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CSGdesign's NATURAL GROWTH

Started by CSGdesign, November 20, 2009, 12:50:42 AM

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CSGdesign


Quote from: emgmod on April 26, 2010, 08:49:07 AM
I would recommend building a bridge. Besides the landmark effect of a bridge, buses and trucks can use them, unlike the Big Dig.
I agree a bridge is the way to go.
Not only because it will make a great landmark, but also because the actual Boston has a tunnel running in pretty much that exact spot, so it will make a clear difference between the actual Boston and Boston v2.

Quote from: Battlecat on April 26, 2010, 09:23:27 AM
Wow, the urban core of Boston is growing rapidly of late.  It looks great!
Ya if you look at the dates in the banner of each entry you'll see that time between updates is progressing much more quickly now.
In addition, there is a major boom throughout Boston since the introduction of the highways.
To the point where there are actually more residential towers OUTSIDE the CBD than there are residential and commercial towers WITHIN the CBD... except they are scattered about a bit more... the CBD is still really dense and compact.

Quote from: canyonjumper on April 26, 2010, 05:02:41 PM
I would recommend the bridge, not only (as emgmod said) because of the landmark status, and it will undoubtedly be easier and be more cost friendly.

                   Your friend,
                                  Jordan
This is going to be an expensive project any way you look at it.
The difference between a bridge and a tunnel across the actual water pales compared to the cost of resuming all those towers and suburbia and re-aligning all the roads and building the interchanges and all the stuff that comes with the project.

Quote from: limeyfox on April 27, 2010, 05:12:44 AM
With the limited space available, how will the ring road intersect with local roads of Hiccup?  Failure to provide a connection may see the area get left behind development-wise.  Better mind that high school east of the tower blocks as well!

Definitely a bridge job in my opinion BTW.  Why not follow the Public-Private-Partnership (PPP) model and allow the bridge to be built, maintained and operated by a private company, who can charge entrance tolls to fund its costs?  I predict it will pay for itself in a few decades given the expected level of traffic, and this relieves the council of much of the price.

Seb
I don't yet know... but you're right some kind of interchange is required in the local areas to allow traffic to use the highway charging through their neighborhood.
Toll bridges were introduced on the tunnel and have been quite successful.
While none of my cities need extra revenue (quite the opposite) I would consider installing them because of the realism of the situation.

Quote from: 976 on April 29, 2010, 10:49:31 PM
Nice update!
Thanks 976!

Quote from: Rady on April 30, 2010, 01:39:56 AM
I definitely opt for the bridge version. Not only for matter of costs, but the bridge would be a nice landmark on the entry point of that bay (given you will choose an extraordinary design for that bridge).

Apart from that - still love your MD!

I agree - bridge is the way to go.
I hope you like my choice.
I had to do quite a bit of juggling to get this particular beauty in this space, but I think it works...?


Quote from: SeanSC4 on April 30, 2010, 04:13:55 AM
Since I live just north of Boston, I always find delight in reading your MD CSGdesign. Great work as always.
I'm very pleased to hear!
Look forward to providing more reading material for you... stop by our new forums some time... there's a bunch of stuff there.  It's growing rapidly and very active.  Lot's of high-profile members these days.



Part of building a bridge is placing the footings.  In Natural Growth this can be particularly awkward because you don't want to destroy existing suburbia if you can help it...

You're not building the bridge and then the city around it, rather you're building the bridge because the city has become dense enough to require it.

Therefore placing the bridge becomes quite tricky... you need to do it in such a way that you're displacing as few sims as possible.



So here's a technique to do exactly that.

It (like most things in NG) is quite time consuming, but the results are realistic and with minimal disruption to your thriving metropolis.

Start off by selecting the approximate area you want your bridge to cross, to within about 10 tiles.

Bulldoze the hell out of it to give yourself a clear clean working space. Don't worry, this is just a test, you DON'T save this.  Drag your bridge and select which bridge and height you want so that you know where the end product will sit.

Take a screenshot of the footings and put the screenshot into photoshop or similar, like so:



Mark on your image where the bridge footing will be placed in a bright colour, like red.  Remember to ignore the raised mound, because this mark will be compared to the actual city landscape BEFORE you did you crazy-bulldoze trick.



Now close the city tile without saving your mass-bulldoze and bridge building efforts, and re-open it as your blank city ready for a bridge.

Now you can use your photoshop image as reference and surgically bulldoze all the roads and buildings you know are in the way of your up-coming bridge.



Now that you've cleared the way, create yer actual bridge.



Then re-align any out-of-alignment lots, put down some costmetics, and bam! you got yerself a new bridge with the absolute minimum damage possible to your neighbourhood.




And it wasn't even that hard.

Rady

Nice technique! ANd yes - your choice of bridge type is pretty fine! I can imagine myself passing under that bridge when arriving at Boston with a cruising ship! SUre that would be a moment to take a photo!
If it's a good idea, go ahead and do it. It's much easier to apologize than it is to get permission.

