New Concept, new contests!!!

So, welcome back, guys!!!

I sincerely hope that you are still eager to participate on CountriesXL,
although we had to introduce a new concept; it sometimes is hard to
know what people would like to do without having to ask them everytime
before. It has felt a bit like making some present for a girlfriend, whom you might not
have known for so long, and then she comes home, sees what you have done,
and says: "Well, but did the chicken experience loose housing, or was it put into
a cage?"
And you are like:

(I think that gif fits perfectly, though it is often used in another context)...

So yeah, we are going to try it for another time, and this time it will hopefully
be better. Also, if you have any suggestions, you can of course tell us,
e.g. by opening a thread

SO, this time, we have five, yeah, you heard it right, FIVE contests for YOU!
BUT, you can ONLY participate on ONE!

Background:
The Federation of Western States wants to deepen its relationship to the other countries,
hence some organizations as companies and institutions try to find partner cities to realize
some projects.

Now let's get through the how to's and then we can have a look at the contests themselves:

• How do I participate on a contest?
• You choose on which of the contests you want to participate, and afterwards, you send us an idea of what you would build in case you won the contest. It is similar to all the real contests for the Olympic Games or the Superbowl: a team develops a concept on what should be built, some politicians approve it, and then the concept is sent to the committee, which then decides which concept of all the cities gives the overall best impression, regarding several criteria, e.g. costs, sustainability, etc. ... HERE, of course the architectonic varibles are the most important ones, but we also look for sustainability, so you should not demolish anything afterwards, the Federation notices everything
• How exactly do I create an idea?
• You choose the area that should serve as a construction side for the structure, then you leave the CountriesXL city, open your test city, and try to create some structures you would want to place within the CoXL city. Take some screenshots, write some application, and send it to us. You SHALL NOT be as precise as possible! Of course, you could simply build anything in the CoXL city, take a screenshot, write some application, and then either leave it there or demolish it; BUT we do not want people to demolish things anymore, hence this compromise. BUT we also do not want any castles in the air. So you also need to estimate your own skills
  
• So how exactly do I apply?
• You have several options: 1) Create the structures you later want to place in the CoXL city first roughly within the test city. You can for example place all the structures next to each other, and then tell us how you want to place them. Here I will show you a quick example of what I mean: For a small convention center: Application would be like: I want to apply for being allowed to place some convention center within my CoXL city. For the main building, I would use four convention center corners that come up with aitortilla01's mod, and put a no collision Swiss Re building atop. The theme was "blue", hence for the hotel, I would use the Blue Hotel by aitortilla01 next to the blue Swiss Re Building. Also, for a secondary building, I would use two of the in-game pyramids, put them next to each other, and connect the upper parts with some skyway by lextacy. Also, I would use some no-collision T2 in-game buildings (insurance company) for the administration. For the entertainment of the visitors that stay longer than just one day, I would place some indoor golf course and tennis courts. Also, I would like to create some little park and use some furniture to fence some parts of the convention center. Some billboards shall stand next to the parking area. The following plan shows the way I would order the buildings: Naturally, your plans will be more detailed and not so cheap as mine Also, it would be cool if you could add some screens of your CoXL city to show us the area, and maybe also name the plazas and trees you want to add, if that does not cause too much trouble... the example was done within 10 minutes all in all, so of course, we do expect a little more, but it really should not be overkill, it is about having fun, always remember Option 2) is that you take some photos of real life existing buildings and tell us the way you want to recreate the area. E.g. go to Moline, Illinois, USA, and say that you were inspired by the Iwireless Center and want to use e.g. the Madison Square Garden mod by karaaib, the skyway by lextacy, the multi storey parking house by aitortilla01, the marinas by PaulJChris to recreate it; if you do not want to fully recreate it, then say what exactly you want to do, Paint and other programs are your friends Mixing both options is of course allowed

IMPORTANT:
If you want to create a custom made structure and think it takes too long to create it first within the test city and then within the CoXL city, then maybe a little drawing would be good, or some really precise description. The same holds in general for area terraforming.

We are not so sure yet whether it was the best to have this challenges similar to the Bootleg Contest, or whether you should send your entries to us via PM...

The contests themselves, now finally:
1) a small convention center, as a junior partner for the Titanian EXPO.
IMPORTANT: you are not allowed to use the main building of the convention center by aitortilla01, as this building does not allow for small convention centers
also, think about all the logistic necessarities, that is important! Cargo Bays, highways, bus stations, and so on. Btw, here a link for the Iwireless Center:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IWireless_Center
look it up on Google Streetview
2) a small abbey, you could use a lot of no collision mods, use some trees and create some
gardens, oh I am already drooling over this
3) a new Castel Gandolfo, for the Pope of Alpha Centauri. He needs a residence where he can spend the winters. Naturally, cities with a generally warm climate close to the sea do have advantages in this challenge, and of course, some Latin Style complex was expected, BUT if you have e.g. a nice post modern approach, who knows... and think about that you should only describe possible terraforming! Also, no steep streets! Use serpentines
http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Categoryontifical_Palace_(Castel_Gandolfo)
the new Vatican within Titania:

not fully done, there will be more and maybe some changes
4) a horse race track, you can e.g. use the horses of the Pack Ferme that is available on the Generation City site. http://www.generation-city.com/citiesxl/index.php/telechargements/batiments/361-pack-ferme-2009
We do not only want a track, we also want an environment.
Logistics are important here as well, and maybe use some stages that come with the mod
by Discopolis: http://xlnation.city/resources/soccer-fields.104/
maybe have a look at the real world horse race tracks, how long they are, how many people
can visit them, how to access them, etc. ...
http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Happy_Valley_Racecourse
http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Sha_Tin_Racecourse
http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Ascot_Racecourse
5) a hotel resort: use your creativity. This is the contest where you will have the least restrictions, as there are many many hotel resorts around the world; so we look for realism.
Here, the second option of "how to apply" would probably be the best.

If there is any feedback, let us know

Reward: a feature in the Titanian Times

 

@JuanAcadé thank you! Dreian at the moment is a bit busier than usual,
and he is also catefully creating the ACentauri map, and with all that extra wishes
by me, it will take a bit
Polo fields next to the race track, yeah that looks like a real horse sports center!