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General GRV II Discussion

Started by mrbisonm, February 21, 2009, 08:45:49 AM

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mrbisonm

First let me tell you that I am new to posting and handling a thread on SC4D, so I hope you will give me the time needed to get acquainted with all the features. Some patience will be necessary please.Then I would like to thank the moderators and Admins of this site to have helped us sofar to get this CJ/ going. Thank you all.

Now, let's introduce you to this fun-challenge



                2 Nations, 1 Region and many Mayors  


The Challenge is back.....
      The Challenge is on....
            Are you ready for the Next Generation of GRV?

mrbisonm and Lynncanox are presenting you the 2nd GRV challenge.

                           [size=10pt]««* BORDERTOWN *»»[/size]


Some of you might remember my last year's Grand River Valley (GRV) Challenge from Simtropolis, if not you should take a look at least at the first three pages of this thread on ST first:
http://www.simtropolis.com/forum/messageview.cfm?catid=36&threadid=96453&STARTPAGE=1

After popular demand from both Sites, we bring you another Challenge of one region and many mayors. Again, this will bring you fun and fun and nothing but more fun. Whether you are a real pro at playing or just a lousy beginner, you are welcome to play with us and enjoy, learn how and have fun with a whole community. When joining us, you will become a member of our GRV family and play your head off to show your best Simcity skills whether you can handle it or not. The worst that can happen is that you'll have some fun and learn a few things. Hm...did I mention that we're going to have fun? ;)

The rules will be less strict this time, more pliable, stretchable and more interesting in this second challenge. But there will be a certain timeline to update and post for each participating player, which will absolutely have to be respected this time. The gallows in Simcity's Capitalia are built for those who can't achieve this small demand. This timeline is of a longer period though, respecting everyone's real life conditions. If you do not have some time to have fun, please don't join, but by visiting and commenting you might have some of our fun also. Who knows, you might become the number One spectator.....

Some rules have been set already, not all, we will need some help from you later. Also the regions have not been selected yet. I have three choices and I think I will let you choose the one you want. We'll get to that later.

As you all probably know, it is quite a job to handle this challenge. Although we are two at the moment, my wife Lynn and I, there might come a time that we need someone else to help us out. I hope we can count on you. All that depends on the quantity of folks joining to this challenge. We will let you know.......

Now, before you scream....."I want to..I want to....I'm in".. let me tell you that you need to think it over twice before confirming  your participation please and do NOT confirm here in this thread, there will be another place for this later.  Remember, the whole challenge will take a few months, 2 or 3 or so (or maybe even more) and it will take some citytile building with respecting certain rules of playing and updating. The GRV challenge no 2 is going to be a little easier and shorter, but not less fun. If you have decided and are sure to become a member of GRV II, let us know and we'll put you on the list of those to be harshly *simcitytreated* for the next months.

Concerning the rules, they will be written out in a few days/weeks or so and will be posted here. I will ask you to tweak them with me, kinda smooth them out a little to fit your playing style or made more understandable, add or delete some of them and maybe make them more or less demanding and imposing. Your opinion counts, but it will be our last word that will be burned into the Rules-sheet.(We own the laser to burn) We are open to everything that is logical and has potential in having....well.....fun.

Final Rules need to be respected or else the Governor himself will handle your case.(That's me)

The maps will be presented and chosen by you in a couple of days, I am still terraforming one of the smaller maps. Three different regions are to be chosen from, all in medium tiles for easier gameplay, one slightly bigger than the others. Once finished, the one chosen will be uploaded so you can download it, it will be a sc4m file that you can easily render with SC Terraformer or SC4Mapper. It is a region entirely handformed with the ingame godtools just like the first GRV or ALL my other maps.

Like I said, GRV II will be slightly different and this year's theme is called *Bordertown*. I suppose that you have a slight idea of what it could or should be, and you're probably right, but it also has a baggage attached to it that comes with this idea, and that will be explained in details when we show you the regionmaps. It took us some time to think it over and hopefully you will like it.(or maybe even love it)..... ;)

I hereby recommend that you read the first three pages of our first GRV Challenge now or when you got the time on Simtropolis, just to get a good basic idea of how this will work. Some small changes have been made, different and less severe rules and some slighlty different challenges or ways to build certain *things*. There might even be some choices to choose from....Whether or not you join in a specific challenge, I am sure you will have a great time with us and remember, good or not with SC4 doesn't change anything. It might not be the best player who wins.

