[LoneRanger]

Well first of all thanks for taking a look at my first attempt of an MD. 
I allready put in loads of hours on this region and am about to merge two cities into one.
That being the main focus it's all about filling the gaps now and deciding where the city can expand and where nature/tree's are to importend to cut down.
Just before I show the two cities it's importend to tell that I have one big rule, only medium and low Residential zoning.
Since I did beat my personal record of 290K of inhabitants I thought it was time to start an MD.

D6:


[click on the image to enlarge]

wich is connected to the east to Harbour District:


[click on the image to enlarge]

and a regional view:



There's half a million people living there and allthough the transition looks good I have a lot of gaps to fill to make it look one big city.
Oh and since there's allways a plan behind the plan... 

In the next update I will zoom in on what I think are the most interesting spots of those cities.
If you see something that might look interesting, I take requests. 

Thanks to NHP for creating Matinenda. 

[Godzillaman]

Looks good. Lots of repeat buildings though...

[The_Hutt]

It's a little too Maxis, and its a little bit too unorganized and dense. Right now, your cities just looks like a mass of buildings without any clear "identity" to them. My advice would be to build something that stands out from the rest of the jungle you have there. With a little improvement this can become a fine MD.

- Nick

[TopCliff]

A tad too griddy for my tastes. Plus, most of the buildings are Maxis repeats. I like the idea you have though: the transition of two cities into one big megalopolis. I recommend you spend some time DLing and getting used to the NAM and stuff. Once you've done that, this MD can only improve. Later.

[LoneRanger]

First of all thanks for the response guys. 

My aim was/is to make it look massive with only sky-scrapers in the center.
Since I got the idea of merging I just started zonening to get them connected.
The real planning begins with the start of this MD.
Trust me, the first Industrail zones were near the center of both cities.
In my next update [comming weekend] I will present a plan so I can start rezoning.
My weak point is infra-structure so I might need some help there. 

Looks good. Lots of repeat buildings though...

I'm glad you like it and I guess I need more medium density buildings.
Especialy the Polish building blocks seem to grow like weed as does Coit-tower.
The first one I like but Coit-tower is a nightmare.

It's a little too Maxis, and its a little bit too unorganized and dense. Right now, your cities just looks like a mass of buildings without any clear "identity" to them. My advice would be to build something that stands out from the rest of the jungle you have there. With a little improvement this can become a fine MD.

- Nick

I agree on the organisation but my sims need work and don't seem to like to travel to far especialy my industrial workforce, besides I'm in the middle of moving/rezoning.
As a fact I know I have loads of high density buildings but also a a copple of medium wich havn't showed up in my cities yet.

A tad too griddy for my tastes. Plus, most of the buildings are Maxis repeats. I like the idea you have though: the transition of two cities into one big megalopolis. I recommend you spend some time DLing and getting used to the NAM and stuff. Once you've done that, this MD can only improve. Later.

Like I said, infra-structure is my weak point and you probbably aiming at the RHW wich I use avenues for corners. 
I only got RHW working for about two weeks and didn't like the corners.
With the new RHW out it wil improve, trust me. 
On the repeats of buildings, my plugins folder is 2.7 gig with loads of residential and commercial but either they won't grow or I have to little that fit my 2 tile deep zoning.

Bottom line, lots of work to do.

[TopCliff]

I agree, lots of work to do. First off, 2 tiles? My zones are either 6 x 8 or 6 x 10. Plus, for the buildings you downloaded, try plopping them so that way you ensure you get what you want where you want it. Now, since two pennies seems so tiny today with inflation, that's my $18.99 + tax. 

[LoneRanger]

I agree, lots of work to do. First off, 2 tiles? My zones are either 6 x 8 or 6 x 10. Plus, for the buildings you downloaded, try plopping them so that way you ensure you get what you want where you want it. Now, since two pennies seems so tiny today with inflation, that's my $18.99 + tax. 

Allthough I like your input I'm not gonna zone that big yet. 
True, it would help the difercity but that's not my style [yet].
As a test I did rezone the center of one of my cities and it went just to big.
Maybe if the cities merge I have to to make it look more real but for now I zone 2 maybe 3 deep. 
I don't plop, I zone. 
Sorry but I love medium density 2 tile cities or better yet 4 tiles, medium residence and medium/high commercial. 

[TopCliff]

That's your own choice. Were there any moel cities for how they merged? Like the Twin Cities region, or San Fran/Oakland?

[bat]

That's a great region overview there! Nice city!!

[LoneRanger]

bat : Thanks


Ok, a small update of my plans with D6.
I am realy busy moving Industry as you will see.
The most heared comment sofar is to many repeats of buildings and to much maxis stuff.
The funny thing is that I'm quite stubborn as it comes to zoning [not plopping] and the size of zoning.
Even weirder perhaps is that once I hit the 400K of inhabitants new buildings apeared. 

My plans, nothing to big:



Red: Industrial that has been moved for 80% to the yellow zones and are replaced by R & C.
Yellow: Zones where industrial can be build or allready been build to.
Green: reserved for Residential
blue: not sure yet.

