Synoecism

Entry 29: Pitchforks and Pyromania

2010-12-18T18:17:00.001-06:00

When Bill Featherstone discovered the secret port he rushed back as quickly as he could to his home in Anorien. When he got home, he rested for four days (whilst helping out on the farm) before setting off for the village of St. Raphael.

When he got there he found a crowd of people that was hanging around the gates of the church with nothing better to do.

`Oi, listen up every body!'

` `ere it's that ole Bill Featherstone. Wonder what `e up to?'

` Prolly `arpin on about his latest guide book o' `is. Loik anyone wants to go trampin' about in them forests getting sat upon by drop bears.'

General laughter from the rough crowd ensued.

`Now, don' you go laffin' at me. Oi've got sum terrible noos.'

` O, my my, terrible noos, that does sound bad.'

More laughter.

`You don' understand. There's a port up north. An' factries an' e'rythin'. Way up pas' Enbourne.'

`Up pas' Enbourne? I tell ya there's nowt up there but a load a trees.'

`Seriously. `m tellin' ya.'

`Roight Bob. `E sounds like he's serious. It's toime to get your `ome made explosives out. It looks loik we've got some work to do.'

And so they did.

What would happen to the industries, now that the pitchfork crowd had gained control?

Entry 28: School's In

2010-11-30T21:24:00.002-06:00

This is Broadoak. Broadoak was founded in the year 1914. It has grown a lot in that time. Today, it is a small riverside farming community.

This is Broadoak's school. It was built a year after the founding of the village to keep the young 'uns occupied during the day. Unfortunately, it has only one classroom and can no longer support the educational needs of the village. Not only are there more students to teach, they are starting to need more than primary education.

It was decided that a new, larger school be built to accommodate the needs of the village. This school had to be much larger than the original one. Given the build time, it was decided that the new school should be on a different site to the old one, so that the students could continue being taught while the building was taking place. A site was chosen on a radial road near the centre of the village.

First, the area was cleared of trees.

After that, the ground was levelled so construction could begin.

The school was made simply, being just a wooden framed building featuring a few classrooms. The build still took a few months to complete however.

Entry 27: A Walk in the Woods

2010-11-07T19:04:00.003-06:00

This is Bill Featherstone. He's the Oak River region's premier hiker and cartographer.

He's been travelling the region for years, charted hills and dales, mountains and valleys. He's sailed to islands to view lonely beaches and converse with stranded whales.

Let's join him on his latest journey, heading north from the village of Cakebread, the edge of known civilisation.

He starts out from the farm tended by his son, Geoff.

He travels through distant forests.

He hikes by ponds and steams.

He boldly goes where no man has gone before. Except they have... What's this road doing here?

Bill followed the road and found a bustling port. This is the port that the mine and the lumber yard truck all of their goods to, before shipping it overseas.

There was only one thing left for Bill to do. He had to get back to Oak River and inform everyone else.

A ploppable problem

2010-11-03T15:28:00.000-05:00

I'm attempting to introduce some streams to my region. The problem with this is that it is difficult. There are three main types to choose from. The large surface water set of Jeronij and the stream and pond sets of Pegasus and Diggis. Manipulating the terrain to make the streams look nice is hard work and I'm trying to fit this around filling out applications which is taking most of my spare time.

Oak River page updated

2010-10-21T09:45:00.000-05:00

I've updated the Oak Rive page. It was quite out of date. I've now included all entries in the list and have updated the satellite and transport maps of the main area.

I've also updated the pop and wealth stats to 1925. Dart River has slipped down the list in population terms behind Anduin and Sarah's Cove. However, it still remains the industrial powerhouse with more industrial jobs than any other city. It's this industry that causes it to be the richest city. The high tax income and low expenditure mean that they are making money quickly, though as services come in the differential will decrease.

Entry 26: What have you done for me lately?

2010-10-20T20:15:00.002-05:00

It's been 25 Game Years since the region started. In that time, since the first settler, the population grew to 39,790. Farming and industry have taken off. Mines have been found and trees have been chopped.

Let's have a look at how it's grown.

The first image is of the whole region in 1905. You can't see much, but it gives the whole context.

Now we zoom in to a close up of 1907. In the first 7 years the region only grew to 627 people, and the villages are small and relatively isolated and surrounded by the forbidding forest. The first small industry appears on the banks of the Dart River.

By 1915 the farms had started to spread and shipping had become an industry, leading to the founding of new port villages.

By 1920 the first railway line had been built.

Finally, by 1926 farming has expanded so rapidly, that cornfields were more common than trees in some areas.

Entry 25: Grinding Axes

2010-10-01T18:08:00.000-05:00

It was not just the settlers of the Oak River region that were interested in the land. Various big foreign businesses, and business minded individuals (who were also inclined to be big) had heard of the promise of the land. There were jewels to be had, great big pearls and lumps of gold just sitting by the road. This may or may not be true, but what was certainly true was the fact that there are a lot of trees. And trees mean lumber. And lumber means big profits.

