Evergem, The Netherlands

[paroch]

Capo,

100 posts - well done

That trade tower is pretty special.  What a great place, to sit in the top of the tower and watch all that orange madness!

Most updates that only have one picture can leave you feeling a bit, well, short changed I guess.  But wow, how much you fit into one picture!!!!!!  Great narrative as well, love the story you are telling us.  And of course, De Stal is VERY nice.

Thanks for the compliment to my MD - you're too kind.

Here's to the next 100 posts....

[FrankU]

Capo,
Just found your out about Biroud. Great!
I love the way you reconstruct the history of this wet country.

I do not agree though on your remark in the first post about the ugliness of The Netherlands.
Yes, the country is flat, but if you take a close look, you see that there are sooo many details: small raisings, rivers, dunes, lakes, ponds, meadows with cows.... It can be stunningly beautiful.
Indeed, everything is made by man, so we can conclude that your (and also some of mine) ancestors did a great job. Manmade also means: nothing is coincidental, everything has a purpose. This makes the Dutch country and landscape very interesting. And so challenging to recreate in SC4.

Take a look at the attachment. It's Zwartsluis. See all the different directions of farmfields. And the sizes of them. The reasons for these differences lie in the heigths according to sealevel, the historic area that they were developed and the available technology, remains of the original landscape.....
I find it fascinating.
And now I stop. It's the teacher in me that wants to run away with me.....

I really enjoy your MD and look forward to the future expansions.

[Pat]

Capo wow i loved how you transitioned from canal to stream!!! great job on that and also fine updates and i so do really enjoy coming here - pat

[Pikatchoum]

I realy enjoy the way we can see the evolution of the area.   

[jayo]

Lovelly-Love your use of d66's props

[tkirch]

Capo such beautiful pictures.  I love the dykes, they are simply amazing.  It looks so realistic that is what I love with your pictures.

[tooheys]

Capo, there is not much I can say that hasn't already been said, this is beautiful work

It's been a pleasure looking through you latest updates, love the theme and your use of props. 

[squidi]

hi capo as i told you before i am really impressed by your work here
i love all the small houses they fit very good together
your landscape is awsom too
and the evolution of this region is a great idea
so everything looks beautifull 

[Ennedi]

Hello capo,

Your lesson about making first polders was very interesting for me! I didn't know that windmills were used to remove water from the separated area (but of course it's logical )
But I have a stupid question: farmers need freshwater, without salt, for plants and animals (and of course all people need it to drink). Maybe there was one or two little spring on these islands, but when people made much more ground, they needed much more freshwater. Did they look for other springs, or maybe tried to remove salt from the sea water?

You last update with all these carefully plopped buildings, church and trade tower is fantastic!
It's a pity there are no sailships in SC4, I think if you would have some of them, you would be able to make a beautiful small seaport
It's a pleasure for me to see how quickly grows my favourite region

[mattb325]

Hello Capo - this MD is indeed spectacular. The way you deal with the landscape; the way show the reclamation of the sea and the building of the polders; the selection of flora and the placement of custom content is amazing. It is an absolute pleasure to pour over these images. Thanks for sharing

[amapper]

That story Biroud's development is one of the best I've read, and the pictures are too. I like the way you didn't over-do the expansion also, but kept it very realistic. I will be waiting to see how Biroud handles it's new prosperity.

[FrankU]

I can answer the question about the freshwater in an uncomplete way.
Freshwater can be obtained from:
1. the rivers that are flowing through the country
2. rain that drops onto the grond
3. ground water: not too deep undeground which is not salty and can be pumped up.

The ground water though, in new polders, can be quite salty and is not always useable. The salt is only slowly going away by help of rain and irrigation. A lot of the needed fresh water is brought from somewhere else. At least these days. How they did it in Biroud.... I don't know.

In fact the salt has always been a problem, because the seawater tends to flow into the country underground, because waterlevel in polders is lower than sealevel. So there is a difference in pressure, which makes the salty seawater take the place of fresh groundwater.
Maybe there is some dutch water engineer who knows more about this?

[jayo]

Wow-Where did you get that road going threw the town???

[Ennedi]

@FrankU, thank you for your detailed answer!
But the problem is even more interesting after reading it
And this

In fact the salt has always been a problem, because the seawater tends to flow into the country underground, because waterlevel in polders is lower than sealevel. So there is a difference in pressure, which makes the salty seawater take the place of fresh groundwater.

is the most interesting aspect of it, not only because of the level difference, but also because of an osmosis.
And how they did it in Biroud? 

[capo]

That's an excellent question Ennedi and FrankU thanks for answering it (and for raising a new question ). You know more about the subject then I do I think..

I do know that there isn't any water gained from the western part of the Netherlands because the groundwater is too salty, why it's different in the Northern part is unknown to me. Maybe only water can be gained on "De Hondsrug" (the dog's back), a natural elevated piece of land throughout the Netherlands, it's above sea level so perhaps the salt is too deep there, but that would be guessing.

Even on a small island called 'Schiermonnikoog' wich is in the middle of the Wadden Sea fresh water is gained through the ground water..but I don't have a clue how they do it, it is something I should pay attention to in Biroud it seems, so I guess I have some studying ahead of me

It's really nice to see such a lively discussion in this MD. Again thanks to all for visiting, I hope to post an update (with more specific replies) soon!

[sebes]

The sweet water (from rain) is falling on the land and sinks through the soil. It reaches clay layers, that it cannot penetrate, so it stays there, in a kind of bubble. The clay layers also protect the salt water from mixing with the sweet water. People can get the water through a well, with a bucket or so. Luckily, it rains enough in this land to make sure that there is always plenty of sweet water. Occasionally it happened that the clay layer bursted, and that sweet and salt water mixed. In that case the people on the island died    or had to escape.

On the mainland enough rivers enter the country to make sure that always plenty of fresh sweet water is flowing into the low lands, and ofcourse, canals and dykes are used to guide it to places where we want it    But, to make sure that also in dry times Amsterdam has enough water, it's pumped into the dunes, where the sand filters the water, and the claylayers protect it from being mixed with the saltwater. In the Rotterdam area water is stored in the Biesbosch Reservoir.

[Pat]

capo i will be waiting for that update - pat

[FrankU]

It is a very interesting country we have here in the river delta of the Rhine and the Maas. Isn't it?

Let's see what Capo is coming up with....

[capo]

Wow thanks sebes for that reply, yes that makes a lot of sense....hmm I'm already wondering how I can intergrate that with Biroud

@Pat & FrankU: I'll get to work asap! I've been working on the cleanitol files for quite some time and after that I was feeling a bit under the weather. Now I'm feeling better I feel like booting up the SC4 again for a nice building spree (after first many hrs of reorganising plug-ins I'm afraid  )

[paroch]

Hi Capo,

I have to admit, I can't wait for your next update.  There are many great MDs I love visiting but you are keeping us in suspense!  I keep checking because I don't want to miss it.

Hope you're feeling better.  Cleaning out the plug-ins is something I keep saying I must do, but can't build up the courage!  Good luck and let us know how you get on.

Paul