Commonwealth of Marathon

[dedgren]

Heh!  I wish I'd gotten over here sooner.  I love Jeopardy.


David

[woodb3kmaster]

Me too, David. Me, too. It's good that I have to get up early tomorrow for my last final of the quarter - I'll be around and not doing anything when Dustin posts tomorrow's clues!

Anyway, Dustin, you've posted yet another great picture! Not only am I envious of your having the FAR/R and being able to use it to such great effect, but you've also made this image look very atmospheric with the sepia-tone. Good work!

[thundercrack83]

Robin (rooker1): Sorry, Robin! Those are incorrect!

homefryes: Hmmm...you may be onto something...

Dan (dsrwhat316): You may be, too...

alan_vzla: As may you... Thanks for the comment, too, my friend!

nerdly_dood: Hey, thanks for coming by to play!

David (dedgren): Don't fret, David! There's plenty more rounds for you to get in on, my friend!

Zack (woodb3kmaster): Trying to maintain that lead, eh? That's what I like to hear! And thanks for your wonderful words, too, my friend!

We've got all the answers already! Fast and excellent work, everyone!

Official results for December 11...

$200: Dan (dsrwhat316), Who is Dostoevsky?
$400: alan_vzla, What is Bogota?
$600: Dan (dsrwhat316), What is San Juan?
$800: Dan (dsrwhat316), What is Sergei?
$1000: homefryes, What is Corps?

We had a little mix up with "Eisentein," though! The clue referred to Russian film director Sergei Eisentein, not Albert Einstein. Also, Robin's answer of "Core" to the $1000 clue is correct phonetically, but since the clue said "homonym," meaning two words that sound the same but spelled differently, correct spelling was necessary.

Here's the current standings after this round—

[tabular type=5]
[row]
[head]

CONTESTANT[/head]
[head]

WINNINGS[/head]
[/row]
[row]
[data]Zack (woodb3kmaster)[/data]
[data]

$3200[/data]
[/row]
[row]
[data]Paul (paroch)[/data]
[data]

$1800[/data]
[/row]
[row]
[data]Dan (dsrwhat316)[/data]
[data]

$1600[/data]
[/row]
[row]
[data]Robin (rooker1)[/data]
[data]

$1600[/data]
[/row]
[row]
[data]projectadam[/data]
[data]

$1400[/data]
[/row]
[row]
[data]homefryes[/data]
[data]

$1000[/data]
[/row]
[row]
[data]alan_vzla[/data]
[data]

$600[/data]
[/row]
[row]
[data]Matt (threestooges)[/data]
[data]

$600[/data]
[/row]
[row]
[data]Joan (Jmouse)[/data]
[data]

$400[/data]
[/row]
[/tabular]

Things are getting even more interesting! Watch out for tomorrow's questions!

Now, on to other things...

UPDATE XI
Constructing the Westmoreland Avenue Tunnel
11 December 2008

Remember way back in our two-part update series The Highway is Alive Tonight (Part I | Part II), how I "accidentally" neglected to handle Tile B when documenting the highway construction?

Well, we're going to head to Tile B right now! We'll bring back the Blueprint Map for reacquaintance purposes...

There's Tile B—at the northern shore of Marathon Island! Now, if you also remember, on the Highway Map presented in UPDATE VI: The highway is Alive Tonight, Part I, there was a broken dashed line in the highway. And we all know what a broken dashed line means—Tunnel! Here's a close up of the tile...

In the interest of full disclosure...I love tunnels, for some reason! If there's even a remote excuse to use one, I'll do it! I have fun constructing them, I have fun planning to construct them—everything about the tunnels is a blast for me! Yes, I'm strange.

So where to begin?

Before we begin tunnel digging, some terraforming has been done to the entire tile, not only for the tunnel, but for the overall tile itself!

First step in the tunnel is...

...the trench, since the tunnel is part of the sunken highway network in Marathon.

More trench.

But now, because of the slope of the island, we have to do some funky terraforming.

