Siilijoki

[wallasey]

I love that view! Your transit networks seem unhindered by the creeks and little inlets you have surrounding your City Centre.

Keep up the great work!

[kelis]

Another nice panoramic view of your great city !! I like how you work with this hard terrain with those rivers, also I really like the residential complex with all those towers, it looks perfect in that place my friend 

[Gugu3]

Nice job Noah!!!Love the area!!!The railway network looks amazing but the tram network is even better!!!

[noahclem]

Welcome friends, once again, to Siilijoki! This update focuses on the newly completed area bridging the very center with a neighborhood to the east that was the area I first published at SC4D. Just after I started my MD these areas were brutally separated by an error in the game that wouldn't allow me to load the central tile of Siilijoki. Now finally Siilijoki Proper is fully connected again and feels like a real city!

Because I am a very slow, methodical SC4 worker these areas will continue to change and evolve as time goes on. I'll denote the pictures in particular need of improvement (some of which I aspire to do myself and some of which I hope to god a more talented friend can complete or help me with  ). The future of SC4 and Siilijoki is wide open and full of promise.

This update features the re-aligned rail networks extending from the (relatively) newly replaced Siilijoki Central Station. Many plans have been put forward to make the relatively wild forests a more urban playground--we'll see what happens.

For now, let's have a look at the area!

28.1--Tracks leading to the north, across the estuary



28.2--The first bridges across the water leaving the Central Staion--gratuitously GIMPed 



28.3--The shortest possible diagonal bridge in a nice light. It's also been placed on a slope 



28.4--Might as well have a night view of the same 



28.5--On the fringe of the area newly revealed is this--I just wish there were some trees in the diagonal TIA median. I love concrete when it's a place that encourages pedestrians but not so much when it detracts from an area's green-ness....



28.6--It looks a lot better at night though




28.7--Let's have a closer look at that bridge



28.8--a bit of transparency in the water (and maxis terrain by accident) show some of what's really going on with these tunnels....



28.9--A mosaic finish! This is almost the exact opposite of the last panorama. Tall and skinny instead of short and fat, night instead of day--and bigger. It's the product of several nice night pictures and mosaics I thought about publishing before I realized they'd all be better together. I hope you like it 




Still many exciting things I'm hoping to have happen here soon but I think I'm just too busy this month. I'll have a bit more small stuff but I'm limited with SC4 working ~60hrs/week 

Nice night shot with nice fireworks there!

Thanks bat! Glad you liked it 

Beautiful picture my friend !!

Thanks Kelis!!

Great picture, Noah! Looks like people on the beach are enjoying the fireworks.

Thanks Arthur, glad you liked it!

I like how you work with the terrain.   

Thanks! In this area the terrain was originally very flat without water (IRL this region is a river delta swamp) so I actually created the difficulties in the terrain to make my train tracks work better

Great panorama, Noah! Everything is really well set in this area. The railways to the station are wonderful.

My only critic would be about the tramway line. I find it a bit useless and dangerous to go all over the avenue at the top, when it can just cross under the rail bridges and then unite with the avenue. This way it will prevent traffic jams. (unless there is a station covered by the buildings)

There is a tram station hidden behind the buildings. Most of this layout is a relic of my first days of posting in SC4D but I recently realigned the tram line through the park because of some other changes I made when I built the new Central Station (there will soon be a newer, bigger Central Station). I'm not happy with the current layout either and I'm sure it will change. The problems are the avenue bridge that can't carry tram traffic, and the wide-radius avenue curves that wouldn't look good with a tram either. My goal is a much better solution but it's so difficult that this is what I'm going to have for now.

Nice one! how do you make that diagonal railway bridge???

The bridge is part of the Diagonal Bridge package from the most recent NAM. It's from the puzzle-pieced one and I wish that something like that was available for other networks. I believe that my bridge here is the shortest possible diagonal bridge and it's even sloped! I edited the slopes in the DBE so it could change in height by about 5 meters   Feel free to send me a PM if you need any help trying to do something similar.

Much more pictures, plans, and details of the area coming soon--700 Replies will trigger a full update 

That's a compelling argument for me to drop a line.  Great job as per usual. I feel right at home with all the rain.     

