Covington - Update 61 "Chestnut Hills and South River Bend"

[Diggis]

Hey Jon, great update (w00t 1624th post)

J/K

Looks great.  I just realised I missed your last update too.  I knew a Sharon Mills once, she had great curves too. 

I love they way you lay out your farms.  I tend to pile them all together and aren't very good with keeping the natural look.

[Ennedi]

You show something really very good and original in your MD, Jon!  There are many people who have their own ideas about the general shape of their regions. Some of these ideas are complex and well thought, but in many cases good ideas and good theoretical thinking don't lead to really good results. There are only a few people who are able to start from a good, clear and reasonable idea, find apropriate tools and working methods, add some fantasy and intuition and finally create a great looking region. And you are one of these people 

Great tutorial, very clear and helpful!
I am very busy in RL lately, but I often think about my next SC4 creations  A few days ago I looked for something in Google Earth and I decided to look also for some farmfields (remembering about yours  ) I was surprised how close to reality are your farmlands (and of course roads too!  )
Great work, I'm really curious what will you show next time!

Adam

[Yoman]

Incredible update, I just love how you zone the farms and plop the trees so that the hills poke through and flow well Nothing straight, and I love it 

[j-dub]

Oh man, this is an impressive default, anti-grid road lay out you got here. I don't think I have seen another MD do that with the default network. It doesn't look like you have any difficulty randomizing things at all. Overhead, it Almost makes this game look like we had the option to do roads any direction. Thats what conviced me to stop by, from far up, it looked like you broke free of the game's limit. I don't know if your any good with randomly plopping wind plants on top of a hill, but that would complement to the roads below the hill. Maybe you could try ALN_Draggable_Paths for this city. That would really complement the road system, since those paths can go any direction, under forests, over farm fields, and are not restricted to a grid at all. I think this MD deserves recognition.

[rooker1]

What an awesome walk through your steps as you make your MD.  I always find this method of MDing fun.  People's methods and techniques never sieze to amaze me.  I think I learn a little something everytime and your update was no exception. 
Robin 

[sebes]

Finally I had some time to catch up with your MD/Showcase/Tutorialclassroom/Farmlands. It's interesting to read how you plan the region. Most "rules" I apply myself as well, but I never came to the idea to develop so many citytiles as if it was one. I am puzzled about the neighbour deals though, as I never seem to get them working (the cities that are depending on energy import and waste export seem always to get shortage after a while...) I did not play to many rural regions so that might also be a cause.

When going rural I use the same farm lay out more or less as you, and use strategic dropped light residentials and trees to get the power flows. In addition I use busstops and billboards, or sometimes just a shed to connect energy. Remote farms can get their own powershed or windmill too. Just a small tip in exchange for this great non-teaching tuturial  

[thundercrack83]

So THAT'S how it's done!

Painstaking work, my friend--but then again, the attention to detail does not surprise me coming from a talent such as you! I'm going to have to steal borrow these techniques and give them a shot myself.

Hope things are going well for you, my friend!

Dustin

[paroch]

Hi Jon,

Well, we never did get to have a close look at your farms when we met, so I'm glad you've shown me them now!  I am impressed by the way you plan it out.  On first look, it seems quite complex and in-depth but when I slowed down and thought about it, well, it's really quite a simple, almost obvious plan.  And I guess often the best ideas are the simple obvious ones that no-one else has thought of!!  I guess you know what I mean!

I often struggle with packing my farms in too much and having them a bit too square and griddy - so you've given me some great ideas and techniques that will be applied for sure. 

I'm enjoying seeing more and more of Covington, so roll on your next non-tutorial-update 

Paul

[CasperVg]

Heh, I thought I commented after the last update. Nonetheless, this, and the previous, updates were very helpful, and the overview shot was very nice.

[freedo50]

Wow, nice update Jon. That's taught me some really useful stuff that I can use if I ever get around to playing the game again... 

Fred

[Jmouse]

Those are some excellent ideas you have for laying out farmlands, Jon. And the end result looks great. I live in a very rural area where fields stretch as far as the eye can see, but nearly every one is flat and square. It is only in game that I can see fields like yours!

I do wonder where the farm hands come from and where the freight goes, though. Are there no jobs here or (more likely!) have I missed something? Either way, I love your style of creating rural areas and would like to try it out for myself one of these days.

