Adara - Update 184 - March 26, 2012

[RickD]

Wow, the Hall of Fame. Congratulations! 

[Toichus Maximus]

Congrats!

[penguin007]

Well done on the hall of fame!!

Will

[Battlecat]

First and foremost today, I want to say thanks to everyone who voted for Adara in the recent Hall of Fame Induction.  It's been such an unexpected honor, I've been having a great deal of trouble coming up with any response that doesn't fall flat in my eyes.  So, the best thanks I can offer is redoubling my efforts to not rest on my laurels and keep Adara going at least as consistently as it has been.  Thanks again everyone.

Also, Adara was apparently 2 years old last week.  Thanks for your support over these past years! 

noahclem (x2): Thanks for your kind words on the last update and your congratulations later on in the thread!  I really appreciate your support!

Cyclone1001: Thanks very much for your kind words!  I like that little animation; glad you're in a good mood

Skimbo: Thanks!  It's a dangerous way to get there, but there aren't enough residents to justify the cost of a proper bridge. 

Jordan (canyonjumper): Thanks very much for your kind words!

Matthijs (MrMAvE94): Thanks for stopping in and for your congratulations regarding the HoF!

Arthur (art128): Thanks very much!

io_bg: Thanks, I'm finding it hard to believe still!

bat: Thanks very much for your kind words and enthusiastic congratulations! 

Joe (JoeST): Thanks very much for your enthusiasm and congrats!  I'll do my best to keep meeting your expectations!

marsh: Thanks very much for your congrats, I'm glad you feel that way!

metarvo: Thanks very much for your congratulations.  I'll strive to keep producing those realistic concepts.  I've got so many ideas and so little time!

Ethan (ecoba): Thanks for your congratulations! 

Robin (rooker1): Thanks for stopping in, I'm glad you like the way black rip rap turned out, I wasn't entirely sure on it but it's growing on me the more I look at it.  Thanks for your congratulations, I'll be working hard to meet the expectations of the Hall of Fame!   

Dustin (thundercrack83): [/b]Thanks very much, I appreciate the welcome! 

Raphael (RickD): Thanks very much!

Toichus Maximus: Thanks, glad to see you're still around!

Will (penguin007): Thanks!

Update 148
Dunster Bend – Lakeshore continued

So back to work!  Today I'll be pushing forward with the lakeshore and also with expanding the mansion neighbourhood.

Sorry for the delay on this update, yesterday was absolutely nuts!

148-1: I'm going to continue detailing the railway tracks in this area today.


148-2: To keep things from getting repetitive I didn't put any rip rap in this section.  I was worried that the short sections of stone would start to look repeated and artificial. 


148-3: Instead, I've got one large block of rip rap on this section.  It's hard to tell but the layout of the railway is mostly determined by the structure of the mountainside.  It's steeper than it looks.


148-4: I went for some of peg's stone to simulate a patch applied at a later date.  Some greenery wraps up this block of stone quite nicely. 


148-5: Moving along, this corner needs some retaining walls. 


148-6: Some greenery adds a nice bit of detail to the base.  For some reason I can't place greenery at the top.  Ah well, it actually looks fairly real with the abrupt edge from the railway cut. 


148-7: I'll be finishing this hillside and the next block of railway next. 


148-8: This section is actually fractional angle.  Rip rap won't place properly because of the quirks of the fractional tracks. 


148-9: So I've pulled the shoreline back a bit to compensate.  A few trees will round things out and conceal the various quirks of these rails.


148-10: With the trees in place, my eyes turn to this gully.  Originally I was just going to tree it over. 


148-11: But then I decided to add some rocks to it.  This may have been a quarry for the railway at one point.  It looks like it's abandoned now. 


148-12: Here's an overview of the completed hillside.  A mixture of Cedar, Douglas Fir and Larch makes up the local forest. 


148-13: Last item for today, I'm going to continue expanding the high wealth area of Dunster Bend. 


148-14: This winding road goes up and over a bit of a steep escarpment.  The tennis courts are just for encouragement once again. 


148-15: Most of them grew in properly but I'm still arguing with a few lots.  All in good time I suppose.  These high wealth homes actually tie in with the high wealth neighbourhood in Alexandria.  The reason for them being here will be revealed soon. 


148-16: Last but not least, here is another composite image.  I'll have to turn off the clouds, apparently I forgot this time.  The hazard of new installations I suppose. 


That's all for today, I'll be back next week with more from Adara!  If things go really well this weekend, I might even gather enough material for two updates next week! 

[Gayowulf]

Wow, I've missed a lot!  Real life attacked me in the face.  And will probably continue to do so for the rest of the semester.

I really like the gully in 148-11; as much as I love forests, it's nice to see a bare area once in a while.  I'm also a huge fan of the farm last update.

I do have a question about the rocks in 148-3,4, though... were the rocks in the middle the ones added later?  Because they actually look older, since they're darker...

Anyway, great update(s)!

[Nardo69]

Congratulation for entering the Hall of Fame, Gordon!   

_{(When I saw you and Yan in the ballots I knew that Urland had to stay some time longer in the Classics ... - didn't prevented me for voting for you though)}

Nice work on the railway line. I do sometimes have the same problem with the top of (msotly diagonal)  retaining walls, too. One way of solving this glitch is combining the retaining wall with a RRP dirtpath - be it a dirtpath for the forrest or a maintenance path for the railway.

