Thorgalaeg
Deity
Fort Consternation has already reached perfection, so nothing more is needed to be done there. 
Sim City (4) Succession Session!
- Thread starter Peck of Arabia
- Start date
bonefang
Emperor
"A designer knows he has achieved perfection not when there is nothing left to add, but when there is nothing left to take away."
- Antoine de Saint-Exupry
~learnt it from civ 3
- Antoine de Saint-Exupry
~learnt it from civ 3
Oh yeah! I've got the list in the wrong order! Pretty bad considering there's only three people on said listFixed.
I think I'll I give it a week for somebody to step in- that should be OK, shouldn't it?
Don't forget; there's always Eden Prime if too little has changed in Fort Consternation
I fell
on Fort Consternation
schlaufuchs
Break My Heart
I fell
Ew, gross.
I've retired from mayorship, at least for the indeterminate future, so my name can be removed from the list of mayors. It's not impossible that I'd come back for a one-off term in the future, but at least for the time being I'm in retirement.
Peck of Arabia
Sociable Recluse
The Prodigal Mayor Returns... Maybe he Shouldn't Have... Years 115-120 Part 1
Mayor Peck returned to Fort Consternation after a … prolonged absence.
Pushing his way through the build-up of junk mail and newspapers, he forced his way into the Mayor's house and sat behind his desk, disturbing the settled dust- into a plume not dissimilar to a nuclear explosion he thought idly. Perhaps it was a sign of things to come...
Once a kettle had be found and the water to the house turned back on (and official documents redirected to the Mayoral Residence as an afterthought) it was time for a cup of tea and to get down to business. The previous administrations had managed the city admirably; the budget was healthy and growing, the population was booming and content, so there was nothing of any urgency only routine matters of a bustling city.
An ageing power plant needed replacing- it was found to be a windmill somewhere on the East Coast Industrial District, it was demolished, with relish, and plans were made to replace it later with something better. It was with some disappointment that Mayor Peck noticed the nuclear fusion power plant was no more, demolished in some greater urban renewal project most likely, but rather than plan to build another one at a prohibitively expensive rate, he would give the existing Nuclear fission plant his full backing instead. Whatever that meant.
Next came a brief foray into infrastructure as extra connections were made to New Eden (especially a rail one that was lacking) to accommodate the hordes who escaped the bustle of Fort Consternation for the peace of New Eden every weekend.
To keep business ticking along, the connections around the Fort Consternation Convention Centre (FCCC?), found to be rather lacking, were improved with a bit of rather impressive rail building, if I say so myself. Also, in a short lived scheme to encourage further industrial growth; the mayor offered public funds to level land on the hills between Thorgalaeg Bay and Hollywood Hills if business agreed to set up on the newly levelled land. The offer was accepted and several new industries were there that were not before, but when the bill came, it was found to be rather too costly for the gains made and as such was quietly dropped.
The demographic changes of the population meant another tweaking of the health and education budgets, as an older population needed more hospitals and High Schools, than elementary schools- though the lackadaisical approach of the Peck Administration meant strikes rather more frequent than perhaps they were in previous years.
Power was a concern, but was far down on the agenda as by the beginning of Year 116 as the Mayor had a plan, a legacy of his term that, if done right, nobody would even notice...
Since the second Mythmonster administration, there was a huge over abundance of water pipes under the city, laid by a well meaning, if misguided attempt to restore water to a desperate city after the volcanic eruption. These excess pipes were making the pipe maintenance budget at least three times what it should be- so the system would be replaced, to bring the budget down, yet keep Fort Consternation well watered. The tangled web of pipes would be replaced with 25: 20 facing north to south, 12 tiles apart- 6 tiles being the maximum radius of a water pipe, and the further 5 to connect the 20 and cover any areas where the terrain made long lines of pipe impractical.
]
However, legacies are not made by water pipe repair efficiencies alone and Mayor Peck announced, not only would the entire citied piping be replaced, it would be replaced all at once, in a single weekend.
The press loved it and a press conference was held on Friday evening culminating with Mayor Peck tearing out the first pipe for a photo-op, after which pipes were torn up with gleeful abandon. Within hours no water pipes remained- the only water to be found was in the two days supply citizens had been advised to hoard, three if they were especially pessimistic.
