Asimov's SC4-impressions

[Asimov]

Greetings, fellow SC4-Players,
after several months of absence I decided to play some SC4 again. The outcome of my creativity will be presented in this thread and I hope it's gonna be of some interest for you. What you won't find here are big background-storys, gigantic and ambitious Development-Plans, fancy Photoshop-Manipulations or stuff like this (Lack of time, talent and patience ). Just some Random Spotlights on the way I play SC4 with some hopefully interesting pictures with lot's of custom-content and an extensive use of the NAM, my favorite Plugin for SC4.
So, enough talked, enjoy my latest project, the Rural town of New Norwich, Population 13.000 (I currently play on the Auckland-Map from the STEX)




Overview of New Norwich



The Center of the town, with trainstation, Cityhall and a central square with some shops.



Closeup on the Trainstation.



Once again the Center, this time with focus on the church and the school.



Hotel with a small marina



A glamorous estate with a nice view across the River.



The Cargo-station for the local Agricultural-products.



Yet another Hotel in the middle of nowhere



The Communications-Tower, the tallest building in the area.



An old chapel in the woods



A typical scene in the countryside

And now to something completly different:
A "little" experiment with the new NAM, the Akashi-Kaiko-Bridge:

[bat]

Welcome to this site, Asimov!

You have there a wonderful city! Great farmlands, also fantastic pictures of the bridge!
Great start!

[Owen Luby]

Wow! What a great start!
I love your approach to the game, you seem to know exactly what you're doing.
The city looks very authentic and has a lot of charm.
I liked the railways a lot, you really captured that rural-rail feel.

A 5 star start -- well done!

wen

[rooker1]

Super start.  I really like your farms and how you laid everything out.  The irregular shapes make them look very realsitic IMO.  I'm not too sure of your bridge layout, but we'll see what you do with it soon enough.  Great work and I can't wait to see your next update.

Robin   

[Ennedi]

Nice to see you, Asimow!

Maybe you haven't enough time and patience, but you definitely have a vision 

My favourites: first pic, Akashi - I will wait for more!

[Asimov]

Welcome to a New Update of my CJ, this time it's gonna get a bit more urban.
This Update, showing the City of Auckland, consinsts of three parts. Part 1 and 2 contain some older pictures, showing the City at 30.000 and 40.000 inhabitants, part three the current status of the City with a population of 110.000. Contrary to New Norwich, this city is the result of a more classical approach, meaning I just started to build, without a fixed plan or something, and within the Budget-Limitations of the Game, no Money-Cheats. I hope you like the result.

Part 1, Population 30.000



Overview of the City



Overview, the second



The Center of the Town, featuring the Central Station, the City HAll and the Mayor's Mansion
Die Innenstadt mit dem Hauptbahnhof, dem Rathaus und der Bürgermeistervilla



Again the Center, this time zoomed further in



The Bridges across the Bay which splittes the City into two parts



Near the Center: Fire Station and Hospital



At this Traffic Circle I started with the Construction



Final Rest with Seaview. The kinda disrupting Coalpowerplant will be replaced with something more appropriate once it's reaches it's lifetime limit.



"Freeway light" to the new Subburbs



Living with lots of green around, Shops right around the corner, the dream for many families.



The other shore of the Bay, by far not as well eveloped as the "Downtown-Side", but for the start we have a small stadium as an eyecatcher.



Some more subburbs (Though the neighbourhodd could be nicer without the prison.. )



A Freeway-Clover-Leaf would most likely be easier to build, but not as creative

Part 2, Population 40.000



The designed Stadium and the expaneded Embankment



Some new Industry at the City boundary



One of the many new Residental areas along the Avenue which originally had been designed as a Bypass road around the Town.



A new shopping area



Closeup of the western ouskirts



Auckland at night.

Part 3, Population 110.00



Overview, in the Center the new Freeway-Bridge



One of the new neighbourhoods, featuring some Hotels with an nice view across the Bay.



On of many Railstations in the City.



Some cheap Office-space in the outskirts.



Some shops



An Education- and Sports-Center



A large Freeway-junction near the Bridge



One of many small Parks in the City



Downtwon at night.



Again Downtown, this time from heigher altitude



And as a final picture, the entire City at night.

[tooheys]

Looking good. Nice city planning and a well constructed transportation network.

You have some great pic's here and I particularly like the rural scenes.

If anything, and I'm sure you've probably noticed this, but I suggest you take the game off pause
when taking a pic.

Anyway, a great looking region and looking forward to more.

