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The City State Of Marinko (formely Mitigra)

Started by 89James89, March 06, 2014, 05:51:23 AM

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89James89

Mitagra
An Island Nation



A word from me:

Right, having played around with CC for a bit now I've decided to take the plunge and make a start on a proper CJ project. Mitiga will still be visited from time to time for random stuff but this will be my main project from now on (hence why its got it's own CJ/MD). The basic premise is a small island nation with mainly Asian and Eastern Block influences, with small pockets from the other countries and areas (mainly Alaska and Canada).

As with Mitiga the tiles will be played on hard with (NAM set to light when I work out how) with plops saved for services, infrastructure and such and what's built is built. Anyway let's get on with it.


An Introduction to Mitagra:


Mitagra is a small island situated north of Japan in the Sea of Othotsk. Slightly smaller than the island of Biliran, this small chain has recently been discovered and settled independently by people from both nations after agreements on ownership couldn't be met. Very rugged and much like Japan itself the island has, as of yet very little going for it and the choice of independence was a necessity to stop arguments rather than a calculated choice.

Still the Mitagrians are determined to make the most of it and several small settlements have been set up around the islands edges eager to stake their claim on the island. As of yet no national flag has been revealed from the islanders, having yet to even set up a capital or administrative centre of the island but once settled were sure things like this will be sorted out.


Entry 1:
Terraforming


Right, this will be one of what will hopefully be only a few completely Out Of Character (OOC) entries. This time regarding the terraforming of the island. Starting out as a 32x18 map this has taken a while to hand terrofrom but is nearly done apart from the rendering (it did shrink a bit mind you as you'll see in a minute).

Done over the last few days what was originally planned to be a large delta style area in South East Russia, the map slowly turned into a small island chain. Below I'm going to post links to images in a sort of time lapse fashion so you can see how the terraforming progressed up tot the point it is at now. Sorry it's hyperlinks but I can't figure out how to post small images as links.

Before we start I would also like to give a big shout out to the guys in ST chat who have put up with me bombarding them with these images over the past few days, pointing out issues and commenting on the map. Thanks guys!

Anyway on to the images:
http://www.majhost.com/gallery/89James89/Mitarga/RandomFiles/mitarga_map_wip_1.png


http://www.majhost.com/gallery/89James89/Mitarga/RandomFiles/mitarga_map_wip_3.jpg


At this point miester1235 told me that the slopes were way to steep so as you can see in the next image, I tried to rectify that.

http://www.majhost.com/gallery/89James89/Mitarga/RandomFiles/mitarga_map_wip_4.jpg


The next image shows the west side of the island taking shape.

http://www.majhost.com/gallery/89James89/Mitarga/RandomFiles/mitarga_map_wip_6.jpg


Next we see the sea floor get flattened due to complaints from iampaschal and the blank tiles get removed from the map and rendering started.

http://www.majhost.com/gallery/89James89/Mitarga/RandomFiles/mitarga_map_wip_9.jpg


Finally this is where I currently am.

http://www.majhost.com/gallery/89James89/Mitarga/RandomFiles/mitarga_map_wip_11.jpg


Which leads me to the question do I  need to render the rest of the island or shall we just go from here (I have the area I want to start in rendered) .

Anyway that's all for the beginning of this journey. Hope this first entry doesn't put you off, we'll get to some real content soon.

Till then

James


Flatron

That's great :D
I would propably have given up before even starting to render the cities.

FrankU

For a really impressive region view you should render them all. Take a weekend or two....
Good start!

vester

Looking forward to see where direction the development this is going ......

Gugu3

Really nice images!looking forward to seeing more developement &apls

art128

That's a nice looking region you created there. :)
I'll take a quiet life... A handshake of carbon monoxide.

Props & Texture Catalog

Nanami

That region pretty interesting! looking forward for it!

89James89

Replies:

Flatron: Thanks, though I kind of redid the map (after rendering it all. I think I like giving myself work to do lol.)

Franku: Thanks though it's changed a bit. I did render it all though.

vester: Apparently to another island but hey, I'll try and get to actual towns soon.

Gugu3: Thanks, development will come I promise!

art128: Thanks though I redid it (see below)

976: Thanks, hopefully you'll enjoy the new one too!



Entry 2:
OOC: More Terraforming


Now I know this update will probably put a few people off and may even annoy some of you but once I'd tried to start playing on the last map I just didn't like it. The mountains were too pointy and I didn't feel that they were incorporated into the surroundings to well (it was basically flat or pointy).

