Can City Centres go Car-Free?
The TL:DR answer on can City Centres go Car-Free? See the video below
City Centre area is Car Free – A Brief Highlight using #CitiesSkylines
Author: Ben Ross - Talking Auckland
Admin and author of Talking Auckland Blog ( http://voakl.net )
Riding the Helicopter and the Metro in Neo South Auckland #CitiesSkylines
Buzz Buzz and Choo Choo as it might be said as we go above and underground moving around the City
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
Touring Neo South Auckland Part 1 of 3 #citiesskylines
Dropping down to First Person Mode to ride the transit system
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.
Long (Raw) Playthrough of Neo South Auckland, Establish Bus Rapid Transit Infrastructure to Support Riccarton Centre. #CitiesSkylines
Going to try BRT’s again
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.
Adding Scenes both Quick and Comprehensive in #CitiesSkylines
Divided Highways and Toll Plazas – all about adding the scenes
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.
Divided Highway
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.
Motorway Toll Plaza
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!
Take 2 in doing a Mixed Reality Creation of South Auckland. Days 1 and 2
Previous version needed for IRL reasons so working on new map
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.
Road and Transport Hierarchy: Planning, Building and Optimisation #CitiesSkylines #MixedReality
Getting the transport system right – both vanilla and modded
In this longer highlight I go through the basic notions of Road Hierarchy and its planning, building and optimisation. Note: the City is still in very early stages so transit and cycling infrastructure will be in its infancy (localised) until the City further establishes.
I do cover both Vanilla and Modded game play styles.
Building and Optimising Interchanges in #CitiesSkylines​ (non Vanilla)
Short highlight on getting best bang for buck out of interchanges
I run through how to build and optimise an interchange over a motorway. The interchange used was the YumblTV interchange available on the Cities Skylines Steam Workshop.
If you are wondering about transit and cycling infrastructure, this will get placed later on once the zones are operational.
Day 2 Recreating South Auckland (Mixed Reality) in #CitiesSkylines​ (all about the Infrastructure)
Settling the infrastructure down, going through what Road Hierarchies mean (full play through)
In Day 2 of recreating South Auckland as part of a Mixed Reality build in Cities skylines I go through the motions of laying down the core transport infrastructure. This is a full run through, I will have separate posts covering the highlights of Road Hierarchies, and Transport Optimisations.
So why Road Hierarchies?
Would you put residential on a six lane arterial road, or send trucks and buses down a tiny road?
Yeah.
Next up: Day 3 – preparing the zones and establishing the city
New Map, New City, Day 1: Building South Auckland in #CitiesSkylines #MixedReality
Using Mixed Reality to build South Auckland as it might have been
After giving my second ever only Winter map a go (Antarctica City) I went back over to my stock standard Temperate Maps reopening Vanilla Coast to have another crack it (the first had to stop as the Industries DLC had come out when the city was in its end phases).
With that I introduce South Auckland, a Mixed Reality build named after my IRL home sub-region here in Auckland, New Zealand. If you are wondering what Mixed Reality is the term means the blending of Virtual and Real World concepts for the purpose of education, entertainment or showcase. Given I stream Cities Skylines on Twitch the Mixed Reality version is more around education as I go through the real life motions of building a City in its various stages of its life on a virtual platform.
Day 1 of South Auckland, a Mixed Reality creation named after my home sub region:
Day 1 looks at the methodology I use in laying the foundations of the City. Basically I am doing the equivalent of the real life Auckland (Spatial) Plan in working out how things will be shaped followed by laying down key transport routes the spatial form be influenced by.
Note: This is the full play through of this particular segment of Cities Skylines. From time to time I will publish Highlights as separate blog posts.
Next up: Day 2 and looking at Hierarchies
Ben's Cities 