I've leveled a two-tile portion...

...along the coast of the northern shore, for the entire length of...

...our tunnel!

But we can't leave it like that, can we? Well, I suppose we could, but that would be ridiculous! So more terraforming is necessary, to the tune of...

...that!

The entire two-tile terrace is eliminated, and the western end of the tunnel...

...looks like this.

But that's insufficient as well. At least, for my personal taste. Next step:

The "platform"—for lack of a better term—around the western end is enlarged. And...

A gentle slope is added to create a bit of a tube for the tunnel to come out of the ground.

Since the sunken highway is no longer sunken at the western end, we connect with...

...a lovely NAM puzzle piece, the GroundHighway OnSlope piece!

More road networking done around the western end.

The eastern end of the tunnel is also connected to the sunken highway network. At the right end, you can see where Westmoreland Avenue (the avenue heading down the slope above where the tunnel is) is the above-ground thoroughfare.

Here's what the western end currently looks like in Marathon...

And the eastern end—

I won't lie. I am not at all pleased, satisfied, or otherwise happy with the areas surrounding the east end of the tunnel, hence the heavier Photoshopping. It was done in one of the many "Test Marathon" regions I have and things need to be reworked. We will definitely be revisiting this area very soon.

So there you have it! With this update, the highway network on Marathon Island is complete...or is it? And, we've also named one of the streets, Westmoreland Avenue. Maybe we'll look into that a bit more, too, sometime...

Stick around, friends, for more daily OSITM pictures, more Jeopardy!, and more Marathon!

Thanks for coming by!

[rooker1]

Another great update.
I was actually surprised to see the picture go from the start, terraforming all the way to completely finished.

Never mind what you think about, I'm telling you it looks great.
Robin 

[metarvo]

Jeopardy?  Why didn't you say so?  I'm sure I'll try my hand at some questions sometime, after the "commercial break."  Of course, this is one commercial ad that I have really enjoyed watching.  The tunnel tutorial is constructed wonderfully, just as the others have been.  Keep it up, Dustin! 

[CasperVg]

I have to agree on what you said about the Eastern Entrance, the whole setting around seems to miss something, but I can't really pinpoint what exactly it is. I would take a guess on the mix of Maxis' medium-sized buildings in the right-middle of the picture, and the (commercial?) modern high rises at the top. Nevertheless, no-one can disagree that the Western Entrance looks brilliant, and was thought upon and terraformed extremely clever and nicely, but that applies to the whole of your highway system, and possibly Marathon in general.

I can't wait for more,
Casper

[bat]

Another fantastic update there, Dustin! Great work on the highway!!!

[Lilojame]

Darn, all that I can say to this update is    . Seriously! Never mind the eastern side... Huh, I will admit here that I didn't know that you can make a tunnel and then teraform over it. Silly me, lol... I forgot that building roads in SC4 is not like RL when teraforing over the tunnel would destroy the road. So at least from my part, I again learned something new, thanks! 

[dsrwhat316]

I'll give you my honest opinion about the "east end" . The golden skyscraper seems out of place to me. I don't particularly care for any of the Maxis buildings (which is why I use a No Maxis Mod). A few diagonals would be better to have along the roads.

I hope you don't mind (if you do, sorry!), I'll show you a pic from my old MD, The Republic of Bevelle. In the third pic, you'll see some examples of diagonal road building that perhaps you could use in your MD. Again, sorry for hijacking your MD, but I felt a pic would help my explanation more. I look forward to seeing the next OSITM update  !

~ Dan

[thundercrack83]

Robin (rooker1): Thanks, Robin! The tunnel wasn't all that difficult to construct, so I figured and bang it out in one update. I'm still not sold on the eastern end, though!

metarvo: The commercial break's over, my friend! Get ready!

Casper (caspervg): I feel the same way. I wasn't even going to show a picture of it because I wasn't happy with it, but I figured it wouldn't be right to show one end without the other. One good thing, though—now I have something for comparison! Thanks for coming by, and for your input, my friend!

bat: Thank you, my friend! I'm glad you enjoyed it!

