Whiskey1
Hey guys, I'm somewhat at a loss to proceed. I'll lay out a brief precis of the backstory. Hopefully, this will shed some light on the situation.
This is supposed to be a post-apocalyptic society where modern building is just now occurring after a long time. The community of Whiskey1 (so called because this zone is called that by the Coalition at the edges of safe area of human habitation in the 'Burbs) is rebuilding by, of all people, the Mob who is becoming more like a government in this outcast zone and furnishing things like jobs to generate a local economy; and thus, be able to buy all their 'legally' forbidden things. The Coalition tolerates this as this keeps out of the Coalition the criminals and the people who are not allowed into Chi-town. As long as they don't interfere with the Coalition, they are permitted to maintain their own government (as long as the illegal trading doesn't get too flagrant), but they regularly send in patrols to monitor the situation.
I'm thinking of a set of criss-crossing paved roads with houses on the side of the road; but I'm flummoxed as to where they should be. Suggestions?
Here's my beginning (very preliminary) map.
Thanks in advance!
LLAP
Nacon4
This is supposed to be a post-apocalyptic society where modern building is just now occurring after a long time. The community of Whiskey1 (so called because this zone is called that by the Coalition at the edges of safe area of human habitation in the 'Burbs) is rebuilding by, of all people, the Mob who is becoming more like a government in this outcast zone and furnishing things like jobs to generate a local economy; and thus, be able to buy all their 'legally' forbidden things. The Coalition tolerates this as this keeps out of the Coalition the criminals and the people who are not allowed into Chi-town. As long as they don't interfere with the Coalition, they are permitted to maintain their own government (as long as the illegal trading doesn't get too flagrant), but they regularly send in patrols to monitor the situation.
I'm thinking of a set of criss-crossing paved roads with houses on the side of the road; but I'm flummoxed as to where they should be. Suggestions?
Here's my beginning (very preliminary) map.
Thanks in advance!
LLAP
Nacon4
Comments
I might have gotten hold of the wrong end of the stick here, but a few questions popped into my head before I could stop them, and this is what I'm thinking now:
If I were the mob, the only reason I'd want out of the main city (where all my biggest fattest victims are) is if the city was just so very well run that I was no longer able to make a living there out of straightforward honest crime.
That being the case, I would design my new city to be the most drop dead gorgeous city in the world to attract said fat cat victims to move out of Chi and into my new... er... trap :P
Such a trap would look both beautiful and perfectly innocent at first glance, but there would be some kind of design element, or even a complete underground city to facilitate my own ends....
Does that make any sense?
There is going to be an underground complex. That's where the 'Demon Doctor of Blanket Street' plays!
LLAP
Nacon4
You could do a lot worse than making it a gambling capital
LLAP
Nacon4
Even if it was his city, he'd still have to lure the people there by one means or another. It would be just too much like hard work having to go to Chi every time he ran out of victims to round up another herd.
LLAP
Nacon4
Id be thinking, clean water, safety, medical attention, food, and opportunity.
If this were a place of glitz, would the only people wealthy enough to come be ok knowing it was the mob, or would practicality and a chance for a step up with simple but solid services and opportunities pull in the poor and easily swayed group that the mob can easily advance their influence on?
Anyway, this sounds like a fun project!
My 2 pennies,
Bill
Depending on how much work you may want to put into this, it could be worth researching how some of the European and Japanese cities were rebuilt after the Second World War, to get a better feel for how such regrowth of settlement can occur. You can also choose that way what kind of level of destruction of the old city happened, by examining different actual city examples.
At present, your initial map layout looks rather too clean and simple to me, as if the site had never been used before at all, and was already perfectly levelled, ready for building. Your backstory though suggests there could be some kind of shanty town already on or near this area, aside from whatever survived from the pre-apocalypse time. If so, the new settlement might grow in a more organic fashion than the classic US grid-style approach might suggest.