So it was that Woody Woodson set up his logging company. The original inhabitants of Oak River were not even aware of the operation.

He built a small docks, and houses for his workers. The docks were temporary and to be used for immediate dispatch. The plan was to set up a road to the main coast and build a substantial docks there, but this would take time.

The machinery was moved in. Men stood around looking busy and occasionally chopped down trees.

They utilised the steam donkey technology, though they had planned on trying to get or invent better technologies.

The massive swathes of oak that covered the region were not of great interest to Woody. He was after the pines and other rare trees because that wood was selling for great profit.

The question is would Woody Woodson's wood company grow to great heights or would it be felled in its prime?

Entry 24: Bringing home the Bacon

2010-09-20T18:43:00.000-05:00

The villagers of Revis Island and Revisham, with their organised grid system, were by far the most successful farmers in the whole region. Their produce was shipped to the mainland as well as being consumed nearer to home.

The villagers were pleased with their productivity but wanted a better way to showcase and sell their wares. Jim Snouter, one of the local pig farmers, in particular wanted to display joints of ham alongside his neighbour's turnips, hoping to attract new customers who could have the convenience of purchasing different types of food in one place - albeit from different vendors.

A site was chosen between the villages, allowing relatively easy access for each farmer. Next to the market, opportunistic businesses sprung up. A garage to repair the tractors and a Battery Hut to provide, ostensibly, batteries. Actually the Battery Hut just a cover for a gambling syndicate. Why they need a cover is up for debate. It's not like there are laws prohibiting gambling or police to enforce them.

Entry 23: To the manor born

2010-09-09T10:28:00.003-05:00

`JEEVES! Jeeves. Where are you?'
`I'm here Lord Martlebury.'
`Jolly good. Get me a Revis Island Iced Tea please.'
`Certainly, my lord.'
`You know Jeeves, it really isn't boffo that I'm the only rich person in the region.'
`If you say so, my lord.'
`I jolly well do. It's so hard being surrounded by the common people.'
`I think I'll just give your drink an extra something, my lord.'
`If you must. That's the problem of owning this business. It makes me a lot of money but there's no one to share it with. I do miss society.'
`You could share it with your neighbours, my lord.'
`What an absurd suggestion Jeeves. We already make sure the grass around our properity is wonderfully fertilised. Even by the dusty streets. What more do they want? Paved streets for those awful bright blue cars that they drive?'
'Here you are my lord.'
'GAK! What did you put in it Jeeves?'
'Just a little extra somehing. Drink up, my Lord.'

Entry 22: Mine your own business

2010-09-09T08:55:00.000-05:00

Want to know the solution to the problem of the mystery resources? Of course you do! Unbeknownst to most people but known to Mr Magnusson, a mining operation had been set up far to the north west of Dartacre. In fact, the mine was nestled in the mountains near a large lake. In 1920, a mining company, without any permissions from the fledgling and almost powerless authorities, set up its operations.

Renee and Edith Despard, who were keen bridge players, found coal and other precious resources in the hills.

They were able to set up a mining operation to extract the minerals. However, in order to work successfully they needed workers. They were a long way away from any settlements and so had to provide the housing for the workers.

Faraway was initially a small town but it grew as rapidly as the extractions from the mine. In 5 years, this small settlement far beyond Lake Despard (as it was now called) had grown in to a populous, but rather dusty, smelly and boring town.

Entry 22 on hold

2010-09-01T11:29:00.000-05:00

I'm away from my computer and I'm having trouble uploading images. In the mean time you'll have to look at my CSGf or SC4D entries since they'll work there.

Entry 21: Learning Difficulties

2010-08-10T14:44:00.000-05:00

Entry 20: Secret Machinations

2010-08-06T23:46:00.001-05:00

As the years and months wore on, industry was booming. Gradually, the industry was changing from small operations to increasingly large.

These large factories of J.B. Magnusson and Son (where they make other factories - the question is if they're the factory that makes factories then which was the factory that made this factory?)

This was unremarkable until it was remarked by one thinking resident "but where do they get their resources from?"

Where indeed?

Simcity Community Magazine

2010-07-17T23:32:00.001-05:00

One of the many SC fansites is Simcity Community. They publish a magazine of various articles, about City Journals, custom content and websites. My Network Widening Mod review from CSGdescussions was published there.

Custom Content Reviews

2010-07-17T23:29:00.000-05:00

I've got a couple of custom content reviews out.

The first is on the Network Widening Mod and the second is on CSGdesign's Basic Ferry Pontoon.

Entry 19: Fighting Fire with, er, Water

2010-07-07T23:08:00.000-05:00

After having installed the water pipes for the thirsty residents, the village of Dartacre could get on with pitting in place what had been planned all along - a fire station.

When Dartacre was a small village, people used to put out fires by stamping on them, filling buckets from the river, or catching themselves alight and rolling around in a carpet.

Many years have passed since then and the village has a number of very flamamble industries not to mention homes and fields. A major disaster was just one careless cigarette away.

A fire station was erected on the edge of Dartacre so to cover both villages of Dartacre and Dart River.

