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.

From a Cims Point of View: We Go First Person Mode in Antarctica City #CitiesSkylines

From God View to the View of the Cim

One thing not often done, or at least recorded in Screenshots and video is what the City is like from Cim or ground level perspective in the game. For me I love dropping down to First Person Mode to see what is going on a Cim level and see all the interactions in place – or rather traffic fouling up as I forgot to do something in that area.

Speaking of which First Person mode whether it be the free camera or riding transit, it is great for investigating where problems in the City might show up and getting it fixed as it wont always show up in birds-eye or God view. First person mode also makes for great pictures or video of your City so here is one of Antarctica City after I recently expanded the Heavy Rail.

A first person view of Antarctica City

Antarctica City from Papakura and Pacifica. To the left is the City Centre, to the right is the Downtown.

For those wondering why all the mid-rise? It is because I use the Euro Theme by default meaning I get the Euro based buildings that cap out at eight storeys where as the International theme has unlimited height. Ironically though (or not) the Euro theme buildings and designs allow for higher density (in terms of population per set area) compared to all but the largest of super-talls in the International theme.

I have also done an Industry 101-301 series on Twitch. I will place these into YouTube at the conclusion of the series.

Twitch: Palpatine001

One Metro + One Micro District = Another Day in #CitiesSkylines (Grand City of Solaria)

Got to move and house those Cims

Another day and more work to do in the Grand City of Solaria. Recently I did a podcast on Micro Districts and the Soviet Union (see: Micro Districts, the Soviet Union and Modern City Planning). In the most recent streams of Cities Skylines I put the Micro District theory to the test as well as finally building the new Metro system to serve the City.

The following three videos look at where the Grand City of Solaria is or was at as of the 17th June before I started the Harbour District, followed by the Metro being built, and two Micro Districts being laid out.

The Grand City of Solaria as of June 17

The Complexities of Building a Multi Tier Metro System

Building Micro Districts

I did manage to get one of the three Metro Lines working as well. The other two will be done once the Harbour District, and Palpatine Shores are both built up. You might also see the Northern/Southern Lights are enabled when it is night time giving some absolute stunning shots.

Once I have the Harbour District set up I will get some night shots of the Monorail working as it goes through the entire City. The night shots are just stunning.

Next post will cover the Harbour District and Palpatine Shores!

Fixing a City in #CitiesSkylines #CitiesInASnap

Quick fixes vs Big Infrastructure

Over the weekend I was part of Cities In a Snap – a competition hosted by Cazgem where competitors have two hours to either build a City or complete a scenario. In this instance it was completing the Traffic Scenario where you have a limited amount of time to get traffic above 82% and the population above 35,000. This was achieved inside the two hours!.

Below is the entire video (including a couple of interviews with Cazgem himself) on how using quick fixes to restore the traffic and get the population back up.

Not a single six lane highway was built. All that was used was inside the existing road corridors with I think only one or two new 4-lane roads built. Some cycle super highways were also built with transit going in at the end. The point being retrofitting and upgrading Real Life Cities do not need multi billion dollar large infrastructure fixes. The small nimble quick fixes are often more than adequate without degrading the urban environment (in fact the urban environment was improved as the Low Land Value flags disappeared).

Progress on Palpatine City AND OUR FIRST TROLLEY BUS #CitiesSkylines

Slowly getting use to the new DLC + Japan Content Pack

After a small interruption on Sunday I have managed to settle back into Cities Skylines DLC + Japan Content Pack with the continued build of Palpatine City. Palpatine City uses the Craters Fall Map that came with the new DLC and is based around a small flat area in the centre of map surrounded by mountains while criss-crossed by rivers.

Crater Falls that will become Palpatine City

It might not look like much land area but that does not mean NOT to use your imagination. So let’s take an initial tour shall we?

I did not have my usual Mods and assets until last night (still do not have my Tram roads yet) so using the Vanilla tools proved to be interesting if not derpy.

But one thing I do love about the new DLC is the transit hubs in which I got two laid down thus far. They being the Inter-City/Metro Bus Hub (thus opening connections with the region rather than rely on an inter-city train station which is both expensive and floods young cities with more tourists than the infrastructure can handle at that time).

I managed to set up a Salmon and a general fishing industry that catches, processes and either sells fish at the market or sells it for export thus generating revenue for the City.

Trolley Buses! I despite not being a fan of them (cheap version of a tram) I decided to build a Trolley Bus circuit to serve the tourist area of Palpatine City.

As of last night this is where we are with Palpatine City:

The City has matured into a nice young town with most amenities now provided for the population. The next phase is to bolster the Industry which still faces strong demand as well as making sure we have workers for the factories, mines and farms. Later on in the week I will be starting on the City Centre, and Metropolitan Airport Complex.

Don’t forget I stream nightly on https://www.twitch.tv/palpatine001

Check the Twitch page for scheduled times where I will alternate between Cities Skylines and Stellaris Federations.

The Lock-Down Streams. #CitiesSkylines , Stellaris Federations and Plenty of DERP, and Traffic Jank

Streaming while in lock-down

My Twitch Channel and times I stream at can be found here: https://www.twitch.tv/palpatine001

With New Zealand going into lock down as of tonight due to Convid-19 I have decided to up my Cities Skylines and Stellaris Federations streams to 6-nights a week at 7pm. The purpose of the Streams is to give people an outlet to talk, maybe meet others (online) and watch me Derp Cities Skylines as I did earlier this week with the Forestry Industry.

