Dragon Islands Cities

[Skimbo]

Hello and welcome to my MD "Dragon Islands Cities"


As some of you may have noticed this MD exists for a few weeks on some other sites. So the first entries will quickly follow one another until the MD has reached it's actual status.


After a long time of playing Cities XL I've returned to SC4.

The biggest city of the region at the moment is Shì de lónghú. My first (more or less) asian styled city.

You can reach the city via car or the completely new Shinkansen line:



The public transportation system of the city uses a huge light rail system:



At the moment there are too many western styled buildings around central station. So I have to rebuild this district. The first step was the construction of this nice temple:



That's the new stadium of Shì de lónghú:



This is one of the rail lines of the city, the only one in the city center that is on ground level:



The Downtown golf club is the most exclusive location at the city and the best golf club of the region...... well, they do not say that it's the only one at the moment.



That's the financial district, in the background you can see the golf club again...



The light rail system connects the suburbs with the downtown. It was essential to build a public transport system there otherwhise there would be a big traffic jam at downtown.



A nice temple in the suburbs.....



One of the rail stations, parking is for free.



The dragon islands rail corporation connects most of the neighbour cities to Shì de lónghú, this, for example, is the main station of Xì an:



That's a screen of a regio runner I took somewhere on a small line along the coast:



Last but not least, an overview over the regon and it's developments:



I hope you've enjoied reading the first part of this CJ

Greetings, Skimbo.

By the way: As you may have noticed, this region can be downloaded on the STEX

[Tomas Neto]

In particular I consider this a fantastic beginning in your MD!!! I believe that it will be one of the MDs legendary of this forum!!! 

[Skimbo]

Reply:
Thank you, Thomas, your comment gives me a lot of motivation

2nd Entry:

Hello and welcome to the secound entry of this CJ.

Shì de lónghú expanded a lot, especially to the northwest of it's area.

Peaceful and wealthy neighbourhoods developed next to the small rail line along the coast.



Every fifeteen minutes you can enter a regio runner into direction central station of the new line "S3"



A new university has been buildt, so the people of Shì de lónghú do not have to take the train and study somewhere elles anymore.



And the city finally has had enough cash to finance an very beautyful and big temple for it's citizens. It was inspired by an pagode buildt back in the 16th century:



That's the clubhouse of the new Shì de lónghú Golf&country club. It's even reacable by tram, but most of the club members use teir own luxourious cars or their private golf cart.



Because there was too less space to build a driveing range, practiceing can be done on one of the 20 golf simulators in the cellar of the clubhouse.
The course has got nine holes and builds an cycle around an very luxurious neighbourhood (Where you can find the mayor's home as well).



Small villas along the golf holes can be found as well:



And here you can see an overview over the whole course:



Mayor Skimbo is not very happy with his first round on the new "Diamond Course" As long as you are a golfer you will know why:
His Scorecard:



His comment to the new course after the round in the clubhouse:

" Well, there are more bunkers, trees and out of bounds markings than blades of grass, But it's absolutely beautyful."

Let's conclude this entry with three beautyful night pics of the city:

Downtown:



Rubin boulevard:



And finally the northern center with the suburbs, the stadium and the CC:



I hope you've enjoied reading this entry and will cntinue to follow this journal. Comments and constructive critics are always welcome

Greetings from Shì de lónghú, Skimbo.

[seminole_fan93]

I will definitely be watching your MD. It looks great and I can't wait to see what's next. I also love that region shot.

Cameron, the Weather Freak of FWB

[Myself.or.?]

Hi Skmbo,
very nice beginning of your MD. I especially like the layout of the region (almost looks like a Dragon, doesn't it). Your nightshots have always been one of my favorites and so far you've even spared me with the highrises.
Keep up the good work. 

[rooker1]

 Interesting start.
I would like to make two suggestions....first find a side walk modd.  I personelly don't like to see the red sidewalks or to see them change from one color to another to another through out a picture.  Maybe you should try jeronij's found HERE.Secondly would be to turn off the grid when taking pictures.  Other than that very good start.

Robin 

[sim-al2]

Uhhh Rooker he is using Jeronij's. But I agree, this is already a very nice looking CJ. Your transport networks are really nicely designed too.

[Skimbo]

Replies

@seminole_fan93 , Myself.or.? , sim-al2 : Thank you for the positive words

@rooker1 : As sim-al2 said I'm using Jeronij's sidewalk mod.

And the grid... good idea but I often simply forget to turn it off after working with it.

Entry 3

Shì de lónghú - further city expansion.
Posted on May-25-2010 Last edit May-25-2010 viewed 88 times
Hello and welcome to the third part of my journal.

Today I want to show you the further development of my city Shì de lónghú.
The city grew and the public transport network did it too, here is one of the new rail stations of the new district:



The big temple you can see in one edge of the last picture is one of the new main attractions of the city. It has been buildt to offer people a place of peace in the middle of the stressful city.....



