Saint Martin Island Map, City Building Contest, Fall 2016

Another picture from me. Still building...

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Spoiler: Hotel on a hill

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An early capture with airport, seaport, refinery, docks, power plant and manufacturing facilities.

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I begin my city. I hope I will persevere because I'm rather slow in building my cities.

Spoiler: Main road network

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My CXXL suddenly got so slow even opening the game, I got rid of that, and started Swanö - a Swedish island - in CXL Platinum. A Swedish city without trams would not be so great anyways.

As usual, I started with the centre of old town. It's just a beginning though.

Spoiler: Swanö Centrum

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Looks decent. So, are you in this contest?

 

Thanks, I'm up for the contest. We'll see if I will be able to finish by the deadline though.

 

Here some pictures of my contest city, actually smaller one. I'm gonna build a few towns or villages in the island.

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I am very slow dealing with the details of Alhamn, the major city on Swanö Island. With me being so slow, maybe I might go for the best "rural," "green" or "historical" city.

Spoiler: Alhamn Panoramic View

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That's going well. I like the way you have started organising it.

Castle location is a no brainer. . . well done.

Also the waterfront is looking good. All in all this is the way a town there would probably evolve through the centuries. . . medieval castle in a protected spot, then a 18th - 19th century part on the sea, out of the walls. . . then a more modern part as i see it at the bottom of the photo.

I am not very sure about the train station for two reasons:

a) not really sure what a commuting train is doing on an island.
b) i don't get the location of the station. . . it's on a hill. . . usually stations are on full flat parts of the terrain, anywhere in the world.

If i was keeping a train on the plans, i 'd probably do it on the flat areas, mid left part of the photo. . . still it's a question on an island except if if if etc. . .

All in all it looks good and natural and it seems right on track

 

Thanks for the encouraging words. When it comes to the castle, it's a no brainer to be honest; but sometimes the simplest is the best one, so I am taking my shot here.

I like to demonstrate the historical ages the city has witnessed throughout the centuries, like my previous city Ardemica.

To be honest, I am not very convinced with the railroads anyway. I thought of making up a story of an earlier source of raw materials, which might have justified the tracks, but it's not a colonial landscape, it's a tiny Swedish island.
But I thought the use of railtracks might brought about a positive reaction from the audience. I mean, the absence of railtracks could backfire as well. And the exact spot of the station is not good, I tried to connect the seaborn and railborne transportation, but it seems weird, I agree.

It seems like, the train station is gonnna take its place in the dusty pages of history.

 

Yes, yes, no brainer is said as a good thing of course .

The castle is at a very logical place to be and i like its location.

 

Look. . .
Regarding the train. . . i fully understand what you say about what people here expect to see. And yes, if someone posts something with a railroad it must be something convincing, otherwise it 'll be like the airports we see from time to time with loads of A380's sitting there and a 1100 meters runway facing to the city. Grrrrrr. . . .

The problem / question / issue with train at this comp. has nothing to do with your city of course. In my mind, someone has to be convicing since this is an island.

Islands do have trains. . . it can be a huge port or a densely populated area. . . Staten Island NY for example does have a commuting train and it's not built up with skyscrapers from left to right. . . so it's always a matter of analogies and how things are done i 'd guess.

I would not eliminate it. I just underline it's a hard part for this comp if people are not willing to put the effort to make it correctly.

Edit: Staten Island commute train

 

As for location. . . it can be near the port, it may not need to be. If it's a commuting train it can be other side of the city and some cargo line and a small cargo station being there for just port use.

All in all i like what i see.

 

@BahadirB, you can smoothen your roads by using Pharmist's Over Water Roads (bridge menu) first and then replacing them with the common roads.

Also, I find the number of big churches a bit irritating, to be honest. On the other hand, I am maybe too much into realism... it's a game, after all

@nicknick, you can edit your posts

Spoiler: Harbour is growing

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Well, my original idea was actually to establish a commuter train. As it's gonna be a low-density-population island, I was thinking of a few train stations (one near the industrial harbor, and one at the airport, and a few occassional commuter stations (on the outskirts of the city).

I am making up my mind thanks to yours and others' comments, I am not sure how much I can do but I feel like I am up for the effort to make it correctly. So your suggestion of relocating the station to the northwestern area of the city sounds okay, and perhaps I can establish a central bus station next to the passanger harbor, which would make it more realistic in my humble opinion.

 

Thanks kipate, I might have missed that mod, that's my bad. I was having some difficulty after getting used to Drazic's mod for smoothening German roads for the XXL.

I am into very much realism as well, but I never thought about the number of churches. I suppose, two churches in the medieval castle are too much; one is enough; but I'd like to keep another one beyond the city walls (but still in the city centre), and it's very difficult to get a good-textured yet not so "huge" church, I'll take your suggestion into consideration!

Edit: And I am not sure whether it's worth or not but kipate, I like the city you are building!

 

Kipate, this is excellent city. I believe, the harbour is gonna be perfect and these roundabouts are so smooth. Any tutorials for making smooth roundabouts?

 

If you cheat and unlocker all buildings, you may find the St. Nicholas Church it is smaller and looks quite generic.

Spoiler: The real Church

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Ah, thank you, @selodinger Seeing your city, I believe yours is going to be fantastic, too!
Also, here the link for the media: sp | XLNation - Cities XXL look at the comment section of the media, there the author posted a video tutorial. You do need a no-collision mod for the streets, this one: Changes - Small Collision Box Mod
Try to experiment with the mod, before you put a roundabout into your city!