Principality Of Tantico Entry 36: The Rubic Incident: Nearing A Verdict!

[jmdude1]

this is an interesting concept. its been so long since ive seen the game played vanilla. you've taken the game back to its roots where it was more of a 'fun' game rather than now where it can get very technical, detailed, relotted, and modded so much that sometimes players forget to have fun and play the game, myself included.  but i will admit, i couldnt play the game without all the mods. haha. playing the game on hard difficulty must be challenging as well.

anyways, it looks really good in region view. very realistic considering the limitations.

[89James89]

Replies:

jmdude1: Thanks and yes, playing it as a fun game rather than a ultra realistically detailed one was the main idea behind it and I'm glad your enjoying it. You should really give it a go though, you never know.

As for the difficulty. I don't really notice it in all honesty. Everywhere is making money so I must be doing something right and as it all develops slowly I can come down on problems before they develop budget wise.




Entry 15: Road to success!

Well today we have a entry from our newly appointed Head of Transport Charles Heywood. After the  whole debacle regarding the lax running of the department previously, a new official was appointed to take charge of the apartment and, working closely with both the Department of Finance and the Prince himself has already made a dent in Tantico's growing traffic issues.

Anyway other than the coming transport news I have some quick news first of all. Just a quick look at some expansion around the region. First of all is the redevelopment of Chilton Industrial Estate (ironically now fully surrounded by Tantico City suburbs). Initially unconnected to the main water supply, the continued needed growth of industry has meant that it was quickly decided to incorporate it into the pipe system. 

As such the growth was instantaneous, as more advanced companies bought out the older factories. Below is an image of the redevelopment of the industrial estate. Note also the planting of trees to separate it from the growing suburbs.



The other photo that I have shows an Ariel view of the developments that have happened in the Heltan Corridor. With the relaxing of the ban on residential development a small number of rural villages have sprung up around Heltan.

This image just shows the placement of the viallges and there respective names.



Anyway with them two images out of the way it's time to hand you over to our new Head of Transport.

---------------------------

Charles Heywood here,bringing you up to date on the long overdue improvements to several of Tantico's road systems.

Now when I took over there were areas of the region where the traffic was terrible. Sure the small road upgrade a while back had sorted out a few of the issues but no where near enough in the urban areas. Sure the rural roads were fine but in Tantico City and Ellington the traffic on all the streets was a nightmare. As such road network upgrades were first on the list for these two areas.

Below is a series of traffic data images showing the before and after congestion as the road improvements take affect.

Starting off int he Harbour area we can see that, whilst the old road system took care of traffic int he centre of the Harbour there were still a number of issues around the previous improvements.



As such, we spent a lot of money  upgrading a number of key roads and junctions. It's not perfect but as you can see its a big improvement.



Now moving onto the Town, were made aware that the previous improvements appeared to have ran out of steam here and that the only roads really present led to Gregory Square and the main roadway for the region, out towards Ellington.



As you can see afterwards its a hell of a lot better. Again not perfect but we didn't have a unlimited budget and still needed to do some work in Ellington after here so it has to do for now. Still a big improvement.



Finally we moved onto Ellington where there was the least amount of issues to deal with. What with it still growing though, issues were likely to crop up in the future.  Also of note which I don't think has been mentioned before was that before I took the office, my predecessor had seen fit to incorporate Ellington into the Principalities, Ferry network. You can see the dock on the north shore line just before the inlet starts.



Still improvements were made which the town council were very happy about and most of the traffic issues were sorted out for the growing town.



Anyway that's all I've got for you for now, Were still in talks about adding another mass transit system to Tantico, with buses taking most of the votes at the moment. Then on top of this we have the improvements to the Harbour area that we've been intending to do for the last few years and I've had proposals for a couple of bridges to link the harbour with Tepin Point and Henrick Point.

All in all a lot to come from us here in the TTD.

Till next time.

Charles Heywood

[SimCity V6]

Hey, aren't the towns in the pictures a nod to Hentan? 

[89James89]

Replies:[/u]

SimCity V6: Shhhh lol, I ran out of place names lol and I like small rural villages in swathes of farmland  (aka yes they are stolen from Hentan.)