This small one along the new and busy rail line was buildt for the same reason:



This is a picture taken from a helicopter last sunday, only the airport (to the left) and some houses to the bottom are missing.



The busy airprt at night:



The citie's new main libary:



One of the most beautyful skyscrapers of the new downtown:



And last but not least a picture of the first part of the downtown that reaches the coast of the big lake:



I hope you've enjoied reading the journal and will follow it in future times

Greetings from Lónghú, Skimbo
(Comments and constructive critics are always welcome)

[Skimbo]

Double - Entry 4&5

Hello and welcome to the fourth and fith part of this journal.

vv Update 4 vv

Today I will show you some Night pics of the downtown of Shì de lónghú.

This place is located in the heart of the city, one end of the "flame boulevard"



This one is still in a very central position next to central station:



This part of the city is located next to the central scool:



People build on every single squaremeter of the city that isn't a park:



This is the Waterdragon plaza located on the coast boulevard:


^^(I found this nice statue at Simcity.cn)^^

This is the intersection between Star Boulevard and the Central Station Boulevard. The avenue to the left is the coast Boulevard.



his place is called Lakeside district, it's located to the southeast of central station and to the south of the central scool:



Have a closer look to the buildings next to the water:



And last I've got a night pic of the city center (Except "new Downtown")

You can see Lakeside at the top right corner, the old downtown on the bottom of the pic and the central scool in the center.



Welcome to the fith part of this journal.

vv  Update 5 vv

Now I will show you some pictures from the "inner suburbs" that are much mor asian styled than the outer ones. But there will be pictures of the downtown as well.

The first pic is from a small very central neighbourhood located next to the main rail line:



On the secound picture the neighbourhood continues stretching along the rail line:



The third neighbourhood is located in the center of the inner suburbs:



The traffic infrastructure is very good.  The next rail or bus station is just around the corner:



And even the highway is not too far away:



The "A1" is the new central trafficroute between the center and the suburbs:



And the "S1" is the new, much faster connection to the airport (And the only mainroad through a luxury neighbourhood):



The new conference center:



An overview over the inner suburbs:



Let's headd back downtown....
A rail station at night:



I don't know why I made this screen.....



That's a motive I liked:



And last but not least an ending of a tram line with subway connection at downtown:



I hope you've enjoied "reading" the journal.

Greetings from Shì de Lónghú, Skimbo.

Comments and constructive critic are always welcome.

I hope you've enjoied this mega-update.

I want to say thanks to the Hongkong bat team, without their wounderful bats this cind of downtown would not be possible.

Greetings from Shì de lónghú, Skimbo

Comments are always welcome

[RickD]

Wow, what an amazing downton! I love the night pics. And the golf course is very nice, too. Keep it up!

[noahclem]

Looks really nice! I also liked the golf course and green spaces in general. Cool transportation networks too, I always enjoy nice railroads. Cool you incorporated RHW but it looks a little "wrinkly" in that first shot where is goes over the tunnels.

[Myself.or.?]

Very nice as always. The Temples are adding just the bit of atmosphere, but I would have liked to see the 'asian' theme continue into the suburbs. Right now they could basically be in any part of the world. One thing that stands out in your pics though is your good use of public transport networks.

Anyway, since nobody seems to have noticed it, I just start a little game here. It's called "Spot the Dragon". (It's green,it's cute and I love it )

[Skimbo]

Replies:

@RickD: Thank you

@noahclem: The "wrinkly" look of the rhw is easy to explain: I ran out of space so I had to find a very, very compact sollution

@Myself.or.?: I am trying to give them a moe asian look in the future(At the moment I use somy's houses to build my suburbs, Tokyo styled). And finally someone noticed one of the dragons here too.

Entry 6

Welcome to the sixth part of this journal, the final update for Shì de Lónghú will of course not be the last one. The city just ran out of space to build on....

Today I've got some nice screenshots where you can see overviews over the whole city and some motives I liked.

Let's begin with the pictures of the.... hm.... Urban canyons?







So, that's enough

The new rail lines are still on ground level but they haven't got railroad crossings, only over and underpasses:



Except of this one, there yust wasn't enough space:



The existing light rail network is still essential for downtown traffic:



And some subway lines have been added to complete the public transport system. The design of the stations was very important. This is one of the masterpieces of arcitecture:



Argh, I just can't stop makeing pictures of the downtown:





Some day pictures as well?



Here you can see the downtown from high aboth the (not existing) clouds:



And a secound one from another perspective:



Let's turn back into the night again....



And a last one:



I hope you've enjoied reading this entry

Greetings from Shì de Lónghú, Skimbo.

Comments are always welcome

[Skimbo]

Another time no comments

But I wil continue.

Here are the updates 7, 8 and 9 to keep my MD up to date.