Thanks so much for dropping a line buddy 

Also, I'm so sick of rain here 

Awesome picture! I am eager for more!

Great to hear, thank you!

I love that view! Your transit networks seem unhindered by the creeks and little inlets you have surrounding your City Centre.

Keep up the great work!

What a pleasant surprise to see you around here again! To be honest, I created the creeks and inlets to work with the existing plans for the transit networks, so I kinda cheated    My favorite real-life cities are usually made exceptional by the way that they deal with and create green and blue spaces within them so I try to do the same here. Hope to catch a bit more Featherstall soon!

Another nice panoramic view of your great city !! I like how you work with this hard terrain with those rivers, also I really like the residential complex with all those towers, it looks perfect in that place my friend 

Thanks again! Those towers were an accident and I can't decide if I like them or not. But if you like them it can't be bad 

Nice job Noah!!!Love the area!!!The railway network looks amazing but the tram network is even better!!!

Hey, thanks buddy! I like the rails better than the trams but we can agree to disagree   

[art128]

Now, that's one step slope for the train tunnels. 

I still... Wow, what. Seriously.. What.  I remember marrast/criquette used a technique/trick like that to hide a curve in a mountain tunnel railway.

Anyway, great update Noah. Looks really really well engineered.  Also, I see the sloppy swimming pool is gone. That's good. 

[kelis]

WOW !! Tunnels under the water ? It's possible see one train crossing these tunnels ? It would be so funny 
About the update I prefer the night pictures, all of them looks so good my friend, the lights give a special touch to your city, great job once again Noah.

Greetings 

[RickD]

So you are a tunnel cheater? I should have known. 

The small diagonal bridge turned out very well and I love the big city mosaic.

[Schulmanator]

Wow! Impressive stuff. Love the mosaic pic

[Girafe]

Amazing update 

[Gugu3]

Very nice Noah!!!Wonderful job with the rail lines and the rest of the city of course

[Ol.S / Benoit]

Great work on this update Noah ! And nice tricks with the tunnels !
But no shadows ?

[bat]

Nice work on the bridges. Also great images of the trams. And the night shots are looking fantastic.

[Nanami]

Nice night shots! I don't notice if there's any diag rail bridge in menu. I may missed something...

[rooker1]

Very interesting update!!
Love the night mosaic.  Your city is truly outstanding!!

Robin

[Jmouse]

I've been out of the loop lately, but Siilijoki was one of the first stops I made as I try to return.

I was not disappointed.

28.1 – 28.4 all illustrate your eye for dramatic scenes which balance water, land, flora and bridges perfectly. I remain especially impressed by your use and placement of trees. It isn't as easy as you make it look.

28.8 is one of the most surreal in-game scenes I've ever seen. It looks like an illustration one would find in a book or magazine, and that dream-like quality is very much a part of its haunting charm.

The mosaic is stunning, as are all the others I've seen here. I especially like the way it goes from light to dark to light and then dark again. A solid sheet of bright lights would have been just way too much icing on the cupcake!

Exceptional update...
-Joan

[threestooges]

Nice mosaic. Really shows off the impressive night lighting in some of the bats out there and reminds me I should play with the day/night transitions more often. Love the seasonal trees near the diagonal bridge. I'd love to take that sort of scenic ride someday.
-Matt

[Gugu3]

sorry for double posting :)Noah where did you find that TIA diagonal station?I really need something like that...

[noahclem]

PANORAMA AT THE BOTTOM 

July was crazy at work for me but somehow a bit of SC4 snuck in--in fact, between the last few days and July, Siilijoki Proper's population has increased from around 170,000 to 275,000. Besides fighting with how to reconcile a canal-filled city based on game water with a city using trams and NWM networks I've also been very busy growing and plopping buildings that will look good in their place. There's big stuff coming soon 

Now, that's one step slope for the train tunnels. 

I still... Wow, what. Seriously.. What.  I remember marrast/criquette used a technique/trick like that to hide a curve in a mountain tunnel railway.

Anyway, great update Noah. Looks really really well engineered.  Also, I see the sloppy swimming pool is gone. That's good. 