Entry 16: A Mosiac for all!


Just a small update for you all today. A intrepid photographer has sent us in this tall Panoramic of Tantico City from coast to coast, showing several of the cities key buildings.



Other than that the plans for the bus routes are being finalised so that should be ready to show you soon.

Till then

Jay Goodrick

(OOC: I hope the image isn't too long as its my first go at a Mosaic. Also hope that I hid the cross tile border well enough)

[gn_leugim]

Other than that the plans for the bus routes are being finalised so that should be ready to show you soon.

it's a shame that we cant realy plan them thou =\

[SimCity V6]

What about the time period for Tantico? It has modern stuff, but has grown like a city from the 1800s. Still, nice mosaic! 

(Fixed something)

[89James89]

Replies:


gn_leugim: Yer I know, but dosen't mean I can't pretend lol. Will still do up bus routes though.

SimCity V6: Thanks and I don't really have a set time frame but I always thought of it as being like mid to late 1900's.



Entry 17: Natural Marshes

Just another small update while the now finalised bus routes are implemented and installed around the region. This will just concentrate on several more areas of growth that Tantico has experienced over the last few years.

Starting off in Salem Mines we can see that they've had a lot of housing growth since the zoning ban was lifted, expanding west across the tracks and expanding the shopping area of the town.  Mainly due to the continued growth of the mines and the agriculture around the small town.



With this growth and continued tree clearances across the region, a new, environmentally conscious compnay moved into the region. Named Sustainable Forestry Inc, this company does exactly what it says it does. Planting several forests throughout the region on bought out farmland, this company aims to help Tanitco's environment as well as providing continued lumber for buildings and material. As you can see from the photo below of the companies first plantations, there using a tree non native to Tantico. This is the Blue Fir (which contrary to its name isn't actually blue), Native to the former country of the initial settlers, these trees grow to harvest-able height at a lot faster rate than Tantico's native flora, so, while others tree are soon set to be trialed at the moment te plantations are all Blue Firs.

Here's the photo of the first plantations, situated around Salem Mines to see if they can help combat the increased industrial growth.



Keeping with the environmental theme, we now move onto Tantico's first recognised nature reserve. Having been found to contain a small number of bird species native to this salt water marshland (including the Giant Crested Woodparrot and the Flamincock) as well as many other species of wildlife and strangely enough, home to the rare Marshland Llama's, we give you the Tantico Marshland Nature Reserve.
Situated just west of Tantico Town, the immediate marshland and surrounding area were all designated part of the Nature Reserve. Below you can see a overview of the area with the small road dictating where the nature reserve stretches too. As you an see, development and farming has begun in the area with two small towns trying to capitalise on the tourism in the area. The one bottom left is Jenkins and the other one which we'll see in a minute, is Marshton.



As said above this is Marshton. Considered the better of the two small torusit villages, this small community are mostly employed by the nature reserve or the Marshland Llama rest stop (can be seen at the entrance to the village. As you an see there's plenty of places here to enjoy a pick-nick while visiting the marshes and several educational facilities for school trips and visitors alike, as well as the much loved Marshland Hovercraft Tours [the small jetty to the north of the town].



Now from marshland to urban sprawl as we move back into Tantico Town. FIrstly we have the new stadium for the Tantico United Football Club. The main team here in Tantico, having represented the country in a small number of the less recognised Smearth footballing events, it was decided to give the team their own proper stadium (instead of having to train and play at Coronation College). Situated on the edge of the town this is already becoming a weekend favourite of a large number of city living sims. Eager to support their team or just yell at the ref.



Still in Tantico Town, we move onto what is quickly becoming the best place for shopping in Tantico. Due to increased prices and space issues that Gregory Square and the other larger, more centralised commercial districts were suffering from, this small commercial strip, on the edge of town took advantage of the nearby Coronation College and the new and growing football stadium and saw a whole lot of vertical development in a small amount of time, even seeing Tantico's first large hotel (the building that looks slightly like a palace). Still set to increase in size over the next few years College Road Shooping Cnetre is one to watch.