Residents were able to relax in peace, knowing full well that any careless mistake would be dealt with by the volunteer firemen and women and that they would no longer have to roll in their Axminsters, except for fun, of course.

Entry 18: On the Grid

2010-06-18T10:51:00.000-05:00

The inhabitants of Revis Island are a pragmatic bunch.

The northern end of Revis Island is a farming region and in order to make the most use of the narrow stretch of land they had to find some way of organising their plots of land.

It was Morten Andersen, one of the original farmers, who came up with the idea of a grid system. A system completely unknown in any other part of the Oak River region.

Morten, a pumpkin farmer, who was 48-years old at the time, was looking at his stone-worked kitchen floor one day and noticed how pleasing the rectangular shapes were to look at and how well they fitted together.

The following day when the new settlers on the island were dividing up the land, he suggested the radical approach. His grid was greeted as innovative by some, but was not welcomed with universal acclaim. As settlers in a new land, the people had shaken off the rigidity of the rules and regulations of their former homes. This new grid reminded them of such rigidity and yet they could not deny how useful this system would be.

Eventually they settled on a compromise. They would keep the grid system but it would not be completely rigid. Each farmer could take a parcel of land as long as it was rectangular, but they could be of varying sizes.

Entry 17: What a load of rubbish

2010-05-25T12:43:00.000-05:00

Every Sunday morning, faithful citizens in the Oak River region meet at the Church of St. Raphael. Every Sunday morning they read the hymns and readings from printed sheets of paper and every Sunday morning they throw the pieces of paper in the bin. Apparently, the doctrine of stewardship hasn't quite made it to this church.

Unfortunately, there was no-one to empty the bins and so the local area became strewn with litter and what was once a desirable place to live became infested with rats, ants, cockroaches and other unwelcome neighbours.

Since this was not the only place in the area to have rubbish problems the council decided to do something about it. The council members were not very imaginative however and decided that the best solution would be to move it away from civilization. The only suitable place was in an area of `The Hand ', a region shaped a bit like a pointing hand. A landfill was constructed and soon started to fill up.

This was clearly only a temporary measure, so the council better start thinking of new ways to deal with the unwanted side-affects of daily life.

Entry 16: Will you start the taps, please.

2010-05-15T18:41:00.000-05:00

Despite being separated politically into Townships, the individual villages still had some degree of autonomy.

Early in 1921, local councillors in Dartacre were pondering fire protection. Up until now, residents put out fires using bucket chains from the river. As the village grew, the fire risk became greater and so the local council decided to think about investing in a fire service. Unfortunately they discovered that fighting fires would be impossible without water.

They discussed all this with the other villages within the townships, but the cost was too much for the others. As a larger settlement however, Dartacre was able to raise the extra revenue to build a water distribution service that would only encompass itself.

Dartacre's groundwater was heavily polluted however from agricultural chemicals and so they had to build the pumping station out of town.

The local residents of this unaffiliated neighbourhood did not mind since the got a free water supply in turn.

Entry 15: Chugging along

2010-05-01T15:14:00.001-05:00

And so it was, in the Summer of 1920 that Jim Steinbach finally completed his railway at almost ruinous cost. The route stretched from Dart River to Sarah's Cove and primarily conveyed freight. Unfortunately, due to the enormous cost of the project his services weren't that cheap, but they were cheap enough for large businesses to transport bulky goods.

For smaller businesses the railway was not yet cheap enough to use, so they had to stick with Bob Ribblesand's barge company. Luckily for them though, Mr Ribblesand had lost all of the large business and was forced to reduce his prices to encourage the smaller businesses to use his services more.

Jim Steinbach's railway operated this type of steam train for both freight and passengers. It was a Norman B20.

The picture of the train was taken during testing before they decided on a right hand drive for the tracks. Below is the train in action.

Let's take a look over the new track. It starts out at Dart River where there are separate passenger and freight terminals before a short trip to Dartacre.

The track moves on the new village of Twin Tracks. This village is owned entirely by the railway company as a major source of income from rent to help offset some of the costs of building.

The tracks travel through the outskirts of Sarah's Cove before ending up at the port at Fisher. This is where most of the expense was. The earthworks for the raised track and bridge were very costly for the company.

Jim Steinbach hopes that his company will make a long-term profit. Only time will tell.

Starter industries

2010-04-30T17:33:00.000-05:00

I've come to a point in the game where I want to seed a few more hubs, but I need roleplay reasons to do so.

I decided to start new industries with unscrupulous corporations tearing up the landscape. The forestry industry was easy, but I also wanted mining and something else.

The mines are hard to find. I'm going to stick with the Newman mine v3 I reviewed just because it's in my plugins already. A was not satisfied with the other mines I found. One was a 1x1 ploppable with 9 overhang tiles. One was growable! (I don't want mines randomly growing in my city). One needed a coal power plant to be able to plop (For me, the mine would have to come first) and Pegasus' Mine played a song for about a minute if you clicked on it.

Oak River page updated

2010-04-25T15:49:00.000-05:00

I've been lax updating this page.

