The Silver Hills City-Building Contest - Mark 2

[smileymk]

(This is probably in the wrong place, so feel free to move it if that's the case - I did try to find an appropriate location for this.)

The Silver Hills City Building Contest - Mk. 2

Hello all and welcome to the second Silver Hills City-Building Contest!
You're probably wondering what this is, so let me explain everything in a Q&A format.
This is, out of necessity, a big read, so please be patient while I try to explain everything.

Q. What is this?

A. It's a little competition (just for fun you understand, no prizes except serious credibility) whereby contestants build cities on a common map, how they want, in accordance with a strict set of rules. They also have to complete a set of 10 challenges, which have been predetermined by me, and demand a variety of tasks to be performed, and these form the main basis of the contest. Contestants post upon completion of a challenge, and these are scored. The person with the highest score after the 10 challenges is the winner!

Q. This sounds like GRV...

A. Although this contest is, to an extent, inspired by GRV, it is nothing like mrbisonm's region contest. This should explain the main differences:

• In GRV, you get a whole region to play with. You don't here - you get a one-tile region, i.e. just one city to play with. Hence it is much more of a challenge here.
• The maps here are a LOT harder, with little or no flat bits. Not the case in GRV.
• GRV does not have any rules saying you have to build stuff - but Silver Hills 2 does, and you'll have to build these, regardless of the circumstances.
• This contest will be played out to a strict schedule.

There are a few more differences, but most people here have a life, so I'll stop there.

Q. What are these rules?

A. The rules are in 3 parts - Entry Rules, Update Rules and Gaming Rules. The first one is below, the other 2 will be posted in a couple of days. They're the common rules and restrictions governing how you can go about participating in the contest. I should say now that rule-breaking will be severely punished!

Q. What are these challenges?

A. A challenge is a set of tasks for developing the city that will be set by me, and all contestants will have to complete them to the best of their ability within a week. There are 10 challenges to complete, but participants can pull out if RL gets in the way.

Q. What are the maps?

A. The contest will be played on one of three maps. These are virtually identical terraforming-wise, but they differ in size. They're all one-tile regions, so you don't get any easy rides. Well, here they are:

Small Map (1x1 km)


Medium Map (2x2 km)


Large Map (4x4 km)


Yes, some of the pics are small, but that helps with the sense of proportion.
This next bit's important, so pay attention.

I need you to decide which of these maps you want to use for the contest. I wanted to do a poll for this, but the button is nowhere to be seen, so you're going to have to post your votes on this thread.

This vote will close on Sunday, August 8th, at midnight, UK time.
The map with the most votes will be uploaded to the STEX and it will form the official map for the contest.

I'm also open to suggestions as to how the maps could be improved, but remember that the maps are deliberately designed to be difficult, not realistic. Any suggestions purely for realism purposes, that will also make the maps easier, will be ignored.

Q. How do I sign up?

A. Glad you asked. It's simple - you just need to post here on this thread and say you're in. And once I read it, you're in!
But make sure you read these Entry Rules first (this is nothing too serious, just the legal stuff and the covering-my-back stuff):

Entry Rules

1.1    Silver Hills 2 is open to all SimCity 4 Devotion members. There are no other criteria for eligibility.
1.2    Entrants must register publicly on the Silver Hills 2 thread before the registration deadline. Late entries will not be accepted.
1.3    Be aware that this contest lasts for 12 weeks. You may quit at any time, but be sure that you want to sign up before you make that post.    If you sign up, be prepared to play through right to the end – but remember that you are under no obligation to do so.
1.4    Strictly no multiple entries.
1.5    If you must leave the contest for any reason then you must publicly announce your resignation on the SH2 thread and give a justifiable reason for your departure (though I will generally respect your wishes here).
1.6    If you are going to be temporarily absent, then you must announce this on the SH2 thread. You must give the date of your planned date of return. Provisions will then be made for you.

So that's the legal stuff out of the way.

The registration deadline is Sunday, August 8th, at midnight, UK time (same as the map vote.) If you want to play, then you must put your name down before this date!

