Adara - Update 184 - March 26, 2012

[ecoba]

A good introsuction. Ellison Flats seems like it's going to be an interesting tile, I like the overview plan, the land use looks really interesting.

Ethan

[djvandrake]

Great update and I'm looking forward to watching this tile develop! 

[daryl7478]

Sorry if this is too late, but on your 2nd to last update, you have a highway called Highway 101. There is an actual one on the West Coast with the same sign. There is a picture of the actual US-101 sign on my profile and you can see it on my posts. The real US-101 passes right through my hometown, Salinas, CA and also passes San Francisco and begins at LA. Anyways, nice cities. I have just started to read your MD and its really awesome.

- daryl7478

[calibanX]

I've gone back and read the posts that I missed and I'm quite impressed. I love the diagonal farm that became a centerpiece to your mosaic. Your maps turned out excellent as well. The region map is particularly nice. Looking quite a way back I enjoyed the logging scene too.

Looking forward to Ellison Flats.

Take care.

Geoff

[Tomas Neto]

Fantastic start on this new step in progress!! Great update!!   

[Schulmanator]

Great progres! And those maps are absolutely TDF (to die for)!!!!! Sweetness!!! 

[Battlecat]

bat: Thanks very much, glad you enjoyed the past couple updates! 

nedalezz: I'm really looking forward to getting this tile rolling as well!  You're quite right about the plans for the tile, although the far side of the lake won't be completely empty!  I've got a couple of little details planned for that area.

Jordan (canyonjumper): Thanks!  The west side is going to be fairly empty, but I intend to make some use of it.  That'll be a future update though.

Cyclone1001: You'll enjoy this update then!  Thanks for stopping in!

TiFlo: I'm hoping this tile will go faster than the last one.  I plan to work on larger blocks of land this time around.  I'm really looking forward to the regional shot as well!

Ethan (ecoba): Yeah, I think this is going to be a fun one.  I hope I can put things together the way I'm imagining!  Glad you like the land use plan.  I won't be doing that with every tile, but it seemed like a good idea here. 

djvandrake: Thanks very much!  I'm really looking forward to getting started on this one!

daryl7478: Welcome to Adara!  It's never too late to comment here!  I didn't realize the real highway 101 was on the west coast!  That's very cool.  The mapping software I use is produced in the USA, so one of the default highway symbols is the shield symbol that you are using for your profile!  Glad you've enjoyed stopping in, hope to see you again soon!

Geoff (calibanX): Good to see you back again!  Glad you enjoyed the last few updates, everything just kind of fell together at the end there!

Tomas Neto: Thanks very much! 

Schulmanator: Thanks for your kind words!  Glad you've enjoyed the maps! 

Update 87
Ellison Flats – Back to Farming

As suggested by the title, today I've got a return to farming.  While this is a relatively small part of the overall tile, this does represent preparation for further moves to the south through this valley.  So, here we go!

87-1: This is the site of the major block of farmland.   One of the first priorities here is to establish the main access
.

87-2: Keep in mind, this highway is a relatively new feature to this area.  As is often the case is rural areas, there is a pretty significant distance between highway exits.  This is the most southern exit in this area, there will be one more further to the north.  This road will connect to the old highway.  It doesn't look like much, but this interchange was a major pain to build. 


87-3: The old highway crosses a stream.  This is just prep work, I'll be detailing a lot here later.


87-4: This winding road is the old highway.  It follows a route that slips around the edges of the best farmland in the area. 


87-5: A second major street runs parallel to the railway tracks.  A couple of farms are only accessible via private crossings.  The first farms are now grown.


87-6: I decided to keep the lemon farm just for something unusual.  The only farm on the chopping block here is the Mediterranean style one in the upper right corner.  The windmill is a temporary power supply until I get the neighbor connections into place. 


87-7: I decided that a large farm with custom fields would make a good centerpiece here.


87-8: I need to modify a couple of lots for the driveway to the lemon farm, but the rest of this scene is in place.  There's no particularly good reason for this small block of trees, but there rarely is a good reason when you see these in the real world either.


87-9: This large farm raises sheep.


87-10: The details are slowly spread outwards from this farm.  This update was done over the course of 4 short play sessions due to a sore arm from helping my parents replace their freezer this weekend.  The new one was easy to bring down the stairs, but carrying a 5 foot long, 30 year old freezer up a flight of stairs really sucks! 


87-11: This farm is the next project.  The terrain grass here looks pretty nice already, so I'm going to use a light hand with the texture here.


87-12: Here's a closer look at the farm.  For fun, I've used stone walls for the edge of this farm.  This farm is now just a large hay field, it was probably a smaller family farm in the past, hence the stone walls.  The stone wall on the west side by the highway is gone, replaced with a wood fence when the freeway went in.


87-13: This farm wound up being quite different from the original look.  I decided that this farmer is avoiding a single type of plant and supplies a wide variety of things. 


87-14: Once all was said and done, there are sunflowers, tulips, poppies and even a block of marigolds in addition to the carnations that were associated with the original lot.  This farm will carry further across the border to the west. 


87-15: Another custom grass farm in the area.  This one has a few horses, and probably uses the two large fields for riding and for feed. 


87-16: I'm always thankful for diagonal fillers, even though they don't carry through the curves, they make a huge difference to the appearance of the area.  I'm going to have to add some more details to this area in a future update.


87-17: Here's an overview of the area as it stands now.  My next project will be to bring the first phase of shoreline details into place and to continue refining a few things around the farms. 


The next update should be Wednesday unless life or my sore arm gets in the way.  It's feeling a lot better today, so it shouldn't be a problem.  Hope you enjoyed this visit to the farmland, I'll see you next time!

[warconstruct]

very great job 

[Cyclone1001]

HAPPY

[Tomas Neto]

Very nice update!!! Great work!!!

[ecoba]

Oh, farming, I like it!

Well, a good comeback to the regular style of development updates here at Adara. The farming blocks really seem to fill a place after so much urban development in Winfield. Those Mediterrenean farms really do seem to stick out in Winfield, have you been able to find them in your plugins to uninstall them? I also really like the Aubrac walls on the family farm then the regular RRP fences.

Ethan

[canyonjumper]

Great update! I really like the way you do your farms ! Diagonal fillers are very handy for farm and for residential areas.

                -Jordan

[nedalezz]

Thats a lot better farming than I could ever come up with, good stuff. I cant wait to see the rest of the area develop, especially the area across the water.

[Schulmanator]

Great farm areas. I look forward to seeing them after you wave your magic wand over them again. I feel your pain on the freezer - not too long ago I moved a refrigerator three flights of stairs. Not fun.

[mightygoose]

great work as always.

[djvandrake]

Looks great! Coming along nicely.

[Rady]

Great update.

This update was done over the course of 4 short play sessions due to a sore arm from helping my parents replace their freezer this weekend.  The new one was easy to bring down the stairs, but carrying a 5 foot long, 30 year old freezer up a flight of stairs really sucks!

I do have a corresponding experience with my piano ....   

[daryl7478]

Nice update Battlecat! Since you live around the Vancouver area, you would be lucky enough to see the Winter Olympics in person. I think you would also see the fireworks during the Opening Ceremony. Good luck!

[Nanami]

Great update!

[Connor]

Great work yet again