I've included the latest three entries, and updated the top 10 lists. I've also updated the current game year and pop stats as well as the satellite and transport shots.

State of play - 1920

2010-04-24T23:04:00.000-05:00

It's now 1920. Above is the population change. Below is the wealth change. Full stats are available. I'm just waiting to find a good way of pasting them in.

Entry 14: We don't need no education

2010-04-23T16:07:00.001-05:00

And so it was, that due to the will of the people, that the spare tax money was spent on setting up schools. Unfortunately, schools could not be set up everywhere. Whilst cash was plentiful, teachers were not. Luckily for everyone there were some members of society who had received some schooling before coming across the ocean. They were now in their early 50s. They were selected to be the teachers for the time being.

The council found a map of the Township. They only have enough teachers for two small schools. They decided to place them in Westfield (in the NW) and North Oak River (NE) since they had the highest concentration of houses.

They selected sites and the built the schools. The first bewildered pupils started learning the alphabet soon after. At night the schools were open as adult education centres, further enhancing the overall education of the community as well as being used to train more teachers. The picture below is of Westfield Primary School.

Entry 13: Making tracks

2010-04-14T16:16:00.001-05:00

Sheila Burnham, like many other business owners in the Dart River Industrial area, had a problem. Sheila had a problem shifting goods. Sheila owned a company that made small bolts. She had some business in the Oak River area but most of the goods went over seas.

Originally, the bolts were transported by road to Sarah's Cove, but that took a long time, and the road was unreliable. Sometimes the cargo and drivers would go missing without a trace. When Bob Ribblesand first starting shipping goods by barge to Dartmouth all was well. The service was cheap and efficient and no goods ever went missing.

Unfortunately for his customers he had no competition and so was able to ratchet up the price for his services. A box of bolts that sells abroad for $5 costs $4 to ship on the barge. That's not a lot of room for profit once other costs are taken into account.

Jim Steinbach knew of the problem and had an idea. He knew some people in the steam business and had an idea. He would transport goods quicker and cheaper than the barges and he would do so by train.

However, this was a big undertaking and required a lot of financial backing. Jim decided that speed was of the essence and planned on a line that ran from Dart River in the west through Dartacre and up to Sarah's Cove.

The local councils were reactionary. Since there was no other railway line, he knew that there were no railway laws and decided to use this to his advantage by planning an almost straight route without diverting via Oak River.

Part of the plan was to build a little community by the source of the River Folsense. They would collect rent from the people who lived there, thus supplementing the railway income.

Work started in earnest in Dart River where the ground was quite flat. Trees were torn down and the ground smoothed and a rough track was laid out.

Passenger stations at Dart River and Dartacre were constructed as well as a freight station in Dart River.

However, there were many miles to go and it would be some time before trains would be seen on this track.

Review - Hole Digging Lots

2010-04-10T13:03:00.002-05:00

Here is my latest custom content review.

Entry 12: Service required!

2010-04-01T20:36:00.001-05:00

On the 15th July 1917, John Harris, first settler and Alderman of Oak River died. Alderman Harris was much loved by his community and very powerful, locally and he was also a traditionalist resisting all forms organisation beyond the village level. He saw no need for the villages to interfere with one another.

However, once he had passed on, the council members from the other villages found it far easier to impose their will on a leaderless Oak River population. The problem for the villages was somewhat uncontrolled growth and a complete lack of services.

On 17th October 1917 the communities organised a vote on the topic of government. Three options were put forth. The first was to remain as is, practicing government on an ad hoc basis. The second was to keep village government but have local `Townships' that would rule over a number of villages in the area. The third choice was to have a regional government overseeing everything.

The villages voted separately with 44% of the populace voting for option one, 53% for option 2 and a measly 3% for option three. At a meeting on the 4th November, the townships of Oak River, Dart River, Sarah's Cove, Pelargir, Anduin, Revis Island, Dartmouth, Broadoak and Widdershins Bay were officially founded.

The townships were set out on a rigid square grid as shown below. Some of the townships ended up a bit bizarre it terms of geography, but for fairness it was decided that each township should occupy the same amount of space.

The townships were given legal powers to set their own laws. As the year drew to a close, the townships passed laws enabling them to collect taxes - previously everything was subsidised by the villagers themselves.

However, the councilmen knew that they had to provide more services once they started collecting money. On 27th December 1917 the Township of Dart River called the inhabitants together for a meeting so they could suggest a use for all the revenue.

Let's look in to the meeting to see what is happening.

-------------------------------------------------

Thank you, everybody. As you are aware, we've had a voluntary contribution for the upkeep of the power generators and streets for some time now. You're also aware that from now on everyone will have to contribute to the township financially. It's called tax.

Anyway, we have over $226,000 already, most of which dates back to the founding of the villages. What you may not know is that it only cost $407 to pay for power and roads and we're collecting in $1524 under this new tax arrangement.