The work began at a furious pace, miles of pipe being laid every hour by teams brought in from across the country. It was a sight of immense industry to invigorate the soul, as shifts were arranged so that not a second was lost. By midnight, thousands of people were back on the water grid, and almost a sixteenth of the city had been covered.
A sixteenth? But the project was almost halfway through it's allotted time! As Saturday rolled into Sunday what little slack there was was picked up- shifts were elongated, breaks cancelled apprentices, retired equipment and men, and anyone who could volunteer anything to the project were brought it- by lunchtime concern was threatening to overspill into panic as barely one in twelve homes were connected.
At the mayoral residence, panic had already gripped the staff- No-one could quite understand what had gone wrong- projects of this magnitude had been achieved in this time-scale before what was different this time around?
A later investigation would reveal that the scale wasn't the problem, “time” was; in all the meticulous planning to get this done in a weekend, nobody had ensured that Mayor Peck had stopped time itself, not an uncommon occurrence,- allowing most of the work to be done while time stood still- it was this that allowed the impossible to become possible and without it the project stood no chance.
And so it transpired; Sunday night came and only one in ten homes were connected. Worse, an exhausted workforce could not keep up the frantic pace of the last couple of days, and borrowed men and machines had to be returned to the cities from which they were borrowed- and the immensity of the work yet to be done was forced home on everyone from the citizens to the administration.
What followed next was the second disaster of Fort Consternation's history, made worse by being man made; even those rare individuals who had saved up water for up to a week found any gloating subdued and short lived as the project was not completed after a week, or the week after that. Rapidly, it dawned on everyone that the project could not be completed in days, or even weeks, and plans had to be made to prepare for months of a man-made drought. Drinking water was shipped in from wherever it could be found and distributed by re-purposed tanker trucks, or specially commission “water trains” while makeshift wells were dug where they could, but it was no good. A population of half a million couldn't be sustained by such ad hoc methods and those that could, began to flee. Thousands upon thousand abandoned their homes and businesses leaving behind anything that couldn't fit in the car.
By the time the pipes project was completed, some seven months behind schedule, it served a ghost town of just over 30,000. The project was completed and was ultimately successful, but at an unimaginable cost.
Like the volcano disaster of years earlier, the aftermath was far more damaging than the disaster itself. Funding was desperately needed to complete the project, and services to be maintained to keep life bearable for those who remain, but with massive amounts of spending and plummeting tax revenues, there was a huge deficit.
Mayor Peck returned to Fort Consternation after a … prolonged absence.
Pushing his way through the build-up of junk mail and newspapers, he forced his way into the Mayor's house and sat behind his desk, disturbing the settled dust- into a plume not dissimilar to a nuclear explosion he thought idly. Perhaps it was a sign of things to come...
Once a kettle had be found and the water to the house turned back on (and official documents redirected to the Mayoral Residence as an afterthought) it was time for a cup of tea and to get down to business. The previous administrations had managed the city admirably; the budget was healthy and growing, the population was booming and content, so there was nothing of any urgency only routine matters of a bustling city.
An ageing power plant needed replacing- it was found to be a windmill somewhere on the East Coast Industrial District, it was demolished, with relish, and plans were made to replace it later with something better. It was with some disappointment that Mayor Peck noticed the nuclear fusion power plant was no more, demolished in some greater urban renewal project most likely, but rather than plan to build another one at a prohibitively expensive rate, he would give the existing Nuclear fission plant his full backing instead. Whatever that meant.
Next came a brief foray into infrastructure as extra connections were made to New Eden (especially a rail one that was lacking) to accommodate the hordes who escaped the bustle of Fort Consternation for the peace of New Eden every weekend.
To keep business ticking along, the connections around the Fort Consternation Convention Centre (FCCC?), found to be rather lacking, were improved with a bit of rather impressive rail building, if I say so myself. Also, in a short lived scheme to encourage further industrial growth; the mayor offered public funds to level land on the hills between Thorgalaeg Bay and Hollywood Hills if business agreed to set up on the newly levelled land. The offer was accepted and several new industries were there that were not before, but when the bill came, it was found to be rather too costly for the gains made and as such was quietly dropped.
The demographic changes of the population meant another tweaking of the health and education budgets, as an older population needed more hospitals and High Schools, than elementary schools- though the lackadaisical approach of the Peck Administration meant strikes rather more frequent than perhaps they were in previous years.