Points and penalties will be given and every two weeks or so be updated and announced in a special report post. At the end of the challenge bonus points/ penalties will be calculated to a total and the Grand Winner of this Challenge be announced and crowned. You will then bear the title of the 2009 GRV Challenger or Runner-up. For 2008 it is respectively BarbyW who bears the title forever.

Hoping to see lots of you, and I can't wait to meet you all. We also hope to see some known faces from last year.

Have Fun with Nexis! Fun, is what we're after!....I think I mentioned that before....hm.

lynncanox and mrb

Oh, I forgot to say.....lol....to give you all an extra challenge to handle and hopefully stress you a bit already.....I myself, the Governor of GRV I and II and the 57 regions thread including NoG, will participate this time, and unfortunetly for me, you all will be my judge and decide on my earned positive and negative points. Just be fair for the better or the worse, ya hear? I don't want to be treated differently as we will treat you. ;)



So, what do you think? Questions?


....Uploading the MFP 1.... (.........Finishing the MFP1)

turtle

What I think? I think that sounds great! I'm kind of anxious of hearing the deadlines for updating, though, as it sounds as they might be too strict for RL at the moment. Had a look at the old thread, and I think it sounds like an improvement both in regards to you playing along, and also in regards to some loosening of the rules. There are many creative people here, and I think it will somehow prohibit them unfolding it with too strict rules. All in all, a great idea, and I look forward to it :)

Thomas
My name is Thomas...

soulchaser

sounds great...looking forward to participate...somehow the berlin wall comes to my mind when I think about the theme &Thk/(

Recently Iced

You might also visit my participitation in GRVII - Bordertown!

mrbisonm

Yes turtle , rules will be a lot more flexible this time, although no rules at all wouldn't make a fair competition, so some rules have absolutely be respected. My wife, Lynn (lynncanox) will be back from her vacation and together this week, we will terminate the rules and challenges. This will be posted once ready.

I will be finishing the last of the three maps today and later tonight show you the choices we offer.

soulchaser , Die Berliner Mauer might be a good choice. Hab' Spass.

mrb


....Uploading the MFP 1.... (.........Finishing the MFP1)

mrbisonm

#4
Ok, here are the three map choices that I have for the GRV II Bordertown Challenge. Please have a good look at them and choose the one we should use in this challenge.
All maps have been created with the ingame godmode terraforming tools, therefore much of the terrain is simple flat terrain, easy to work with and to build on whatever your wishes are. Let's have a look now:

Map *A* is a 7x3 medium tile region, about the same size as GRV I. It has a very large river and island in the middle with plains on each side interrupted by some small hills and a small mountain range in the west.





Map *B* is a 2x3 medium tile region, the smallest one. It also has a river with island in the middle of the plains and mountains on each side, east and west.





Map *C* and the last is a 3x3 medium tiled region and again a river separating the midde of the terrain with plains and some small mountains in the northeast.





All you have to do is choose one of them, which you most likely would be interested in playing on. I will then upload the map to the STEX (where I upload all my stuff) and all you have to do is render it with either the SC4Terraformer or with the SC4Mapper, since it is a .sc4m file.


Before you choose the map though, here is a little about the regionplay competition you all should know about. This year's challenge theme is *BORDERTOWN* as you already know and therefore the challenge will be to build a Bordertown that has developped between two Nations, half on each side of the border. You choose the two Nations you want, whether they are existing or imaginary, but be aware that there has to be a cultural difference between the two of them. One Nation will be rich and colourful while the other will be poor and somewhat slightly underdevelopped. The difference has to be recognized easily in regionview.

These are the basics you should know when choosing the map and that's enough for today for you to know. Any questions?

mrb


....Uploading the MFP 1.... (.........Finishing the MFP1)

Pat

Fred I think I am getting amped up for this!!! Liking whats happening so far... I am honest I will have to come back to this on monday or tuesday at this time my brain is fried... Had a bad call... see you back soon,

Patrick

Don't forget the SC4D Podcast is back and live on Saturdays @ 12 noon CST!! -- The Podcast soon to Return Here Linkie

soulchaser

If I understand right, we shall vote now?