So, the question is how can we put that money to use to make all of our lives better? We've come up with some ideas ourselves. A school, perhaps? What about a professional fire fighting unit? We've been doing it ourselves until now. Organised policing? What about a centralised water system so that we can get cleaner water or maybe we could look after our health.

What's most important to you? What do you want to see in our town?

Review - Capt Jacks Landing

2010-03-29T08:50:00.000-05:00

I've got a new review up at CSG. It's Capt Jack's Landing.

CSGforums

2010-03-29T08:48:00.000-05:00

One of the reasons for the lack of posts recently has been my involvement with CSGforums. Whilst I haven't been coding or anything I have been doing a lot of testing and posting to help get it up an running. I'm also a team member.

It's still growing, it now has a chat section and a file exchange. Check it out!

Entry 11: I've got a brand new steam powered combination harvester..

2010-03-23T14:27:00.001-05:00

(Councillor Bob Crotchet) Hello, hello. Welcome everybody. Do settle down. We're all here to witness the opening of the Oak River Patents Office here in St. Raphael. It's a wonderful day for the region.

...mumbles from the crowd...

I understand that it's raining Mrs. Sullivan, I meant wonderful in, well, not in the weather sense.

It's taken us months to, well, just get councillors from all the villages together in one place. Anyway, we were all locked up in a room a weren't allowed to leave until we came to an agreement. The result of the agreement is this - the Patents Office. We can now rest assured that people can live in peace that their inventions will not be stolen. Here to tell you more is newly appointed Patents Officer Mr. Willy Prudhoe.

(Willy Prudhoe) Thank you councillor.

(shout from crowd) GERROFF MY LAND!

(Willy Prudhoe) It's not your land Alderman Harris. We're all very grateful that you discovered this place, but you can't claim all of it.

The patents office is designed to protect your intellectual property and looking around them room I se... hmm. well, maybe not your intellectual property. Anyway, if you invent something, submit it to the Patents Office and we'll keep a record of it. Then if anyone wants to use your design they have to pay you shiny discs, which are now being called `money' or `Simoeleons' as I understand it.

mumble from crowd

No, Mr Bryden, you can't patent your discs. Why? Because we believe that you didn't invent them and anyway a law was passed saying they were unpatentable because they're too useful.

Gosh. You've turned the air blue Mr. Bryden.

Anyway, I'm pleased to announce the first invention to be patented. It was invented by me. I'm calling it the steam engine. Essentially, you heat the water and steam rises, which can do something useful. I'm not entirely sure what yet and I'm sure it can be improved.

Thank you everybody. Have a good day.

--------------

Some time later, the steam engine was modified and various inventions started to appear. These were the steam donkey used in logging ...

Or the steam tractors and combine harvesters that greatly increased the area of land that one family could farm.

Image of steam donkey from wikipedia. Licensed under Creative Commons Attribution Share Alike 3.0

Image of steam tractor from wikipedia. Licensed under Creative Commons Attribution Share Alike 3.0

Entry 10: Clearing up

2010-03-20T16:15:00.000-05:00

After two years of solid work chopping down trees the villagers of Westfield, Middleton and Sudbury had made some progress. Some, but not much. They had only cleared about half the area that they were hoping to clear. They needed a new strategy. Actually, what they needed were some new tools and machinery to do the job.

In the mean time they decided that they must prepare what land they had already cleared for agriculture. That was the idea behind the clearing after all. First of all they had to get rid of all of the felled trees lying around.

Their first move was to set up a makeshift lumber yard to deal with all of the logs.

Once that was built and the logs cleared then finally farmers were able to start to move into the area.

Journal now also at SC4Devotion

2010-03-20T12:33:00.002-05:00

I've started to upload on SC4Devotion. The link can be found here.

State of play - 1915

2010-03-20T08:32:00.001-05:00

It's now 1915 game year. The Oak River page has been updated to include new maps and statistics. Here are some population and wealth statistics for 1915.

Name Money Pop Com Ind

Oak River $166,356 2,120 310 548

(+11,709) (+117.4%) (+105.2%) (+60.7%)

Dart River $208,766 1,973 209 595

(+16,964) (+532.4%) (+198.6%) (+67.1%)

Sarah's Cove $203,082 1,834 188 844

(+5,729) (+1219%) (+408.1%) (+3025%)

Pelargir $195,573 859 152 608

(-351) (+760.2%) (+1800%) (+1589%)

Anduin $192,172 653 42 140

(-7,828)

Revis Island $193,999 373 56 70

(-6,001)

Dartmouth $196,667 180 30 63

(-3,333)

Existing $773,777 6,786 859 2,595

(+34,051) (+340.9%) (+222.9%) (+241.4%)

All $1,356,615 7,992 987 2,868

(+16,889) (+419.3%) (+271.1%) (+277.4%)

New banners

2010-03-18T20:22:00.000-05:00

I've remodelled the banners. They now contain the entry number in the form of the route number, the name, pop stats and year in the middle and the primary village/city under consideration in the third panel. They also include part of one of the images in the background.