Power was a concern, but was far down on the agenda as by the beginning of Year 116 as the Mayor had a plan, a legacy of his term that, if done right, nobody would even notice...
Since the second Mythmonster administration, there was a huge over abundance of water pipes under the city, laid by a well meaning, if misguided attempt to restore water to a desperate city after the volcanic eruption. These excess pipes were making the pipe maintenance budget at least three times what it should be- so the system would be replaced, to bring the budget down, yet keep Fort Consternation well watered. The tangled web of pipes would be replaced with 25: 20 facing north to south, 12 tiles apart- 6 tiles being the maximum radius of a water pipe, and the further 5 to connect the 20 and cover any areas where the terrain made long lines of pipe impractical.
]However, legacies are not made by water pipe repair efficiencies alone and Mayor Peck announced, not only would the entire citied piping be replaced, it would be replaced all at once, in a single weekend.
The press loved it and a press conference was held on Friday evening culminating with Mayor Peck tearing out the first pipe for a photo-op, after which pipes were torn up with gleeful abandon. Within hours no water pipes remained- the only water to be found was in the two days supply citizens had been advised to hoard, three if they were especially pessimistic.
The work began at a furious pace, miles of pipe being laid every hour by teams brought in from across the country. It was a sight of immense industry to invigorate the soul, as shifts were arranged so that not a second was lost. By midnight, thousands of people were back on the water grid, and almost a sixteenth of the city had been covered.
A sixteenth? But the project was almost halfway through it's allotted time! As Saturday rolled into Sunday what little slack there was was picked up- shifts were elongated, breaks cancelled apprentices, retired equipment and men, and anyone who could volunteer anything to the project were brought it- by lunchtime concern was threatening to overspill into panic as barely one in twelve homes were connected.
At the mayoral residence, panic had already gripped the staff- No-one could quite understand what had gone wrong- projects of this magnitude had been achieved in this time-scale before what was different this time around?
A later investigation would reveal that the scale wasn't the problem, “time” was; in all the meticulous planning to get this done in a weekend, nobody had ensured that Mayor Peck had stopped time itself, not an uncommon occurrence,- allowing most of the work to be done while time stood still- it was this that allowed the impossible to become possible and without it the project stood no chance.
And so it transpired; Sunday night came and only one in ten homes were connected. Worse, an exhausted workforce could not keep up the frantic pace of the last couple of days, and borrowed men and machines had to be returned to the cities from which they were borrowed- and the immensity of the work yet to be done was forced home on everyone from the citizens to the administration.
What followed next was the second disaster of Fort Consternation's history, made worse by being man made; even those rare individuals who had saved up water for up to a week found any gloating subdued and short lived as the project was not completed after a week, or the week after that. Rapidly, it dawned on everyone that the project could not be completed in days, or even weeks, and plans had to be made to prepare for months of a man-made drought. Drinking water was shipped in from wherever it could be found and distributed by re-purposed tanker trucks, or specially commission “water trains” while makeshift wells were dug where they could, but it was no good. A population of half a million couldn't be sustained by such ad hoc methods and those that could, began to flee. Thousands upon thousand abandoned their homes and businesses leaving behind anything that couldn't fit in the car.
By the time the pipes project was completed, some seven months behind schedule, it served a ghost town of just over 30,000. The project was completed and was ultimately successful, but at an unimaginable cost.
Like the volcano disaster of years earlier, the aftermath was far more damaging than the disaster itself. Funding was desperately needed to complete the project, and services to be maintained to keep life bearable for those who remain, but with massive amounts of spending and plummeting tax revenues, there was a huge deficit.
Peck of Arabia
Sociable Recluse
Part 2
It was hoped that with the water restored and public spending kept at pre-drought levels that, once water was restored, the population would flood back and normality would be achieved. Yet this was only partially the case- unsurprisingly, demand to live and work in Fort Consternation had plummeted; those that had fled never wished to return and the people who had replaced them were fewer in number, poorer, younger and badly educated. In short, a demographic shift had occurred overnight recovery would not be a simple case of keeping the lights on and hospitals open and waiting everything to right itself.