(OOC: Also happens to be one of my favourite shots so far in the journal)

Other than this I leave you with a current overview so you can get your bearings and see all the growth that we haven't looked at yet.



Until next time

Jay Goodrick

[SimCity V6]

Woah, what a funny misspelling!  By the way, keep the MD up and hopefully you'll blast into the "Best-Sellers" category and possibly the Ben's Top 10  ! Also, I think this is more or less set in the very beginning of the 20th century to the 60s. 

[89James89]

Replies:[/u]

SimCity V6: Lol I'm not even sure what I misspelled lol? As for blasting into the Best Sellers I hope so. Need a bit of work until then though so we'll have to see. As for the Ben's Top 10, I was at number 6 this week, so lets hope I can continue to climb up the ladder.

Regarding the timeline I honestly have no idea when its really set just that its probably relatively modern (so probably what you said).



Entry 18: Bus Trip (Part One)

Jay here with some good news. TTD seems to have truely got their act together under the new minister as the long promised and overdue bus routes have finally been added to our growing settlements. Having recieved this route map of the Tantico National Express Bus Route, I decided that the best way to show you the new buses was to take a trip on one of them, photographing each stop along the way.




Now although there's a few different bus routes around the region, given that we've got the route map for it and its the main route, traveling on the national route makes sense to me. With this in mind I made my way to the Ketin Bus Depot and waited for my bus to begin it's journey.

Here's a image of the Depot. As you can see its pretty small at the moment and generally only acts as a large terminal for the National Express and the Tantico City Link. There's also a small area to park several coaches and a garage for maintenance.



Now lets head through the stops, first one is Ketin's Primary School.



Then onto the first commercial area that the coach stops at.



Next is Sandy Way where development gets higher as move towards the waterfront commercial area.



First however is this high tech industrial estate at the end of Sandy Way. The dilapidated building in the background is a bit of an annoyance for the city council but, given that it houses nearly 800 citizens despite its looks, they're not prepared to do anything about it yet



Finally for this first leg of the bus journey we reach Tantico Harbour Ferry Terminal. One of the growing transport hubs for the region.



Finally though we've got this image of some commercial development growing ever higher. This tall building is currently the largest in the whole region and, together with its smaller neighbours provides about 1.5k of the 7k commercial jobs in the Harbour area. The commercial minister states that he hopes to see more business invest like this in the near future.



That's all for the first part of our journey. Join me next time as we continue to move inland.

Till then

Jay Goodrick

[89James89]

Entry 19: Bus Trip (Part 2)

Hey guys, back again for part two of our bus journey through the region, next stop the Lady Francis Hospital. Not the busiest station in the city but still a rather useful one.



The next stop takes us out of the harbour area and into the town area. Pulling up at the Wytun Road stop which backs on to a small low rise neighbourhood in a sea of mid rise buildings. Interestingly it's also one of the busiest stations on route due to its positioning on a busy T-junction.



Then we reach the third of our main stops on the route, College Road Com. District. As previosuly stated this is the largest concentration of commercial in the region, the small bus stop hidden in amongst the offices and stores.



Next up we reach the end of the development with the second of our College road stops. As you can see the development hasn't gone as vertical as the college end of district.



Then we move out of the town out of the town but before we leave there's the Chilton Industrial Park Road stop. Placed just outside the redeveloped industrial estate this image shows how the town has grown around the estate which once sat away from residential development.



Ellington Road is the next stop. Situated on the edge of the growing town, this isn't the busiest stop mainly due to the fact that its pretty close to the next stop which is the main one for Ellington and  therefore, more central.
(Please also note that there's a error on the Bus Route image which says that this stop connects to the TCL which is wrong as it obviously connects to the ECL being in Ellington and all)



Finally our last stop for this update is Ellington Central. This area has just received water after being connected to the Tantico Town pumps and as such, looks a lot different to when we last looked at it.



That's all for the second leg of the bus journey. Join me next time when we finish up the route to Salen, but till then, I'll leave you with this image of some mostly low wealth row housing with the mast for the Tantico FM broadcasting building in the foreground.