And, finally, one last question:

Q. Should I sign up?

A. YES! It will be fun, and who knows, you might go all the way!

OK, thanks for reading all that, I know it's a big read.
I will post the Update and Gaming rules in a couple of days (maybe even tomorrow). These are the rules you really need to pay attention to, so keep an eye out.

I hope to see lots of people signing up to participate in this contest!
smileymk

Refer my PM 24/7. Post edited. No need to be critical of other threads. tooheys - Global Moderator

[Lowkee33]

Well I will be the first to post here.

I would personally like the medium sized tile, as it would be nicer on my computer and be more manageable for RL.

Count me in.  I am sure you will think of some interesting rules, and I should step blindly into them

You may also want to check with some moderators about this.  If many people join then just one thread is not going to cut it.  We may need a thread menu type thing, but I don't even know the real name for them.

[smileymk]

I would personally like the medium sized tile, as it would be nicer on my computer and be more manageable for RL.

Count me in.  I am sure you will think of some interesting rules, and I should step blindly into them

Welcome aboard. Maybe I should start on a scoring spreadsheet, as I'm sure many more will follow your lead. Plus it'll do the 50+ calculations that I can do but am too lazy and slow to bother with in an instant. Your map vote has also been taken.

You may also want to check with some moderators about this. If many people join then just one thread is not going to cut it. We may need a thread menu type thing, but I don't even know the real name for them.

You mean a board? Hmm... I'll have to see. Let's find out how many want to take part first. It might not be worth the trouble.

[smileymk]

The Contest Rules

As promised (albeit a little later than planned), here are the Official Rules for this contest.

I would strongly recommend that you copy these into Word or the equivalent software on your computer and print them off, or at least write them down, so that you have your own copy to refer to.

Make sure you read them carefully, as they're quite detailed in places (out of necessity). I won't accept ignorance as an excuse for rule-breaking.
Finally, if you have any questions about the rules, then feel free to ask.

Well, what are we waiting for? Here are the rules:

Silver Hills 2 - Official Rules

Part 1 – Entry Rules

1.1    Silver Hills 2 is open to all SimCity 4 Devotion members. There are no other criteria for eligibility.
1.2    Entrants must register publicly on the Silver Hills 2 thread before the registration deadline(8/8/10 at 00:00 UK time). Late entries will not be accepted.
1.3    Be aware that this contest lasts for 12 weeks. You may quit at any time, but be sure that you want to sign up before you make that post. If you sign up, be prepared to play through right to the end – but remember that you are under no obligation to do so.
1.4    Strictly no multiple entries.
1.5    If you must leave the contest for any reason then you must publicly announce your resignation on the SH2 thread and give a justifiable reason for your departure (though I will generally be understanding about this).
1.6    If you are going to be temporarily absent, then you must announce this on the SH2 thread. You must give the date of your planned date of return. Provisions will then be made for you.

Part 2 – Update Rules

2.1 You are to update only upon completion of a challenge or if requested to do so by me. This must occur before the published deadline that will be stipulated on the challenge description. Late entries, without good reason, will score 0 and will result in penalties.
2.2 If you have been set a challenge then you must post sufficient images to satisfy that you have completed the challenge.
2.3 You must include at least 1 image and no more than 10 images in every update (unless required to do so by a challenge).
2.4 Updates and images must comply with the site rules.
2.5 If you feel that you have been scored incorrectly or unfairly then you are allowed to ask me to review your score. You may only do this once per update and my subsequent decision is final. Be aware that I can lower your score as well as raise it, or I may decide it is not worthy of changing.
2.6 With the exception of score reviews, my decision is final. Disputing my decisions (without very good reason) will be regarded as dissent, resulting in penalties.
2.7 You may only request for your score to be reviewed. You may challenge opponents for breaching rules – I will subsequently investigate and administer penalties if the defendant is guilty – but if I find the defendant not guilty or if you challenge the scores of opponents then you will receive an automatic penalty.
2.8 You may only use a particular image once during the contest. Duplicates will result in automatic penalties, as well as scoring 0. Altering a posted image and re-posting it will result in a penalty.
2.9 Images must be posted as they appeared in the game. Externally modifying images (i.e. doctoring it with Paint, Photoshop, etc.) is strictly forbidden.