Not least because the money had run out- a huge embarrassment for Mayor Peck who had prided himself on his fiscal responsibilities, he had been left over $600,000, which had not only been spent, but the budget was a month away from becoming overdrawn!
Immediately a budget was devised that could only be described as Draconian, the Airport and Sea Port were cut to the bone as were all schools and hospitals. It was enough to stave off bankruptcy for the month, but the next month promised an overdraft of over $40,000!
The budget was further revised- everything that could be cut, was cut- the air and seaports were closed outright, as were the schools and hospitals, The police and fire serviced had their budgets halved, garbage collection was suspended as was upkeep of public and government places, and all ordinances except the pro-reading campaign and the tourism initiative (it was only a small fee and, who knows?). Dirty Industry were welcomed back with a reasonable tax rate as the general population were no longer qualified to work anywhere else and this was the only place where a recovery could realistically come from.
Only power, water and transportation remained at full budget- there was no way water was going to be cut, not after all this.
This was still not enough keep the city in the black and, in one of the cities most shameful moments, a loan had to be taken out for the first time in its history. Fort Consternation had sunk to a new low.
The result of the budget was obvious and almost immediate: Strikes, sit ins, walk outs, mass resignations, protests and general civil disorder- the city looked grimy and unkempt, the atmosphere charged with anger. There was talk at the beginning of Peck's term of refitting the Old Airport site, replacing the White House with St Basil's Cathedral one side and the Hagia Sofia on the other- it had very nearly come to fruition, now the city could barely maintain what was there. The population may had returned to just under half its pre-drought figure, but the prosperity was nowhere to be found, in fact further savings had to be found.
Since the police and fire services were already on strike, further pay cuts could have few ramifications, while the budget for mass transit was halved, as the mayors beloved railways finally felt the cuts.
The tax cuts on dirty industry, though not preferable, had done their work- there were many unemployed unskilled, and semi-skilled workers, factory fodder and industry was keen to exploit this fact.
Fifteen months after the disaster, through harsh cuts, the budget was finally showing a surplus, and modest growth, it was tenuous, but at least there was a glimmer of hope that the city had a future, that it could fund itself.
This was the only good news in a long succession of bad news- apart from a comparatively light-hearted story about animals escaping from the zoo; apparently the only way to make sure it won't happen again is to pump the budget up to full- surely not bringing any new animals in would have the same effect..
It's just as well that the budget was somewhat fixed-. While this was hardly pleasant- at least it was manageable.
It was hoped that with the water restored and public spending kept at pre-drought levels that, once water was restored, the population would flood back and normality would be achieved. Yet this was only partially the case- unsurprisingly, demand to live and work in Fort Consternation had plummeted; those that had fled never wished to return and the people who had replaced them were fewer in number, poorer, younger and badly educated. In short, a demographic shift had occurred overnight recovery would not be a simple case of keeping the lights on and hospitals open and waiting everything to right itself.
Not least because the money had run out- a huge embarrassment for Mayor Peck who had prided himself on his fiscal responsibilities, he had been left over $600,000, which had not only been spent, but the budget was a month away from becoming overdrawn!
Immediately a budget was devised that could only be described as Draconian, the Airport and Sea Port were cut to the bone as were all schools and hospitals. It was enough to stave off bankruptcy for the month, but the next month promised an overdraft of over $40,000!
The budget was further revised- everything that could be cut, was cut- the air and seaports were closed outright, as were the schools and hospitals, The police and fire serviced had their budgets halved, garbage collection was suspended as was upkeep of public and government places, and all ordinances except the pro-reading campaign and the tourism initiative (it was only a small fee and, who knows?). Dirty Industry were welcomed back with a reasonable tax rate as the general population were no longer qualified to work anywhere else and this was the only place where a recovery could realistically come from.
Only power, water and transportation remained at full budget- there was no way water was going to be cut, not after all this.
This was still not enough keep the city in the black and, in one of the cities most shameful moments, a loan had to be taken out for the first time in its history. Fort Consternation had sunk to a new low.
The result of the budget was obvious and almost immediate: Strikes, sit ins, walk outs, mass resignations, protests and general civil disorder- the city looked grimy and unkempt, the atmosphere charged with anger. There was talk at the beginning of Peck's term of refitting the Old Airport site, replacing the White House with St Basil's Cathedral one side and the Hagia Sofia on the other- it had very nearly come to fruition, now the city could barely maintain what was there. The population may had returned to just under half its pre-drought figure, but the prosperity was nowhere to be found, in fact further savings had to be found.