An example is the following:

Entry 9: It's good shipping goods

2010-03-17T17:49:00.001-05:00

Industries in the Dart River area were having to transport their goods a long way before being shipped. The route ran through Oak River and along the coastal road to Sarah's Cove some 12km trip by road for just a 4km distance in a straight line. Additionally, a 1km stretch of road was not even in existence so the freight had to be hauled on the beach.

Entrepreneur Bob Ribblesand saw an opportunity to cut freight costs for the industries whilst making bundles of cash for himself. He started up the Dart River Barge Company to transport freight up the Dart River.

The river mouth was just 3km downstream. By the river mouth he constructed a port to handle the goods for shipping. Unfortunately, the cost of building a fully fledged seaport was too much at this stage so Bob had to settle with docking barges by the small pontoon before being shipped off.

Barge image by Mark Groves. Licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 Generic.

Entry 8: Sharpening the saws

2010-03-16T15:10:00.001-05:00

The region of Oak River was becoming very crowded, and by crowded we mean that all the space that wasn't forest was being used. The villagers of Westfield, Middleton and Sudbury hatched a plan to clear about 4 square kilometres of forest so that it could be used as agricultural land. The area under question is outlined in the image below.

The inhabitants of Oak River wanted no part of this, being much more conservative, no doubt under the influence of original settler and Alderman John Harris.

There was no lumber company in the part of the world as of yet so the inhabitants were forced to chop the trees themselves. Armed with axes the hardy menfolk, womenfolk, childfolk and dogfolk set to work. Actually only the older children were allowed to help the adults and they were limited to cutting branches off felled trees.

Piles of felled trees soon started to appear as a small swath was cut through the forest.

Not far behind people made a rough dirt track that followed the swath through the forest. This was to allow them to get back to and from the villages easily.

This was a venture that was going to take some time.

Entries now also at CSGforums

2010-03-15T13:58:00.000-05:00

The entries have been copied over to CSGforums. I'll still update here before updating there. This blog will have more than just the entries on it.

Tiny avatar

2010-03-14T21:28:00.000-05:00

Here is the tiny version of my avatar. Please do not use it without my permission.

Banners updated

2010-03-14T16:32:00.002-05:00

I've decided on the banner. Here are the banners for the first 7 entries. I need to host them here, so that when I start uploading this to another site I have somewhere where they're stored.

Latest sign

2010-03-14T15:59:00.000-05:00

Here is the latest sign.

Banner

2010-03-14T11:52:00.000-05:00

I'm trying to make a banner for my entries. What do you think?

New review online - BSC Newman Mine v3

2010-03-14T10:41:00.002-05:00

My latest review is online. You can read it here.

Death and Taxes

2010-03-14T10:23:00.001-05:00

What's that quote about them being the only two things guaranteed. I've had to deal with both this week.

Custom Content fully online

2010-03-12T19:16:00.001-06:00

That didn't take long. I've not included the dependencies because I can't be sure that I use all of them.

Custom Content Page online

2010-03-12T18:42:00.002-06:00

Custom Content is now online. Note that it's not complete. It only contains stuff that I got from the STEX as yet, but the rest is coming soon.

Entry 7: Taking to the waves

2010-03-11T15:12:00.001-06:00

Date: 28th January 1912. Population 4,501

The communities of Sarah's Cove and Wigglemouth took to the water like, well, ducks to water. They soon developed a network of passenger pontoons. These pontoons were incredibly cheap to run, only costing $3 a month. A number of residents use them to get to work, even at Capt Jacks Landing.

The picture above is south facing.

There were two ferry routes. One that traversed the coast line and visited all the pontoons and another that travelled between East Cove, West Cove and Wigglemouth as can be seen on this network diagram.

I haven't forgotten

2010-03-11T12:14:00.001-06:00

I'm still here. Thanks have been a bit busy lately and also I've had to deal with some more personal stuff. I am still developing the region however. I've just not got to a point where there's anything new enough for a journal entry.

Entry 6: Coastal Communities

2010-03-08T16:42:00.000-06:00

Date: 1st January 1910 Population: 1920

Drawn back to their roots, the settlers of the Oak River region started to become more maritime in nature. This was brought about by the construction of a small jetty near the church. The site was chosen because sites further downstream at Oak River were too shallow to allow the ferries to come in.

There are three sites that sprung up at this time and are indicated on the map below with numbers 8, 9 and 10.

Barnacle

The village of Barnacle (number 10) is situated just across the water from St. Raphael. It's an incredibly small riverine community.

Oak Point

Oak Point is a farming community right by the mouth of the river. It was easier to construct a ferry to transport people than to navigate through the dense forest, even by following the coast.

Sarah's Cove

Sarah's Cove was founded by Sarah Smith. It started out as a small fishing village on the coast.

Soon, a more permanent landing point for the fishermen and women was constructed a little way down the coast by the mouth of the River Wiggle.

State of play - 1910

2010-03-08T10:59:00.000-06:00

It's now 1910 (update coming, once I've done some testing), but here are the maps of the region.

