Simcity - More than just a game

Simcity is more than just a game for me. It's a deeply entrenched Hobby! Centrinova is a Simcity 4 Region that I have been working on for almost a year now. With Simcity 2013 coming out soon, I decided that I really need to finish this region before the new game rolls around. Many of the cities are named in honour of friends and people important to me. Some are even built to their likeness. Each city has been built with its own distinct style, but all are designed to exhibit realism and continuity with all the other cities in the region. I invite you to come along my journey to fully-developing this 'nation' of Centrinova.

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So Simcity servers are still not stable today

I've completed the towns in Adiago and Spatain. They are both farming ciites with small areas of localized urbanization. The design is based on the rural towns out in the middle of Ontario. It actually complements the rest of the region nicely, in my opinion.

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So the new Simcity isn't working so I decided to go back to the decade-old Simcity 4!!!

I have recently completed work on Comica and have started on Adiago, but I fear that I may not finish this region before I am absorbed into Simcity 2013. But, fear not, I will finish the region at some point. Even if it takes another 10 years, I would still do it. 

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These are from a while ago, but I was pleasantly surprised on December 25th when I played, and forgot about the game's Easter Egg.  All of a sudden there's snow everywhere... Unfortunately it wasn't a white  Christmas where I was.

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Updates to the Region View. I'd say this region is coming along very nicely.

There's been a recent 'mountain carving' in Lazytown, where, essentially, one side of the mountain was cleared out to make more room in the valley. This quite literally started to spur growth in Lazytown, increasing it from a small town, to a modest-sized city.

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Once all the soil and foundations were compacted, development permits were opened up. [it was, unfortunately, not a true megascale project like ones in Dubai!] Several tall towers were slated for construction as landmarks with the project, however, we have seen a fair number of residential and commercial development build up as well. On the south side, there is a waterfront wharf and pier.

This is not a natural beach, so the sea extends down to a great depth, very quickly. Therefore, it was not economical to build a pier sticking out very far. There is also a strong risk for tsunamis, because this reclaimed land lies so close to the sea level. But this is a natural hazard for coastal communities. 

Because of the nature of this as a reclamation project, a lot of the land value is relatively high. [It's already high in Terminius, but even higher here.] As such, there are many new marinas and a yacht club. There is still community housing on the island. -- government subsidized housing for low-income families, which is why there are also some low-wealth structures as well.

Population growth has exceeded 200k already. Pressures of the success of the land reclamation project has pressured the Terminius government to consider additional land reclamation work. However, right now, there is not a good spot to do this. Maybe to the North East, or the South East.... we shall consider it........

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Land reclamation efforts in Terminius have begun.

Did you ever wonder why I named this city Terminius?

Well, it is the terminus for for many transportation modes on the ground, and it is the one city that has invested in space travel and space warfare. In one sense, it's not the terminus, it's hub. But I still like the sound of Terminius better. Anyways, this land reclamation project is intended to expand real estate on the insanely dense town. It will feature a full waterfront and sea-wall. It is expected that the island will be home to 150 000 sims.

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It's been a long time! But I finally have a break between Exams! I've done some work in Audacia. There's some mountain-carving work slated for LazyTown... This is an exciting time! Lots of stuff happening! I hope you stay around for some photos I have to post pretty soon!

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Here are the shipyards in Terminius. They are no ordinary shipyards... they're Spaceship yards!

You see... Terminius lives in this time bubble, where they are so much more advanced than the rest of the nation. They have already specialized in shuttle launches and space craft launches. The power station in Terminius is even a Microwave Power plant. Terminius also has the most density of all the major cities in Centrinova, and the transportation system is so far advanced that it is literally a personal rapid transit to anywhere in the city. (it's just an over-killed subway system.)

But it's an awesome city, it it's own style

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Update of the existing region. I forget what changed... I think I added some developments in New Brancouver... Not sure..

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So, I want to apologize for running on dry fumes right now. And there's a chance I'll be running on dry fumes for a little while longer. I'll try to have at least two things to share each week.

Here is a "village". I haven't figured out yet what to name it, but it's located at the edge of my Island City Terminius. Terminius will be going through some land reclamation projects in the 'non-foreseeable' future, so this prized waterfront property is going to be losing some of its value sadly...  To be honest, I didn't force this development aside for zoning the 3x3 plots. But it looks nice.

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Here's my pathetic attempt at a rail yard...

Things are still a bit slow, sorry guys!

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Sorry it's been a bit slow these days. Recovering from Midterm weeks... or rather... sulking after midterm weeks. This is the ferry terminal at the end of Sunny Bay. It handles regional ferry trips to different islands. Express trains connecting to New Vita run every two hours, coinciding with ferry arrivals and departures. 

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Here's a showcase of the different ports in several major cities.

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Now now people, there's no need to crowd!

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Here is my half finished airport. Parking lot. I actually made a bus bay/bus loop with the remaining space that turned out half decently. I'm pretty happy with that.

There is an overhead walkway to the parking garages. [I couldn't find another bridge.. I might rework this.] Also here is the split level for road vehicles. Downstairs is for arrivals and upstairs is for departure drop-offs. 

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I intend to develop the whole Audacia basin, as the city is large enough I can no longer build farms. Much of the Brancouver basin will also be fully urbanized. Farming will have to be relegated to other parts of the region. 

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The Domestic Terminal. It also has a small drop-off point next to the terminal. The two halves of the airport (international and domestic terminals) are physically linked, but are sufficient on their own.  I have built the terminal in an asymmetric manner in order to show what an airport would look like after several expansion phases. [I might still change the terminal to make it look better...]