Since the police and fire services were already on strike, further pay cuts could have few ramifications, while the budget for mass transit was halved, as the mayors beloved railways finally felt the cuts.
The tax cuts on dirty industry, though not preferable, had done their work- there were many unemployed unskilled, and semi-skilled workers, factory fodder and industry was keen to exploit this fact.
Fifteen months after the disaster, through harsh cuts, the budget was finally showing a surplus, and modest growth, it was tenuous, but at least there was a glimmer of hope that the city had a future, that it could fund itself.
This was the only good news in a long succession of bad news- apart from a comparatively light-hearted story about animals escaping from the zoo; apparently the only way to make sure it won't happen again is to pump the budget up to full- surely not bringing any new animals in would have the same effect..
It's just as well that the budget was somewhat fixed-. While this was hardly pleasant- at least it was manageable.
Peck of Arabia
Sociable Recluse
Part 3
The next day fire broke out- with all the abandoned buildings and no fire coverage the only surprise was that it hadn't happened already. Then another broke out, and another. The fire-fighters that arrived didn't have the equipment or the inclination to put the fires out, only to attempt to stop the spread. Fortunately the damage was minimal, yet before things could get worse, fire-fighters were restored to full pay, eradicating the budget surplus
Then the Mass Transit workers went on strike: not only was this a deep blow personally, the Mayor had close ties especially with the rail system which was very much his thing- but financially, as fares made up a large part of the budget. Commuters and businesses needed the transit system in top condition and the city needed them if it was to recover. Given all of this, the Mayor folded almost straight away caving to all of their demands. The deficit had returned with a vengeance.
To make matters worse, the city had to spare money it hadn't got to commission a new coal power plant or risk the precarious recovery grounding to a halt, a second loan was taken and it was hoped this would be enough
Three and a half years into his disastrous administration, Mayor Peck's rating finally started to drop, the 12/12 rating, held for so long, by so many administrations, was finally lost, another blemish on the administration's terrible record. A report showed the prevailing mood was not one of anger, the highly charged atmosphere of 18 months ago, but one of a deep set pessimism, of resignation and resentment, while much of the mayoral staff that was left were looking eagerly to being kicked out in 18 months time and were happy to wait it out.
Not that Mayor himself was; the rest of the year saw treading water financially, building up a bit of a reserve, but when the final year came about, it was time to make a go of perking the city up somewhat for the next administration. The budget surplus was spent on reopening hospitals and schools in the Thorgalaeg Bay area in the hopes that at least some part of the city could be classed a success.
The results was modest, and air pollution is the worst it has ever been, but there is a recovery. A small one, led by dirty industry, but a recovery nonetheless.
By the end of his administration, the citizens could probably have forgiven the draconian measures to fix the situation that had cut schools, hospitals, garbage collection and pollution controls, but nobody could forgive or forget the fact that it was the Mayor's hubris and incompetence that ultimately transformed Fort Consternation from a shining city on (many) hills into well, this:
Stats
Fort Consternation: Year 120
Population: 254,692 (251,602)
Funds: $995 (-$601,609) (-$59005 exc. loans)
Surplus: $736
Mayoral Rating: 10/12 (How is this still high!)
The download link is here
*A note on what on earth happened:
Everything was going fine in a tweaking around the edges sort of way (It was at risk of becoming rather uninteresting) until it came to replacing the water pipes. I left the game unpaused to allow for a bit of a passage of time while construction took place, but it took longer than I realised and the population plummeted without me noticing (I only noticed when that “Budget outlook grim!” message appeared. I didn't think it would be quite as devastating as it was. Sorry
I did think about quitting and restarting but figured why not make it interesting, so I left it as was. I know it's a bit of a mess, but handling and writing about this crisis was rather quite fun (which explains why this is almost 2500 words long)
Anyway if anyone fancies a bit of crisis management I'd love to get this going again!
Or if you still want a go but Fort Consternation looks a bit much, there's always Eden Prime- that place is untouched!