1910 Stats.

Name Money Pop Com Ind

Oak River $154,647 975 151 341

Dart River $191,742 312 70 356

Sarah's Cove $197,353 139 37 27

Pelargir $195,924 113 8 36

The state of play - 1907

2010-03-08T08:41:00.000-06:00

We've reached 1907 in the state of play. Here's the map again.

Entry 5: Laying the black stuff

2010-03-07T18:51:00.001-06:00

Date: 7^th November 1905 Population: 627

The residents of the Oak River region wanted to know much more about their surroundings. More than the fact that they were surrounded by dense forest anyway. A few intrepid cartographers and explorers set off to map and explore (surprise surprise) the surrounding area. About 1 mile west of Westfield they discovered a river, which they named Dart River.

By the banks of the river they discovered some natural deposits of a strange substance. This substance turned out to be asphaltum. This substance was tested in the construction of a number of things, such as plates and ovens.

An asphalt plant was set up to facilitate this.

Most of the tests were spectacular failures. It was Christopher Riddles who discovered it could be used to form a hard surface that could be put on the ground. Soon the asphalt industry took off and the dirt tracks around Oak River were beginning to be replaced with asphalt.

As well as asphalt other substance were found in the region namely various metal ores. Supporting industries began to spring up, the most noticeable was the metalworks. Not only did they make metals for the industry, but their first job was acting as a mint and making new shiny metal discs that could be used in trade.

The state of play - Middleton

2010-03-07T15:31:00.000-06:00

I've got one more entry before I catch up with my current time, but before I post that I thought I'd tell you about Middleton. It's not exciting enough to be a full entry. It's just a new village, seeded through the expansion of the region with new settlers. It's located between Westfield and Oak River, hence its name.

The clearing

Middleton

Passing the first 1000

2010-03-06T13:41:00.000-06:00

The Brisbane1 (Oak River) region has now passed 1,000 inhabitants. The entries are still lagging behind the game play but they should catch up fairly soon.

Entries now catalogued

2010-03-06T13:36:00.000-06:00

The entries have now been catalogued on the Oak River page. They can be found at the bottom.

Entry 4: The Church of St. Raphael

2010-03-06T13:00:00.004-06:00

Date: 25^th December 1904 Population: 278

The settlements of Oak River, Westfield and Sudbury had been existing in peaceful solitude for a short time. The young colony received attention from the churches in another part of SimGlobe. A handful of missionaries were sent out to spread the good news in the region.

The missionaries landed at Oak River and got to know the population. The searched for a good site for a church and they settled for a spot upstream of the village of Oak River, right next to the river itself. In early 1904 the church was built. A dedication service was held and the church was named St. Raphael

The site chosen was an easy cart ride away from the three villages. Over time tracks appeared where vegetation was trodden as the residents trekked to the service every Sunday morning.

Around the church and the tracks the village of St. Raphael sprung up. These housed the missionaries as well as a few people providing services for the community and the church goers.

Clearing the decks

2010-03-06T12:22:00.000-06:00

I've got a lot of downloaded custom content, not all of which is being used. I've deleted those mods I'm not using and I've moved the downloaded zip files to my back-up drive. At some point I'll need to go through the dependencies and make sure they're all being used.

Entry 3: The Diary of William Spigot

2010-03-05T15:19:00.002-06:00

Date: 10^th June 1903 Population: 207

William Spigot was found dead in his barn with his diary beside him. Local residents, being incredibly nosy, read it. Here is a snapshot of some more recent entries.

Sunday 1^st March 1903.

There are a lot more people in this village than there used to be. There's well over 100! I can hardly remember everyone's name. Only this morning I was in Rob Bryden's shop exchanging some discs for bread, when a young lady walked in. I hadn't a clue who she was. It turned out it was Brigitta's cousin and she'd just come from overseas. Of course, I didn't bother to find out what she was called.

Monday 2^nd March 1903.

Worked all day in the fields. Nothing much happened until Jonas Jonasson from the mechanics passed out in a ditch on the way to the crossroads. He had been drinking some of Norbert Smith's homemade liquor. That stuff is great if you want to unblock a pipe. Not that we have many pipes mind.

Tuesday 3^rd March 1903.

I came across the sea for some piece and quiet, but the village has grown so much I can hardly hear myself think. I was trying to decide on swede or turnip for dinner but I couldn't think straight because two people were having a conversation in the street by my house. I opened my upstairs window and poured water on them.

Wednesday 4^th March 1903.

I was attacked by a scarecrow in the field.

Thursday 5^th March 1903.

Gah! I've had enough of this. I was walking for a stroll by the river when Scratch came and bit my left leg. I complained to Mr. Harris who just laughed and said I was a grumpy old catfish. I suppose he thinks he can get away with having vicious dogs just because he's Alderman.

Friday 6^th March 1903.

I've decided to move away. I'm packing up a few belongings and I'm moving out west to the deep forest and to start a farm there and get some peace and quiet.

...

Thursday 12^th March 1903.

I've set up a new farm. I've cleared the land, planted my crops and I've not put up any dirt tracks leading back to the village, so hopefully no-one will find me.

...