Cheers

Dave

[Pat]

WoW and some more WoW great MD you got going here Asimov
I do have to ask you where did you get those rundabout fillers cause wow they are something else

[Asimov]

Thanks for your kind words and welcome to a new Update of Auckland, grown to 150.000 people.

tooheys: My PC is on theverge of collapsing playing SC4 (Close to 3 GB Plugins aren't very helpful with that...) Therefore, I only take Screenshots while it's paused, otherwise changing from SC4 to Paint and back could take several minutes each time...

patfirefghtr: Search for "Roundabout" in the STEX, you'll find plenty of different Fillers.


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An Overview

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The new TV-Tower

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The Marina

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The University

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The new designed Weststation

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Closeup of the new Station, showing the attached subterranean mall

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Again the Trainstatiuon, from a different angle

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A little oasis of peace in the hectic City

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A part of the new designed Rail-Track in the Western City-Part

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As a conclusion, one of the famous Night-Pics

[Pat]

Asimov wonderful update and thank you... I loved that night shot wow that was just sweet...
see you next update - pat

[Ennedi]

Good work, Asimov!

My favourites: Marina (very nice picture, maybe it would be good if you would divide OWW houses by 1 or 2 small plazas from the same set);
New TV tower:
And of course the night shot 
Maybe you would think about some various types of waterfront? (only my opinion of course)

[Jmouse]

Hi Asimov.
Very nice MD you have going here. I think you've done a good job on your AG areas. They look realistic without looking contrived. I don't like grids either, but it's easy to overdo the convoluted-layout concept sometimes.
Also, I like your seawalls and wonder if you planed ahead for them or just got lucky enough to find a straight section of shoreline in the right place. I've been going through a couple of tutorials on seawalls, but without much success. Too much for my little pointy head I guess.
Oh, and the little chapel in the woods is absolutely charming. Please tell me you're not going to choke it out with a bunch of development!
Well, until next time ...

Joan

[tooheys]

3GB's, yikes . I thought mine was bad enough at just over 1GB.

Nice update and particularily like the transport network. I always tend to work on a grid basis and while I try to vary this, I always seem to revert to old habits.

The shoreline looks good with both the seawalls and natural areas fitting together well.

Looks like a well planned city and looking forward to see how this develops. Great work

Cheers

Dave

[Asimov]

patfirefghtr: Glad you like the Pictures 

Ennedi: You're quite right about the Waterfront,but as often, the lazy part wins and you stick with what you know how to
handle. ANd frankly, this classic is still the best one I know of.

Jmouse: Some basic Terraforming is always necessary, you have to adapt the shoreline to the possibilities you ahve with the choosen Seawall-Set. It take's some time, but I think, the result is usually worth the work. And don't worry baout that Chapel, New Norwich is preety much finished, the entire town was an experiment with rural settings, I doubt that I'll go back to that town.

tooheys: Oh yes, the endless grid or no grid debatte... I personally think, that grid up to some degree isn't a bad think, quite contrary, it can look very good. But as it is with many things, too much can do some damage. I think, that my approach with it's "organised chaos" is an acceptable level of grid or gridlike and an complete random layout.

Ok, enough tlaked, here's the pictures, showing the northern peninsula, into which 20.00 new sims have moved:

[tooheys]

Your transport network looks good as always. I like the walkways and green areas around the waterline, and the use of the sound barriers along the hwy.

Looking good 

Cheers

Dave

[Pat]

Asimov this update is stunning i loved your tranporatation network as well
cant wait till the next update - pat

[Jmouse]

Nice layout, Asimov. I like your "organized chaos" approach. I'm interested in how well your transport system works since mine usually fail. Are you using the NAM?
Looking forward to another fine update.

Jm

[Asimov]

Thanks for your nice comments, it's always encouraging to get some feedback.

Jmouse:

Who isn't using the NAM anymore?  Overall the transportation-Network works preety good, not many Traffic-Jams and the Mass-Transit is quite efficient.

Today I present a quick update with the results of this afternoon, showing Auckland after it's passed the 200.000-People-Line



Auckland celebrates it's 200.000 Inhabitant



A Service-Yard of the Local Rail-Company



Some new Office Space in the Downtown



A new Park with some Sport- and Education-Facilities



Closeup on the Park



The new Gateway to Auckland, the Station of the Highspeed-Rail-Line



A famous Jogging-Course: The path around the pond



Downtown at Night.

[Jmouse]

I just started to build, without a fixed plan or something, and within the Budget-Limitations of the Game, no Money-Cheats.

Well, for someone with no plan, no $ cheats and no PS chicanery, you're doing a remarkable job. Your pics are great, with each pointing out an interesting asset in the city. I didn't know you could plop stuff inside a cloverleaf, but what a great idea! 
Your transport network is especially impressive. Did you have to destroy a lot of development along the way to make room for the larger elements (I've always wanted to ask someone that question!)? I've always reasoned that even if I leave room for something, there's no guarantee I've left room in the right place.

Until next time ...
Joan

[Pat]

WoW Asimov that is awsome no cheats  great update too i love the nigth life