Karin (Lilojame): Hi, Karin! Thank you so much, I'm glad you were able to take something away from the update! That always makes me feel good! Thanks for coming by!

Dan (dsrwhat316): Hello, Dan! No worries about the hijacking, my friend! If you've got something to share, I'd love to see it! I know what you're saying about the diagonals, too—I'll be looking into a number of different ideas for that. As for the Maxis buildings, though, I don't mind them, when used sporadically in conjunction with the great custom content, though I know what you mean about them! Thanks for you advice, my friend!



So there's today's picture! It is not the original picture I had lined up for December 12, but...

DECEMBER 12

...that's OK!

I've preempted with this because my very good friend Robin (rooker1) did some tinkering with Victoria Gebäude, adding some great seasonal trees and swapping out the parking lot textures. I thought that least I could was showcase Robin's fantastic work! Thanks so much, Robin!

Now...

Today's round!

[tabular type=5]
[row]
[head colspan=3]

FRIDAY, DECEMBER 12[/head]
[/row]
[row]
[head][/head]
[head][/head]
[head]

___________________________________________________________________[/head]
[/row]
[row]
[data]

$200[/data]
[data]

NORTHERNMOST CAPITAL CITY[/data]
[data]Hanoi, Phom Penh, Rangoon, Vientiane[/data]
[/row]
[row]
[data]

$400[/data]
[data]

WORLD CITIES[/data]
[data]This city, founded in 1693, did not become capital of Jamaica until 1872[/data]
[/row]
[row]
[data]

$600[/data]
[data]

RUSSIAN FIRST NAME'S THE SAME[/data]
[data]Putin, Lenin[/data]
[/row]
[row]
[data]

$800[/data]
[data]

SOUNDS LIKE AN ARMY UNIT[/data]
[data]Proverbially, two is this, and three's a crowd[/data]
[/row]
[row]
[data]

$1000[/data]
[data]

NAME THE AUTHOR[/data]
[data]Main Street, Babbitt[/data]
[/row]
[/tabular]

CATEGORY EXPLANATIONS
For "Russian First Name's the Same," we've given you two last names of people who have the same first name. Give us that first name.
For "Northernmost Capital City," give the capital city that is the furthest north on the map.
For the category "Sounds Like a Army Unit," the answer will be a word that is also used as a unit for troops in the military—e.g. squad, detachment, etc.

It's our final round for this week. Next week, new categories and the money values are doubled! Anything can happen—Good luck!

And be on the lookout for our next update, which I hope to put together over the weekend!

[woodb3kmaster]

Alright! First reply to the new post! My evil plan is working...

Here are my Jeopardy answers:
$200: What is Hanoi?
$400: What is Kingston?
$600: What is Vladimir?
$800: What is company?

I'll be a good sport and let someone else get the $1000 question.

[Lilojame]

$1000 : Who is Sinclair Lewis?

And a nice picture there!

[deathtopumpkins]

I guess Jeopardy's a good time to make a first post in here...

I love what I've seen so far (just read through the whole thing), and even if you aren't happy with that tunnel I am! 

And I like the history lesson a few pages back, and all the maps and diagrams, etc., included throughout this MD really make it great! 

Although actually, the only jeopardy questions I think know the answer to woodb3kmaster has already answered... so I'll play next time.

Great MD, Dustin! You deserve both the award and OSITM! 

[bluesinjid]

Wow sweet lotting with that buildin! Will it be released to the public? ( the LE version? )

[projectadam]

Dustin,

Loved the revisit to tile "B". The tutorial was very helpful and I liked the tunnel. Things just keep moving along very well here at CoM

[thundercrack83]

Zack (woodb3kmaster): Whoa! Looking to add to that lead, eh? We'll see if you did!

