I'm creating a new thread for my city, since I've completely filled up the first post of my other thread (I seem to be rather.. comprehensive in my descriptions). Feel free to lock the other one, I'll move the content over here.
Overview
Howdy all! Welcome to Aquain!!! Opticraft's very own underwater city. I began building this city when I joined Opticraft back in November 2012, it has made significant, but sporadic progress since then.
To see it on the live map:
http://smp.opticraft.net/map/#/2404/64/3593/-2/1/0
To visit it in person:
Come to /home ozzykp to see a view of the city from the surface
Come to /home ozzykp mid to see the middle class domes
Come to /home ozzykp upper to see the upper class domes
Come to /home ozzykp church to see the cathedral. The school is nearby too.
Come to /home ozzykp dbay to see the docking bay
Come to /home ozzykp downtown to see downtown
Philosophy
I am striving for a very realistic creation (despite the underwater part, heh). So if I have residential space for 1,000 people (let's say) then I want to create enough schools, hospitals, churches, transportation, work places, etc that can accommodate that many people. Despite the rather fantastic setting I want this city to be completely plausible. So eventually I hope to build things like power plants and water treatment plants and other structures that are necessary for modern living. All cities are systems. They have both internal systems and are part of larger external ones. I intend to represent this in my city. For example, people need to eat, but I don't want to have any underwater farms, so I'm going to build big cargo subs (and docking bays to house them) to represent some vibrant trade with the outside world.
I am very interested in getting the scale right too. I think a lot of Minecraft builds are meant to be awe inspiring, so have like 40 foot ceilings and other grand things everywhere. I intend to do that stuff, when it fits, but otherwise I hope to squeeze my structures into compact space. Not only do I think that is more realistic, but considering this whole city is underwater space should be a luxury. That said, I hope to make good use of the space I have. The few semi-finished interiors I have done are in a relatively small space, but fit a lot into them. I'll look at them in more detail later.
Also, in my drive for realism I hope to have a realistic class structure. Not all residences will be the same size. I hope to have homes for the lower class, middle class, upper class and super rich in my city. This is no socialist utopia (dystopia imho).
Structure
My city is, thusfar, based around domes. I think underwater glass domes really capture the mystique of underwater cities better than anything else. My very first build here was a large chamber built into the sea floor with a big flat glass top on it. It was not only plain and boring, it was implausible. A flat ceiling of glass that large would probably collapse under the weight of the water. So I went with domes, and they look pretty cool, I must say.
My layout, so far, is fairly orderly. I have a large dome which I intend to be the downtown/central business district. Shooting off from that in one direction I have a walkway that leads to a residential section. The first two domes you see are going to be upper class homes. Further east from there is a pod of six domes intended for middle class residences. I have started building the interiors on these and the condo pics below are from these. Like any well laid out city I hope to put structures in places that make sense. Schools & churches near residential areas, industrial areas further away, large ports near industrial and commercial areas, etc.
While the city is underwater and based around domes, most of the actual living space will be underground. I think this is fairly practical/realistic, plus with the ocean being only 16 tiles deep I don't have a lot of other options. I could purely build horizontal, but with all the stuff I want to fit into this city that'd require taking up half the map, hah, and there just isn't enough available ocean for that.
Eventually I hope to also throw a lot of cool things in the water around the city. Subs coming and going, sea weed, sunken ships, giant squids, etc.
Style
I am designing a custom texture pack to go with the city, I'm taking influences from steampunk, art deco/Bioshock, and 50's futurism blended with many contemporary ideas. A world that takes its design cues and style inspiration from these sources, but is primarily practical in its outlook. Function over form. So, for example, when you look at a lot of steampunk style there are often just random gears stuck in every spot possible that seem to do nothing practical except look cool. But gears are a highly practical and useful item, not decoration. So I'll use them when it fits, but not otherwise.
I think I've love to go with a 1950's retro futurism look, but the main design element in that style is radically curved and rounded surfaces. Of course that is very difficult to do with Minecraft blocks. So I think I'm probably going to go with a more Art Deco approach. Yet at the same time I really like the rough hewn look of exposed metal, whereas Art Deco is a more sophisticated, polished look. I'll have a mix of each, depending on the location in the city.
My custom texture pack is going to be a big part of the city. There will be areas that won't look right unless you are using my texture pack. As I've told the few people who have actually visited the city so far, it looks much better through my eyes. The texture pack borrows a lot from other texture packs currently and is not publicly available. It is provided, however, to all residents of Aquain.
Environment
I think I've pretty well mastered building underwater, so while others who have tried to do it have seen that as a large impediment to their project it doesn't bother me at all. My biggest challenge though is space. Sadly I couldn't find anywhere on the map where the water is deeper than 16 tiles. So if I want to build domes taller than that (I do) then I have to lower the sea floor which is a pain in the ass and takes a lot of work. I did that for my large dome, but I need a lot more land lowered. If you wish to help, please apply to be my Marine Geologist.
One benefit of lowering the sea floor is that right under my large dome there was a large underground ravine. I've turned that into an underwater trench which looks pretty awesome imho. Since it runs right under my large dome I hope to incorporate that into the plan for my downtown area. Perhaps shops/offices build into the cliff wall with suspended walkways connecting them across the ravine. Hopefully it'll be cool. The bottom of the trench is 52 blocks below sea level.
History
I noticed in a few places folks on this server started, considered or suggested building underwater cities but then gave up because it proved too difficult. So I took that as a challenge and since November 2012 I've been working on my own underwater city. I am proud to say that the city has seen far more success than the previous attempts and continues to grow.
It began with a walkway along the sea floor and a few domes. If life ever got too busy that I was unable to finish the city I didn't want to leave behind a bunch of empty domes, so instead of putting down the infrastructure for the whole city first, I decided to furnish a few domes first. By January 2013 I had completed 10 domes (six middle class domes, two upper class domes, the big downtown dome, and the docking bay), with three middle class domes and one upper class dome fully furnished. I applied for city protection on January 2 and was approved on January 8th, 2013.
After having a very busy couple of months from February through May progress slowed on the city, but nevertheless by June 2013 I had mostly finished a cathedral, a school & a luxury home. I also put up the domes for an additional three middle class domes and one upper class dome, and expanded the transit line and added shops to the center of the finished middle class cluster. My texture pack continues to expand and develop as well.
![[image no longer available]](http://oneandfour.org/images/AquainNews.gif){kind=link}