The next day fire broke out- with all the abandoned buildings and no fire coverage the only surprise was that it hadn't happened already. Then another broke out, and another. The fire-fighters that arrived didn't have the equipment or the inclination to put the fires out, only to attempt to stop the spread. Fortunately the damage was minimal, yet before things could get worse, fire-fighters were restored to full pay, eradicating the budget surplus
Then the Mass Transit workers went on strike: not only was this a deep blow personally, the Mayor had close ties especially with the rail system which was very much his thing- but financially, as fares made up a large part of the budget. Commuters and businesses needed the transit system in top condition and the city needed them if it was to recover. Given all of this, the Mayor folded almost straight away caving to all of their demands. The deficit had returned with a vengeance.
To make matters worse, the city had to spare money it hadn't got to commission a new coal power plant or risk the precarious recovery grounding to a halt, a second loan was taken and it was hoped this would be enough
Three and a half years into his disastrous administration, Mayor Peck's rating finally started to drop, the 12/12 rating, held for so long, by so many administrations, was finally lost, another blemish on the administration's terrible record. A report showed the prevailing mood was not one of anger, the highly charged atmosphere of 18 months ago, but one of a deep set pessimism, of resignation and resentment, while much of the mayoral staff that was left were looking eagerly to being kicked out in 18 months time and were happy to wait it out.
Not that Mayor himself was; the rest of the year saw treading water financially, building up a bit of a reserve, but when the final year came about, it was time to make a go of perking the city up somewhat for the next administration. The budget surplus was spent on reopening hospitals and schools in the Thorgalaeg Bay area in the hopes that at least some part of the city could be classed a success.
The results was modest, and air pollution is the worst it has ever been, but there is a recovery. A small one, led by dirty industry, but a recovery nonetheless.
By the end of his administration, the citizens could probably have forgiven the draconian measures to fix the situation that had cut schools, hospitals, garbage collection and pollution controls, but nobody could forgive or forget the fact that it was the Mayor's hubris and incompetence that ultimately transformed Fort Consternation from a shining city on (many) hills into well, this:
Stats
Fort Consternation: Year 120
Population: 254,692 (251,602)
Funds: $995 (-$601,609) (-$59005 exc. loans)
Surplus: $736
Mayoral Rating: 10/12 (How is this still high!)
The download link is here
*A note on what on earth happened:
Everything was going fine in a tweaking around the edges sort of way (It was at risk of becoming rather uninteresting) until it came to replacing the water pipes. I left the game unpaused to allow for a bit of a passage of time while construction took place, but it took longer than I realised and the population plummeted without me noticing (I only noticed when that “Budget outlook grim!” message appeared. I didn't think it would be quite as devastating as it was. Sorry
I did think about quitting and restarting but figured why not make it interesting, so I left it as was. I know it's a bit of a mess, but handling and writing about this crisis was rather quite fun (which explains why this is almost 2500 words long)
Anyway if anyone fancies a bit of crisis management I'd love to get this going again!
Or if you still want a go but Fort Consternation looks a bit much, there's always Eden Prime- that place is untouched!
Normally the first thing I cut in a budget are ambulances and school buses as generally sims are happy to drive. Then cutting fire, airport, port, university funding would come next.
Interesting read and gives the next major a challenge to get the people back.
Interesting read and gives the next major a challenge to get the people back.
Thorgalaeg
Deity
I didnt remember how cool our little city was (well, at least until mayor Peck put his greasy hands on it 
).
).
Peck of Arabia
Sociable Recluse
Sorry about that...
On the plus side, Thogalaeg Bay has recovered somewhat- it's like a shining beacon, of sorts.
The challenge made it very fun to play, though now I think about it, I might upset the people who built up what I've just ruined; if people really want we can rewind it and I could take my go again, but I'd really rather not, the challenge, I think, keeps it interesting (and I spent most of today writing the above report
)
On the plus side, Thogalaeg Bay has recovered somewhat- it's like a shining beacon, of sorts.
The challenge made it very fun to play, though now I think about it, I might upset the people who built up what I've just ruined; if people really want we can rewind it and I could take my go again, but I'd really rather not, the challenge, I think, keeps it interesting (and I spent most of today writing the above report
)
mythmonster2
BEC NOIR! RUN!
Well, at least I don't have the worst administration so far now! I am tempted to throw my hat back in the ring, but it's been quite a while since I've done anything SimCity related.