Thanks Arthur! In my imagination the train tunnel curves within the hill instead of taking the steep slope    It's interesting to hear that someone else has tried the same type of thing. Unfortunately, the picture featuring the missing swimming pool was taken at a time that wasn't saved--however it is now gone for good 

WOW !! Tunnels under the water ? It's possible see one train crossing these tunnels ? It would be so funny 
About the update I prefer the night pictures, all of them looks so good my friend, the lights give a special touch to your city, great job once again Noah.

Greetings 

Thanks Kelis! I'll be sure to post an underwater train soon    I'm glad you like the night pictures. Ever since I started posting pictures on SC4D I've tried to create nice night scenes--I guess it's the time of day I like best   Incidentally, I'm experiencing my first "nights" in 3 months up here in northern Finland now--auroras coming soon 

So you are a tunnel cheater? I should have known. 

The small diagonal bridge turned out very well and I love the big city mosaic.

Hehe, a "tunnel-cheater" I am    Glad you liked the update!

Wow! Impressive stuff. Love the mosaic pic

Thanks man, glad you liked the mosaic and update 

Amazing update 

Thanks Girafe, great to see you here again!

Very nice Noah!!!Wonderful job with the rail lines and the rest of the city of course

sorry for double posting :)Noah where did you find that TIA diagonal station?I really need something like that...

No worries on the double-post  You can find those stations here: http://sc4devotion.com/csxlex/lex_filedesc.php?lotGET=2023  They're my favorites, BTW. Thanks for the compliments and I'm glad you enjoyed the update!

Also, I would have given you the link earlier but my computer forgot my LEX password :/

Great work on this update Noah ! And nice tricks with the tunnels !
But no shadows ?

Thank you very much! Sorry about the shadows 

Nice work on the bridges. Also great images of the trams. And the night shots are looking fantastic.

Thanks bat! Glad you liked the update 

Nice night shots! I don't notice if there's any diag rail bridge in menu. I may missed something...

Thanks! The diagonal rail bridges show up when you have the Diagonal Bridge Enabler in your plugins. Some of the bridges are draggable but the one I used there is puzzle-piece based. You can find it in the rail menu when you have the DBE in your plugins 

Very interesting update!!
Love the night mosaic.  Your city is truly outstanding!!

Robin

Thanks so much Robin! Siilijoki is always fun at

I've been out of the loop lately, but Siilijoki was one of the first stops I made as I try to return.

I was not disappointed.

28.1 – 28.4 all illustrate your eye for dramatic scenes which balance water, land, flora and bridges perfectly. I remain especially impressed by your use and placement of trees. It isn't as easy as you make it look.

28.8 is one of the most surreal in-game scenes I've ever seen. It looks like an illustration one would find in a book or magazine, and that dream-like quality is very much a part of its haunting charm.

The mosaic is stunning, as are all the others I've seen here. I especially like the way it goes from light to dark to light and then dark again. A solid sheet of bright lights would have been just way too much icing on the cupcake!

Exceptional update...
-Joan

night 

Wow, where to start on such a thoughtful comment? With regard to water, flora, land, and bridges I could say that those are generally my favorite things--As Siilijoki Proper grows I'm working hard to keep plenty of green and blue around the increasingly dense homes and businesses. Bridges are always a favorite, though I've yet to fanagle a way to cross game water with tram-in-avenue or multi-tile one-way-road--not to give away too much from the next update    Always great to have you visit and I'm really glad you liked the update!

Nice mosaic. Really shows off the impressive night lighting in some of the bats out there and reminds me I should play with the day/night transitions more often. Love the seasonal trees near the diagonal bridge. I'd love to take that sort of scenic ride someday.
-Matt

Thanks Matt! I loved the day/night and seasonal transitions in your last update too   A scenic view of Siilijoki's tracks may be in order in the relatively near future....


At night along the canals....

[threestooges]

It's the seemingly little things in you updates that always seem to catch my eye. I noticed your reply that you were working to incorporate networks with game water canals. That puzzle piece bridge seems to be an example of it. Was that done using the diagonal bridge trick (getting rid of the water, etc)? The ultimate effect shows off a very impressive, yet short and understated bridge. Things like the subtle change in altitude at the ends which isn't all that possible with most game bridges. Nicely done.
-Matt

[nbvc]

Great work with the panorama and last update.