Part 3 – Gaming Rules

3.1 You must not carry out major terraforming of any kind within your city. Minor adjustments to the terrain (i.e. no more than 15-20m) are permitted for construction purposes.
3.2 You must not use any cheats for any purpose at any time. This includes:
•   Any cheat typed in to the cheat box.
•   Money producing lots.
•   Super Demand mods.
•   Radical Ordinance mods.
•   Radius modifiers.
•   Population modifiers.
This does not include:
•   The NAM or any of its subcomponents.
•   The CAM.
•   Maxis Business Deals.
•   The Legalise Gambling ordinance.
•   Playing on Easy mode.
3.3 You must build the following within your city:
•   A large commercial centre.
•   A distinct transport route.
•   A forest or dense tree covering of any size.
•   An educational facility.
•   A water facility.
These can be built using any lot you like, and can be built anywhere within your city.
Please note that you may be asked to remove these as part of a challenge – you will then have to remove them when you are.
3.4 You must not build the following within your city:
•   Ploppable RCI lots.
•   High-density RCI.
•   A light rail system of any kind. Heavy rail is fine, but monorail is forbidden.
•   A highway OR road with more than 4 lanes in total. The usage of temporary extra lanes for 'lane drop' junctions is also not allowed. This restriction also applies to RHW, but not to NAM turning lanes*. Dual roads and roads with collector/distributor lanes (a.k.a. 'multi-highways') will count as one road.
* "Turning Lanes" refers to the turn lanes that you automatically get when creating junctions with the NAM. TuLEPs and NWM are subject to the 4-lane restriction – if in doubt ask.
Slip roads for grade-separated junctions and busy intersections count as separate roads, and are thus perfectly permitted providing they do not exceed 4 lanes in width.
Please note that you may be asked to build these as part of a challenge – you will then have to build them when you are.
3.5 There are no other restrictions. You may use any lot not before mentioned as forbidden and any custom content from any source that does not violate the building and/or update restrictions. If you are unsure whether a particular lot or mod is legal or not, please raise the issue on the SH2 thread and I will come to a decision, and update the rules accordingly.

Scoring Criteria

Each update will be scored in 3 areas:
City Score – a mark out of 10 based on the quality of your city. The criteria for this will remain fixed.
Challenge Score – a mark out of 15 based on how well you complete the set challenge. The criteria for this will vary from challenge to challenge.
Obedience Bonus – a 5-point bonus awarded for not breaching any rules in an update.
The maximum score for one update is therefore 30 points. This system will apply for all challenges.
The points you get in one update are carried through to the next.

Penalty System

Any rule-breaking will be automatically punished with a points deduction according to the following table:

Rule	Crime	Points Deducted
2.1	Updating too late	2 per day
2.3	Breaking the image limit	3 per image
2.3	Not posting any images	3
2.4	Breaching SC4D rules*	7
2.6	Dissent	5
2.7	Falsely challenging opponents	4
2.8	Modifying and re-posting existing images	3 per image
2.9	Externally manipulating images	5 per image
3.1	Major terraforming	2
3.2	Cheating	10
3.3	Not building required items	3
3.4	Building banned items	3

* I'll point out that breaking this rule will also probably get you attention from the moderators - this should really go without saying.

Repeatedly breaking a rule will result in the penalty doubling at each offence, e.g. breaking a 5-point rule once loses 5 points, a second time 10 points, a 3rd time 20 points, etc. This carries through the entire contest, irrespective of when the penalty was administered.
Accumulating a total of 100 penalty points or more in the entire contest will result in immediate disqualification. Serious and/or repeated individual rule breaches may also result in disqualification at my discretion.

[smileymk]

Hi all. Sorry to bother you again but I have a couple of announcements:

Registration

We only have 2 competitors so far - myself and Lowkee33. This isn't really enough. Therefore I am extending the registration deadline once and once only to Friday, when I will post the first challenge and the contest will begin.

The challenge will be posted between 10am and 8pm UK time on Friday (August 13th), so be quick.