I'd say Map A

B is way too tiny and with C, you don't have much choice to decide which side is "poor" and which one is "rich".

They all look great by the way  &apls

Recently Iced

You might also visit my participitation in GRVII - Bordertown!

BarbyW

Fred, I can upload whichever map is finally chosen to the LEX for you as well.

From a gameplay point of view I go along with soulstealer with Map A but I can understand why you are giving the choice. A lot of people started GRV 1 but never finished it so a smaller map could mean more would finish.

Inside every old person is a young person wondering what happened. TP



Barbypedia: More alive than the original

wouanagaine

Barby, I think all maps should be uploaded as a pack ( there are not that much big, so I'm pretty sure the pack will be under the 10mb limit ) so everyone can make a better judgement by trying them in SC4 instead of just looking at the pics

Fred:
- will we be allowed to choose our terran mod ?
- on map C, I can clearly see some edges between the tiles, I know you terraformed within SC4, but I think a quick pass in SC4TF can help smoothing the edges
- I think all maps are interesting and the size of the one choosen will dictate the length of the competition
- If I understand correctly, there will be 2 nations, one on each side of the river, so I think the map are unbalanced, there is always one side with more 'buildable' land in all of the 3 maps. This is not harsh critics, it can lead to interesting gameplay and usually one nation is always "luckier" than its neighbors
- If I play ( still not sure, need to clean up plugins ), I'll choose map B





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turtle

I like map A the most, but if you're looking for a shorter game, then map B. I like the island in the middle of the river. But luckily, all the maps are very good, so either way it will be a very nice map. I think I'll play the one that's in the competetion if I don't have time for participating. After looking at the first GRV I'm now playing the old map  :P

Thomas
My name is Thomas...

mrbisonm

I have played the map A before (it is an old map I made years ago) and I might say that it plays very well. BarbyW is right when she mentioned that I chose different sizes because of the abandon it caused with GRV I. Size is kinda important because it somehow will determine the length of the competition.
We don't want people to get bored while playing a region, but if most of you feel that map A is the best choice, we'll do it.

Like  wouanagaine said, it might be a good idea to upload the whole as a GRV II Map-Pack and it is probably what I will do too. I will talk to Lynn (lynncanox) as soon as she comes back from vacation (postponed to wednesday) and I will send the sc4m files to BarbyW, who generously offered herself to upload them to the LEX.

Keep voting and commenting, any and all ideas are good.

Thanks for being interested in GRV II, this WILL be fun, I promise.

wouanagaine: Yes we will all use our own terrainmod and all other mods in our individual plays, there will be no restrictions with this, also all cheats are allowed this time.
Map C has a somewhat photographic edge problem I think because ingame it seems ok. Maybe running it through SCTF will help, but I cannot run it, because it shuts down my computer to desktop. I will try it in the SC4Mapper.
The reason that one riverside of each map is a little smaller and less accessible is exactly because of the theme of the two Nations, one richer and the other one poorer. You guessed right, one nation has all the luck while the other wanders along.

mrb  ;)


....Uploading the MFP 1.... (.........Finishing the MFP1)

metarvo

For me, I would prefer either map B or map C.  Map C is really my favorite one, but it sounds like you're having problems with it, so Map B would be my next choice.  Are there any specific plugins that are required/prohibited?  I assume you meant that we could use whatever plugins we wanted, but I just want to double check to be sure.  I'll need to see the rules and restrictions before I confirm my participation, since I do have a RL that I battle live with.  You are right in saying this would be a lot of fun, though.  :)
Find my power line BAT thread here.
Check out the Noro Cooperative.  What are you waiting for?  It even has electricity.
Want more? Try here.  For even more electrical goodies, look here.
Here are some rural power lines.

VeTram

#12
hi to everyone.... :)...nice effort mrbisonm... :thumbsup:....i think it will not be just fun , but i believe it will be educational either , i think i will try it and participate too , about my choice of maps , i think i will prefer map C , or B ( in case C can't work)
friendly VeTram  ;)
For every friend of this community , do NOT forget to send me a p.m if ever visit Greece .

mrbisonm

Well, map C works fine, no ingame problems at all, only some little funny line effects in regionview, but then again not always. Before I upload map C, it will surely and hopefully be fixed.