Thorgalaeg
Deity
Rewind it? Nooo. I was joking. It was cool but boring. Now it is funny again. And anyway what done is done. I would take the next turn ASAP but must look for the CD, make some free space in the HD, install the game, play the turn, write the post... and i not have the time right now. But next week it will be raining all the day here and i probably will.Sorry about that...
On the plus side, Thogalaeg Bay has recovered somewhat- it's like a shining beacon, of sorts.
The challenge made it very fun to play, though now I think about it, I might upset the people who built up what I've just ruined; if people really want we can rewind it and I could take my go again, but I'd really rather not, the challenge, I think, keeps it interesting (and I spent most of today writing the above report
Peck of Arabia
Sociable Recluse
You're welcome
Go for it! What's the worst that could happen? (I'd be impressed if you could reclaim the "Worst Administration" award)
Rewind it? Nooo. I was joking. It was cool but boring. Now it is funny again. And anyway what done is done. I would take the next turn ASAP but must look for the CD, make some free space in the HD, install the game, play the turn, write the post... and i not have the time right now. But next week it will be raining all the day here and i probably will.
Cool! I'll put your name back on the list if that's OK; I'll have to see if calad's around and still free and if who else wants a go to fix the city (or not) but as it stands, I think, the city's yours whenever you're ready!
Well that was certainly an interesting turn of events! I'm glad you decided to go along with it, since it had been rather methodical with most things going so well, and now it's a very different type of challenge as well as a very entertaining read (except for the residents). When I first read that you couldn't make a legacy on water pipe repair efficiency alone, I was inclined to agree, but I must say, I think you may have done just that in this term!
Like mythmonster2, this also makes me more interested in potentially coming out of retirement to try to revitalize our beloved Fort Consternation. As a resident, a few weeks into the flood I had no real choice but to take up an invitation to live in another city until the situation was resolved, but as a former city administrator, there is of course a certain desire to come back and try to help my place of residence for more than 115 years. At the least, I'll have to load up the save and investigate the current state of affairs more closely.
----
Joining a political action committee, Citizens for Fort Consternation (CFC), composed largely of renowned former residents of Fort Consternation, idealistic young residents hearing their parents' tales of a prosperous Fort Consternation, and 85-year-old grandmothers who had lived in Fort Consternation their entire lives prior to the drought, Quintillus toured Fort Consteration, trying to determine what could be done for the ailing city. What he saw was not great. Thousands of abandoned buildings, unmaintained city grounds, and Germanicus12 Stadium having been transformed from successful baseball stadium to the neighborhood dump in the absence of garbarge collection services. There was at least one bright spot - the alcove of the city in the northeast by the lighthouse where, perhaps due to a successful well, several residents had stayed and the education level was halfway respectable.
Most interesting was that, despite the population being essentially halved, water and power consumption had actually gone up by about a seventh. Some of this can be attributed to inefficient dirty industry, but Quintillus suspected that a lot of the abandoned buildings were still sucking up large amounts of power and water - people abandoned them with the faucets set to open in the hopes of a return of water and the lights blazing, and they've been wasting resources for years since. Quintillus suspects that demolishing all these abandoned buildings would save considerable resources, but unfortunately the city is too broke to do that. If that were done, some water pumps and power stations could be discontinued.
More realistically in terms of budgets, replacing the nuclear power station with coal could save thousands of simoleons per year and provide a considerable boost to the bottom line.
At any rate, it's alarming that utilities compose 43% of the budget even without any garbage collection, and yet most of that power and water is being used.
It's also likely that some public transit stations could be discontinued where ridership is low, bringing that department closer to break-even. However, given the need to maintain subway lines and the like, it's unlikely that it can be profitable without a significant return of population, and since the subway lines probably cost millions of simoleons to build, demolishing them is undesirable.
Then there are the options that depend more on style. Lowering taxes to stimulate growth; raising taxes so schools can be opened. Closing all the police stations and making Fort Consternation a libertarian paradise once more - which could end up being a good or a bad thing.
I'm hoping Thorgalaeg is able to pick up the game next week and continue putting Fort Consternation back on the track to success!
Like mythmonster2, this also makes me more interested in potentially coming out of retirement to try to revitalize our beloved Fort Consternation. As a resident, a few weeks into the flood I had no real choice but to take up an invitation to live in another city until the situation was resolved, but as a former city administrator, there is of course a certain desire to come back and try to help my place of residence for more than 115 years. At the least, I'll have to load up the save and investigate the current state of affairs more closely.