The Map

Only one vote was cast on the map, and it was for the Medium tile.
Therefore the contest will be played on this map.

The map is available to download here.

Full installation instructions are provided, and you need one of the following tools to install it:

SC4 Mapper
SC4 Terraformer

Instructions for Participants

When you download and install the map, I want you to build only the items required by Rule 3.3. You'll need a largely untouched tile for the first challenge.

That concludes my announcements.
Let's see some interest please.
smileymk

[smileymk]

(It's been, what, 4 days since my last post? OK then.)

Challenge 1

Yes, I did say I would post the first challenge today, and that it would be your final deadline for signing up. So, now that I've made that post, I will say that registration is CLOSED.
Well, this is the final player list:

smileymk
Lowkee33

I know it's a short list, but it'll have to do.

I appreciate that some people might hear about this in the future and decide to have a go anyway despite being too late to participate officially - if you are one of these people then I want to hear from you!
Show me some of your work and I'll score it and judge it, as if you were a proper contestant. If there's a flood of 'have-a-go' people, I might give you a separate thread as well to showcase your updates. So, although registration might be closed, there's still no excuse for you not to give it a crack.

Right, I've said that, so let me officially start the contest and present to you Challenge 1!

Challenge 1 - Starting Out Strong

So you have your map, and are no doubt eager to get on with building it into a thriving city. But every successful city needs strong foundations for it to establish itself from and grow from.
Your first mission is to establish these foundations for your city, from which you can develop it successfully. This means building the infrastructure for your city and deciding what will go where.

To do:
•   Build the basic layout for your city. Make sure to include major roads and railways.  The more inventive and the more efficient this layout is, the better.
•   You should then have a number of districts (areas encased by roads and railways). I want you to start developing any 3 of these districts. You can do this in any way you like, in accordance with the contest rules, and these districts can be any zone type you wish. Make these districts as nice as possible, and don't forget to be creative!
•   I also want to see what you have planned for the rest of the city. You need to indicate what you intend to do in each district (developed or not). You can do this in any way you please – but signs and/or labels will work best.  Of course, it may be the case that you end up changing your mind at some point according to circumstances – so just give me a rough idea of your current plan, it doesn't have to stick and it doesn't have to be exact.

To show:
•   A regional transport view showing the basic layout of your city. (Please show the legend so I know what you've done.)
•   One picture of each of your 3 districts (i.e. total of 3 pictures). I want to see all of each district, so make sure you use the closest zoom in which your entire development in that district will fit.  Only show the developed parts!
•   One shot in zoom 1 showing the signs/labels that indicate what you have planned for each of your districts. (You may use more pictures if 1 is not sufficient to show them all, and you may go closer in (up to zoom 3) if your indications are not easy to see from zoom 1.)

Scoring

Points will be awarded for the following:

Layout of City - 4 points
Quality of Districts - 8 points
Quality of Plan - 3 points

You will also get a City Score (out of 10) and an Obedience Bonus (out of 5).

You have one week to complete this challenge, so it must be posted by Saturday, August 21st, at 00:00 UK time. Post even one second after that and it'll score 0. I'll be checking!

Now there's just one more thing I probably should have told you about earlier, but didn't...

Rule Changes

From Challenge 2, there will be a rule change with every challenge. The purpose of this is to spice things up and make the contest more interesting and challenging.
Just thought it would keep you on your toes...

Any questions about anything I've just said? Then ask.

Well, what are you waiting for? Get going!
smileymk

[Lowkee33]

This map is ridiculous!   

How large of a population should the city have for challenge 1?

[smileymk]

This map is ridiculous!   

How large of a population should the city have for challenge 1?

I told you it was designed to be difficult... 

The population is irrelevant. Obviously there should be some development, but whether it's 10 or 10,000, it doesn't matter, I'm not judging you on that.
What matters is how good your districts look and how well you've thought about them.
Hope that helps.

[smileymk]

Well, it just so happens that I've completed the first challenge, so, well, I might as well post it:

smileymk's Challenge 1

To start with, the layout of the city has been kept very simple, with 1 main road running through the city west-east, 2 more roads servicing the north and the south, and a railway line from centre to north:


Yes, this is a simple layout, but it allows for future expansion later on, and it also keeps my costs down, important as the city isn't making a lot of money yet.