And FARR is something I really use too seldom - mostly because it's a big pain in the (*censored*) if you do it with a lope in hilly terrain! Knowing this by myself I do appreciate your work even more.

Take care my friend!

Bernhard 

[scott1964]

Congrats 

[noahclem]

Another great update! The railway is looking very nice    I really like the quarry as well and really appreciate the variety you use in the area around the track. The ideas and inspiration I always seem to get visiting here is just one reason why Adara deserves its place in the HOF!

[mave94]

Good update!
The railway track seems a dangerous place to go with the train
Only, in the composite image seems to be a little stain in the lake, I think it are just clouds, but it looks a bit weird.
I'll follow this MD, because you've got a wide variation and detailed areas.

-Matthijs

[Skimbo]

Like everytime: cool detailing =)

[bat]

Nice first update in the HOF!! Great work.

[rooker1]

 Great update as always and great way to start your stay in MD HoF!
I really like the rock quarry idea, but I think it needs some more details.  Maybe needs to be a larger area with a side spur line and maybe an abondoned building of some kind.  Just some thoughts.....if anyone can make this perfect it would be you.

Robin 

[Cyclone1001]

Very cool, very cool.
Very worthy of the HOF.

[canyonjumper]

Great pics Battlecat! I like the gully, and the town so far!

            Your friend,
                           Jordan

[Tomas Neto]

Hi my friend, congratulation for entering the HoF!!! 
Awesome updates, really great work!!! 

[samerton]

Congratulations on the HOF!    Amazing use of mayor mode flora and props.

[Battlecat]

Alafel: Well thanks for taking a minute to stop in, hope things calm down for you soon!  Glad you enjoyed the last update.  Good point about the rocks.   I was thinking along the lines that the rocks were obtained from a different supplier and thus had a different color.  You have a good point though, darker rocks would feel older.  I'll keep that in mind for the future.  Thanks!

Bernhard (Nardo69): Thanks very much for your congratulations!  I'll try to live up to it!  Good thought on the retaining walls, I'll have to poke at them some more and see what I can do.  It's certainly preferable to creating another lot!  I agree that the FARR is a bit of a pain to work with.  I really hope there will be FARR switches in the near future, although I expect they will be very difficult to detail around!  Thanks for stopping by!

scott1964: Thanks!

noahclem: Thanks very much!  I'm glad to hear you've found inspiration here, I certainly find inspiration in your work as well!

Matthijs (MrMAvE94): Yeah, North American railways tend to be quite dangerous!  I think you're right about the stain being a cloud shadow, or it could be a boat or something.  The lake has been refreshed with a cloud free version in this update so let me know if it looks any better!  Thanks for your kind words, glad you're enjoying the updates!

Skimbo: Thanks!

bat: Thanks very much! 

Robin (rooker1): Thanks for stopping in and for your kind words!  It's still quite hard to believe.  I really like your idea of putting in a spur line.  The only issue is I don't think there are any fractional angle railway switches yet.  The terrain is pretty limiting (ie: steeper than it looks ) here so I think I'll migrate the quarry idea to a more appropriate location on this tile.  Thanks for the suggestions! 

Cyclone1001: Thanks very much! 

Jordan (canyonjumper): Glad to hear it, I'm really looking forward to getting this tile done though.  I'm getting close!

Tomas Neto: Thanks very much for your kind words!

samerton: Thanks very much!

Update 149
Dunster Bend – Bit of This and That

Lots of little things from this busy weekend I had.  A bit of lakeshore, a bit of farming and a bit of urban development lie ahead. 

149-1: To kick off today's update I'm going to work on this section of shoreline. 


149-2: I've been struggling to get anything other than these homes developing here.  While they'll work fine for other cities, this waterfront is not where I want them showing up. 


149-3: I finally got one to grow nicely, the rest of this area I've just given up on. 


149-4: A public beach will fit the bill quite nicely here.  It's semi-artificial, the local government probably did a small amount of work to crush the rocky beach or bring in some additional sand.


149-5: A few benches and some trees round out this small park.


149-6: Moving on, it's time for a bit of farming.  I'm not going to finish this today but I'm going to get it started.  I've established the main road paralleling the highway. 


149-7: Just a few smaller farms are tucked up against the mountain here.


149-8: These are the farms I got, I'm pretty happy with the diversity.  I'll do the detailing touch ups on this later.  Time was not on my side this week. 


149-9: This subdivision is going to be different from most of the others in town.  This one will be up to the simulator, I'm going to do nothing to control the style of buildings that grow here.  I fully expect to see a lot of mansions in here before long, which is what I'm hoping for anyhow. 


149-10: Here's the initial load of buildings.  This will be revised by the simulator soon I expect.


149-11: I'm quite enjoying wrapping up with a composite.  Here's an updated view of the map tile. 


That's all for today, I'll be back next week with more from Adara!  If things go really well this weekend, I might even gather enough material for two updates next week! 

[io_bg]

Another great update! That subdivision is coming along very nicely

[Yan077]

Better late than never : Congratulations for entering the Hof my friend ! Very well deserved reward 
Always a pleasure to stopping here, hope to see more updates of Adara for a long time !

Yann 

[mave94]

Yes, a new update! That neighborhood is nice, can't wait for the upcoming city...
Where did you get those bench plops?
And yes, the overview looks better now

-Matthijs