Themistokles City Gallery: A Tropical Idea

[Seaman]

congrats!  amazing update

The roundabout in the first picture is fabulous! Great work. I can't believe I missed this entry.

Yes, I second that. I do not have any clue how you achieved that roundabout. How is it even possible . That will keep me busy for a while...

[noahclem]

Beautiful work in this area! I just love all the details and the way you work with the slopes. Sorry if I sound repetitive

[Themistokles]

*Brushing off the snow*

Hi everyone!

It has been a while. The last semester has kept me really busy. I return to find all of your wonderful comments (thank you, I really appreciate every one of them) and also to see that my MD has passed the 100 posts limit... Wow. When I started my MD 363 days ago, I hoped, but never dared to believe that it would actually come this far.

So this is a one year jubilee update, just that this is not a real update. The Windows computer I used to play SC4 on is really on its last legs (the screen works occasionally) and I've transitioned to a new computer, and begun using Ubuntu. While Ubuntu is wonderful in many ways (I really recommend it to everyone frustrated with Windows 10) we all know it can be something of a hassle with SC4. To be honest I haven't even had the time to try.

Anyway -- that's enough of the boring stuff. I am here to show you a tourist brochure of St Edmea, highlighting the best of the past year. So see it as a year in review kind of thing. Some images, especially of the nature around St Edmea, have never been shown here before (maybe you can spot the newcomers? ).

As this is a folder, you'll have to imagine how it should be folded togheter, alrightie?


Front side (click for largest version available online )


Back side (again, *click*!)
Yes it is .png because I was lazy Sorry to everyone with a bad Internet connection!

Replies and more new stuff in the next update.

Happy Christmas and see you around!

[Guest]

Good to see your CJ, and always beautiful pictures! Long live the great update!

[_Michael]

That's a truly creative way to present a city.

[vinlabsc3k]

Great tourist brochure!!

And

Merry Christmas!!

[kbieniu7]

Congratulations for your one-year anniversary! There is really much to review and readmire from this time 

The brochure is an interesting way of presentation and this one is well-produced! I like that you even payed attention to a detail of adress ant telephone number of the producer and - I bet - the tourist office. Do you have any postcards? I'd like to send a one, how much is it for a stamp to the EU?

[jasa_m]

Amazing work! I've binge read through the whole MD like its nothing!
I really hope that someday I'll be able to decorate on your level!

Keep it up! cheers, j.

[kbieniu7]

Well, having more than 100 posts and just reaching 10,000 page views, Themistokles City Gallery has been moved to the higher section.

Welcome among the Best Sellers!

[Seaman]

I like that you even payed attention to a detail of adress ant telephone number of the producer and - I bet - the tourist office.

It's actually the chamber of commerce. They seem to be responsible for region marketing and ordered the printing the brochure.

The Telephone number is a cool thing. It's not a *real* intra german prefix (08827). But in the german prefix system, you may infer the actual position of the region by comparing the number to other prefixes. The closest match is Krün (08825), next to Garmisch-Partenkirchen. And since I've used and *incomplete* prefix list  , it's totally reasonable that St. Edema has this number and is right were it belongs: south of Munich in the Bavarian Alps next to Austria

Thumbs up for this detail

[feyss]

Great tourist brochure! That makes me want to spend my next holidays there 

I can't wait to see more!

[Themistokles]

Hi there guys!

So my last (not really real) update was already half a year ago? I honestly can't believe it. St Edmea still feels so much like a part of my life... and now I'm finished with it. But that is to rush past a whole row of points.

First of all, for a short interlude I am going to treat this Mayor Diary as were it a dopy ordinary diary and tell you that this spring has been both insane and wonderful. As some of you know, I went on an interrail journey across Eastern and Southern Europe in the first month of the summer holidays. (For those of you who have not undertaken such a journey – interrail or eurail – I have one tip: do it.) It was wonderful. We saw so many things, so many different countries, so many different cities. A few pictures, click for full size:


i. The roofs in Poznan


ii. Farms close to Krakow


iii. The facade of Budapest Keleti station


iv. Mountains close to Bran Castle, near Brasov


v. Cats in Varna


vi. The first station in Greece, looking towards the mountains in Bulgaria. The direct train between Thessaloniki and Sofia is closed to hinder people seeking refuge in Europe.


vii. An island off the Greek coast, that I believe to be Ithaka.


viii. Street in Pompeii

Wow, wow wow.
I love that overview, what water mod are you using? It looks great!
I love the selection of buildings, and the transport infrastructure; it's so well integrated.
And your MMP work is just exquisite, not only in the classic vegetation area, but also in all of the paths and detail - everything is just so detailed!
Keep it all up!

