 2 weeks ago where a 18 Wheeler ran a red light smashing into the rear quarter panel of my car at 40mph, luckily I floored the car to try to avoid him so it could of been worse. Don't worry my friend, as long as we're okay and as long as our insurance company comes through for us, life goes on, just be more cautious of course like driving slower in wintery conditions, and as for me, I'll keep a better eye out at intersections.

---------------- On 2/7/2004 3:24:05 PM MTLT_17 wrote:Well Dubya I think you bring a very important topic to this forum. There are many including myself who think the large medians are stupid, but you have to look at it both ways. In the case of the interstates you have NO trees in the median due to the fact that is a car is going into the ditch. WHAM! If a tree is there who knows what would happen if it hits at 70mph. about 120km. Another reason for these wide medians are so that a car traveling at 70mph can stop before it hits on-coming traffic. So next time you post please have some back-up for your argument or it may fall flat on its back.https://www.simtropolis.com/idealbb/images/smilies/2.gif border=0> ---------------- Okay first of all I understand the purpose of having a medians purpose is to seperate both directions of traffic and all, but you philosphy against having no trees in the median to safegaurd those that leave the road for any possible reason just isn't a fullproof one. Think about it, yes most of the time the median is wide enough to give enough room for a vehicle that may have lost control and the safety of not colliding into any trees and such, but what if you have some lunatic that has the intention of entering the opposite flow of traffic? It's been done, even though its rare it does happen, you've seen these scenarios in Police Videos. Theres a very simple solution my friend, even though they do seem very rare here in the U.S. they are the infamous guardrail. Just take a look at a few photos of Germany's Autobahn. If you have noticed, their medians are very narrow compared to ours here, but if you look harder, they always have a guardrail seperating traffic. You would think this is kind of silly for such a country where most of it's highway systems have no speed limits, but I'll tell you what, if it didn't work the Germans wouldn't be using them. So in reality, trees and shrubs within the medians make driving easier since drivers on both sides aren't staring at the glare of other vehicle's headlamps. Not only is it easier to drive at night without the glare, but its safer, only with sufficient use of guardrails of course, and hell it even helps ease pollution in some aspects. So take my word for what it is, I had alot to back this up including the fact that I've lived in Germany recently (just moved back home from a 4 year stay there, and that of course came with alot of Autobahn driving, and let me tell you, their highways are not only easy to drive on, but a great experience as well. > http://home.att.net/~texhwyman/g_imgs/autobahn2b.jpg>

At least the Canadians have smoother highways to drive on... I can't stand driving on these highways here in the U.S. and the wide medians are kind of idiotic without any shrubs or trees in the middle. Ever notice at night that people with those aftermarket Xenon (Blue) Headlamps or those that just drive with fog lamps are an annoying part of night Interstate driving?