This has led to why there hasn't been any updates this week, basically I decided to try and create a new map. Doing this led to me trying several different ways to create more transitional maps.

First up I tried a wedding cake tiered approach.




http://www.majhost.com/gallery/89James89/Mitagra/Map1/wip_2.jpg


http://www.majhost.com/gallery/89James89/Mitagra/Map1/wip_5.jpg


This worked well and gave me a large amount of control up until the point where I wanted to smooth them out. At this point I realised that without adding a tier for each height level the whole thing just looked too artificial.

Back to the drawing board.

Next up comes the map I'm currently working on. Deciding that using a tiered approach didn't work too well I decided to change it up and use the Steep Hill tool at a low strength to create a rugged landscape. Slowly through input from chat and my preferences the map below has emerged and is where I am at currently.

Starting off with a vague and bumpy shape I started to lay out low areas for settlements. You can also see my start a mountain off randomly on the map.

http://www.majhost.com/gallery/89James89/Mitigra/Map1/wip_1.jpg

After getting some feedback ianpaschal showed me the wonders of Fractal mountain ranges and I went a bit crazy adding a long snaking one cutting the island in half.

http://www.majhost.com/gallery/89James89/Mitigra/Map1/wip_2.jpg

At which point it was pointed out that I may have gone a bit to mad with it and the snaking didn't make any sense with the shape of the island. Out came the valley tool and a while later I had  a island that followed the ridge more or less.

http://www.majhost.com/gallery/89James89/Mitigra/Map1/wip_4.jpg

This final image shows where I'm at currently as I slowly make my way around the island adding details and ruggedness to the shoreline and mountain range.

http://www.majhost.com/gallery/89James89/Mitigra/Map1/wip_5.jpg


So there's the first update on the region. Sorry if the terraforming is boring for you I will get to the cities soon, I just want to make sure that if I plan to spend ages on the region that I'm really happy with the map.


Till next time where we'll hopefully see the finished map.

James

NOTE: Please ignore the random green flat tiles. SC4 mapper decided it disliked some of the tiles and wiped them for some reason.

vortext

#8
While I certainly understand the desire to create your own region from scratch and do enjoy watching the process, have you considered using a pre-made region? Not only will it save you considerable time and effort, Dob's maps are made using satellite & survey data, thus the scale and elevations of the terrain are all accurate. I'm afraid you'll never quite achieve the same result manually. This is not meant to discourage you in any way though. If you're happy terraforming by hand, please by all means continue!  :thumbsup:
time flies like a bird
fruit flies like a banana

89James89

#9
Replies:

vortext: I have considered it but as you pointed out, I enjoy the whole terraforming and region creation process so using a pre-made one, of which there are tonnes of lovely ones (much better than my attempts anyway), would feel a bit like I was cheating. I don't know if that explained it well but you can probably get where I was coming from.

On another note though I've changed the MD up a little bit as you'll notice with a smaller map for now. Hope you enjoy it all the same, there's actual in game pictures of a village/town this time lol.




OOC Introduction

Right, there's been a bit of a change to the CJ/MD. Basically its changing to a region, not unlike Mitiga but with a more detailed back story and (hopefully) general feel to it. Now I know many of you will wonder what happened to the maps I've spent the last couple of weeks working on and there still there, waiting for me to come along and build something on them but for now, the urge to build something small came upon me and this was born.

Having created a small map on a whim more than anything, I've decided that it would be nice to try and emulate my most successful CJ/MD, Principality Of Tantico. With this in mind I've made a small map (12x8 pixels) to build this on. This will share the basic principle of the island nation I originally proposed for this thread, primarily being a Russian/Asian nation. It's located on the east coast of Russia (east of Nakhodka) and will be developed naturally and hopefully provide a fun and interesting project for both you and me.



The City State of Marinko



An Introduction


Welcome all to the City State of Marinko, a newly formed state on the eastern coast of Russia, protruding into the Sea of Japan this small piece of land, measuring approx 72 square km recently gained independence from Russia on account of the fact that there isn't a lot there. Despite the area only having a small settlement at the moment a number, its still home to a multitude of nationalities, including Russian, Chinese, Japanese and a few other European nationalities. Anyway lets get into the actual City State, starting with the national flag and an overview of the actual state. (OOC: I've only got the basic map at the moment as there's not much in the region)







Entry 1: Settling Marinko


Right let's get right into taking a look at the actual town of Marinko. Founded on the site of a small sheltered inlet, the first and currently only settlement in Marinko, is solely reliant on a small ferry and dirt tracks unsuitable for almost any vehicle, to access the outside world. Though with a population of around 1,150 this isn't too much of an issue at the moment.

