Stories 2022-09-08 Islands Game-play
2022-09-08T19:35:00Z Started savegame on Islands, all outside connections and natural resources, suitable area for building 60%, base theme: temperate.
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
Oh my what an interesting terrain name, "islands", really? 
This doesn't sound good, if it truly is bunch of islands then its at worst case useless to me, you cant enjoyably play on such shit terrain with only islands.
Anyways.
Today has been a great day already, finished TWO savegames, but I want to get next one started before going to be bed in less than two hours (according to my schedule).
"Islands" named terrain is pretty bad, not so much islands but big ass rivers and small hilltops, this is not a pleasant place to build a city, but there is enough flat areas that we can do 100k population, so we are good to go. But yeah, this is not my kind of terrain, at all...
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.
Starting setup.
Turned roads, electric and water budget to 50%, we need to save money.
First save game for Islands_1 file name.
2022-09-08T19:48:00Z Unpaused the game, lets start this thing.
2022-09-08T19:55:00Z Little Hamlet population 400.
Turned on taxes to 12% for industrial, low density residential and commercial. Purchased elementary school and landfill site.
Base theme: temperate, this is pretty nice, I like the boreal trees better but boreal has the morning dew and fog type lighting which is very annoying. Temperate theme has nice lighting, no fog or any crap like that. I should google if there are some addons which could switch any terrain to other base themes, would be very nice to switch temperate on some crappy terrain themes.
2022-09-08T20:02:00Z Worthy Village population 800.
Did not create districts again. Placed fire station, police station and health clinic.
Saved game for Islands_2 file name.
2022-09-08T20:09:00Z 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 Islands_3 file name.
2022-09-08T20:27:00Z Boom Town population 2.2k.
Cemetery and bus depot became available in this milestone, cemetery is essential for life heh. Ore industry specialization available.
And with this I'm going to do a short chore before getting too tired, have to get it done before bed time.
2022-09-08T20:49:00Z Back, already purchased cemetery and bus deport. Just finished setting up bus lines and banned all private cars in industrial commercial area.
2022-09-08T21:00:00Z Restored budget back to 100% which is the normal.
2022-09-08T21:03:00Z Alarm went off that I've been up for 17hrs. Okay, well, I have no intentions of going to sleep until my eyes get sore heh.
2022-09-08T21:15:00Z Busy Town population 4.2k.
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 Islands_4 file name which is the last of the four rotating file names.
2022-09-08T21:37:00Z Okay time to call it a night, getting tired and lacking that mental energy to think and plan ahead for good city planning. More tomorrow.
2022-09-09T06:42:00Z New Cities Skylines building day has started, just woke up and finished morning computer chores, have not eaten days first meal yet, firing up Cities Skylines and continue playing right away, I want the game to run good on 3x time acceleration speed when I'm eating heh.
2022-09-09T06:50:00Z Created quite big road grid for low density residential, it will take a while for that to build, I'm off to eat now, I'm starvin' ...
2022-09-09T07:01:00Z Big Town population 6.5k.
2022-09-09T07:17:00Z Was cooking chicken in kitchen, now I have first 14min downtime, so going to do some city building.
High density zones, metro, incineration plant, intercity bus, university and large warehouse are now available.
2022-09-09T07:22:00Z Did basic updates to our city like intercity bus, incinerator plant etc from the big town milestone, now we can continue running game.
Created a proper cloverleaf intersection to replace the original wonky starting grid intersection, now we have access to the other side of the highway.
2022-09-09T08:04:00Z Feeding time is over, lets finish this terrain savegame. Okay so a lot of things happened while I cooked and ate food, big town milestone triggered, got them bus lines and garbage done, now was expanding road grid to other side of the highway when had to pause the game during eating. Now everything is done and I'm hands free, lets push some real progress to this city.
2022-09-09T08:15:00Z Small City population 8.5k.
This milestone gives us cargo train terminal, train station (passengers!) and two good policies. Activated small business enthusiast and big business benefactor policies. Created passenger train station south of our city where the big high density residential zoning is happening, good spot.
2022-09-09T08:30:00Z Big City population 14k.
Crematorium, large water tower and advanced inland water treatment plant are now available.
2022-09-09T08:43:00Z Created cargo train terminal and expanded our industrial area great deal towards west.
2022-09-09T08:46:00Z Grand City population 17k.
2022-09-09T09:11:00Z Capital City population 26k.
Passenger and cargo harbor is now available, passenger is a must have for incoming citizens.
2022-09-09T09:37:00Z Colossal City population 36k.
This milestone gives nuclear power plant and cargo hub (ship + train terminal).
2022-09-09T09:54:00Z Progress update, coming along nicely. Big industrial and commercial area. Soon when people educate themselves we can start to shift focus on offices.
Pedestrian foot traffic between big high density residential and industrial / low density commercial zones, I like it. Never underestimate people's willingness to walk.
2022-09-09T10:15:00Z Metropolis population 55k.
2022-09-09T10:39:00Z Megalopolis population 65k.
Last milestone achieved, now we push on for the one hundred grand folks.
Welcome welcome 
This would be good reference image for "always create passenger train station when increasing population, don't make these people drive private cars through highway" heh.
Shoppers and sellers unite.
Its very hard to see on the distance, but there is total of four pedestrian walking paths overhead crossing the highway. This kind of high density residential next to huge commercial (and industrial) area is the key to traffic free city design.
Ugh and where did that electric icon pop up just while I was typing the above paragraph heh.
2022-09-09T12:04:00Z Aayeah! And that's a wrap, we have reached 100k population, yeah! 
Alright this savegame came together pretty nicely, it was rather large industrial commercial area, amazing how nicely one cargo train terminal handles all the traffic for raw materials and goods exports, there is hardly any traffic on the highway, not that I paid close attention to it but using cargo train terminal at back end of industrial area has almost completely removed my traffic issues on highway connection.
Very nice savegame for sure, will be fun to return to this some day in the future, maybe
2022-09-09T12:06:00Z Saved game and shutdown Cities Skylines, will most likely start another terrain savegame lateron today, but now I need a small breather break to chill a bit.