----
Joining a political action committee, Citizens for Fort Consternation (CFC), composed largely of renowned former residents of Fort Consternation, idealistic young residents hearing their parents' tales of a prosperous Fort Consternation, and 85-year-old grandmothers who had lived in Fort Consternation their entire lives prior to the drought, Quintillus toured Fort Consteration, trying to determine what could be done for the ailing city. What he saw was not great. Thousands of abandoned buildings, unmaintained city grounds, and Germanicus12 Stadium having been transformed from successful baseball stadium to the neighborhood dump in the absence of garbarge collection services. There was at least one bright spot - the alcove of the city in the northeast by the lighthouse where, perhaps due to a successful well, several residents had stayed and the education level was halfway respectable.
Most interesting was that, despite the population being essentially halved, water and power consumption had actually gone up by about a seventh. Some of this can be attributed to inefficient dirty industry, but Quintillus suspected that a lot of the abandoned buildings were still sucking up large amounts of power and water - people abandoned them with the faucets set to open in the hopes of a return of water and the lights blazing, and they've been wasting resources for years since. Quintillus suspects that demolishing all these abandoned buildings would save considerable resources, but unfortunately the city is too broke to do that. If that were done, some water pumps and power stations could be discontinued.
More realistically in terms of budgets, replacing the nuclear power station with coal could save thousands of simoleons per year and provide a considerable boost to the bottom line.
At any rate, it's alarming that utilities compose 43% of the budget even without any garbage collection, and yet most of that power and water is being used.
It's also likely that some public transit stations could be discontinued where ridership is low, bringing that department closer to break-even. However, given the need to maintain subway lines and the like, it's unlikely that it can be profitable without a significant return of population, and since the subway lines probably cost millions of simoleons to build, demolishing them is undesirable.
Then there are the options that depend more on style. Lowering taxes to stimulate growth; raising taxes so schools can be opened. Closing all the police stations and making Fort Consternation a libertarian paradise once more - which could end up being a good or a bad thing.
I'm hoping Thorgalaeg is able to pick up the game next week and continue putting Fort Consternation back on the track to success!
Peck of Arabia
Sociable Recluse
Fantastic, it really feels like this thing's coming alive again! 
There's the small issue of what order everyone takes their turn at rebuilding the city: I don't know whether to go by the old rota which would make it; calad, Quintillus, Thorgalaeg and mythmonster, or start a new one which would, going on a first come first served basis be: Thorgalaeg, mythmonster, Quintillus then calad if he's still around.
Any thoughts/advice?
There's the small issue of what order everyone takes their turn at rebuilding the city: I don't know whether to go by the old rota which would make it; calad, Quintillus, Thorgalaeg and mythmonster, or start a new one which would, going on a first come first served basis be: Thorgalaeg, mythmonster, Quintillus then calad if he's still around.
Any thoughts/advice?
I think Thorgalaeg and mythmonster should get to go first if they want to since it's been a long time since they've been mayor.
Peck of Arabia
Sociable Recluse
That sounds fair to me, a new rota it is! Here's hoping there's poor weather where Thorgalaeg is to keep him chained to a PC
That's an excellent appraisal of the situation, too. It's amazing how much power and water abandoned buildings drink up but I was loathe to demolish them, as there wasn't really the budget for it (though we do have a $2,000,000 credit limit...) and I was holding on to a distant hope that a lot of them would be reoccupied.
Having said that- abandoned building are a lot cheaper to demolish than occupied ones so this would be a golden opportunity to dramatically reshape the city and improve transport links if only we had the funds for it- maybe it would be worth the gamble of another large loan or two?
That's an excellent appraisal of the situation, too. It's amazing how much power and water abandoned buildings drink up but I was loathe to demolish them, as there wasn't really the budget for it (though we do have a $2,000,000 credit limit...) and I was holding on to a distant hope that a lot of them would be reoccupied.
Having said that- abandoned building are a lot cheaper to demolish than occupied ones so this would be a golden opportunity to dramatically reshape the city and improve transport links if only we had the funds for it- maybe it would be worth the gamble of another large loan or two?
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