Visit my BAT thread: Slow BAT steady - Rady's first BAT attemtps

Aspirin4o

That's one pretty interesting insight into the style of the greatest NG mayor out there ;D
I will be sure to utilize some of your sim-friendly ways of building in my MD, when the time is right. Quite exceptional again, Bravo! &apls
"Gate gate pāragate pārasaṃgate bodhi svāhā!"
"Gone, gone, totally gone, totally completely gone, enlightened, so be it!"

canyonjumper

Ah, so you did go with this bridge ;D Great choice, and interesting method ;D

          Your friend,
                 Jordan :thumbsup:
I'm the one who jumped across the Grand Canyon... and lived.

marsh

Great bridge! It looks so majestic across that harbor :thumbsup:

nedalezz

Very nicely done. The bridge suits the area just fine. Another great update :)

CSGdesign



Quote from: Rady on April 30, 2010, 12:22:02 PM
Nice technique! ANd yes - your choice of bridge type is pretty fine! I can imagine myself passing under that bridge when arriving at Boston with a cruising ship! SUre that would be a moment to take a photo!
I also like this bridge.
There's very limited choices for a bridge of this size, but this one is used much less often because of how monstrously huge it is... and let's face it, it's a pretty spectacular bit of custom content!

Quote from: Aspirin4o on April 30, 2010, 12:48:16 PM
That's one pretty interesting insight into the style of the greatest NG mayor out there ;D
I will be sure to utilize some of your sim-friendly ways of building in my MD, when the time is right. Quite exceptional again, Bravo! &apls
Thanks Aspiron4o!
When do you mean the time will be right?

Quote from: canyonjumper on April 30, 2010, 04:47:07 PM
Ah, so you did go with this bridge ;D Great choice, and interesting method ;D

          Your friend,
                 Jordan :thumbsup:
I think this bridge is the best of the options I showed in the Glimpses thread, yes.

Quote from: marsh on May 01, 2010, 12:13:02 AM
Great bridge! It looks so majestic across that harbor :thumbsup:
It's a nice bridge.  As it is a highway bridge it'll take a lot of traffic.
Later on when it becomes conjested I can always duplicate it like Brisbane's Gateway Bridge has had done recently... to double the capacity.

Quote from: nedalezz on May 01, 2010, 01:44:57 AM
Very nicely done. The bridge suits the area just fine. Another great update :)
Thanks Nedalezz  :)



Let's take a look at the route the southern part of the East Inner City Bypass must take, and plan a route.



The most logical place for the bypass to branch off the highway is the existing intersection marked here.



From this interchange the highway needs to move more or less directly east.

The question is whether it should follow the existing avenue's path, or run parallel to it.

Also it will need at least one and probably two places where traffic can enter and exist the bypass on it's way to the bridge.







I recommend an exchange just south of the bridge, and somewhere around where that tree farm is near the highway.

What do you think?

marsh

Alright, here is my proposition.

Blue=highway
Red=road/aveneau interchange
Green Dots=Avenue highway.

So I think the highway should be built a little further south of the aveneu. There build a trumpet interchange. Through the area there is little interference to build the highway, so it would be much much cheaper. At the 2 avenues build only one offramp on each crossing. then finaly at the intersection, the RHW turns into whatever you where planning on doing with the avenue.



Aspirin4o

I support marsh's plan. It will be much more cheaper to make the highway further south. Except that, the new highway will spur even more growth in this area of Boston.


About that...
Quote from: CSGdesign on May 01, 2010, 04:38:46 AM
Quote from: Aspirin4o on April 30, 2010, 12:48:16 PM
That's one pretty interesting insight into the style of the greatest NG mayor out there ;D
I will be sure to utilize some of your sim-friendly ways of building in my MD, when the time is right. Quite exceptional again, Bravo! &apls
Thanks Aspirin4o!
When do you mean the time will be right?
I mean that my city is still in her youth, and has a long way to go - few wars, Great Depression, the founding of the United SimNations is yet to come (spoilers :P). At this point, the citizens and mayors in the region are still rapidly expanding, cutting forests, with no regulations on the building processs - for now, the sky is the limit  :D  I'm sure that the mayors in my region will have to face the same problems as yours and will start to count every Simolean and every city tile, but for now they are soaring on the wings of Industrial revolution :D
"Gate gate pāragate pārasaṃgate bodhi svāhā!"
"Gone, gone, totally gone, totally completely gone, enlightened, so be it!"

emgmod

I agree with marsh's plan for the start of the highway, with the exception of the location. Even though the location is cheaper, there may be some weaving problems with the nearby interchange. Using the half cloverleaf interchange will allow easy upgrading to a full cloverleaf when the inevitable West Inner City Bypass is made.

limeyfox

I agree that a separate interchange is better for the bypass.  If the existing interchange is required for local traffic only, converting it into a more complex layout with more diverging routes will only increase congestion in the locality and defeat the object.  Liking the positioning of the other proposed intersections to the bypass as well!