Till next time

Jay Goodrick

[sim_link]

Awesome stuff you have going here! It's nice to see the game back to its roots... I haven't played vanilla since 2008. Nice work!

[vortext]

Yeah, it's fun to watch, I can't recall some of Maxis' buildings at all. The pictures are also well taken, each area has a distinct neighborhood feel to it which I always found hard to achieve with vanilla. Keep it up! 

[89James89]

Replies:[/u]

sim_link: Thanks and I'm glad your enjoying the back to the roots look of it. Let's hope I can continue to keep that interest.

vortext: Thanks and I agree with you, a lot of the buildings that are growing I've never seen and I'm finding new ones all the time. I'm also glad your enjoying the pictures and that they give off the feel their meant too as I was worried that my picture taking wasn't that good.



Entry 20: Bus Trip (Part 3)

Right today we complete our leg of the National Express bus journey, concentrating on the rural side of the trip. First off today we leave Ellington via the Market Road where another two stops are located. The first as you pass the farmers market.



The second at the end of the road where houses meet farmland.



For the next stop we leave Ellington behind and head off to the sleepy village of Heltan which, despite its size, actually contains two stops. The first is this one just outside the village.



The other one is this truck stop outside the village on the road to Riverbend. As you can see the motel business seems to be rather profitable going by the look of the motel rooms.



Travelling through the countryside we reach our penultimate stop in the form of Riverbend Ferry Terminal. This is also the first stub on the route, with the bus having to turn around and go back on itslef for the first time int he journey, however it was necssacary to provide a practical stop.



Finally the last stop of the journey, Salen Road. Here the bus drops off the last of its passengers and then uses the circle road (just off the top left of the picture) to turn around and start the whole journey in reverse.




Well that's it for the National Express. Obviously thats not all the bus stops in the region, next time we'll take a look at some of the city links, probably in the form of labelled overviews  but for now, as its entry 20, here's a look at the regional view so far.



Till next time

Jay Goodrick

[eldaldo]

wow.  nice cities.  They remind me of my ultimate inspiration (CSG's Natural Growth).  Your journal is so prolific!  I had alot of fun reading through it.  I love your region view.  It is inspiring me to pick back up with my region.  Keep up the great journal!

[gn_leugim]

Highways, subways maps are usual to be found, now bus maps are a new to me was missing here for some time, but just ot find out that it keeps getting better and better

[89James89]

Replies:

eldaldo: Thanks. CSG is a big inspiration to me too so thanks (and as it turns Eskima was as well just didn't realise you were the author, and I'm very glad to have inspired you to post another update). Region views are always nice to look at to see development so I'm glad your enjoying them.

If by prolific you mean lots of updates thanks, I tend to get a bit carried away at the beginning then slow down a bit hence why the latest updates haven't been so regular. Doesn't mean I'm not loving Tantico though so I'm definitely not planning on stopping any time soon.


gn_leugim: Thanks and this update contains a couple of bus maps so I hope they don't disappoint you. I'm glad you think it's still getting better and better, lets hope I can keep it up and don't worry about not posting for a while. Just glad your still popping back in now and then.



Entry 21: This and that

Right Jay back with several bits and pieces for you all from Tantico. Firstly as I stated last time here's some of the bus stop maps and a little bit about how the bus system works in Tantico.

Basically you can alight at any of the designated stops but can get off anywhere. Just ring the bell you'll find all over the buses and the driver will stop at the nearest and safest place. This provides a handy stop to door service that the Tanticoans seem to enjoy and due to the way the system works, it has very little impact on the congestion so its a win all around.

The other bit of news that I have regarding the buses is these two photo's of several areas of the large fold out bus stop map that cna be picked up almost anywhere in the region (mainly at bus stops,  tourist information centres and hotels)

First one show the industrial harbour area. As you can see the rings mark all the bus stops where you can baord a bus.



This image shows the area around the Tantico Harbour Ferry Terminal.



That was it for the images I took from the fold out map. The rest are pretty much all the same just coded as thier colours dictate.


