Adara - Update 184 - March 26, 2012

[noahclem]

You are certainly a skilled terraformer! Keep up the great work 

[SCWTC4]

that's a big update, and quite a perfect one; we have mountains, bridges, rails, roads, highways and last but not least the lake!
it's very interesting watching the region taking shape, i'll wait for more 

[Gringamuyloca]

 
Battlecat.
It has been sometime since I've posted... (the chronic lurker in me  )

Since you have started... I've recognized our rugged coast (quasi Fraser Valley)... and you ( in my eyes) have done a fantastic job of interpreting and representing the challenges that face our planners in RL.
Speaking of planning, one of the many things I enjoy about your presentations is how you detail the 'beginnings' (mini tutorials).
I admire not only your dedication to the game / art, but the fact that you take the time to share.
Thanks so much.
Congrats on your OSITM... very well deserved!

edit for typo

[io_bg]

Fantastic new updates Those are quite interesting terraforming and network layout. I'm looking forward to seeing how you develop those new tiles!

[RickD]

Very intersting update. The road winding along the lakeshore will look great when you finished detailing.

[metarvo]

Nice work on the sloped transit networks, BC.  The ploppable water bridges still amaze me, because I've never got around to building one.  I'll have to try it one of these days.

[Ol.S / Benoit]

Terraforming work looks good so far

[Battlecat]

bat: Thanks very much!

noahclem: Thanks! 

SCWTC4: Thanks, glad you like how it's turning out!  By the way, I tried out the fraction angle highways for the wider S-Curve.  It was a bit of a challenge due to slope restrictions, but it worked out perfectly! 

Tamara (Gringamuyloca): Thanks!  There's nothing wrong with being a chronic lurker, I'm really good at that myself, although I've been forced out of that role by necessity!    You are absolutely right that Adara is a loose interpretation of the Fraser Valley region where I also live!

When it comes to the initial tile setup, the core transport networks are always my highest priority because they introduce limitations to city design and because of the slope restrictions.  Railways and highways to a lesser extent have major limitations in both areas and thus require extra attention.  I'm really glad the semi-tutorial approach has been valuable to you and other.  If you want me to expand on something I skimmed over feel to ask! 

io_bg: I'm looking forward to developing these new tiles as well!  I've got over a year's worth of detailing on the board now! 

Raphael (RickD): I hope it will! Revising it into a gravel street will be a bit time consuming though!  Thanks for stopping in!

metarvo: It actually never ceases to amaze me how easy the land bridges are to make.  The rain tool makes all the difference for tricking the game into doing interesting things!  Glad you like it!

Ol.S / Benoit: Thanks very much!

Update 179
Rosedale – A New Row of Tiles

Today I'm introducing the first tile east of Winfield, well actually Ellison Flats in this case.  Lots of cross border connections to take care of today.

179-1: Here's a quick overview of Rosedale.  It's surrounded on two sides by mountains.


179-2: I've been doing a bit of a touch up on the terraforming but the big job today is getting the neighbor connections normalized. 


179-3: This mosaic will show you the crossings to Ellison Flats.  Some of you may remember the large number of street connections from the past.  In fact I was changing the design here so much there are actually a couple extra connections on the Rosedale side. 



179-4: As usual the railway is my first job.  Way back in the past this railway was climbing from Ellison Flats upwards to eventually reach the escarpment above Winfield.


179-5: I'm putting a land bridge in here to cross the stream.  That tiny little dark spot is all the water you need to force the game to build a bridge.


179-6: The railway climbs the rest of the way up to the side of the map.  I actually may have to revise the design.  I haven't tested it yet, but how well do railway and GLR play together now?  Does anybody know off the top of their head? 

Edit: I'm mostly thinking that I have to cross the GLR with Railway.  They don't have to interface, just go across one another orthogonally.  I'll have to test it next time I fire up the game. 


179-7: And here's a mosaic of the area after the road and street connections are done.  And already I can see one mistake where I mixed up a street and road connection.  Easy to fix when I return to the tile later! 



179-8: That's all for today.  Here's the tile composite.  This map will be primarily suburbs with a bit of farming, forest and some subdivisions under construction. 


179-9: Here's the regional composite with the latest row attached. 


179-10: And last but not least the reference composite map! 


And that's all for today!  Next time I think I'm going to be doing a few quick revisits to touch up a couple of locations and then we'll move either north or south to another tile from here.  See you later!

[noahclem]

That is a lot of neighbor connections! The new tile looks nice and it will fun to watch you connect the two as seamlessly as you do. I must admit I've never used the rain tool    I read tutorials on how to use it, downloaded it, and even installed it if I remember correctly, but I've always ended up editing the sealevel to force the game to allow bridges--a technique that probably demands more time and effort from me. Maybe someday....

how well do railway and GLR play together now

Generally not too well. Automata can transfer smoothly from one to the other but I know at least that trains can't drive on GLR because I once really wanted to use a double-elevated light rail piece as part of my heavy rail network. I think it can work the other way around though, at least with certain puzzle pieces. There are also TE'd lots around that can connect the two networks but I'm pretty sure automata can't pass through. Is slope the problem? If so why don't you install a GLR route, quit the game, remove your slope mod, start the game, bulldoze the GLR, and replace it with heavy rail (now unconstrained by your slope mod).

Awesome month so far! 

[Swordmaster]

Nice update again, Battlecat.

I would find it logical that GLR and heavy rail don't match up - they're built to entirely different engineering standards, and frequently even have different track gauge!

