ScLu

!!!WARNING!!! This post is LOOOONG! !!!WARNING!!! I know, I know. It's a little big, but don't say I didn't warn ya. Okay, this post is a little long winded, but I kept puttin it off for about a month, and now I'm writing this while my dad is working on his truck (don't ya hate it when cars get 150,000 miles on em?). Annnnywayyyy... I have a few suggestions for the NAM (summary first): An eight way cloverleaf* One-way road overpass-intersection* New kinds of bridges (different support styles other than blah-blah-blah-blah-blah-blah) Different (more) ped-mall textures More puzzle-piece types (curves, diagonals, intersections, etc.) More puzzle piece networks More puzzle piece support textures/types (bricks, arches, trestle, suspension wires, etc.) Double-decker highway* Ped-malls as a dragable network ANT network needs faster speeds More kinds of intersections One-way highways The ability to drag one network under anotherSome of these suggestions are pretty CENSORED obvious, so I won't even think about mentioning them again. As for the others... 1. An eight-way cloverleaf Because of the sheer size of the pic, I can't even upload it as a zip. Oh well. I can describe it. Here goes... All eight highways converge onto a roundabout 12 lanes wide with an inner radius of 3 (three) tiles (what that means is that the roundabout is three tiles wide with four lanes in each tile to facilitate traffic). Because the inner radius of the roundabout is three tiles and the outer radius is six tiles, that only leaves two tiles for the perimeter to mess with. However, that description only tells you how to design the orthagonal inlets/outlets. This little pic shows how to do the diagonal inlets/outlets (only shows the corner, but I'll tell ya the rest). This color is the ground in SC4. This color (cyan (almost)) is the whole tiles in the corner. This color is the half-tiles in the corner (as well as the partials in the lower left). This color is the remaining half of the partials in the lower left (and part of the on/off ramps in the interchange). And this color (yellow) is the actual on/off ramps in the interchange. Black and white translation for the colorblind: This color (dark green) is the ground in SC4. This color (cyan (almost)) is the whole tiles in the corner. This color (blue) is the half-tiles in the corner (as well as the partials in the lower left). This color (dark/brick red) is the remaining half of the partials in the lower left (an part of the on/off ramps in the interchange). And this color (yellow) is the actual on/off ramps in the interchange. All the on/off ramps are on the outer edge of the roundabout (because it's one way) and are three lanes wide. All the highways converging on the interchange are on the same level (elevated or ground). However, due to a game engine glitch, the interchange must be placed before the highways are built. The reason the roundabout is so wide is to facilitate traffic from EIGHT DIFFERENT HIGHWAYS! (THAT'S TWELVE LANES HANDLING 24 LANES OF HEAVY TRAFFIC IN CONGESTED CITIES!) Talk about heavens-to-betsy-bottlenecked-backed-up-all-the-way-to-the-border-my-boss-is-REALLY-gonna-be-pissed-off-that-I'm-late-again gridlock! (whew!) O_O Also, this interchange is radially symmetric (except for the traffic). Well. Whaddya think? Did I describe it well? Yes? No? Maaybe? 2. One-way road overpass-intersection This is a simple one-way road variation on this suggestion made a while back by wicher on page 44. Nothing more, nothing less: 4. Different (more) ped-mall textures The name almost says it all. I was kinda thinking of like cracked or light concrete for slummy parts of town. Maybe dirt paths for rural communities. Or something a little ritzier for the R$$$ or CO$$$ areas. Or even something that looks clean and industrial for the high-tech areas! Yeah! All-in-all, just a bigger variety of textures, maybe even with overlays to simulate walking paths. 6. More puzzle piece networks Networks like sublevel highways (highways that are below ground surface, but are not completely buried), ground level monorail, sublevel, or even UNDERGROUND monorail. Or supersonic rail transport (useful for those multi-city or cross-region commutes). Maybe even double-decker rail (can handle twice as much traffic as std. rail, but each deck travels in one direction). 8. Double decker highway A double decker highway with two-way decks could easily handle twice as much traffic in the same amount of space as a single deck highway. Although I have yet to figure out transitions, I have figured out the most basic of elements: This is a cross section. The violet and green represent the individual lanes of the upper deck (three in each direction). Likewise with the red and blue. The cyan is the support structure. This is an onramp from the side. It's a perpendicular onramp that is the default seven tiles long by four tiles wide in the center. The violet and red represent the upper and lower decks respectively. Likewise, the two shades of green represent the on/off ramps. The blue strip is a road. The cyan bars are the supports. And the silver is the sublevel view. This is an orthagonal intersection from two sides. Green and red for one highway. Violet and blue for the other. Cyan is the supports, and the silver and grey represent sublevel. 1 2 I have not troubleshooted the intersections except the perpendicular on/off ramp. I'll just leave that to all you smart guys in the community (I do make A's, I just don't know how to BAT yet). 11. More kinds of intersections Road to highway. Ground/elevated hwy cloverleaf. Trumpet interchange. The possibilities are ENDLESS! 12. One-way highways Highways that are two tiles wide and have six lanes of traffic going in only one direction. One-way [super]highways have more than double the capacity of standard highways and can keep traffic running smoothly. Plus, if they can be developed into three and four lane packages as well, we could create realistic highways that diverge on hills, run adjacent to each other on plains, and even cross over each other to create MASSIVE interchanges! 13. The ability to drag one network under another Such an ability could allow five neighbor connections in a two tile width. Elevated highway on top. Road and light/freight rail next. And subway and water pipes on the bottom (subterranian). Just imagine an EL rail line that runs right over a road or avenue! Or a rail line right ON a road! I'm done. Long, ain't it? Although some of these suggestions are not doable at all and are probably just a waste of my air, but I just thought what the h***. I'll suggest them anyway. Besides, there's bound to be SOMEONE who might want to try it out just for the h*** of it. I don't care about what you say to put me down, I just said some ideas to put on the drawing board. If they get thrown out, then I'll know the game coding dosen't allow for them.

Perhaps, instead of making all four highways continuous, a central roundabout is substituted? I hand-drew something and used my dad's all-in-one printer to make a copy of it then scan the copy into the computer. I managed to fit the whole d*mn kit&kaboodle in the default 16*16 space. With a little room to spare (actually takes up less space than the Maxis clocerleaves). ANNNND...being a roundabout, all cars never travel up OR down to get where they're going, so the only UDI hassle it'd cause would be traffic jams in REALLY conjested cities. If y'all gimme till this weekend, I can have it posted as a zip (it's HUGE! the dimensions are in the 1000's). Just download, extract, and drool (okay, so I used a compass and ruler to draw it, but at least it's neat and readable). I'll also have a few more suggestions for the NAM (it'll be a LOOOONG post). -EDIT-I'm busting with ideas that I haven't had time to suggest yet, but this weekend could be it.

I will sign this petition. Even though I have noidea that these problems even existed.

How about making it a Double-Deck highway instead? That sounds more Los Angeles-ish.

Unfortuneately, I've had time to do a short test of this new file yesterday, but I won't have time, nor will I have time this upcoming week to post my pics. I will have to re-format all of them and re-size a few of them (their dimensions are 1024X768). An I won't have time for a while, but I plan to do it.

Tropod:I figured out my reluctant folder problem. I had it in so many sub-folders that it was basically locked in place. This time, I saved it to the desktop.