The small town itself is concentrating on becoming self sufficient at the moment with most of the industry concentrated on agriculture and fishing. There are a few factories to provide the small state with a few exportable resources but generally, the state keeps itself to itself at the moment as it grows fairly quickly.

Anyway let's take a look at a few images of the town, starting with the site before settlement started.




A year down the line and this is what it looked like. You can see the important ferry port in the centre and the farm's slowly spreading outwards.




Recreation wasn't too hard to come by, what with the pebble beaches along the shoreline, a popular place to spend a lazy day.




Having quickly found out that the area around Marinko wasn't exactly the flattest land to be found, housing started to spread itself out a bit as slopes were encountered. Missing religion, the Russian side of the towns folk had this Orthodox church of St Peter (the decided to patron saint of Marinko) built on an flat are on one of the slopes overlooking the small housing area.




Several years later the population is as it stands today, around 1,150 people. Despite the small size they do have the basic's there. There's a small volunteer fire department and health clinic and a couple of shops. There's also the current government building sat on top of the cliff overlooking the ferry port. A small but integral part for the growth of the state.




Finally I leave you with this peaceful scene. A small ford cuts through a stream as a path is cleared through the trees to make more room for the demanded agriculture. Looks like someones taking the opportunity to do a spot of recreational stream fishing though.




Hope you enjoyed your visit to the budding little state of Marinko and we hope you'll pop back soon to see us.

Till then

James




Kergelen

Nice rural town

To be honest I preferred the first island. It was really interesting. Anyway I suppose the last map is more suited to your projects :thumbsup:


                                    Links to SC4 websites

89James89

Replies:

kergelen:Thanks. Yer it is more suited and there's nothign stopping me from developing one of the other maps somewhere down the line. We'll have to see.


The City State Of Marinko Fact File

OOC Fact File Introduction:

Well this is going to be a series of fact files about the city state itself. This will most likely pertain to the city state and it's people's rather than a document of the city states growth. As such there will probably be limited in game content used (though I'm sure I'll make use of it now and then), with these instead relying on real pictures and maps and just general text.

This is why I will be putting them in spoiler tags as I realise that many of you won't be interested in the fact file and wouldn't appreciate having to scroll through a wall of text and some images to get to the actual update.

With this out of the way, lets get on with the first fact file. (and yes I'm sorry for the repeat of the flag image but I wanted it in this one for completions sake).


[spoiler]Fact File Entry 1:
On location and national flag



Today we present the first of hopefully many fact files from the small city state. Regarding the location of the city state and its national flag this file will be a small, but important document for the state.

First off is the location. As you will be able to see, Marinko is located on a very small peninsula off the coast of eastern Russia, close to several Asian countries as well, namely China, Japan and both South and North Korea.

The small state was bought for a large amount of Rubles by a well off Russian citizen by the name of Alexei Bogdanov with idea of creating a multicultural haven free of oppression and discrimination. The actual land itself doesn't have a lot of financial worth, with it being a forested peninsula on the sparsely populated eastern coast of Russia so the Russian's didn't have much demands for passing the proposal (the actual terms of the Treaty Of the State of Marinko will be discussed in a future fact file) and the small city state was founded.




The second part of today's fact file is in regards to the national flag (shown below).



Created by a Russia art student by the name of Igorek Yagorovick, in response to a request put out by Alexei in conjunction with the announcement of the creation of the city state. Those interested in the founding were asked to put their artistic talents to creating the national flag with the basic guidelines that it was to include the colours of the Russian flag and a representation of the multicultural ideals.

This led to the flag above, a simple but striking idea built around a eight pronged star, representing the multicultural nature of the state. The colours and shapes of the area around the star were deliberately chosen to represent the Russian flag as requested, but not draw your eye away from the focal point of the star (the fact that it also looks slightly Japanese was a unintentional but not detracting side effect).

