Equilibria

Nice work everybody! I'll chip in with a couple of my own pictures from Downtown Newton, the capital and largest city of the New Boston Region. These may be out of date (as compared to each other), because they were taken at different times (this city changes a lot). Sorry in advance about the signs in the daytime one. This is a shot facing Marathon Bay (or West), showing how the city lights up at night (credit to Marrast and whoever made the Phath Auditorium and Neon Light Towers). This one, with the signs, is a closeup of the same area about twenty simyears before the previous image. It shows the central gathering spaces of the city close up. Marathon Ave. is in the middle running top to bottom, along the bay. The rest is labeled. This is on the other side of Marathon Bay, showing the neighborhood of Violet as of yesterday. The highway tunnel is I-103, and the avenue on top of it is University Ave (built yesterday. Barely visable is Violet Boulevarde, using Marrast's avenue dividers. This is just an overview of the entire Downtown Area. Violet is on the right, and the Suffolk Peninsula is on the left, with Marathon and Suffolk bays between them. Of course credit goes to everyone who contributes to the STEX (especially Superstar, Dusktrooper, and all the NDEX builders). Hope you liked this set. I may make a CJ out of this region once I've gotten it to where it's presentable. Once again, great work everyone!

I think that building could use just a few more windows... I wonder if it was built during a glass shortage. It must be annoying to work in there (unless its the Federal Reserve or Something). BTW Storms: The first picture in my last post isn't a convention center, the captions are below the pictures. The convention center was a couple of posts up.

I, for one, could definitely see the Anaheim Convention Center as ugly. It is just another one of those unfortunate sports venues that were built with either no regard at all for asthetics (Shea Stadium - truly hideous) or too much (kind of what's going on here). As for a couple more of my local examples: This one is also at MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology), right across the street from the Stata Center, as a matter of fact. It is a new freshman dorm, and another new and exciting idea. Many think it looks like a sponge. Some believe it is an oversized lego. Others believe it came from outer space. In any case, it is truly ugly. This one doesn't really look that bad, but it does if viewed from a distance (unfortunately I couldn't find a decent picture). This is Newton North High School. It is four stories high, and has no windows in many of the classrooms. The HVAC system is outmoded, and there are concerns of asbestos. The pool is more or less an open septic tank. For yet more, I turn to the local PBS station: Newton North High School is a giant, brick monstrosity complete with its own mythology. Locals say it was built by a man who designed prisons, and students are inclined to agree.

This all looks very good. I especially like the ferry island, although I'm not sure its all that realistic its a beautiful touch. The town also looks very nice, although I wonder how you got the uniform c$ shops like that all in a line. Did you plop them, or did you hit the historic button really fast? Nice job.

The plopped water here looks really good, and that interchange looks like it took a lot of work (with lots of leveling of one part destroying something else, at least in my experience). On the whole, a great update.

This region looks like it is developing nicely, and I'm looking forward to seeing what you do with all that space. Also, coastal cities seem to be in our future (not just on the inlet). Nice work.

I would say that all of this is boto opinion and debatable, since there are very defined schools of architectural thought. Being from Boston, I would like to present a pair of atrocities that (in my opinion) currently afflict our humble town. This is the Stata Center at MIT in Cambridge. It was much billed for its new and exciting look (which should always set off alarm): it was designed to look like it's melting. I certainly wish it would. This one would be our wonderful city hall, which, in its defense, would likely make an excellent emergency bunker for the mayor. The problem is, they like to build those underground, where they can't be seen. The tragedy here is that the old Boston City Hall was a beautiful gold-domed stone edifice. What a shame.

I'm a fan of that water tower. It gives the entire town a much more authentic rural feel (I'm not sure why, maybe life is so slow out there that they have to amuse themselves by building water towers shaped like fruit), and I've never seen it before. Great job!

I know I'm getting somewhere in this world when my screen name finds its way onto shopping centers and tennis stadiums . As always, these cities look beautiful. I just have to keep up with your updates.

I like all of the streets and plazas named after different cities. It gives the whole city a very international flair. Also, I like the simplicity of the interchange and collector ramps in this update. It looks clean and perfect in context. Keep up the good work!

My favorite part of this last update is actually that one shot with both the sunken freeway and elevated/ground in one picture. After I joint ST, I became so enamored with the sunken highways I was seeing in city journals that I went a little crazy and tried to sink everything. It took way to much effort and isn't very realistic. I am very happy to see that the best of the Simtropolis CJs do indeed use more than just the sunken. Great work!

Everything looks great Fox. One question: what is the train station to the left of Superstar Stadium. It is beautiful in context and it really adds a lot to the district.

I'm not sure I've ever seen a CJ updated this often. I don't know where you find the time, but the work is still impressive. Nice use of y-stacks in that 4-way interchange, and the plopped water looks great in context. As ever, keep up the good work.

Great downtown. I'd love to see a larger shot of the central station district, since that looks like a really cool building. I like the creative use of the rail-subway transitions to set the station up in a small space. It seems like those would get in the way of a subway system, though. Have you built one? Edit: Welcome to Page 4!

A meteorite -- wow. The folks in Belleport sure got lucky. If one of those things hits a developed city, it can be really frustrating to rebuild in the crater. I hope no astronomers were pondering a landside impact.

But of course if those adult establishments are outlawed in the city, they'll just get dumped on some poor suburban community. Great update, looking forward to bunches more.

Just passing through, don't have time to read the whole thing. I want to though, this looks really good. I like the contrast (at least as I see it) between the dense suburbia and the tropical-looking beaches and marinas. Gotta love that tropical water mod.

Another impressive update (or updates). I especially like the twin towers in the gateway. Very imposing.

But if you give in to Dad, then the storyline won't be as good. I vote that you refuse to bow to the wishes of evil doers. ...Or maybe a nice skyscraper might look good there after all. Looks are at least a little important in this game, even if function and realism are fantastic goals.

It seems to me that those towering promenades would be quite interesting to stand beneath. I'd be worried about people dropping things onto those below! I like this a lot.

Another fantastic update. What makes it a youth walkway?

I smile every time I see another baseball avatar here (I think there are 3). Unfortunately, my team isn't in it anymore, but still wait 'til next year! I'm looking forward to seeing Villa Ridge all built up (such as it is), and the airport looks very real on the coast.

I love the terraces and the sloped road surrounded by walls. I also enjoy the variety in interchanges seen in these updates. I agree that sometimes the avenue overpass might be a little more realistic, but the elevated highway looks hansome just the way it is. Great Job!

I just like to see this CJ at the top of the list sometimes. I found it a while ago and read most of it, bookmarked it, and read it again when I need inspiration. I hope that some other new guy will see it and appreciate it as well.

Absoloutly stunning, I love it. I do notice that in several pictures in the last update the cars seem to be driving on the left. Is there any particular reason for that?