Later...
Joan

[threestooges]

Excellent description of the farm making process. I've been looking for ways to improve the quiet rural feel for my farm areas, and that setback from the road is a good idea. Most of the farms around here follow the grid system and are literally right up against the roads. The tree filler trick is a nice way to route the power around, as well as staggering the houses; and all this time I thought it was because it just looked good. Good to see that it has some practical value too. I can only imagine what the rest of the area will turn out like (but then I have a feeling you'll show us soon). Thanks for the tips, and I'll see you around the next update.
-Matt

[Simpson]

Hi my friend,
I really love the fields and your region view is splendid
Continue 

[JBSimio]

Shaun:  Thanks!  I remember Sharon... although I didn't realize that she had moved to your side of the world.  She was pretty easy on the eyes, though... 

Adam:  Thank you so much!  I appreciate all your kind words... and I'm honored to see them coming from someone of your stature! 

Yoman:  Thanks!  I really wanted to avoid grids as much as possible with this one... probably because grids are all I ever see here in the midwest.  It has honestly turned out much better than I expected...

J-dub:  Thank you!  I haven't played with those draggable paths at all yet... although I'll definitely have to look into the idea now!  I doubt I'll use the windmills in this region, if only because I don't recall them being common at all in the Carolinas.  For my personal purposes, I'm leaving at "tree line"... but in reality, none of these hills are actually that big.

Robin:  Thank you!  I figured that I should do a couple "method" updates... just because I always appreciate them so much from others...

Sebes:  Thanks!  I rarely run into power issues with the rural areas, unless I'm in the largest sized city tile.  Usually, a medium or small tile of rural zoning won't need more than the minimum 1000Mwh of power anyway.  As long as the power deals are set up before the game is unpaused, it usually works out fine.  In the more urban areas, the game seems to be a little more generous in letting a city buy more power needed after the game is started.  Thank you also for the tips at the end of your post... I'll certainly keep those in mind as well.

Dustin:  Thank you!  Yes... I'll be the first to admit that it's a pretty slow process... but who wants to hurry through "fun time" anyway?   Steal Borrow away my friend!

Paul:  Thanks!  The explaination does make it seem much more intense than it actually is.  As you saw in an older version of this region, I used to have the same problem with packing farms... so I guess we just all evolve at different speeds, eh? 

Caspervg:  Thank you!

Fred:  Thanks!  Isn't RL a pain sometimes? 

Joan:  Thank you!  The farmhands come from all those scattered houses along the country roads... and most of the jobs are the farm jobs.  I throw a few corner stores in here and there, just for those country bumpkins who grew up all smart and stuff... but mostly I just hope that the lack of education will prevent them from realising that farming isn't the only career choice out there! 

Matt:  Thank you!  I think packing the farms up against the roads would probably be more realistic in most areas, but I always had too much trouble with air pollution that way... especially the more the region filled up... so I switched.

Simpson:  Thank you!

Update Time!!!

Unfortunately, progress has been a bit slow again lately.  My play time is pretty limited... an hour here, followed by an hour there (roughly a week later)... but I am still picking away at things.  Here is where we left off...

16.1


16.2


Getting a little further...

16.3


And this is the most recent shot.  I've been zoning the next tile, but I have yet to unpause things, so there isn't really much to see there just yet.

With any luck, I should have a lot more free time in September and we can pick this up more then...  Until then, you'll just have to take the teasers

Thanks for stopping...
JB

[Pat]

Hey Jon there Long time no see!!! WoW the last update and this update is real sweet there...  Im loving how you are pulling off your farms and dont worry about the play time at all I finally logged some heavy time playing here just my self lol...  Its always a treat to see what you show!!! till next time___________________________--

[Simpson]

Hello Jon

I'm happy to see new pics of your work  . This new update is very good lol your fields are always so good and very réalistic 

[Diggis]

Noooooo!!!!! Tease.  More More!

[art128]

waow nice devellopement 

[paroch]

Jon,

No doubt about it....... your region views are RIGHT up there.  At this Olympic time I'd say Covington would certainly secure a medal for the Region View event and would definitely be in with a shout in a few other categories as well.

I look forward to seeing more in September when time is kinder to you.

Paul

[Jmouse]

Jon, it's a joy to see Covington up and moving forward. It looks like you've accomplished more in a few hours than I could in several weeks!  I just love the way you place those farms, and I especially like the rolling hills. I'm not sure if that effect can be created manually, but I'm tempted to try. I like your terrain mod, too - I've fooled around with several but haven't decided on one yet.

So I hope you'll keep "picking away at things" - it's obvious a great many fans await your every move!

Later...
Joan