This simple design was happily received due to its simplicity easily adaptable nature for other uses (naval flags, area flags and so on) and was soon seen flying from the states tiny government building in Marinko.

~~~~~~

Right so that's it for our first fact file. As said up the top its a bit brief but its a start. Hopefully you'll join us for the next fact file where we continue to bring you information on this small city state.[/spoiler]




Entry 2: Villages and Streams

(OOC: Sorry this update took so long, getting a MMP scene that I',m happy with is apparently a very time consuming business for me lol.)


Right well today's look at Marinko is centred around the growth of the small town wince we last visited, mainly concentrating on the satellite villages that have sprung up with several other images  thrown in for good luck.

Starting in the heart of the town, we take a look at the town centre and beach. This also shows the new school house as well as how close the beach is to the ferry port (the yellow fenced area in the bottom left),  the only way in and out of the town. As such, please be careful if swimming off the beach here.




Moving out of the town centre, we take a look at some of the abundant small farms that cover most of the appropriate land around the town. Used mainly for food by Marinko's citizens, the rest is exported and makes up a large part of the tiny nations exports.

As with everywhere in Marinko at the moment, dirt tracks are formed by constant use. The small government is looking into whether they need to be upgraded but for now there leaving it be.




Next we come across one of the two smaller villages that are located around the main town. Due to its small size, this village located just to the west of the main town and only featuring a couple of houses, doesn't actually have its own name, really being just a easy convenient place to have a home near the farm they work on.




The next village however is a little bit further out and larger than the others in the area and as such has its own name, Svetnal. As you can see, most of these villages have grown from single farm hand houses, built on the edge of farmland for work ease.




Now for a little bit of nature to add to this entry. In the last image you may have noticed the stream in the top of  the image. Well here is where the spring for said stream is (OOC: its the same one that we saw forded in the other update so I need to redo it there to match this water), just up from Svetnal.




Finally we leave you with an updated overview of the area, now home to around 2,500 citizens. You can see the two villages we visited this update in the bottom left and the top right respectively.




Anyway we hope you all enjoyed this entry and look forward to you joining us next time when we come back with more news form Marinko.

Till then

James



EDIt: Does anyone know if there's code for spoiler or hide tags on this site?

Gugu3


89James89

Replies:

Gugu3: Thanks!



Fact File Entry 2:
The Marinko Murasaki Rose


This fact file pertains to the purple flower that can be seen in large swathes in this update. Read on to find out more.



Found to be native too the area and rather widespread across the state, this flower has become the national flower of Marinko.

A hardy, thorn-less, purple rose, this species seems to unique in that, like most of the other foliage in Marinko, it's practically evergreen and has a very short out of bloom season being in flower for large parts of the year.

It also appears to be rather dominant in that if introduced to a new area, it will quickly spread and become the prevalent species of flower. It does however seem to suffer heavily outside of the micro climate that Marinko has (more of this in a future fact file), hence why it hasn't been found outside of Marinko yet.

With the species ranging in size from small flowers the size of bottle top to the more common fist sized flowers, this flower is sure to remain a prominent part of the Marinko landscape.




Entry 3: A Growing Town



This entry doesn't really have a overriding theme, with it just looking at the continued expansion that has been seen around the small town over the last few years and some of the beautiful areas that are found around the town.

Starting off with these images of housing expansions in the town itself. These images show the geography of the area fairly well, with a Japanese inspired terraced look being employed to make use of the uneven ground around the ferry port area. These housing areas, located behind the church, provide lovely views down into the bay.






Also inside the town, small time fishing has become a viable method of earning a living what with the increased demand for meat due to the growing population. Every day a number of small fishing boats can be seen off this small dock, with residents also use the beach opposite the recreational one to try their luck at catching dinner.




Now for a small overview of the growing satellite settlements of the town. From top right to bottom left we have the afore shown Svetnal, the smaller village of Chayling and the largest of the three, Oska.

You can also see the stream from last entry and the Marinko Murasaki Rose (the one shown in fact file 2) growing in the forests that surround the farm land and villages.




Moving onto a image that shows the Murasaki Rose off better we come across this large meadow that can be explored via the small dirt track through it. A lovely place for a stroll either towards the spring or Marinko itself.




Finally an overview of the area as it currently stands. In it you can see the areas we visited in this entry and also see how much its grown since the last overview. It also shows that the space to grow outwards is becoming limited and as such, plans are already under way to found other settlements around the state.




Anyway that's all for now. Hope you enjoyed the quiet entry.

Till next time

James

vortext

