The Republic of Terra Specula - Update 18: Teaser!

[Rady]

When the earths population rocketed through the 16 billion margin, the world's politicians agreed to fund a project that had only one goal: to find planets suitable for mankind to live. Otherwise, so they feared, a terrible, all-devastating war for land between the industrialized and the poor countries would be inevitable. So hundreds of satellites, equipped with sensors, long-wave radars and imagery devices, where sent into all direction.

18 years later, the sensors of XP-J874-A - one of the first satellites launched - spotted a planet with conditions that deemed suitable for mankind. The only differnce to the earth's atmosphere was that XP-J874-A spotted metallic elements in the upper parts of the atmosphere. Possibly due to this fact both the long-wave radar and the imagery devices failed to provide a clear picture of the planets surface. Just to add one more problem, the satellite's steering system broke down and he decended into the planets atmosphere.

However, a few seconds before the satellite crashed onto the planets surface, the imagery devices were able to capture and transmit a picture of a small region of the planet. Based on this picture and the sensor information, the world's leaders decided to prepare anything neccessary in order to settle down on this planet. However, the surroundings of this spot are still undiscovered.

Now, some 80 years after it's discovery, the first settlers put their feet on what is now known as

Terra Specula

[Battlecat]

Nifty!  Sounds like this is going to be a fascinating story.  I'm looking forward to seeing what you've got planned!

[jmyers2043]

nice looking map. good luck with the diary.

[Cyclone1001]

This sounds too good not to follow! This is looking good.

[Earth quake]

Really nice start.
The map is look splendid.

[Rady]

Update 1: The first settlement

Based on the picture that has been transmitted by XP-J874-A , ground control on earth transported the settlers to what seemed a protected area to raise a colony. Huddled to a small river, protected from storms, the settlers raised theyr first homes. Inspired by the craggy river banks, they named their new home Wildbank.



After some geological survey, they discoverd big amounts of thermal energy underneath the smooth hills in their surrounding. So a geothermical power plant was erected a little bit further off in the hills.




Beeing of vital interest for them, a military detail was detached to protect the installation. Due to a lack of material, the main entrance guard post remained provisional but was intended to be reinforced soon. The road and power lines where also under protection of the military – because who would right now dare to say that they would be the only life form on this planet ..?





After solving the energy problem so fast, the settlers headed for the second task: farms where built to ensure the constant supplement of the settlers with food.



It was seen as a sign of fortune that the planet's water was nearly the same like on earth, so irrigation canals where constructed.



So finally the settlers had managed to meet the basic requirements for a successful colonization of this distant and unexplored planet. Everyone was proud of what had already been achieved, and also curious about what the future was about to bring ...

[Cyclone1001]

Great story! This is about as close to perfect as a new MD can be, IMHO. Keep up the good work.

[Battlecat]

Fantastic start!  Your development looks great already, and is going in with a lot of careful thought!  Interesting story as well!

[kwakelaar]

Great way to start a new MD, first development is going well. I am looking forward to what kind of world you have planned for your settlers.

[Rady]

@ all: Thanks for the motivating welcome for my first MD. I'm curious about how this is going to develop, too! This is an all-new fascinating experience for me. I have visited so many MD's in the last years, but always felt that I would never ever be able to create something at least half as perfect .. but now it looks like it's going all right ...

But let's see if our settlers are doing all right! In order to give you some orientation, let's share an overview of our colony:



As you can see, Wildbank has expanded following the small river that curles through the hills.



Thankful for having mastered the first months without serious problems, the settler decided to build a church (it's assumed but not verified that it was also in order to give the settlers the feeling of "beeing at home"). Situated on a hill just above Wildbank, overlooking the whole surrounding, the church manifested the settler's will to stay on this planet.



In order to become independent of supply from the earth, an industrial district was founded to provide the settler with the daily needs. This was additionally important because the state-of-the-art means of interstellar transport didn't allow for anything bigger than a bus to be transported. Facing the Sea in the north, it was obvious that some day ships would be neccessary. Not to mention railroads, if the settler decided to expand their colony further on the land.
So bringing up their industry was a vital point for the settlers. Since the narrow valley wouldn't allow for any larger industrial district, the opposing heights where choosen for the location of the industry. The complex was named Wildbank Heights Industrial District. Thus, a bridge was constructed crossing the small river.





(The wilderness of the planet posed another problem: every so often, herds of wild animals trotted through the industrial complex, calling for evasion manoeuvres of the truck drivers ....)

Aside form concentrating on the industry, the settler also didn't forget about food. So they expanded the agricultural areas, and additional access roads where buildt.





So, as we can see, our settlers are doing well. Phew! Good news indeed! Let's wait for the next progress report to be transmitted ...

[Cyclone1001]

Looks great, as always. I hope for this to make it to the classics someday.

[emgmod]

MDs that are colonies isolated from everywhere always intrigue me. I like watching how it grows from almost nothing to a thriving city.
Good job so far!

[Battlecat]

With transport restrictions like that, it's going to be a hard start up.  At least they've got modern technology backing them up.  Looking very nice indeed!

[Connor]

Very nice start to the MD. Very original aand interesting. Looking forward to what will come next. 

[Tomas Neto]

Fantastic start!!! Great work!!! 

[Rady]

To my visitors:
@ Cyclone1001: Thanks! Let's see ... right now I'm just thinking of the next update, not the "Classics" section 
@ emgmod: Thanks - that was exactly what I intended to show. But since I haven't found any custom lots from Stone Age, I needed another idea ...
@ Battlecat: Thanks! Indeed the restrictions are hard. Let's see how fast they will proceed with their industrial capacity!
@ Connor: Thank you - looking forward to your next visit!
@ Tomas Neto: Thank you - glad you like it!

So - on goes the story ...

Some time has passed by since we received the last report from our colony ... so I'm glad to tell you that I received a progress report just a few minutes ago. Using the UAV of their military detachement, they also provided some actual images to go with the report.

With more settlers arriving at the colony, decision was taken to found a new village. It was named after Geoffry Willows, who was among the first to set foot on the planet. As you can see, the settlers decided to found this new village downstreams in the little bay.



So let's have a look into the streets of Willows Bay ...



A farmers market has been established, where the goods from the surrounding farms are sold.



Because of the settlers becoming annoyed to live from grain alone, a small pier was erected, and some fishermen went to work to see whether this planet's sea would contain anything edible. In addition, the "Ol' Whalers Tavern" became a gathering point for the working men.



Also, a park was built for the settlers to relaxe after a hard days work. A statue was erected to honor the founder of this village, Geoffry Willows.



However, when the park was finished and the opening ceremony was about to begin, a large tree was hiding the statue and casting a shadow on it. Rumors have it that this might be a sign of bad fortune ...

[scott1964]

Looks good  Where did you get the fishing/boat place, in the last pic. 

[Rady]

@ scott1964: can't find it right now. I found it in my download folder, but the zip file doesn't contain a readme so that I can get a clue about the creator ... I will have a look in-game tomorrow, maybe there's some information in the lot description.

Found it !! It's from NOB's site: http://www1.megaegg.ne.jp/~tokitoko/. I used the google translator to translate the page. On the start page, left down there's a box that leads you to the BAT section. Then go to "others" and look for "Seefischerei gesetzt mehr" (at least thats the german translation  ) .... it's the 5th item in the left column of the "others" box ... and I just discovered two expansion sets for that fishing port .. 

[Battlecat]

Very nice indeed.  Willow bay looks like it's going to be a very nice place to live! 

[Cyclone1001]

I think you are doing great, so all I have to say is good job