All mods well all but one work, dabbling in first airport build
So the Airport DLC was released earlier in the week and yes I decided to get it. Ironically Neo South Auckland had land set aside for such an airport before the DLC came out. What was not known is the dynamics needed for a new modular airport that can be built from the DLC.
In any case owing to map limitations and the existing city I was limited to a small-scale international airport complete with a museum, and cargo terminal.
Neo South Auckland International Airport
Apologies for the washout, South Pacific internet, and OBS were having a moment. I will get higher resolution media later on when no streaming.
As we can see I built a single runway (most of my contemporaries were going for more complex multi runway airports) with the following:
Classic Terminal set was used rather than modern or ultra-modern sets
The 345kv and 230kv transmission lines at the eastern end sent underground so as not to conflict with the approach to the runway
Transit consists of metro, bus and trams. Helicopter services also retained as well!
Single Runway, dual taxiway in east-west direction (set by Real Time Mod)
3 Large Gates, 4 medium gates and 4 small gates. There is apron parking for another 6 gates if need be. Two airline lounges also provided
3 cargo gates at the west end
Aviation museum
Hotels and Airline HQ provided
Road access to intercity motorway, and the City Centre
It did take about four attempts to get the terminal placement right.
Of course, more to do as the front of the terminal is a bit sparse and the old tram stop is now redundant. But then again when building a new airport, urban renewal was always going to occur.
The DLC is good fun although I am aware of game performance issues caused by the Taxiways.
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.
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:
Dividing that highway
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!
We stripped the assets, we streamlined the mods, we did the spatial planning and away we go
2020 is well and truly here as are the streams (Sunday, Monday and Fridays) on all things Cities Skylines. I also marked 2020 by doing a bit of a clean out of the game in regards to assets and mods to allow the game to run more smoothly. This means also time for a new City using a map I have used before and quite enjoyed (owing to the hydro dam potential).
With all that allow me to introduce Grand Manukau/Layton Cities using the Los Dominos Map with Theme Mixer 2 enabled by TheOwl:
Grand Manukau/Layton Cities
As you can see I have already placed in some highways, bypasses, flood walls (the river floods often once the dam is built) and the cargo rail station. The map is actually a tropical dessert map but using the Theme Mixer 2 I have made it more green – call it the wonders of irrigation and terraforming. However, the temperatures still get above 30C in the day.
So far this is what we have before the first house was built in last night’s stream:
And as someone pointed out this junction looks like Jabba the Hutt:
As you might have seen things like bus lanes and light rail are already laid out in a basic formation using the Infrastructure-ahead model. That is I run the basic transport infrastructure ahead of urban development so it is ready to go once the development happens. Unlike Auckland which follows the infrastructure-deficit model which is build the houses first then think about the infrastructure in 30 years time. Remember that is think about it, it will take another 30 years to even start building it.
Light Rail and bus lanes ready to go for when the City Centre starts to get built!
And with that as seen in last night’s stream the first house did manage to get built for our first resident!
The two streams in setting the City up. For some reason Facebook thought the music was Copyright when Paradox has said it can be used for streaming – so go figure!
And the first house and first bus marking the birth of the City
You will need to watch the above video on Facebook owing to that stupid copyright issue that does not exist.
We run the infrastructure AHEAD of the developments – not behind
A Tweet about Melbourne failing Transit Orientated Developments annoyed me as I know Auckland is just as bad in doing such developments as well. This is why Japan it is normal and not a second thought is given in doing TOD’s as standard.
The point of the billions we spent on Regional Rail Link was supposed to mean we did PROPER TRANSIT-ORIENTED DEVELOPMENT in #Melbourne's West & not repeat mistakes we made locking outer east into car dependancy. Fix the suburban bus network NOW!https://t.co/eoQ3PDRRAw#springstpic.twitter.com/QrzR0lWFAv
Given I have one mature City and another just starting out I cranked open Cities Skylines and did a four part stream into Transit Orientated Developments and how they are done in the game.
Transit Orientated Developments and Cities Skylines
Part One
Part 2
Part 3
Part 4 – Wheels on the Bus Goes Round and Round as we travel down the extended metro bus route
Always fun in first person mode and I will stream some of the game in first person mode!
Even with game limitations around multi-use zoning and developments Transit Orientated Developments can still be done and demonstrated in game as seen above.
Full stream on Monday as I build an Ore industry site and watch the residential building finally get underway (darn weekends).
I got the new Industries DLC for Cities Skylines as soon as it came out earlier this week. For a teaser on what this new DLC you can see the trailer below:
As with any new DLC the mods that I use always break and we have to wait for updates. Rather surprisingly the only mod that did break was the Transport Manager – President Edition and even then that was minor (the toll booths wouldn’t charge the traffic going through them). So I was able to load the game up straight away with a new map and start delving into this new content and the resulting game play style.
For those wondering where San Layton City is, I have put the City on hold until the Transport Manager is fixed as the City is very reliant on it. Once the mod is fixed I will be retrofitting the City to incorporate the Industries.
In the meantime it is time to create a new city with one of the new maps.