time flies like a bird
fruit flies like a banana

89James89

Replies:

vortext: Thanks, glad your enjoying it!



Entry 4: Hard to Port


Well as stated last time, we were running out of room in Marinko. As such this update will concentrate on one of the newer settlements to spring up along the coastline, Uskopoit Gavan.

Built in a natural harbour just south of the town of Marinko, this fast growing settlement has been built with the sole purpose of being the nations main port. As such the project was the most expensive nation outlay so far with this port eventually opening and replacing the ferry terminal in Marinko as the only way of getting goods in and out of the nation.




As you can see, the still fairly small port is equipped for the mainly agricultural based exports of the nation. A small grain dock shipping out the farms excess goods while a bulk barge dock takes the majority of the crates and other exportable goods. Although situated in a deep channel suitable for freighters, the port, currently is served solely by coastal barges (though the Marinko Ferry and Shipping Company does own a sea worthy barge that takes goods to Japan several times a season) that take the goods to the nearby Russian port of Vladivostok to be shipped around the world.

As you could probably tell, the ports shipping facilities make the place a god send for factories and warehouse owners and its construction kick started a surge in these trades as can be seen here.




This of course led to a surge of housing being built in the area despite the lower quality of life than in Marinko (there is no school or medical facilities in Uskopoit Gavan meaning the below mentioned problem affects this too) with mainly prefab and quick to build houses springing up.



Much of this was put down to the quality of the transport connection between Marinko and Uskopoit Gavan which, despite only being several kilometres away, due to the muddy and very basic track between them, was almost impossible to get to in the wet. This factor is also being looked into due to growing complaints from farmers about not being able to get their goods to Uskopoit Gavan via land.


Now for the overview of the town, which despite the pollution and transport problems is still growing faster than Marinko itself (Uskopoit Gavan currently sits at around 2000 sims) utilising the flatter land and links to the port.




Also finally, for those thinking that the gravelled beaches of Marinko were bad, think yourself lucky there not like the ones at Uskopoit Gavan where your more than likely to get a piece of glass in your foot than a tan. Still some people like to attempt to fish (though yet again your more likely to catch a passing barge than a fish) amongst the industrial detritus that finds its way here.




Till next time

James

vortext

The grimy beach is an excellent idea done well. Another example why the game is more fun with custom content!  ;D

Keep it up!  :thumbsup:
time flies like a bird
fruit flies like a banana

FrankU

Quote from: vortext on April 02, 2014, 03:19:07 AM
-snip-      Another example why the game is more fun with custom content!     -snip-

I dare to say: Custom content is even fun without the game!  ;D

89James89

Replies:

vortext: Thanks I'm glad you like the beach and your correct, it is much more fun with CC!

FrankU: Maybe but I've never messed with the Lot Editor lol  :P




Entry 5: Romanovik


Well today's entry is brought to you from Romanovik, the newest town here in Marinko. Built in the Bay Of Paschalka at the mouth of the river Rume on the opposite side of the peninsula to Marinko town. As a small fishing town, properties in Romanovik quickly became very sought after thanks to the calm, sheltered waters and peace and quiet.

A quiet, mainly Russian settlement who's main income is from fishing, the small town has a small number of trawler owners working from it as well as several smaller fishing and recreational boats. Due to the distance from Marinko, the town also has its own church and a small school house as well as several areas to relax in.

Join me now as we take a look at the growing fishing town.

Starting at the bridge into town, we cross the river Rume as it cuts the town in half. As you can see the river itself is rather shallow and slow running, perfect for a spot of quiet fishing (as can be seen on the left hand side of the bridge).




Next we move into the centre of the town, where you'll find the small church and the beginnings of the crude seawall, designed to protect the houses along the shore (despite the settlement being in a calm bay the ground still needing shoring up a little bit before it was ready for construction).




Moving on we come to the heart of the fishing town, the fishing docks. As you can see, we have several trawlers here at the moment, awaiting their crews to resume their work. Also in this shot you can see one of the towns biggest employers, the Romanovik fisheries, built and owned by Vasillia Avanov, the towns most successful trawler captain (you can also see his blue and white trawler docked).




Next we have a overview of the area we just took a look at. There is more of the town to the east on the other side of the river and I will have to get images of that for you next time.




However I can show you this small tower located on the east side of the river. Perched atop some small cliffs this tower gives commanding views the town and the bay it sits in, also providing nice quiet walk up to it.




Also I've got a random image of the river Rume for you as it cuts itself a small valley on it's way to the Bay of Paschalka.




Finally I have a link to a overview of the entire nation so far. Not a lot of growth to see (OOC: and apologises regarding the different seasons with the trees), but at least it shows that Marinko is growing slowly.

http://www.majhost.com/gallery/89James89/Marinko/Maps/Marinko/entry_5_region_view.png


Right that's all for now.

Till next time

James



Sim.Rico