--------------------

The other bit of news is regarding the redevelopment of the old cattle market in Tantico Harbour area.
With the market sat in the middle of the band of mid rise residential and commercial buildings (the stretch from the Ferry Terminal to College Road) this real estate prices had gone through the roof and with the decrease in cattle being brought to market each week it was sold off to make room for further commercial development. Below are the images taken of the redevelopment of the area.

First showing the area in question for redevelopment. As you can see surrounded by mid rise buildings.



The area after the cattle market was cleared and new roads and zoning laid down.



Finally the area as it stands now, as you can see four news businesses have taken the opportunity to make the nice piece of land their own. Hopefully though higher buildings will develop soon.



Thats all for now though. Next time I think we'll take a closer look at some of the suburbs around the region.

Till then

Jay Goodrick

[89James89]

Entry 22: Housing Time!


Hello people, Jay Goodrick here. Thought we'd take a look at some of the different sort of housing and residential areas that you can expect to find here in Tantico. These range from the small single family dwellings all the way up to mid rise buildings with hundreds of people in them. Now although you've probably seen most of these in the previous entries we've yet to do a entry dedicated tot hem. Also seeing as we've just reached a region population of 100,000 I thought it'd be rather fitting.

------------------

Right, starting from the smallest type of housing in the smallest settlements we have our villages. This one in particular is Ilting outside of Salen Mines. Usually a cluster of farm workers around a couple of shops, these scattered communities are springing up all over the growing region. Housing here is fairly cheap due to lack of services but you can still find cheaper.



Another example of the growing villages here in Tantico is Shoreside. Although large by normal village standards, this coastal village situated to the east of Ellington is a definite place of continued growth as rich city dwellers move out of enjoy the peace and quiet and seaside living. Prices here are rather high due to the demand and quality of living and quickly rising.



Moving back inland we come across our first look at suburbs in Tantico. This picture came from the Ketin district of Tantico City and show the usual cul de sac approach to planning and growth that our developers and council have taken all over the region. As you can see, there's a mixed level of wealth in the suburbs, mainly due to people rebuilding and expanding their homes as they earn more and can afford to. These suburbs probably have the highest variation of prices in the region.



Another look at a suburb in the region, this time the former village of Chilton, which, due to continued growth has now become a suburb rather than its own village. Also note the graveyard. When the graveyard was originally sited it was on the edge of the town. Since then it has been surrounded by growth.



More housing, this time in Salen Mines. This housing was different to that in other places in the region due to it being built by a company rather than any government led council planner. As such the housing was row housing and crammed in as tight as possible. Although a number of these homes are llarger than many in the suburbs of the other towns, due tot he lack of space and the pollution from the nearby coal mine and plant, the house prices here are some of the lowest in the region.



Now we'll move into urban living and the some row houses common to what you can find in the low rise areas of town. Lots of the same designed row houses next to eachother to provide cheap and affordable housing. Not the nicest places to live in the region but its not the worst either.



The next step up in housing was more dense living in the form of apartments. Seen here surrounding the statue of Lord Admiral Holt (the Admiral of the fleet that discovered Tantico who was chosen from a list of important Tanticoan's to be immortalised after he passed away several years ago.) these apartments come in all shape and sizes as well wealth level as this image shows. The prices will depend on what sort of condition you want to live in but rest assured, the nice ones are somne of the most expensive in the region.



Unfortunately things aren't all rosey here in Tantico in regards to housing. With a lot of growth early on in Tantico Harbour as Tanticoans made more and more money, a number of high wealth mid rises were built to accommodate them. However rising pollution levels and the previous congestion problems meant that a lot of them moved further into Tantico Town itself leaving their mid rises behind. These were then occupied in greater numbers by lower wealth residents. As such a number of buildings have become slightly run down as the residents can't afford the upkeep. However due to how many people the buildings house, the government have yet to come up with a suitable solution to re-housing them so they've left them there, at least until they start the Harbourside Redevelopment Project.



Finally, so we don't end on a bad note, here are the Terrace Towers. The housing of the rich and famous here in Tantico, these two towers have the most expensive property prices in the entire region. Situated near the football Stadium and College Road Commercial District, together with their rooftop pools these two buildings are currently the place to live.