Karin (Lilojame): You made it in! That's great! We'll get the official word on your answer!

deathtopumpkins: Welcome to Marathon, my friend! I'm glad that you read through everything here, and I'm even more glad that you enjoyed it! Hope to see you around more often!

bluesinjid: I'm actually not sure if it will be available to the public, as I don't know what the protocol for things like that are. If it is, though, I'll be sure to let you know!

projectadam: Hey, there! Thanks so much, my friend!

Well, this was the quickest round yet!

Official results for December 12...

$200: Zack (woodb3kmaster), What is Hanoi?
$400: Zack (woodb3kmaster), What is Kingston?
$600: Zack (woodb3kmaster), What is Vladimir?
$800: Zack (woodb3kmaster), What is Company?
$1000: Karin (Lilojame), Who is Sinclair Lewis?

And the current standings...

[tabular type=5]
[row]
[head]

CONTESTANT[/head]
[head]

WINNINGS[/head]
[/row]
[row]
[data]Zack (woodb3kmaster)[/data]
[data]

$5200[/data]
[/row]
[row]
[data]Paul (paroch)[/data]
[data]

$1800[/data]
[/row]
[row]
[data]Dan (dsrwhat316)[/data]
[data]

$1600[/data]
[/row]
[row]
[data]Robin (rooker1)[/data]
[data]

$1600[/data]
[/row]
[row]
[data]projectadam[/data]
[data]

$1400[/data]
[/row]
[row]
[data]homefryes[/data]
[data]

$1000[/data]
[/row]
[row]
[data]alan_vzla[/data]
[data]

$600[/data]
[/row]
[row]
[data]Matt (threestooges)[/data]
[data]

$600[/data]
[/row]
[row]
[data]Joan (Jmouse)[/data]
[data]

$400[/data]
[/row]
[/tabular]

Boy, Zack—you're running away with this thing! But it's not over yet, friends!

The Double Jeopardy! round starts on Monday, and money values are doubled! So, start studying!

Also, I'm going to be away, probably for most of Saturday (technically today here in Pennsylvania), so I'll get today's picture out of the way!

DECEMBER 13

I found the NDEX 45° Curve Station by ill tonkso, and I thought, "Well, I'm havin' that!" Other than that, just a typical small-town downtown.

Have to go Christmas shopping all day tomorrow. Needless to say, I'm not looking forward to that!

But don't worry, more from Marathon is always on the horizon!

[JBSimio]

Hi Dustin!

I haven't responded lately and I apologize for that.  I guess I'm just not that good at Jeopardy!    It's a great idea though and seems to be going very well!

I really enjoyed your last update.  The east tunnel entrance is remarkable!  The way the expressway transfers from an elevated highway into a tunnel is simply amazing... what a great idea!  And you managed to make it look so natural that if this weren't all part of a game I would have never looked twice at it.     (I should mention that since it is a game, I looked at it for quite a long while... studying, sketching, taking notes... you get the idea)  I agree that something is missing from the west entrance.  I'm not entirely sure what it is, but perhaps it's just a matter of elevation?  You go from a sunken highway into a tunnel with no real elevation change.  It makes sense in some ways... but in other ways it begs the question, "Why does a sunken highway suddenly need a tunnel?"  I don't really have any further answers or advice on that one... but it's just what I noticed.

As for the daily pictures... well they both look great!  I'm really not sure what else to say other than that.  The building selection is purt-near perfect (as we'd say in Covington) and the layout is as realistic as one could ever ask for.  What more needs to be said?

Looking forward to the next batch...
JB

[tooheys]

Yikes, I go missing for a couple of weeks and you progress 7 pages and numerous updates.

Don't know how you find the time, but great work mate 

Love the updates and nice work with "Jeopardy"

In particular, the hwy entrances stand out, especially the western end (careful not to call it West End, copyright laws are tough these days ) That is nicely done 

Will try to drop by a bit more often, just so I don't have to read thru a dozen pages 

Cheers

Dave

[bat]

Two nice new pictures there! Great work!

[dandan 777]

Very nice my friend! Is that Cyclone's Terrain Mod?