Stories 2022-09-04 Frosty Rivers Game-play
2022-09-04T00:53:00Z Started savegame on Frosty Rivers, all outside connections and natural resources, suitable area for building 56%, base theme: WINTER.
So before even clicking start I have to say that I hate video game WINTER terrains! I'm only going to check out this Cities Skylines winter terrain to see how bad it is, does it need some stupid heating pipe etc, that can I even play such terrain through or is it a no go for me. My stories terrain game-play marathon series would be pretty badly cut if I had to leave these WINTER terrains out, but its something I'm willing to do because I don't do stuff that its not nice or fun etc.
Goal is to reach population 100k today as quick as possible while still enjoying the game.
Addons used: 81 tiles, camera position utility, cinematic camera extended v0.5.1, csl show more limits, enhanced outside connections view, extended game options, extra landscaping tools, first person camera, harmony v2.2, hide it, lifecycle rebalance revisited v1.6.4, optimize outside connections, precision engineering, random tree rotation, realistic population 2 v2.0.5, rebalanced industries, roundabout builder, TM:PE stable v11.6.6.3, transfermanager ce v1.8.10, transporttool v2.3.1, ultimate level of detail, unlimited oil and ore, unlimited soil. List updated: 2022-08-27T21:39:00Z
This is how horrible the terrain looks with WINTER textures and those huge bodies of water on top of everything else. Looking at the land mass, I could say yeah there is enough to build roads and zones to reach 100k population if there is no other WINTER stupidity like the heating pipe shit.
First used 81 tiles addon to open up all terrain grid tiles for use. TM:PE enabled disable de-spawning, advanced vehicle AI enabled, 50% dynamic lane selection, parking AI enabled more realistic parking. Transfer manager ce, goods delivery options warehouse first, reserve trucks for local transfers 20%, improved inter-warehouse transfers, import/export disabled allow import goods, services prefer local district services, death care/garbage improved all three, general disable dummy traffic, vehicle AI enable garbage and police.
Turned roads, electric and water budget to 50%, we need to save money.
For this savegame I'll keep screenshots to absolutely bare minimum, I hate WINTER in video games, did I mention that? 
2022-09-04T01:03:00Z Unpaused the game, lets start this thing.
First save game for Frosty_Rivers_1 file name.
Stupid fucking snow WHITE blinds my eyes 
"White Ain't Right."
2022-09-04T01:07:00Z Ran out of money, most likely because using two lane asphalt roads for local roads now, I'm done with the piece of shit dirt roads which I have to later upgrade and the road upgrade tool sucks in Cities Skylines.
WINTER shit looks decent, I've tried to make it absolutely clear that I hate it, but as technical texture standpoint, winter textures look decent in Cities Skylines.
This savegame if I ever manage to get it to 100k population will NEVER see further game-play, that is for sure. This feels so disgusting I have no idea why am I doing this...
On the bright side, we only have five of these shit WINTER terrains to go through and then what is left is "handful" of regular terrains which have no DLC affiliation, I have to assume those are the terrains that came with the base "v1.0" game release. Cannot wait to get through this WINTER shit and start playing those terrains.
2022-09-04T01:13:00Z Little Hamlet population 380.
Turned on taxes to 12% for industrial, low density residential and commercial. Purchased elementary school and landfill site. Uuh this is so painful to play on shit WINTER terrain, why am I doing stupid crap like this, no idea
And to think that there is five of these shit WINTER terrains to play through, that means five days of game-play bare minimum, if I manage to speed things up and get lucky with traffic etc, I could possibly do two terrains a day, at least 1.5.
2022-09-04T01:24:00Z Worthy Village population 750.
No painting of districts, they serve no purpose on my goal now. Placed fire station, police station and health clinic. Well was going to place cop station but ran out of money, so have to wait a bit.
Saved game for Frosty_Rivers_2 file name.
2022-09-04T01:27:00Z Restored budget for roads, electric and water to 100% which is the normal. I must say using asphalt roads right from the beginning has definitely been harder for budget than dirt roads, I am struggling with money. But as I said, using roads upgrade tool in Cities Skylines is painful, I don't ever want to do it again.
Five fucking days man, can I endure 5 days of WINTER terrains? Uuh, its going to be a bad one... I really do wonder if its worth it, why am I doing this shit, just so I can feel good about Cities Skylines terrain game-play marathon, been playing through all the official released terrains, hmm.
2022-09-04T01:32:00Z Turned budget for roads back to 50% as we cant get any revenue, its a struggle. Lets see if that helps.
Hmm I might have to re-think that asphalt roads straight from the start decision, this is almost unplayable with budget, there is no money, have to wait really long time when a little is trickling in. Yes I absolutely hate upgrading dirt roads with the stupid road upgrade tool, but... if it means my game-play is 10-20min longer with no money, its not worth it. Hey who says I have to even replace the low density residential dirt roads, just leave them for the ghetto neighborhood.