Thank you so much! The water mod is Pegasus' Brigantine water Dark blue.
I'm not sure if half a year between updates is to be counted as keeping it up, though

I especially like your custom lots, they are stunning 

Thanks! I like lotting, so I'm really pleased to hear that. My most recent projects have been entirely custom lot-based. Hopefully some of them will make it here

Oh my god ...

It's amazing the work that is done! michae95l very well summarized the situation, and I find that the heights of transitions are excellent (especially in the first frame).
Your custom lots are great too! Strongly next update!

Thanks! Hope you'll like the height transitions in this update.

Oh, I missed this last update.

Amazing work here. I really like the layout and the MMP work 

Thank you!

The roundabout in the first picture is fabulous! Great work. I can't believe I missed this entry.

Thank you!

Great update!!

Thanks!

Excellent work with MMP ! 
I love the way you play with the landscape : the slopes are very gentle and natural, specialy the rail line on the last mosaic which fit perfectly with the hill.
Another great update ! 

Thanks! I love rail lines, actually, for some reason they tend to blend much better into the landscape, and I tried to capture that in St Edmea. Glad you liked it!

Great layout and usage of MMP's!!

Thanks!

Haven't commented there...

You do a great job with adding such single places and squares, each with each own character. Like a creating small, but very lively maquette. And the overall look is excellent! No grid on a rocky hillside 

Thank you, my friend! I like the idea of building a small model, where everything should convey a sense of the place.

congrats!  amazing update

The roundabout in the first picture is fabulous! Great work. I can't believe I missed this entry.

Yes, I second that. I do not have any clue how you achieved that roundabout. How is it even possible . That will keep me busy for a while...

Thank you Risking being a little insensitive I'd say it's quite simple. It is four custom textures placed on a custom park lot with props and then inserted into the roads with the versatile and extremely useful RHW disconnector tool. No traffic will be able to pass through there

Beautiful work in this area! I just love all the details and the way you work with the slopes. Sorry if I sound repetitive

Thank you! No worries

Good to see your CJ, and always beautiful pictures! Long live the great update!

Thanks! Hip hip hooray

That's a truly creative way to present a city.

Thanks! I remember it was really fun to make as well

Great tourist brochure!!

And

Merry Christmas!!

Thanks! And happy new year!

Congratulations for your one-year anniversary! There is really much to review and readmire from this time 

The brochure is an interesting way of presentation and this one is well-produced! I like that you even payed attention to a detail of adress ant telephone number of the producer and - I bet - the tourist office. Do you have any postcards? I'd like to send a one, how much is it for a stamp to the EU?

Thank you again! Of course we have postcards... a future update, maybe

Amazing work! I've binge read through the whole MD like its nothing!
I really hope that someday I'll be able to decorate on your level!

Keep it up! cheers, j.

Thank you for the kind words!

Well, having more than 100 posts and just reaching 10,000 page views, Themistokles City Gallery has been moved to the higher section.

Welcome among the Best Sellers!

Wow, thanks. It's an honour.

I like that you even payed attention to a detail of adress ant telephone number of the producer and - I bet - the tourist office.

It's actually the chamber of commerce. They seem to be responsible for region marketing and ordered the printing the brochure.

The Telephone number is a cool thing. It's not a *real* intra german prefix (08827). But in the german prefix system, you may infer the actual position of the region by comparing the number to other prefixes. The closest match is Krün (08825), next to Garmisch-Partenkirchen. And since I've used and *incomplete* prefix list  , it's totally reasonable that St. Edema has this number and is right were it belongs: south of Munich in the Bavarian Alps next to Austria

Thumbs up for this detail

Yaaay, you figured out the telephone number (Wikipedia is a good thing... )

Great tourist brochure! That makes me want to spend my next holidays there 

I can't wait to see more!

Thank you! You should! You know there is a regional train from Munich, right?

Wow, guys, thanks for all the replies!

Before we enter the last update from St Edmea, I would like to tell you a secret. This is the first 'project' in SimCity 4 that I actually 'finish' – like, ever. And that is thanks to the support I have received from you, the community. In every other project I have undertaken I have met some difficulty, or become bored, and taken a pause and then forgotten all about it. Yet with St Edmea, the support and suggestions I have received (and the wish to bring the diary to a proper end to make the effort justice) has helped me overcome those obstacles.

These, or similar, are probably the thoughts of everyone who gets bitten by the MD bug – what difference it makes to build something on your own, and build something with a purpose to build something not only rewarding to oneself, but also worth showing someone else. This is stunning to me, and a realisation I have only done one and a half year after I started my own MD. Before I have always felt replies complementing (and of course highly appreciated), but not relevant to whether or not I continue. Only now do I realise what so many MD'ers mean when they say that the replies have motivated them to keep going. Your replies have kept me going, not in the way of some 'replies or like hunt', but corroboration that what I share is something that is worth sharing, and that it can mean something to someone else, too. The fact that it's out there and appreciated makes it feel like a more proper narrative and as such it deserves to be followed through. That feeling is what keeps me going.

