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Challenge Nr 2: Basic Infrastructure - Power and Water

Started by turtle, April 05, 2009, 09:02:17 AM

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turtle


GRVII: Challenge Nr 2: Basic Infrastructure - Power and Water

Power
So the residents of Bordertown want to play SC4? Well, they need power for their computers, and since
mayor turtle considers this an inviolable human right, he researched the possibilities of securing a
reasonable powersupply. A team of engineers were sent to the mountains in the north, the coasts of the
east and the lakes in the southwest to look for suitable ressources for providing power to the
citizens. Returning to mayor turtle they presented three possibilities: 1) a gas reservoir was found
under the lakes in the southwest, 2) the coast could provide a lot of wave and wind power, and 3) coal
was found in the mountains to the north. Presented with these possibilities, mayor turtle assessed
that utilising the coal ressources from the mountains for a coal powerplant would be the most sensible
option at this point. At this stage the region is pretty much undeveloped, but has a reasonable
demand, we urgently need an easy-to-start and cheap energy source to get things going. Due to the
current technical state of Bordertown, the costs of obtaining power from natural gas or a renewable
source are simply too high. Therefore, option 3 was chosen and a coal powerplant has been build on
tile K: Upland Coast. The location was chosen as the optimal place because of it's proximity to the
coal find (on tile C: Upland Mountains), and somewhat remoteness from the existing development in the
region. Also, proximity to the coast makes for an ideal place to start some industry sometime in the
future. The powerplant is capable of producing 6000 MWh, but with a small extension quickly can
produce 3000 MWh extra. A rail freight station was also put in place along with a rail connection to
tile C: Upland Mountains, where the coal find was, and a coal mine will be put in place soon
(different companies have already put offers on the table). A small village providing workers for the
plant was also build.

It is not that the environmental issue doesn't affect mayor turtle, and he hopes that he in the future
will be able to take advantage of the less polluting options in the future. At the moment, though, he
thought that cost-effeciency (without environmental costs in the formula) would be most appropriate.
This is simply the cheapest way of producing power, and it doesn't demand a lot of training for your
sims.

Here are two pictures of the powerplant and village on tile K: Upland Coast

2.1.1 Upland Coast Power Utilities and town


2.1.2 Upland Coast Power Utilities and Freight railyard facilities


Water
"Well so far so good", mayor turtle thought. But soon he realised, that this was not enough. The
residents of Bordertown soon got absorbed by playing SC4, and stopped going to the river to wash up
once and a while. Also, a growing complaints from housewives on their smelly husbands and children
made mayor turtle somewhat regret providing power for his sims. Since he still agreed with the
inviolability of the right to power and he was (and still is) against telling his sims what to do, he
thought that providing them with the ability to take showers in their own houses maybe could solve the
problem of smelly spouses. Once again the engineers were sent out. A possibility of desalinisation
plants near the coast was rejected due to the high energy required to facilitate such a process and
not wishing to expand the powerplant further at this point. Also the lakes in the southwest was
considered as a possible watersource, but mayor turtle thought that this might be incompatible with
utilising the gas powersource there in the future. The fresh springs of tile I: Warm Lake that created
the lake there, was decided to be the most suitable watersource. The lake comes from a very big ground
water reservoir, the springs are fresh and cold, and the water so clean that you can drink it from the
spring directly. Actually, contrary to the name of the lake (Warmlake), it is one of the coldest water
bodies in the region.

A medium-sized waterpump and a large watertower was build with the combined capacity of 60.000. The
tower was placed a bit up the hill ensuring that there is water pressure regionwide. Again, a small
workers settlement was build.

Here are two pictures of the waterworks and settlement on tile I: Warmlake

2.2.1 Warm Lake Watersupply


2.2.2 Warm Lake Town and Watersupply


Route 1
While planning where to place his powerplant, mayor turtle also considered the order from the governor
to build a new interregional road. Therefore, he saw the perfect opportunity to connect the coastal
northeast regions to the road network as well as providing mainroad access for the powerplant. The new
route 1 starts in tile E: Bordertown and runs along the coast through the tiles F, L, and K -
Riverside, Rivermouth and Upland Coast, and connects to the northern neighbouring region. Thus until a
coal mine has been build, it can be imported from the north.

2.3 Bordertown: Route 1 and 10


So thats it! I hope you like it, so far I do. Any comment or critique is always welcome :)

Thomas


Edit: I accidentally put the same picture in twice (2.2.1 and 2.2.2), I'm sorry I didn't notice this before. It has now been fixed
My name is Thomas...

jmyers2043

I like the power plant and the little town. You hooked me immediately when you said that the Sims needed power so they could play SimCity. The story set the themes challenge perfectly.
Jim Myers  (5th member of SC4 Devotion)

mrbisonm

Your challenge 2 is well done according to the rules and the demands. You can now play on 2 more citytiles anywhere in your region. This will be a part of challenge 3. Make sure that you have at least 100 citizens in all three tiles you played in (no population max limit).

Lynn and Fred


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

mrbisonm

Judgement of Challenge 2

A.  Excellent choice of location of the new route giving access to a totally new area. We gave you  a solid 5 points for this challenge.
B.   Worker's homes are a tiny bit too close to the plant in our opinion and some more access to the plant (roads etc) would have improved it a lot. Location is very good, since it is a polluting station. We gave you 3 points for the power challenge.
C.  Very good idea and use of lots for the watersystem. Location is almost perfect and details are exceptional. We gave you a solid 4 points for your waterchallenge.

A Total of 12 Points were added to your challenge.

Congratulations, very well done, we really like the direction of the new route. Well thought over. Very good work and Good luck with the next challenge.

Lynn and Fred

Good story and description.


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

turtle

Wow, that's more than I expected. I'm not sure I understand why there is not enough access from the powerplant, though. It's just next to Route 1, and is connected by a short street running down in front of it. But then again, I have no idea how much traffic a RL powerplant generates.

btw, did you add another point category? I thought 5 was the maximum points you'd give...

Thanks

Thomas
My name is Thomas...

rooker1

Great work turtle.
That's one of my favourite power plants you choose.
I look forward to seeing how you develope the surrounding area.
Robin  :thumbsup:
Call me Robin, please.

turtle

Thanks, Robin. Well, for now I have only control over the south, so it'll be up to whoever rebel leader is going to dictate me building stuff here in Upland Coast ;)
My name is Thomas...

mrbisonm

The missing access to the powerplant are the roads/streets/trails etc  to different sides of the mainbuildings. Sims (and people) need access to most, if not all the sides of any industrial or powerproducing plant. We estimated that one road not to be sufficient.

For the points, 5 is the maximum that can be achieved. Any other supplementary points given are considered to be Bonus points, which we will not mention for the moment.
You have earned 5 points with your new route, because in your case and in your region, it couldn't have been positioned better by the Governor and the Governess.

Very nicely done. Congrats.

Fred


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