Update 7

Today I will show you some parts of the countryside at the district of the little and not finished city Lóng dàqiáo.

The ferry port isn't finished yet so there will not be a pic of it in this update.
The first road you have to use after you arrived with one of the ferrys is the coast road B20:
You can see some holiday homes from the people of Lónghú along the road....



After a while the road leaves the coastline to cut of f one of the spines of the dragon island. Now it comes into a flat region, rice fields are soon on both sides of the road and the little traffic allows a very fast travelling.



It is not recommended to drive the allowed 140 km/h (87 mph) everywhere, the road often has narrow curves.

The first village, new holyday homes have been buildt in the center of some old houses.



We leave B20 and follow B21:....



Nothing elles than rice paddies......



Than the local capitol: Shì dàotián:



There is a train arriveing from the north....
2 of the three X-TER 73500 on which the local train service is based on.



The third one is comming from the south....



"Family meeting" at the rail station



Maybe some tourists came into the town.... This is the local temple they may visit:



The new highway A2 han be reached  in two minutes, but it is not really completed, just about 7 kilometers(4.3 miles) long and three exits.



That's the L20:



But picutres of the other towns in this district will come with one of the next updates. Here is a night shot of Shì dàotián as a goodbye pic:



Update 8

Hello and welcome to the eight part of this journal.

Today I will show you some pictures shot around the "Dragon's neck", a cannel through the dragon island. Next to Shì dàotián has been buildt the small city Lóng dàqiáo....

But first some pictures that haven't made it into the last entry.....

A JR500 on a test drive.....



Two of the X-TER 73500 at night.....



and a small village located on L20.



The beautyful golden yellow of the rice fields animated me to make some pictures.....

A new section of the highway A2 two days before the opening.....



The highway bridge over the dragon's neck.....



This small industrial area is very important for the people of the region, a lot of them work here. It's located on he rail line between the two small cities of the region.
The road next to it is the B21, the next highway onramp is the one of Shì dàotián.



On this picture you can see the small ferry habour and the shinkansen- line.....
(Road intersection between L20 and B21)



An X-TER 73500 at night on it's way from Shì dàotián to Lóng dàqiáo....



Lóng dàqiáo in the hot summersun....



And a picture e where you can see most of the things around the dragon's neck.....





Update 9

Today I will show you some pictures from some small villages next to my 2nd planned bigger city.

If you headd north from Lóng dàqiáo you will soon reach the village Long zhi chun. Most of the landscape around this village is mountainious or water so there is only a little space to build on.



The crew of this freight liner wasn't happy about the thing that has happened to them. Luckily nothing of their freight ran out into the water.



Long zhi chun at night.



That's one end of the "A2"



Another train line, nothing special about that...



That's the industrial area of Dà Nàng.



A last time for the next entrys: rice paddies without houses.



Dà Nàng and other cities are growing, you will see them in the next updates.....



I hope You've enjoied this multi update.

Greetings from Dà Nàng, Skimbo

[rooker1]

Fantastic update....what really caught my eye was the dragon.
Great work!!


Robin 

[RickD]

Great update! I love the roads and especially the trains. The descriptions of your pictures are interesting to read.
I may not comment on every update but your MD is on my must-read list. 

[kalvar]

muy bonito me gusta mucho tu region la ciudad el valle todo, ademas interesante ese dargon en una de tus fotos.

I like pretty much your valley region around the city, besides dargon interesting that one of your photos.

[Skimbo]

Replies:

@All: I thank you all for your interrest and your motivateing words

Update 10

Heyho and welcome to the 10th Update

Today I'm going to show you some pictures of the city Dà Nàng.

Most of you will remember the RHW intersection on the 4th pic of the last update, if we follow the road that goes to the bottom of the picture we will come to this place. The last meters of the A2 which is going to end near the center of Dà Nàng.



That's the small rail line again vou've seen in the last update. As you may have noticed it follows the A2 now.



A2 again....



That is the main road of Dà Nàng.



The main road again but this time the focus of the picture is one of the newest houses of the town.



That's the main rail station.



The bayside end of the main road.



This neighourhood is located next to the bay's coast.



Here again in the evening sun:



The shinkansen line is headding to one of it's giant bridges that beginns at the end of this dragon spike...



...The bay of Dà Nàng and the beginning of the bridge.



I hope you have enyoied reading this update.

Greetings from Dà Nàng, Skimbo

[Myself.or.?]

Very nice as usual and still improving  .
Just one thing disturbs me. IMO replacing the dead-end roads with cul-de-sacs would be better.

Other thought; the dragon is waiting for a  shinkansen? May be a hungry dragon...

[daryl7478]

Nice job there! I like it that you're theming it on Asian cities. I was born in the Philippines where they have many rice paddies. This really reminds me of that. Also, at first I thought the canals for the farms was the highway!