With that however, this update on housing comes to an end. Hopefully you've enjoyed this little trip through Tanticp' housing options and maybe even some of the properties have piqued your interest in considering a residency in Tantico. Next time we'll move onto the commercial areas of Tantico and take a closer look at some shopping.

Till then however.

Jay Goodrick

[89James89]

Entry 23: Retail Therapy



Right lets see, last time was all about the housing so this time lets get some shopping done. As you'll see from this entry there's no shortage of places in Tantico to spend your cash and get a little retail therapy done.

Starting off as ever, with the smallest stores we take a look at the village shops. Here in Tantico its very rare to find a village or group of houses without at least a small corner shop to provide for the residents. One such place is the village of Elmston outside of Riverbend with its licensed cafe and a corner store, perfect for a quiet drink after tending the fields all day long or getting the weekly groceries.



Moving on we take a look at some of the retail you'll find in the smaller towns around the region. This one in particular is Henrick Bay beach and as such, contains some of the nicest boutiques and restaurants in the region.. However due to zoning laws in Henrick Bay and Henrick Point, they are set to be kept this way as vertical construction is restricted. Still that doesn't mean you can't come and enjoy a nice day at the beach with some delicious local ice cream.



The towns that don't have such restrictions however are slowly growing upwards. This can be clearly seen in Ellington where the recent connection to Tantico City water board has meant that denser buildings are starting to grow. Also note that Ellington is well known for its strip malls lining the main roads through it. This is in common with many of the seaside towns and villages but not in common with the larger more nucleated settlements in the region. This area is probably set to grow the most over the coming years as more and more of Ellington gains access to mains water.



Now to what is probably the best known and definitely oldest concentration of commerce in the region, Gregory Square. With its many shops and cafes this area held the title of CBD of Tantico City right up until the soaring land prices and limited space pushed further development into College Road and what is now the CBD for the city and region. With the new CBD developing across the city and some work being done to the Ferryside area,land prices dropped enough for new business to move into the area and homes were gradually replaced with shop until Gregory Square and Ferryside met creating one single commerce district that you can see below.

Why not come and enjoy a days shopping around the square and quay side before booking a expensive table at the top of the newly opened Raymnar Building (named after the architect, Charles Raymnar and the tall building in the centre of the mosiac) where you can enjoy the views from the regions tallest building. You can even book a stay in several small hotels and b&b's in the area if one day isn't enough



Now we move onto the CBD of Tantico City, College Road. Stretching from the newly unveiled statue of Princess Andrea (Olivers wife) all the way down to Tantico Cities (and indeed the region) premier and oldest entertainment establishment, Stout Cinemas (the cinema at the very bottom of the mosaic facing away from us), this nearly unbroken stretch of commerce includes all you'll need for a day or two spent shopping and caters for everyone, no matter the size of your wallet or purse.

Definitely the centre of attention here however is the Harring Department store. This building (the tall one just above the high school towards the bottom) is Tantico's premier shopping experience. Bought  a little while ago by Tantico's richest businessman, this former office block had it's lowest seven levels converted into a large department store for Tantico's rich and famous (OOC: think Harrods on a slightly smaller scale). Here you can find a personal shopper to help you with your retail therapy and many high class cafes as well as a restaurant or two to take a break in while exploring the huge store, maybe before heading out to Stout Cinema for the latest shows and films.

If films aren't your cup of tea or you can't afford to shop in Harring there are still plenty of shops in the main part of the CBD to do some shopping so no matter your style or needs there's something for everyone here.



Well that's it for this update. I'll leave you planning your days of retail therapy here in Tantico and if your undecided maybe this complimentary fudge from Harrings famous food hall will help?

Anyway from the glamour of shopping to the grind of the industrial engine. Next time we take a look at the heart of the country and its financial backbone, industry. Love it or hate it you can't run a country without it and that's where were heading next.

Till then let me know if you would like any complimentary fudge and I'll see you next time.

Till  next time

Jay Goodrick

[benedict]

A couple of very nice updates. Keep it up.

[Schulmanator]

Retail therapy is always therapeutic, except on the wallet!!!