@Jim, you and I are in total agreement. There are indeed tunnels and underground places all over the place. The rebuilding of the area would have required that these areas be cleaned out and restored for water, sewage lines, power cables. etc.
@Wyvern, I did do some spot research on the rebuilding projects and it does seem to me that they, the Mob and the good doctor, would want to construct an area rather like the old cities for sentimental reasons (getting people to come live there-a remnant of the old days) and practical ones (what would be the easiest way to construct part of a new city. Would there be a more organic feel to the place. Likely, but remember when the Mob announces immanent domain there's very little to stop them when on one hand they offer you cash to leave, and threatening their safety/lives if they stay. Also remember the Black Market where the people who are trying to stay, answers to the Mob (which would forbid them selling any weapons/devices that could thwart the Mob's plans.)
@Sue, well I am trying to think how I would get those partial C curves coming off the roads. The ones that allow you to turn off the paved roads onto the streets. It's elluding me.
LLAP
Nacon4
LLAP
Nacon4
I don't use the road/path drawing tools, so this is not the definitive method.
Set the line width to the required width of the road, and ensure that you have chosen the correct texture for the road. (In my Merelan City map the width of the biggest roads varies between 10 and 20 units, and the texture I use is one of the Sand fills, but you could use any suitable fill)
Pick either the path or curve tool and start drawing - whatever path you like, remembering that to end it you right click the mouse.
You can add segments of any shape and width you please at any point you like.
I hope that helps.
LLAP
Nacon4
Would it not be better to lay out the ruined system first and impose the grid on top of it? That way the development of the city would perhaps look and feel a bit more natural for 'grid-phobes' like me.
Just a thought
New Orleans is a prime emaple of this.
See, now you have me curious and wanting a seat at the game table!
Bill
I think you ninja'd me when I was delivering my critique of your most recent WIP - twice in a row, which is why my comments seem to be rather oddly placed! LOL
I'm giving that some thought; but just outside of Chicago the streets tend to be high and narrow. That's what I thought they would do in restoring an older system of building; but taking the trouble to widen things (But they turned out to be too narrow for my tastes). I keep imagining a terrain like Houston. Relatively flat with a large system of roads (You build it and they will come!)
I don't know what you mean by ninja'd you! I hope that I didn't offend you; such was not my intent!
Why thank you. Yes the tech is roughly equivalent to ours with a great deal deemed illegal to the Coalition. In the outlying areas it very much like a cross between eighteenth century and twenty-first century. With access to twenty-third technology available to the Coalition. Plus the interdimensional and offworld technology the Mob has access to things that would freak out the Coalition, if they knew.
Yes, they have access to things like Plasma Ejectors and Railguns!
LLAP
Nacon4
Its the term we use on the Guild to describe the interruption of one comment by another that is posted at exactly the same time - so that everything starts to look very slightly out of order
Offend me? Never! LOL
LLAP
Nacon4
Here's something you might want to think about. Cities are not inanimate objects. They grow and evolve with need and opportunity. They are almost NEVER planned out from start to finish, and even the ones that are planned... Those plans never make it past initial execution.
What I mean is...you've got all of your streets gridded out, and you've started your building on the left side there... But most towns and cities start as small villages and expand outward from the center. Roads tend to follow the landscape, especially if you want your city to be beautiful enough to attract all those victims!
I would break up that grid pattern a bit. That's just me.
I guess if you're going for essentially the equivalent of magic though (23rd century technology) and a more-or-less deity-like entity in the Mob, you could easily assume the entire area has been planed-off flat, that new construction is pretty much child's-play, and that all the essentials for human existence are also technologically provided-for in means we 21st century mortals couldn't imagine, and if so, go for it! It's your city, after all! That does though make me wonder why you felt you needed others' advice for your mapping project.
BTW- Here is version 4
Many thanks!
LLAP
Nacon4
I was thinking of adding onto the Grocery complex (bottom left) for more services; that, at the moment, I can't think of!
We'll see. I usually come up with something!
LLAP
Nacon4