2022-09-04T01:36:00Z Tiny Town population 1.2k.
Saved game for Frosty_Rivers_3 file name.
Replaced placeholder dirt road arterial and collectors with proper six and four lane asphalt roads. Replaced industrial district roads with industry road type (small for local and medium for collector).
2022-09-04T01:40:00Z Its time to eat days first meal while game is running 3x time acceleration speed. Next milestone prolly kicks in before I'm done eating.
2022-09-04T02:04:00Z Feeding time is over, back to WINTER shit... uuh...
And no progress, guess the area is so small as I didn't have enough money to build more road grid, ok now we got 60k so lets continue building.
2022-09-04T02:11:00Z Boom Town population 2k.
Cemetery and bus depot became available in this milestone, cemetery is essential for life heh.
Man that budget is a struggle for sure. I am definitely going back to dirt roads and just leave them be without upgrading them on low density residential starter area.
2022-09-04T02:21:00Z And now its a long waiting time, managed to create large road grid and now we wait for buildings to come up...
2022-09-04T02:41:00Z Busy Town population 4k.
Fire helicopter depot became available in this milestone, this is must have to any large city, when you have traffic jams and fires, helicopters are a life savers. Two lane road with trees, this is my go-to local road, starting using it now and when time comes, will upgrade existing dirt roads with this one. Oil industry specialization available.
Saved game for Frosty_Rivers_4 file name which is the last of the four rotating file names.
There was a huge issue with private cars clogging up the roads in industrial and commercial area, so I used TM:PE to ban private cars from the medium industrial road, therefore nobody can drive there. In theory, they should all walk or take the buses. However I've never done something like this so it might cripple the whole industrial commercial area, I took a savegame just in case if something bad happens.
2022-09-04T03:17:00Z Big Town population 6k.
High density zones, metro, incineration plant, intercity bus, university and large warehouse are now available.
2022-09-04T03:30:00Z Small City population 8k.
This milestone gives us cargo train terminal, train station (passengers!) and two good policies. Activated small business enthusiast and big business benefactor policies.
Created train station for passengers, but did not have enough money to finish everything I had planned for trains.
2022-09-04T03:47:00Z Big City population 13k.
Crematorium, large water tower and advanced inland water treatment plant are now available.
Created cargo train station for industrial area, eases some vehicle traffic.
2022-09-04T04:03:00Z Grand City population 16k.
2022-09-04T04:21:00Z Capital City population 26k.
Passenger and cargo harbor is now available, passenger is a must have for incoming citizens.
2022-09-04T04:38:00Z Colossal City population 34k.
This milestone gives nuclear power plant and cargo hub (ship + train terminal).
2022-09-04T04:57:00Z Metropolis population 48k.
2022-09-04T05:24:00Z Megalopolis population 60k.
This was the last milestone, interesting to see it being so low population, highest I've seen like 90k, now we are just half way through our goal and already all milestones done. Okay lets keep pushing on.
Currently having problem with workers again, I have thousands of uneducated workers but I cant make more industry because it would cripple road traffic and the industrial buildings already complain about no raw materials, which is odd as there is no traffic and cargo train terminal is working OK.
2022-09-04T06:21:00Z Really bored, game feels like the simulation is lagging, or maybe I just imagine it. There has been no real fast progress in long while, hence me being bored.
There is a big demand for industrial, but I cant add more as there is not free space in the industrial area, fucking water, man.
I could of course expand across the river to next shore, but last time I did that game flipped out with pathunits thing, assuming because the distance between two populated neighborhoods were that far, no idea but I would not want to repeat that laggyness again.
2022-09-04T06:38:00Z Time to cook food and eat, will let game run in 3x time acceleration speed after just saving the game, lets hope nothing breaks.
2022-09-04T07:55:00Z Feeding time is over, back to this sluggish WINTER city, ugh.
Unfuckingbelievable.
After cooking food I came back to computer while stuff was still coming along in kitchen, I saw that all trains have been utterly and completely clogged the railroads, from one terrain edge to another, I have never seen something this bad in my life.
When I investigated I noticed that the terrain developer had left less than a train length of distance on those T-intersection connecting tracks, well no wonder why trains get bogged down
I started to delete all the passenger community and high speed trains, but there was just so many of them. Then I fixed two T-intersection railroad tracks for larger capacity / distance. But things were still gridlocked from HELL.
2022-09-04T07:58:00Z I'm now continuing to sort out that mess, I'll delete all trains manually if I have to.
2022-09-04T08:39:00Z Finally got trains sorted and moving again, followed several trains when they entered the terrain and reached our passenger station or cargo terminal, things are looking good now.
2022-09-04T09:31:00Z Alright goal reached, population 100k, finally.
2022-09-04T09:31:00Z Saved game and shutdown Cities Skylines, we are done with WINTER terrain. Too bad I still have four more to go