I will continue with Valhalla City even with Sunset Harbour coming out this Friday although given how the Mods always break with a new DLC I might start a new City and run it concurrently with Valhalla.

DERPS

If you are thinking it is 90 minutes of me building a City you might be in for a surprise when the Derps do roll and they do roll in. Such as I spend 90 minutes building a Forestry Industry and wonder why the Furniture Factory was not working. The answer will have you going DERP!

Traffic Jank

If I am not building then I am trying to un-jank my traffic as seen below:

It was fixed in the following stream which I will post next blog post.

So come join me at 7 for the Derps, the Janks, the massive battles and all things traffic in Cities Skylines and Stellaris Federations!

Twitch Channel: https://www.twitch.tv/palpatine001

WHOA – PEOPLE USING TRANSIT – WHO WOULD HAVE THOUGHT SO WHEN ACTUAL DECENT FREQUENCIES ARE PROVIDED! #CitiesSkylines Highlight

Day 1 and already having to adjust bus frequencies

After some glitches with Twitch I finally got streaming and recording. In the stream I noticed a sea of people heading to a bus station even though it has just opened 5 hours earlier.

A highlight from today’s stream with PEOPLE USING TRANSIT – GO FIGURE:

Provide it and people will use it!

The mass of people already transferring from Metro Rail to the buses in the newly formed Manukau City Centre demonstrates what happens when you put in the transit infrastructure before an urban development not as an afterthought as Auckland does (see: Urban Development in Southern Auckland (Paerata) Demonstration of Infrastructure Deficit Model )

Already I had to increase frequencies on one bus route and will be watching another carefully as it hits 85% occupancy utilisation. Also a summary of thoughts on urban geography and future streams (see: https://www.twitch.tv/palpatine001/ )

The full one hour video will be up Friday morning.

#CitiesSkylines , Urban Islands and Urban Geographies. Stitching it all together!

Using Urban Islands to balance a City

Last week I talked about the three Urban Geographic concepts I use in City building that can be translated out into real life Cities. They were:

Planning and City Building
Expansion
Consolidation

You can read up more on that here: Expanding the City while Riding the Metro. #CitiesSkylines

Urban Islands

A concept I developed in Cities Skylines that I advocate for out in the real world is the Urban Islands. Urban Islands are where transport infrastructure, water or Green Belts break up the urban mass of a City giving an island effect. However, for Urban Islands to be Urban Islands one little feature needs to happen first – and that I explain in my first video here:

City Building and Urban Islands

In Part Two I zoom into the new Trade School then take a tour on a couple of the buses:

If you would like to know more about Urban Islands and other Urban Geography concepts I study and advocate for (including dual core cities) give me a yell in the comments below.

In the mean time Shop Safe!

I realise in Part Two the Cities Skylines video was rather loud. I will make sure the volume is down on the next stream.

Expanding the City while Riding the Metro. #CitiesSkylines

Urban Development in full flight in Grand Manukau/Layton Cities

After some path finding issues with the transit system and realising you can not start a Metro Line at a “deactivated” station (a station that has been built but not online to receive passengers) I got some good old fashioned urban development underway in Grand Manukau/Layton Cities.

The objective this week was two-fold:

Establishment of the Ore Industry
Continued residential expansion to support a City Centre and the new Industry

So the Ore Industry has been established and is functioning well while Parnell and Franklin District have both come on-stream.

At the moment I am in Expansion Mode – that is pretty much cookie-cutter standardised urban development through the Twin Cities and Urban Islands Urban Geography concepts. This is because the major infrastructure is already laid down from the earlier Planning and Building Mode thus all that is happening is existing infrastructure is simply being extended rather than adding entirely new Lines and so on. The other mode is Consolidation/Mature Mode where I have stopped expanding the City and am going through the existing urban area either upzoning or optimising the infrastructure for efficient operations.

Let’s Ride the Metro

So to start the videos off today we get to ride the newly expanded Metro Line 1:

Let’s ride Metro Line 1

Checking Out the Ore Industry

I built some Ore Industry – this is how it went:

Ore Industry – after a quick ride on the Metro

And finally a look at the new urban areas of Parnell and Franklin District. Also a final drop down to First Person mode to see the Downtown and LOTS OF TREES!

Bus lane woes, logistics and a new urban area

Next week we are traffic problem finding and bringing online another heavy rail line to help remove some of the road congestion. Also more urban expansion and the placement of the Lemonade Factory in time for Christmas!

In the meantime – Shop Safe!

#CitiesSkylines City Building. The Subway is Fixed in Grand Manukau/Layton Cities

Building of the Downtown and East End

After the issues with the Mods things got back on track. So here we are with this week’s stream a tad late – but it is here.

This week I focus on building the Downtown, the East End, and the first ever Metro line for Grand Manukau/Layton Cities. Layton City Downtown is a Tourist area while the East End is a Leisure area, which is controlled using the game’s District commands. As usual the first video is also of the Q+A from questions that come up from the previous week’s thread.

Lets dive in shall we?

Let’s Get Building in #CitiesSkylines Part 1. Q+A and Intro

Let’s Get Building in #CitiesSkylines Part 2 – Building the Downtown.

Let’s Get Building in #CitiesSkylines Part 3 – On the Metro

I must say the Metro Overhaul Mod gives beautiful renders. I used the Classic version rather than the Modern version for the Metro line. However, other Lines as they are built might be the modern version.

Next week we continue with City building as I continue to extend the East End and Watson Heights. I will also start laying the infrastructure down for the Ore Industry as well.