I decided to follow a random car from the airport to where their destination inside Neo South Auckland. Where did they end up? The other side of the City, well nearly as they headed to the Aviation Club.
The scenic trip was nice though I will give them that!
Time to go riding the new bus lines in what was at the time the latest suburb to be added to Neo South Auckland, the suburb of Papakura.
Wheels on the bus go round and round
In an upcoming video I we would tour the Papakura-Riccarton Bus Way. One of only two Bus Rapid Transit systems I have ever built in the six years I have owned Cities Skylines!
As the title and heading says; why get stuck in traffic when you can take a helicopter from A to B to C and back again. Let’s go travelling like the elite do across Neo South Auckland!
GET TO DA CHOPPA!
With the new Airport DLC coming out at the end of the month I will have to see how helicopters are dealt with at the new modular airport as currently it is only the Metropolitan Airport that handles them (apart from the stand alone helicopter stops).
Why should I sit in traffic being the traffic when I can take reliable transit from A to B to C and back again quick and cheaply? The answer is I would not. This is why in my Mixed Reality cities built in Cities Skylines there are extensive transit systems following a strict hierarchy. A strict hierarchy as each mode has its optimal efficiency point before diseconomies of scale kick on from inefficiencies.
In Part Two of Touring Neo South Auckland we jump on some more transit to tour the City
Yes the City Centre is mainly car free apart from the main arterial roads taking people and goods in and out of the City Centre area.
The TL:DR answer on can City Centres go Car-Free? See the video below
You need to get from the Airport to the City Centre or even out the Papatoetoe, the first urban area established in Neo South Auckland. So how will you do this? Avoid the masses and go with 19 other passengers in a helicopter? Or travel with 810 others in a Metro train that goes under and above ground. Heck if you don’t mind a couple of transfers and a bit of a scenic route you could even take the tram. Either way in Neo South Auckland, and Cities Skylines there will be a way no matter the transit option
Buzz Buzz or Choo choo. Travel your way
One thing I think I like to pride myself on in my 6 years building Mixed Reality cities in Cities Skylines is the diverse and comprehensive transit systems that support the spatial form of any given city.
From first house going in to fully mature large cities the transit system is always there for residents and businesses bot new and established alike. Even with the Rush Hour mod that simulates the 24 hour day including weekends, events, rush hours, and even shift working congestion is more localised than say wide spread as would be seen in the IRL Auckland.
But enough from me. Let’s take our first tour of the city using just the transit system.
Part Two we continue with Neo South Auckland having various transit modes from Bus Rapid Transit, metro rail, trams and even helicopters.
After a break I am slowing getting back into streaming and creating Cities Skylines content using Neo South Auckland as my current example.
I usually upload both the RAW version for those wanting the entire run through of a city building session, as well as snippets highlighting specific elements like a piece of Urban Design or a Scene.
My latest raw run through from last week can be seen below. The focus was on building the supporting infrastructure for the Riccarton Centre I was also building alongside. This is my second ever attempt in 6 years to build Bus Rapid Transit (it is not my normal play style as I use the rail types more) given I have actual dedicated BRT assets available to do so.
So how did it map out and where will this lead next run through?
I will fetch highlights of the completion of Riccarton Centre, the set up of Riccarton South as a residential support node, further establishment of more residential for the City, and the full operation of one if not two of the Rapid Bus Transit Lines.
The photos below give a preview of this:
More soon.
From time to time I like to add scenes to my Mixed Reality city creations in Cities Skylines. A scene is a focal point of a City you can go back to when either demonstrating something or just want somewhere to go when not busy doing the city building of infrastructure, zones, lay transit lines down, rinse and repeat.
Scenes can be as something as small as doing a divided highway when median barriers are not present or the highway splits off, or something more complex as a multi-lane motorway toll plaza.
In this post I showcase both a quickfire and more comprehensive set of scenes that adds realism to your city.
From time to time a two way highway or even road ends up being grade separated. Cities Skylines when it comes to divided roads is often a bit crude, but 10-15 minutes later a quick scene can make that highway division just that little bit more realistic:
I must get node controller to straighten out those kinks in the highway merges.
Some days a Mayor, Premier, Chancellor or the boffins down in the Transport Department reconcile to themselves that motorists should pay that little bit extra for using a section of motorway or road. In Neo South Auckland there are toll plazas on the intra city motorways that feed into the City while the inter city motorways that form a ring around the City are free. However, the toll plazas in themselves are a bit plain if they were so I decided to make a scene on one half of the toll plaza (that can be easily replicated on the other half). This is what I came up with:
The signs are animated as I made Lane 8 closed to add a bit more spice to the scene. It takes around two hours to build a scene like this however, it is easy to replicate using Procedural Objects onto the other half of the motorway. Means what took two hours first time round should be all done second time around with some good old fashioned copy + paste.
Scenes can create focal points in your city and can be both something as simple as a divided highway scene, or as comprehensive as a detailed toll plaza.
I will get some ‘How to’s’ on one of my staples in all my cities: the transit hub! Because Transit Hubs make the City go round – or rather not as much stuck in traffic!
After my previous Mixed Reality of South Auckland had to be put to one side for IRL reasons (yes as a Spatial Planner I use Cities Skylines as a communication device for work) I started a new map with new objectives or gameplay.
Below are the two full format versions of Neo South Auckland. I will run highlights on specific scenes like details, toll plazas, traffic or urban hierarchies in highlight videos and blog posts.
New City New Map (previous City needed for IRL work reasons). Still Mixed Reality – Still South Auckland
Day 2 New City New Map (previous City needed for IRL work reasons). Still Mixed Reality – Still South Auckland
I will be slowing down my game play quite a bit with this City with focus on scenes and details like the above toll plaza as we progress. Yes my old fashioned macro detailing will still be there as we do urban development and infrastructure but if I see a scene like a toll plaza we can do or even ramp signals I will drop down and do a walk through on them.
This is all part of my Mixed Reality style of play where I blend virtual and real world concepts into the game and cities.
Any questions feel free to leave them in the comments.
Ben's Cities 