Introducing Manukau
I loaded up one of the new maps from the Industries DLC and named it Manukau (named after the core urban area for Southern Auckland the place where I reside).
Let’s take a look at the new map:
The map Manukau is on is one with a major river and several secondary river with major hill ranges at the back end of the map and the ocean at the front. The buildable area is low at 60% but it was also very rich in natural resources needed for industry. And of course motorway and rail connects are plentiful.
Without further-ado lets get building:
One motorway connection, a roundabout with spurs for latter development, and a 6 lane avenue heading into the area where the city will start its life. Looking at that picture above the farming and ore industry will be to the right and the first residential and commercial areas to the left. The rail line is at the top of the picture allowing me to get inter-city connections straight away.
Now for some Industries road/engineering porn with one of the new features in the DLC: concrete roads:
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Of course one of the new features that came in the (free) update was TOLL ROADS! Yes sir I can now charge my cims and freight traffic a toll to use my roads. So that is what I did on the two entrances leading in Manukau River Town and Wiri:
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At the moment the toll is $1 for cars and $2 for trucks.
INDUSTRY!
To start with I began with farming and ore. The reason being that your starting City needs food and the coal fired power station needs ore (I won’t build the nuclear station just yet as that would be overkill). The forestry (wood) is on the other side of the map so unless I plant trees en-mass this early on for now we will be importing wood for the beginning stages of the Manukau.
Let’s check out the beginning of the ore industry and the rail terminal:
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As I said earlier I am using a 420MW coal fired station until the City is big enough to handle a nuclear power station. As for the mine? It is an underground mine so the foot print is small.
Farming!
The particular area where Manukau was founded is rich in natural resource for farming so what do we do? We build farms consisting of: cows, sheep, pigs, fruit trees, wheat, corn, cotton and whatever they grow in the glass house.
Of course this is where supply management comes into play. I have a bakery that produces pastries for the initial stages of the City. For the bakery to work I need Animal Products and Flour. To get Animal Products I need animal farms which need crops for them to feed on. For flour I also need crops as well. Just to make it more fun you need silos and warehouses to store raw products, intermediary products or the finished product ready for distribution. In times of shortages those same storage facilities are needed to store the imported materials.
The good news is my bakery is able to produce those pastries, the bad news? Flour is constantly short but that is owing to not enough workers or workers barracks to house the workers. So next time I load the game I will be building more residential areas.
Let’s take a look at the farms and bakery:
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The Real Time mod means Industry does not work at night (at this point in time) so it makes logistics just that more interesting. And yes your value-added products do make the City money!
As for where the industry is:
And now for some logistics stuff:
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Some extra transport pictures including TRAFFIC JAM at the toll road:
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At the moment there is only one junction to the motorway. But I have laid down three more spur roads that will also connect up to the motorways as well giving more connection options. And yes they will be tolled!
Finally some urban shots of Manukau River Town:
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If you are up to handle ever more complex supply management chains from raw materials to unique factories including ship yards and food factories then I do recommend the Industries DLC.
If not then the free update that included Toll Roads will even have the most urban of urbanists rubbing their hands at the toll booths going CHING with all the traffic passing through them.
Hopefully will squeeze some game time in this weekend to allow further work on the farming industry.
I have been a bit busy on the Urban Geography in real life side of the ledger meaning not much time with Cities Skylines at the moment.
However, I have managed to squeeze a few hours in there and there and have continued to work on the Downtown District.
The two cruise ship terminals have also finally started attracting cruise ships into the City now meaning more tourists and more revenue.
I also had to replace all my substations after an asset swap in the STEAM Workshop caused the deletion of the old model that I was using. No matter all the substations are replaced and power is flowing back into the City from Nuclear City!
With Downtown established and maturing I will turn my attention to Sheffield Square as well as connecting the City Centre up to the International Airport with heavy rail (it already has a monorail line running through it.
Auckland Transport Executives and the Chair again prove that they are talk and no action when it comes to the livability of a City especially its City Centre. The latest from AT in regards to Customs Street having busses removed to improve the flow of cars through a core City Centre area made me shake my head at the minimum. Greater Auckland were not impressed either:
A phrase that sends shivers down my spine "buses will be removed to improve traffic flow"https://t.co/nQoWqvQfvj
To turn Customs Street into a 6 lane car sewer will sever Britomart and the Ferry Terminal from Queen Street and the core of the City Centre that follows Queen Street to uptown. Thoroughfare traffic should be using the motorway network and Grafton Gully if people need to get from east Auckland to the Harbour Bridge and vice versa. Customs Street would become an excellent transit mall for busses and maybe Light Rail linking Britomart to Symonds Street, Fanshawe Street and the Light Rail Lines heading to Wynyard Quarter and the North Shore. Speaking of which where is 6 lanes of Customs Street cars meant to go when part of it and Fanshawe Street will reduce those lanes to make way for Light Rail.
Again Auckland Transport Executives not exactly thinking nor seeing the value of Integrated Planning.
Cities Skylines Urban Design Offers Lessons
While marco-level planning is what I usually do it does not mean I am going to skimp out in creating quality public spaces for my Cims and the tourists. And of course the City Centre is the prime public space.