I'd love to hear your – both fellow MD'ers and non-MD fellow Simcity players – thoughts on this, but let my ramblings no longer procrastrinate the final update from St Edmea. Thus, ladies and gentlemen, I bring you the most posh part of St Edmea, the marina.


      Update VII: The Jachthafen

From the railway station, the marina is easily reached by simply going downhill and from the mediaval city centre it is reached by a short walk along the old road that was once the main road into the mountains and onwards to the Pope in Rome. The low-level areas around the marina were St Edmeas local swamp – good for fishing, but not so good for tourism – until they were drained in the 1920s and apartments for the nouveau riche were built in their place. The first part of the Jachthafen area was constructed in the late 1920s and inspired by the construction style in Germany at the time, incorporating the modern ideals of functionalism and the early Bauhaus movement, yet retaining the old, wall-to-wall structure reminicent of the older parts of St Edmea.


1. *Click* for full size

The farther half of the Jachthafen remained unbuilt until St Edmea's financial growth started in the 1980s and '90s. What had previously been just rocks was cleared and the third arm of the tram network added. Tram traffic to the Jachthafen started in 1996, and a year later the old tracks for turning the tram on the station square were torn up, making possible the reconstruction of the station square.


2.

At the same time started construction of the two pink towers, today owned by the University's own housing authority. The majority of its residents are students, but the larger apartments on the top floors are mostly inhabited by guest professors from all over the world. As the University has grown in both size and popularity, more student accommodation has become a top priority for city planners. This was also the last addition to St Edmea's housing stock, the brown condominium at the top of the stairs. Again, the suites with large panorama windows are reserved for guest professors.


3. *Click* for full size

Construction is going on above the Jachthafen. The old, winding road that is still the main road southwards is being complemented by a motorway. Possibly a new trans-Alpine connection? The residents in the Jachthafen hope not, as the traffic such an artery would attract would ruin the peace and tranquility of the lake view.


4.

Is this the end to the quiet in St Edmea? Let us hope not.

Our own walk, however, has reached its end, and we leave St Edmea along the narrow road clinging to the lakeside cliffs – onwards, to new adventures.

That's it, my friends, from St Edmea. It has been a pleasure to carry it through with you, even if it took one and a half year. I have many more ideas and have already started a few projects. Hopefully these will follow in future updates.

'Til then, see you around.

[Alan_Waters]

Not to say that it is very difficult to do, and, nevertheless, everything is very harmonious, natural and ... I would go here as a tourist. 
Bravo!!! 

[Dantes]

Impressive street network. No corners, all round and beautiful! 

[Guest]

You are finally back! I have been waiting so long for your update, I am happy to see it again ... Always beautiful pictures! I look forward to seeing your new projects, your work always impresses me.

[911Diva]

This is fantastic!  Very realistic!  Makes me want to go for a hike in your beautiful region!!! Great job, I love it!!!

[vinlabsc3k]

Great udate!!

I really love your style!

-

Please don't close the MD!!

[Themistokles]

Hi everyone!

Thanks for all the nice comments! Now, finally the time has come to take this MD to its next chapter -- and bring it closer to what I wanted it to be from the start: A gallery of different kinds of cities.

So this is not a proper, proper update, but as I said in the last update from St Edmea I still have a few ideas hanging around, and one of them is to create a detailed and completely car-free city and now I thought I just might show you what the last incarnation of that idea looks like. There's only one image this time though, because lotting is so much easier when you have just one perspective to deal with.



REPLIES

Alan_waters: Thanks! You're most welcome. Just one thing -- please drop me a line if you'd find the correct regional train at München Hbf

Dantes: Thank you! Now the street network in this one is way different, but I hope you'll like this too.

000: Thank you! And now it has almost been as long again , but I'm back! I'm very much looking forward to your next update though

911Diva: You're most welcome too!

vinlabsc3k: Thank you, that's a very kind thing to say! Btw, turns out I didn't, not really.

korver: Unfortunately we never made it to Meteora . We had to cut it out when we were in Bulgaria and realised the train times didn't match and that it would take so long to go from Greece to Italy. But I'm most definitely going back again some time, and then Thessaloniki, Delphi, Mycenae and many more places are also on the list! And thank you for the kind words!

[Guest]

Well, it will take a lot of time, but the result will be beautiful! You will only make lots to plopper if I understand correctly? I look forward to seeing more, this small piece of the lot is very detailed, and a city without cars ... It's visionary! 

[kbieniu7]

Nice to see you back working on something! I've never liked too much working over big area in Lot Editor, but I keep my finger crossed for you Car-free idea is quite a challenging vision. As far as I know, Oslo is the first city that makes real effort to introduce it. However, those tall blocks don't reminds me landscapes with enthusiasts of car-free cities