Current Residential count: 416.000

To come:
Pictures of interesting place to vissit in D6 that can be viewed without having to click for a larger image. 

[TopCliff]

Interesting. Keep it going dude.

[LoneRanger]

First of all an update on D6 [one of the merging cities] as it's comming along fine with more different buildings. 



The biggest changes are the highway on the east of the city wich somehow has to connect directly to the west in the future.
It probbably means I have to bring down a part of my city and I'm trying to figure out where it will hurt me/my city the less.
The moving of industry zones is almost done and since I'm running out of space I'm planning more industry to the noth tile.
Speaking of merging more tiles/cities, I'm planning [allready started] on strecthing out to the south wich means moving industry again.
The infrastructure is allready there so I don't have to demolish half my city to get a better infra structure. 

Most memorable sites in D6:

Sports complex:



Canal with nice parking:



New and improved Industrial park that has to move due to expanding to the south:



One of the best looking buildings I ever seen:





The next update will be either about "Harbour District" wich is connected to the east or connecting the highway on the west with the one on the east in D6. 

[flame1396]

No matter how much Maxis there is (which is all good content - just there isn't enough to provide good realism and asthetics) building a good transition is probably the hardest of SC4 challenges. You seem to be doing well.

If you build a nice sprawling suburb this will end up looking excellent. Then you could rework areas with repeats and the like (or you could do what I do and build housing projects - basically thriving on repeats in a controlled way).

Keep going. This is a great choice for the subject of an MD.

EDIT: Harbor would be much more interesting than a silly highway.

[LoneRanger]

Thanks for your input flame1396. 

Like the title says this MD is about merging cities first.
The transition from D6 to harbour district is very much to my liking sofar and hardly noticable in region view.
I can't be bothered with repeads to much at this time simply because I don't know exactly where the center of this project will be. 
Once the merging is completed I probbably have to do some re-zoning and redo the transit system.
There are two more tiles/cities to merge wich I'm currently working on.

Overview:




The red arrow is where the 4 cities connect.
The RHW doesn't show up in region view wich [for me] is the reason to replace it with Highway.
The last bit of RHW is the yellow connection.
In blue are connections I am considdering.

[TopCliff]

Looks like a good plan. There's something that bothers me about your grid, I don't know what it is though. Yellow connection looks good, maybe throw in some twists and turns, break up all your 90 degree angles, spice it up a little. An unusual analogy has come to me: your region is like a chocoltae bar. Simple, plain, square. You need to shake it up a little. Break things up with some toffee or some nougat, maybe put chopped chocolate in there, heck, throw some wasabi into the mix! Shake it up a little. Other than that, looking good. Later.

[beskhu3epnm]

LoneRanger.... great map! I wish I had those mapping skills, that's for sure

TopCliff gives much good advice, I will agree there. Overall, at this rate, your region would have millions upon millions of sims.

If you take what you've built thus far and expand/edit/refurbish, it'll be looking great in no time. Happy you're in the MD business, fill us with updates now!

beskh

[LoneRanger]

TopCliff:
Thanks so much for your input again, I am working on that sweet candy you mentioned.  [hope it workes for ya in my necxt update]
My main aim in this MD is to merge small cities into a big one and expandig it without turning the whole region into one big CAM city.
While doing that there is need of re-planning, re-zoning, since it looks weird to have low buildings in the center surrounded by higher buildings.
I have to addmit that I started to zone more different sizes to get more different buildings. [that's working] 
Playing 5 cities at the same time and zoning medium residential [90%] takes time, lots of it. 

beskhu3epnm:
I'm honoured that you visited my 1st MD. 
Your map is awesome however I did some work on the canals since it was a bit much for my taste.  [I might have bad taste]
Expect an update when I reach the 1st million sim in this region wich can be expected any day.

[TopCliff]

Looking forward to that next update. Later, my creative friend.

[getdown11]

Excellent CJ idea.  I too have been working on merging cities.  I have found repetition to be a problem.  I should use the CAM but I'm just too lazy.

Another problem I have found is getting the city boundaries to look seamless.  So far you have done a good job and I hope to see more.

[LoneRanger]

Due to switching jobs I havn't been able to play as much as I was used to.
Still, since I was working ahead, I wanted to share a region-shot celebrating that 1st million inhabitant of this region.
Actualy, 5900 sims were born on the same day. 

or

Since my last update I did some rezoning, well some is an understatement. 
My main focus is on the east-side where I started to build a harbour and the center of the four tiles that are one city.
To the north the boundries are set though I'm not realy sure I like the way I planned the highway.
Another expension fact that has puzzled me is a [bridge] connection to the south-east of the city, I don't want to ruin the mountians.

getdown11: thanks for the compliment, I hope you like the region-shot.
A good trick to hide the borders is to place a street along the border.
Another "trick" is to make a neighbour connection [using a road that isn't connected] so you know where a forrest, residential aria, industrie, starts or ends, as a marker. 

TopCliff: allthough small, I hope you like it.