Wednesday 5^th April 1903

Infuriating! Some blighter has cleared away some land nearby and has started a new farm. I tried to chase him away with a stick, but the limp in my left leg was causing me too much pain. He's even started to lay some dirt tracks.

...

Saturday 16^th May 1903.

Where are they all coming from? It's as if they've sprung up from nowhere. All around me the trees have been cleared and people are constructing farms everywhere.

Saturday 6^th June 1903.

There is no escape. I shouted at my neighbour, for, well, existing. He told me I could just pack up my bags and leave `Westfield' (hah – we're an official village now) and go to `Sudbury' If I so wished. I'm locking myself in my barn to get away from the din.

Custom Content Reviews

2010-03-05T14:10:00.001-06:00

One of my roles in the SimCity 4 community is a reviewer of mods. These reviews are hosted on CSGdesign's Natural Growth blog. My review can be found here and all of the reviews can be found at this location. My first review was for the Newman Inc Mine. I found it to quite well done, but not exactly to my taste. If you're interested just click the link above.

Entry 2: Shiny Metal Discs

2010-03-03T09:01:00.001-06:00

Date: 1^st September 1901 Population: 106

Since the foundation of Oak River the farming inhabitants have been exchanging goods by the method of bartering. They exchanged produce with each other so that everyone had enough to eat and drink.

However, they soon found that exchanging goods was not sufficient. Arguments broke out about the value of each type of produce. There were other services that were needed as well. Farm machinery needed repairing for one. Around this time a new settler arrived from over the sea bearing a number of small metallic discs. His name was Rob Bryden and he set up a small shop buying and selling produce from the farmers in exchange for the small discs. After a while the system was fully established and people were buying and selling goods and services from each other. Mr. Bryden brought a large number of these discs with him, but there was still only a limited number of discs, so growth would still be limited.

In addition to Rob's shop, a mechanic set up a practice. The mechanic carries out all repairs on farm machinery. Finally, money became master as the Sims try to get the best prices for their goods. With the new services came new residents who built mainly around the crossroads.

Introduction updated

2010-03-02T17:19:00.001-06:00

I've updated the intro to flesh out the idea of synoecism a bit more.

Entry 1: The Foundation of Oak River

2010-03-02T11:13:00.001-06:00

Date: 15^th Feb 1901 Population: 55

On 3^rd March 1900, following many months sailing with his wife Brigitta, his two young children Andrew and Emily and his dog Scratch, John Harris set down on untouched land. The area had as yet no name.

He set up his home and his farm and lived there in peace for a few short months.

Knowledge of this remote land brimming with opportunity soon came to the ears of more people and they too came to farm the land. The settlers came in one by one. Dirt tracks were made connecting previous farmsteads. These tracks wound their way through the forest, always following the easiest path – in this case where the forest was less dense. Over time areas of the forest were cleared next to the track and farms and houses laid down.

On 15^th February 1901 the residents got together and decided that their community was now large enough to require some form of central organisation. After a show of hands John Harris was elected Chief Alderman. The residents declared their community to be a complete village. The debate to name the village was heated but in the end it was the Chief Alderman who decided on the name of Oak River. Despite the fact that most of the village stretched into the deep forest, John Harris' home was by the banks of the river and he wanted the name of the village to reflect that.

Oak River page online

2010-03-01T22:12:00.000-06:00

The Oak River page is now online. It's basically just going to be a updated statistics and map page for the region. If there is anything that you would like included on the page then please let me know.

Problems with Region Census

2010-03-01T20:27:00.004-06:00

I'm having some issues with region census. It has trouble loading up the Brisbane1 region. The region seems to be too large for it. It loads up the other regions fine, but nearly always crashes when trying to load up Brisbane1. It's loaded up once and I got one region view from it before it crashed again. I'll need to find some way of constructing regional views. Here is the region as it stands. Unfortunately, the city borders are turned off so you don't quite get the feel of the size of the area.

Water textures completed, links edited.

2010-03-01T18:15:00.000-06:00

I've completed the changing over of all of the water textures now, which means I'll be able to start attempting to put in region views. I've also edited the links section on the advice of Shilka. This means that it'll open up the links in a separate tab/window instead of the current one. I couldn't manage to do it with the picture though. Instead I just managed to make it unclickable....

Oak River water textures

2010-03-01T06:33:00.000-06:00

Before I try to post my first region view I need to have the water textures the same. I'm using the Brigantine water mod and it changes the colour of the water, but it only does so when you've visited a city tile. This means that I have to click in and out of each city tile that contains water. Unfortunately, since the map I'm using is vast the loading and saving process takes quite a long time.

Testing pictures

2010-02-28T21:32:00.005-06:00

This is a post to test the pictures on here.

Introduction now online

2010-02-28T21:06:00.000-06:00

The introductory page is now online. I'll expand it at some point in the future, but it contains all the necessary information for now. I'll also make a Custom content page and an Oak River page.

Testing the new blog

2010-02-28T12:19:00.001-06:00

This is the obligatory first post that's a simple test to make sure everything is hunky dory.