The 3 districts I created were all based on the main road, which, as you'll see, is AVE-2 for interest and to distinguish it as a 'distinct transport route', as required by Rule 3.3. First up, a residential area on a flattish riverbank:


On the other side of the bridge, a large commercial centre (also required in Rule 3.3) was zoned, but it is largely undeveloped at the moment:


Following the main road will take one to the final district, and, to ensure a good balance of zone types in the city, it's industrial:


You'll notice in all of my districts how I used little nice touches like the SAM and retaining walls to bolster the niceness of the city.
And finally, the plan. Admittedly I did rush this, but the plan has been designed to put residential in nice areas, commercial in important areas, and industrial near routes out of the city. Here it is:


And that's my Challenge 1. Now let's see what Lowkee has in store for us.

smileymk

[Lowkee33]

This is going to be close.  I just saw the UK time clause.  This may have to be a little skimpy.

Okay, so I couldnt decide what will happen next, although this city will be mostly residential.

My main road goes from the west to the east border.  It crosses the river in pretty much the same place as Smileyks.  My rail road crosses near the road bridge, but for now only exits to the south.  We need some stations.  Here is the region view, followed by a zoom 2.





Quality of life will be a high priority.  The school (which is a house model) was the first drive for people to move in.  There were many arguments over the church.  In the end it was decided that it should face the people, and not the river.



The first fishermen/women arrived and began to sell fish.



Finally, a tool factory was set up to provide people with necessary supplies, which will be very important as they make claim to the few habitable places.

 

Well there you go.  I look forward to next challenge.  Silver Hills is running very low on money, as there was quite a lot of small scale terraforming that has happened.

[smileymk]

Challenge 2

OK, we all posted Challenge 1 in time (just), which is good. You'll be pleased to know that I've judged the updates and the scores are below:

Challenge 1 Scores

Contestant	City Score	Layout of City	Quality of Districts	Quality of Plan	Penalty Points	Obedience Bonus	TOTAL
smileymk	5	3	7	1	0	5	21
Lowkee33	6	3	6	1	10	0	6

So that means I lead with 21 points, and Lowkee's penalty points put him in a real mess on 6 points. But it's not over yet, far from it.

Well, let's keep up the tempo with Challenge 2!

Challenge 2 - Power for Power

OK, worst pun ever...
You laid the foundations very successfully... or did you? A successful infrastructure is a prerequisite to a strong city – but a city won't even get off the ground without three bare necessities – power, water and garbage disposal.
This is a one-tile region, so unfortunately you can't just ship it off to somewhere else and let them deal with it. You've got to do your own dirty work.
So you need to build the power, water and garbage facilities for your entire city.

To do:
•   Build the power, water and garbage facilities for the city. They obviously need to be big enough to serve your entire city, and they should be made as nice as possible. They should also be built so as to minimise their impact, both for the environment and for NIMBY effects.
•   They need to be on separate sites.
•   Your utilities also need some workers to serve the utilities – so I want you to develop one of your residential districts to enough of an extent that there are enough workers to serve these utilities. This needs to be a nice area for these workers to live in – slums are a big no-no.

To show:
•   One picture of each of your utilities – one power, one water and one garbage picture. These need to be in the closest zoom in which the resource will fit.
•   One picture of the residential area created for the utility workers.

Rule Change:
Effective immediately, once you have built these utilities, you may not remove them. So you need to be very careful where you place these utilities.

As per usual, you have one week to finish this - so I want it posted here by Saturday, August 28th, at 00:00 UK time.

And as usual, if there are any questions, then ask.

smileymk

[smileymk]

Looks like Lowkee's playing it tight again! Anyway, here's my Challenge 2:

SmileyMK's Challenge 2

Owing to having the expenses in the red, the worker's district was completed before anything else as a matter of urgency:


It's big, but it needs to be to get that money in the bank. Workers get to the utilities via rail and buses, as the district is isolated from the road system.
You can see the buses in action by the power plant, which has a stop. It is formed of two geothermal plants, to reduce pollution, and transformers for realism. I realised that with little development potential, not much power will be needed:


The same philosophy applies to my water and garbage facilities, especially garbage:


Yes, that's just the Maxis incinerator thrown into a corner nowhere near anywhere, so its NIMBY effect is neutralised.