Cheers,
Willy

[SCWTC4]

hi battlecat, i'm glad that my suggestion about FAR-pieces worked well. 
for the GLR-rail crossing, i think you can make them cross each other in some different ways, tunneling one of the two for example (better the GLR), or make the GLR pass over the rail with a short section of el-rail (there are transition pieces somwhere in the GLR puzzle pieces menu).
there is even the possibility of keep the GLR down and making the rail crossing over (by rail puzzle pieces or even on an enbankment section), but because usually rail lines existed before most of other transit systems it seems to me more credibile to make the GLR going over.

[Dantes]

I like the very streets. The variety of residential streets with diagonal seen in great. 

[Orange_o_]

I'm anxious to see what will become of these green valleys. 

[Nanami]

Nice Region! I like much of your terraforming style!

[art128]

Looks like you'll have some fun in this area... During a moment I though It was the very same tile, then I realized it's two photoshoped next to each other.

[bat]

Great update on the 25th november!!! Looking forward to the next one...

[Cyclone1001]

Nice couple of updates. The region keeps growing, and so does my interest.

[Battlecat]

noahclem: The rain tool isn't too bad to use, but it can be dangerous!  I believe it is capable of destroying buildings and roads, but you can tune how much water it creates by adjusting the brush size.  As for the GLR, my main concern was whether or not I could cross one with the other.  As you'll see today, it is possible. 

Willy (Swordmaster): Thanks very much!  You are right on the GLR and heavy rail being on different standards!  I just need to cross the two! 

SCWTC4: Oh yes, it worked beautifully.  I've got pictures of the results today!  It turns out you can do an at grade GLR crossing over railway which looks just fine.  I would just assume that there is a communication protocol between the freight rail system and the light rail operators for safety. 

Dantes: Thanks!

Orange_o_: Same here, there's so much fun construction ahead!

976: Thanks for your kind words!

Arthur (art128): This one will be a lot of fun.  I know I'm doing my job right when it's hard to tell where one tile ends and the next one starts!  Glad you like it!

bat: Thanks very much!

Cyclone1001: Thanks!

Update 180
Adara – Small Touch Ups

Today I have to quietly wrap up OSITM.  I was planning to get one more tile introduction update this week but I forgot that I'll be attending a conference tomorrow and Wednesday which will pretty much annihilate any spare time I would normally have!  So we'll quietly wrap this month up by touching up a few errors I made during development and then I've got a choice to put before everyone!   

180-1: First off we'll head back to Natalia Bay.  SCWTC4 made an excellent suggestion regarding using fraction angle transition curves to make a wider S-Curve.  This is the spot in question, the lane shift is one tile wider than the default S-Curve. 


180-2: It took a bit of fussing around because of slope restrictions, but here is a wide S-Curve created using a pair of FAR transitions.  Useful technique, thanks again SCWTC4! 


180-3: Item two is on the Southridge tile.  This long section of carefully built winding road should have been constructed out of gravel street tiles.  The area on this side of the lake is low population and access is not easy! 


180-4: I think the reason I went with roads is it was a lot easier.  This took a long time to build! 


180-5: Since I've got your attention, does anybody know how to correct this bug?  The short segments of gravel road between curves are filled using the straight filler included with the Rural Roads plugin.  At the highest zoom level pictured here those piece are either becoming invisible or turning back into normal streets.  Have I messed up the installation or is this a bug?


180-6: Last but not least, we'll have a quick preview look at the next tile.  This tile will be the neighbor of Rosedale and Winfield.  I'm stopping in here to answer one last burning question: Can GLR and railway cross without the networks breaking or looking odd? 


180-7: The answer is yes.  This appears to be a reasonable compromise.  While it might look like a normal brick GLR crossing, I would be willing to bet that the brick is heavily reinforced to handle the heavy rail traffic.  There will be other safety systems in place to keep freight trains from colliding with GLR trains naturally but the important thing here is the rails match up with each other cleanly and the GLR doesn't turn back into elevated rail! 


And that's all for today!  I won't get another update done until Monday so in the meantime I've got a question.  Originally I'd planned on getting a full swath of tiles developed and presented to buffer all the existing tiles.  I can finish that up first if you're interested.  Alternatively, I can move on to starting in on developing and detailing one of the tiles; probably the airport island tiles since I need to expand the industrial base of the region to improve available jobs and demand.  I plan to do both eventually, just let me know what you would prefer to see first!

[SCWTC4]

hi battlecat, i'm glad that my suggestion worked, that s-curve looks way better now, nice work with the other improvements too. 

now, about the big question:
i'd really like to see some other tiles aorund winfield, and you know why, the infamous winding road and the mountains mentioned many times by me when referring to some of your older plans.

but.
an airport-geek like me (i've built three of them in my region and i'm planning to put another 1 or 2) can only answer "YES" if you asfk "you want to have me develpop the airport island first?" 

[noahclem]

Congratulations again on a spectacular OSITM 

Hehe, I guess I misunderstood your question about the GLR/rail compatibility and went off on a tangent.

I like the twin FARHW curve solution so your curves--those are a lot smoother than the normal S-curves, especially two separate ones. I'd suggest taking the smoothing even further in that area though: instead of going from orthogonal to FA to ortho to diagonal, go from orthogonal to FA straight to diagonal.

To answer your question: I'd like to see you do whatever you prefer. If it were me I would build the industrial base up though, as I'm doing in my own MD--I've been waiting to go back to the main tile until I've reduced my industrial demand and increased my commercial, as well as the overall population. Plus I'd be excited to see how you handle an airport