Seb

ecoba

I think that you should somehow revise the first interchange to make it somewhat limited access, and then elevate the bypass on a similar path to the avenue, but on a less windy path and then add frontage roads to replace the surface avenue.

Ethan  :)

Nanami

Very great region! &apls Also nice tutorial! Great updates!

skitbil

Hey, I got an idea, CSG...

I'm thinking... did you ever think about embarking on a sort of pointless project? You know, something that screams "pork-barrel project"? I just thought about that. It wouldn't be practical, but it would realistic and would show us the grittier side of politics in Boston.

greenbelt

#374
I've just started reading your CJ/MD from the start.  I'll keep editing this post with my comments until I get caught up or until other people post below me.

1.  Is there a plug-in I need in order to see the animated growth of your region in the first picture...something I need to click?

2.  What are the packages supposed to be?



EDIT:  found the you-tube animation and read the update about the contest.  lol.

wow a truly masterful journal!  It's the wee hours and I should go to sleep now.  Got caught up lurking at your blog site as well.  Had some trouble finding my way around at first.  I usually skim city journals, but I read yours like I would read a novel.

emgmod

Quote from: skitbil on May 25, 2010, 03:04:44 PM
Hey, I got an idea, CSG...

I'm thinking... did you ever think about embarking on a sort of pointless project? You know, something that screams "pork-barrel project"? I just thought about that. It wouldn't be practical, but it would realistic and would show us the grittier side of politics in Boston.
How about we build an airport that doesn't help anything and takes up a huge swath of land? I like this idea.

(The CSGforums people will get the joke.)

limeyfox

Alternatively, why not bid to host the SimOlympic Games?  Then LOTS of public money can be thrown away on consultants and lawyers, and some even on infrastructure for the event!

(Londoners will get this joke  ::))

threbos

this is awesome!  NICE work...im sure it has taken TONS of time.  AMAZING!

btw...ive seen those "dirt tracks" in other CJ's but cant seem to find them anywhere.  do you happen to know how i can get my hands on those?

CSGdesign

#378


Well I apologise for my long absense but I've had a lot to deal with in the last few weeks.
But Boston v2 is powering ahead and Chapter 2 is here!
Long time readers will notice a new banner, reply banner, and image treatment.
That is because I've revamped the style manual applied to the journal.  You can look forward to not only a new angle in stories but a completely and radically new presentation as well.

Enjoy folks!  :)

Quote from: emgmod on May 26, 2010, 11:16:20 AM
How about we build an airport that doesn't help anything and takes up a huge swath of land? I like this idea.

(The CSGforums people will get the joke.)

That's a great idea.  :)
Don't be giving away plotline.  :P

Quote from: limeyfox on May 28, 2010, 01:15:13 AM
Alternatively, why not bid to host the SimOlympic Games?  Then LOTS of public money can be thrown away on consultants and lawyers, and some even on infrastructure for the event!

(Londoners will get this joke  ::))

Haha Limey.

Quote from: threbos on June 13, 2010, 11:39:43 PM
this is awesome!  NICE work...im sure it has taken TONS of time.  AMAZING!

btw...ive seen those "dirt tracks" in other CJ's but cant seem to find them anywhere.  do you happen to know how i can get my hands on those?

Hi threbos!
Those dirt tracks were made by me, and will eventually be released along with a bunch of other stuff I haven't released yet, on CSGfx.

The ones you've seen are part of the Bauxite Set, found here.  Note that to blend into your surrounding terrain you will also need the Cleared Earth set, found here.



Boston v2 has grown a lot in the last couple of years.
It has begun to attract sims from far and wide, and is quickly becoming a large and well-known city, popular in a range of arenas.

One such attracted family of sims was the Burkestaan family, from SherridadFerry, from a small town in the southern parts of The Royal Gansbaai Kingdoms that had been their homes for many years.

Mr Jan Burkestaan, Mrs Myalli Burkestaan, and their two daughters Bjork and Blurk were from a poor walk in life with their eyes set on the "land of opportunity" - Boston v2 in Simnation.



The cruise was three weeks of little more than ocean views and tinned catfood, but eventually the Burkestaan's reached their destination.



It was time for a new beginning for the Burkestaans.
It was time to leave behind their life of mediocre hand-to-mouth existence and really make something of their time in this world.




buncheesy

Ah finally another post ;D

I have been lurking here for a while now.  Your city journal inspired me to restart simcity third time round over all other game choices on my shelf.  So you get my first post to a city journal  ;)

I am a big fan of your natural growth roleplay style.  Dont know about the squigly streets myself but it does create a very realistic look at the regional and larger zoom views which is what hooked me back in.

PS love the new format.  look forward to more updates (especially planning related but heck I even read the human stories in your journal!)