The water system provides 30,000 cubic metres of water from the river - this should be more than enough, and that figure comes with a very good margin of safety, in case more is needed at any point in time:


And that's my Challenge 2. I look forward to seeing Lowkee's interpretation.

[Lowkee33]

I regretfully inform you that I will have to resign from this challenge.  After spending a bunch of time on the new lots my Silver Hill was so bankrupt that there was no way out. 

I really like the idea of a 1 tile region, so perhaps we will meet again someday.

[smileymk]

I regretfully inform you that I will have to resign from this challenge.  After spending a bunch of time on the new lots my Silver Hill was so bankrupt that there was no way out. 

I really like the idea of a 1 tile region, so perhaps we will meet again someday.

OK, so I won't be seeing your interpretation then. Looks like your town became a victim of the recession. Thanks for playing, and I hope to see you in future instalments of Silver Hills (though Silver Hills 3 and 4 will be regional! Maybe the grand final will be a one-tile region, I don't know yet.)

Lowkee's Replacement

There's now only one competitor. So for the contest to continue, it needs some people to step in to replace Lowkee. Unofficial players and have-a-go people, this is your chance.
I will now give you 72 hours (up until Wednesday at 00:00 UK time) to register your interest to become an official contestant.

Prospective contestants must have the official map, and have completed the first 2 challenges on it.

To register, please post on this thread, with proof that you have met the above criteria. If you get in, your work will be scored and this will become your official score.

There is no limit to the number of people who can join. The more, the better.

Hope that's clear, and we see some interest. Now, for you unofficial contestants who will hopefully become official contestants, here's the thing I came here to post in the first place - Challenge 3.

Challenge 3 - The A Grade City

Kids have to go to school. It's the law. And yet, it's decidedly difficult for kids in Silver Hills, as there aren't any schools for them to go to! But even if there were, the kids wouldn't turn up because they'd be off sick, owing to the lack of healthcare facilities. Something must be done!

To do:
•   Provide enough education and health facilities to cover all of your developed residential districts. The more complete and advanced your education system is, the better (i.e. have primary schools, high schools, the lot), but remember to make it as efficient as possible – the less buildings there are, the better.
•   I'd also like you to build parks around your schools to complement the schools and make them more successful. The nicer, the better.

To show:
•   One picture of each of your health and education facilities. This can be in any zoom, but the more detailed the picture, the better.
•   One picture in zoom 1 showing the Health data view.
•   One picture in zoom 1 showing the Education data view.
Don't worry if these data views are red – obviously these will take time to improve. As long as your coverage is good enough, you will get the points.

Rule Change:
Like the utilities, you are not allowed to move or remove your schools when you build them. Think before you act!

Points will be awarded for the following:

Quality of Education System - 6 points
Quality of Health System - 4 points
Efficiency of Health and Education - 2 points
Quality of School Parks - 3 points

OK, hope that makes sense.
smileymk

[smileymk]

I regret to inform you that I have decided to close the official Silver Hills 2 contest.

The reason for this is that there is only one competitor left and nobody seems keen on joining in. It's therefore not really a contest any more, so there's little point in continuing it.

Thanks to all who showed an interest, and to Lowkee33 for providing worthy opposition whilst he could.

I'll keep the unofficial players thread open, in case any of you stumble across this and decide to have a go - but I won't be making any more posts.
If anyone wants details on challenges beyond Challenge 3, let me know by PM and I'll give you the low-down.

I do intend to do Silver Hills 3, but it won't be until late next year. Look out for it then if you're interested. Here's some things that will be in Silver Hills 3:

• Regional Map
• Simpler rules
• Flatter Map (but still hard!)
• Harder challenges

For now, though, I think I'll just lay low for a while... maybe doing something big around November/December time... and maybe doing it in the MDs section...

Regards, and thanks for the interest once more,
smileymk