Stories 2022-09-07 Grand River Game-play
2022-09-07T16:28:00Z Started savegame on Grand River, all outside connections and natural resources but oil, suitable area for building 84%, base theme: european.
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 the terrain that I've played actually several times before:
But none of those times I reached 100k population which is this terrain savegame marathon's goal. Now I am going to do it. I actually remember this terrain pretty good.
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.
First save game for Grand_River_1 file name.
This kind of starter setup for this terrain when it finally will be brought up to over 100k population 
2022-09-07T16:37:00Z Unpaused the game, lets start this thing.
2022-09-07T16:42:00Z Okay now got everything going, enough roads and water pipes done with 6k budget left. Now I get to take a breath heh. So yeah this is european theme terrain, not my favorite because high density residential and service buildings look like shit, especially bad are the service buildings like university as it wont fit into 10 unit road grid, how dumb is that, huh.
Anyways, I'll play as long as possible tonight and finish 100k population goal tomorrow by mid day for sure. Good stuff.
2022-09-07T16:45:00Z Little Hamlet population 360.
Turned on taxes to 12% for industrial, low density residential and commercial. Purchased elementary school and landfill site.
Pisses me off as this terrains highway connection was just SLIGHTLY off from 0,90,180,270 direction headings, it is so insignificant thing in grand scheme of things, yet it still drives me nuts hehe.
I wish there was road grid making tool which would set road into specific direction heading. Yeah we have angles and stuff, but those are angles for EXISTING road, if you want to create brand new road in middle of nowhere how are you going to make sure its 0/180 etc straight heading, you dont, its judging by good old Mark 1 Eyeball.
2022-09-07T16:52:00Z Worthy Village population 750.
Did not create districts again, I just don't need them, they are more like eyecandy to me (short story). Placed fire station, police station and health clinic.
Saved game for Grand_River_2 file name.
2022-09-07T16:59:00Z Tiny Town population 1.2k.
Replaced placeholder dirt road arterial and collectors with proper six and four lane asphalt roads. Replaced industrial areas roads with industry road type (small for local and medium for collector). Started to use two lane asphalt roads for residential areas from now on.
Saved game for Grand_River_3 file name.
Feels good to play this terrain for the one last final time, meaning the goal of 100k population. Surely after the goal has been met and this story terrain savegame game-play marathon is over I'll one day return to this terrain and check it out, but considering I've played this at least, what, three times previously, probably undocumented at least once or twice, it is really nice to get this wrapped up now and off my list.
2022-09-07T17:15:00Z I wrote that above paragraph and was daydreaming... until I realized that uh oh we have a high residential demand, road grid and water pipes are all done but I just haven't zoned any residential, I'm just chilling looking at industrial commercial area hehe.
2022-09-07T17:17:00Z Boom Town population 2.2k.
Cemetery and bus depot became available in this milestone, cemetery is essential for life heh. Ore industry specialization available.
Created first bus line from residential to industrial commercial area and then banned all private vehicles from industrial area using TM:PE, this will put focus on the buses and leave industrial roads free for truck traffic.
Expanding, all the time.
Its funny to think how bad my previous savegames in this terrain were, how much have I learned about road hierarchy, arterial, collector and local road usage. Man those old savegames were really really bad. I mean my cities are grids now, but back then it was one big blob of a grid without ANY larger roads, I just didn't know or "believe in them", well believe is a wrong description but it was kind of like "dunno how to fuck use these roads or upgrade them so I'll continue with my two lane asphalt roads..." hehe.
I remember the upgrading part was against all natural instincts, you do not destroy perfectly good city roads. Now I've learned to leave the one unit gap between placeholder arterial or collector road and locals, so now when I do upgrade in the beginning, once, nothing needs to be destroyed. That was possibly the biggest lesson learned since starting to use road hierarchy.
2022-09-07T17:52:00Z Need to take a leak real bad, been waiting for the next milestone to kick in but uuh gotta go, gotta go right now!
2022-09-07T17:59:00Z Busy Town population 4.6k.
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 Grand_River_4 file name which is the last of the four rotating file names.
2022-09-07T18:23:00Z Coming along nicely.
2022-09-07T18:51:00Z Big Town population 7.5k.