Large roads will still be seen but they will not be running through the guts of the City Centre but rather forming the border with smaller 4 lane roads feeding into the guts of the City Centre from the 6-lane roads and then the 2-lane roads, shared streets, lane-ways, transit malls and pedestrians malls forming the interior network.
You will see 4-lane roads running through the City Centre but these roads will often contain one or more of the following:
bus lanes
Light Rail
Cycle ways
This allows transit and service vehicles to have continued access to core of the City Centre as people, goods and even the trash have to be moved around (and out of) the City Centre.
But I am not going to put large 6-lane road or the huge 12 lane road right through the middle of my City Centre as it would split it in half causing severance (and a tonne load of noise)
If you are wondering about this 6-laner that has two bus lanes with that runs right by the Central Station there is a reason why I have done this. First of all a large 12-platform heavy rail (with subway underneath) station to place it in the middle of the City Centre would sever the place even worse than the 6 or even 12 lane roads. So in this instance the station sits on the southern border of San Layton City Centre to which (and keeping consistent with above) a large road forms that norther border of said City Centre. Remember heavy rail is bringing in commuters from longer distances so to travel within the City Centre itself you have:
Subway
Bus (hence the bus lanes)
Cycleways
Monorail
Light Rail
All which are less space intensive!
In any case this is the urban geographic layout of San Layton City – to which I will be focusing on the City Centre:
San Layton City is a dual-core City with multiple satellites all connected by either road or some form of transit (usually rail).
If you are wondering what the following picture and subsequent pictures like it are this is the closest I get to a Shared Space:
While these are pedestrian or transit malls:
Right without further ado here is 9am Sunday morning in San Layton City Centre:
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Monorail does look quite Gotham:
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Street Trees do wonders:
And now for Central Station and some big roads – oh and a sky cafe. You can also see the monorail running through the City Centre as well:
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And now the main road that connects the City Centre up to the Satellites further east. Centre Bank is the main leisure area on the other side of the rail station:
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Finally the second bit minor City Centre – Washington Heights and how that is built around a bus station. Again the larger roads form the boundaries with smaller roads often transit malls or shared spaces forming the interior network :
This is how you outlay your City Centre. Not with big 6 lane car sewers but with public spaces and extensions of living rooms using shared spaces, pedestrian and transit malls and of course transit lanes!!!
Even 9am on a Sunday the City Centre is teeming with Cims!
There are several ways I like to keep my cities green in Cities Skylines:
Power production will often come from low-carbon emitting sources including hydro or nuclear. I do use the Waste to Energy Incinerators that produce small amounts of air and ground pollution but they make up no more than 1% of total power production
Recycling centres and recycling is a must
EV cars are encouraged city-wide
Mass deployment of mass transit
Street Trees
Urban Forests
Green self-sustained residential buildings in some Districts
Okay that was a few more than several 😉
The big two pollution emitters are power production and transport (followed by heavy industry). Heavy industry pollution is handled by urban forests and the Filter Waste policy meaning factories have to filter their sewerage before it heads out to the sewerage plants. This leaves power production and transport.
Power production
I follow what I preach when it comes to power production for a City. So if I say I believe in 100% (or near to it) Low Carbon Power Production then I follow through into Cities Skylines:
For San Layton City:
1,449MW of power is produced as electricity coming from:
1,254MW (or 86.6%) coming from two nuclear reactors
80MW from Geothermal
50MW from incinerators
65MW from on and offshore Wind turbines
400MW comes from Geothermal based bores sent through to the City as District Centralised Heating (steam or hot water)
Using electricity map (and assuming the incinerators let off as much as a biomass plant) the carbon output is: 37g/CO2/Per KW or 98% low carbon – same as France as of writing this post
As you say when I say Green I do Green!
As for transit I invest in most modes depending on the Geography of the City. Patronage is about 50% of the population (using transit) with more using cycling. Given San Layton has two Cores connected by heavy rail and monorail with urban islands coming off of them (surrounded by pasture or forests) that are interconnected also by all forms of rail and bus it is quite easy to move around the city without the need of a car – even going to the industrial complexes.
And yes my transit system runs 24/7 on an integrated fare system. Quite interesting to see even the big 135 bendy busses straining to keep up with passenger demand at 3am in the morning of a Saturday or Sunday as the night owls like to party.
There is even an essay on Monorails and Urban Geography: MONORAIL: A KEY URBAN LESSON FROM THE SIMPSONS. So last night I decided for the first time in Cities Skylines to build a monorail line from the City Centre to Thorton Park halfway across the map.
At the moment the line only has two stations on it (same as the heavy rail network) as San Layton City is a very young city having only being founded a month ago (real-time).
None-the-less I built the line and it designed for more stations as the City expands. Once you get the 70km/h speed restriction off the train moves as fast as heavy rail allowing very rapid connections.
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You can also see some of the first developments here:
Now to get the daily rush hour of traffic under control (caused mainly by inter city traffic rather than intra city commuting)
Ben's Cities 