All Plugins, all mods without any exception, all cheats and everything else will this time be allowed. Rules will be very simple and of a minimum amount and very easily understood and restrictions will be only in some challenges and then again, they will be easy and acceptable. I can understand that you want to wait to confirm to play, but as I said, we are not ready to play right now yet. Some minor adjustements have to be made and some things have to be still discussed with you all.

Give us a 2 week or so waiting period before we really start playing officially.

Now, to give you a glimpse of the participation requirements: There are about 15 challenges sofar that we will ask you to perform in your region. All should be able to be created  within 2 hours of gameplay, nothing really hard to realize. And the rest of the free time you have, you can use it to build other things in your region, all is up to you with some minor restrictions. Then updates should be done within 14 days, that goes for everyone at every challenge. Meaning you just have to build that challenge that will take approx 2 hrs of play in 2 weeks of time. So if you think you do NOT have these 2 hrs in 2 weeks, please don't apply and just come and visit us and enjoy it the same. Besides if anyone doesn't have 2hrs/week, he/she shouldn't be here in the first place.
Inscriptions will start after the publications of Restrictions and Rules, and BarbyW will be so kind and open a thread for your personal regionplay.

Remember, this is to have fun and learn from each other some tricks etc and not to stress anyone. The competition is going to be a friendly one, nothing else, no one will win thousands of Dollars/Euros/Yens etc with this.ok?

I still recommend that you will have a look at «GRV I» over on Simtropolis.(link in my first post) It will give you an excellent idea what it will be like, but just imagine that it will be 60 to 65 % less restricted.

All challenges will be numbered and different points will be given for each update also. We will show your earned points in the top post of your thread, updated every two weeks or whenever you finished your challenge. (we have the moderator power to do so) and also it will be shown in the General Meetingroom of the BORDERTOWN Challenge[/b]. Every challenge will only be shown when all participants have finished their former challenge. If you are late in one or two challenges, that can and will be accepted without any complications. We understand that sometimes RL can be more demanding. So do not panic, surely another week you will have the time to catch up.

More details of the restrictions/ rules are coming soon. Now is the time to choose the right map, so let's hear it.

mrb  ;)



....Uploading the MFP 1.... (.........Finishing the MFP1)

BarbyW

Can I vote again, please?  ;D
I really liked Map C and think that is the optimum size for the challenge. It is interesting enough to give a variety of gameplay but not so big as to be overwhelming. 15 challenges on a 9 medium tile map sounds fun and interesting.
Inside every old person is a young person wondering what happened. TP



Barbypedia: More alive than the original

Heblem

This concept of Bordertown somewhat reminds me of US-Mexico border, exactly in El Paso and Juarez... good concept and idea tough  :thumbsup: I vote for map C too. If it possible im interested in participating.

mrbisonm

No problem BarbyW, Map C is noted for you. May I also mention here that one challenge can be several demands just like in GRV I. Example: we might ask you in one challenge to build 1. a school, 2. a fire department and 3. a Police department.

Heblem, it would be nice to have you join us and Mexico/US border in El Paso/Juarez sound good as an example.

mrb


....Uploading the MFP 1.... (.........Finishing the MFP1)

Rayden

Hey Fred, I hope you're alright. A week has gone without any other news ()what()

mrbisonm

........sorry for not having left a note before, but we are just fine. I have been busy like a nut with the farm (many births of calves this year at the same time) and also some Loghome plans that I have to absolutely finish before spring starts in the northern hemisphere. We are working this weekend on the rules and restriction sheet and hopefull we will be showing them later tonight for a first inspection to our participants. All adjustments will be done there after. Ideas and comments will be greatly appreciated.

Fred/ mrb


....Uploading the MFP 1.... (.........Finishing the MFP1)

lynncanox

Hi


My name is Lynn, Freddy's wife, and also the other juge. I am glad to be part of this. I will not post very often because my english is not very good, but I will help Freddy with the jugements and points.

    I hope that everybody is having a lot of fun with this and we hope that many people will join our challenge. Hope to see everybody here soon. A bientot.

Good Luck, Bonne chance tout l'monde.

Lynn
judge of GRV 2 Challenge