High density zones, metro, incineration plant, intercity bus, university and large warehouse are now available.
2022-09-07T19:21:00Z Small City population 10k.
This milestone gives us cargo train terminal, train station (passengers!) and two good policies. Activated small business enthusiast and big business benefactor policies.
2022-09-07T19:27:00Z Created passenger train station for incoming citizens. Now I'm starting to get really tired, motivation dissipates quickly... Oddly enough still over one hour in my 17hrs day left, hmph.
Trains have arrived. Got cargo train terminal done as well.
2022-09-07T19:56:00Z Big City population 17k.
Crematorium, large water tower and advanced inland water treatment plant are now available.
2022-09-07T20:02:00Z Have to call it a night, cant think straight, too tired, gotta chill for a sec before heading to bed, nites.
2022-09-08T04:16:00Z New Cities Skylines building day has started, just woke up and checked RSS news, sorted out one VPN IP access problem website login, then actually forgot to do other chores and just launched Cities Skylines, heh okay okay, continuing building this city right away 
Right off the bat had problem with oil power plant, it was running out of oil product and we ran out of electricity. This is really interesting thing happening as previous savegame had exactly the same thing.
Odd thing as there was no traffic jams, at all, we even got cargo train terminal nearby, how come this thing runs out of fuel?
As soon as I wrote the above and took the screenshot, tanker truck brough in oil and we were back in business. Hmm really interesting. I need to keep an eye on that one.
2022-09-08T04:41:00Z Grand City population 22k.
And with this I'll leave game paused, do morning chores and eat days first meal. Maybe I'll unpause it while I sit and eat.
2022-09-08T05:17:00Z Feeding time is over, back to finishing this savegame off.
Situation is as every savegame on these young progress parts, uneducated workforce is looking for jobs, we would need huge numbers of generic industry buildings, which generate huge amounts of traffic. I am not interested of adding such traffic generators. I now keep education buildings in high numbers, never let the "meter go red", focus elementary and high school buildings on the new high density residential areas so new comers start to get educated right away.
2022-09-08T05:42:00Z After oil power plant was running out of fuel I purchased second and placed it right nex to the cargo train terminal for extremely easy access for tanker trucks. Well I still saw its flashing is low fuel icon, amazing. Guess the thing sucks off that oil product so fast that delivery trucks cant keep up with the order request. Having multiple of them balances off it a bit, but guess when it becomes available I'll be getting nuclear power plant for sure.
City was demanding industrial, then lets give it some industrial...
2022-09-08T05:55:00Z Capital City population 36k.
Passenger and cargo harbor is now available, passenger is a must have for incoming citizens.
Created bus line from high density residential zone to generid industry area, stop was at collector road which had pedestrian path directly to the industrial area. Reason this bus stop was on collector road was to avoid traffic jams IN the actual industrial area which is busy with cargo train terminal semi-truck and van traffic.
Pretty nice.
2022-09-08T06:35:00Z Colossal City population 48k.
This milestone gives nuclear power plant and cargo hub (ship + train terminal).
High capacity metro over the big river, in my savegames you rarely see metro in a daylight, in fact this is one of the few times I've seen it heh.
Hmm starting to gather some traffic in the second industrial area...
2022-09-08T07:55:00Z Metropolis population 70k.
Build a road on the other side of the industrial grid for collector, maybe its a coincidence but traffic cleared right up.
2022-09-08T08:24:00Z It was nuclear power plant time, demolished old oil power plants.
Created foundations for a new high density residential zone neighborhood. Seeing our current population, this neighborhood will be way overkill, but at least its the last expansion in this savegame before we meet our goal. Note the nice pedestrian walking paths, access everywhere
2022-09-08T09:05:00Z Megalopolis population 90k.
Okay last milestone complete, now just ten thousand folks more and the whole savegame is complete.
2022-09-08T09:20:00Z Aayeah we have reached 100k population goal, whohoo! 
And that's it for this savegame for now, going to change into another terrain after a short breather break. Was awesome to finish this terrain what I've started to play over the years so many times, now its finally finished and savegame will be archived for safety, years to come
2022-09-08T09:22:00Z Saved game and shutdown Cities Skylines, off to new terrain.