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City Six

Dog

Radio Bob Approved
Joined
Dec 16, 2020
Messages
248
City Six
richard-wright-haven.jpg

OVERALL-STATUS: STABLE
POPULATION DENSITY AND COUNT: HIGH
LOGGED RECENT LOGS: N/A

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“Welcome to City Six. It’s great here!” - City Six Welcoming Advertisement for the Relocated

City Six, formerly known as Buenos Aires, finds itself to be considered one of the finest and most stable cities out there. The Seven Hour War only left very minimal damage to Buenos Aires. The threat of destruction left a big impression on the government of Argentina. To avoid unnecessary bloodshed, the Argentinian government allowed the alien invaders to walk into Buenos Aires unharmed, as the Combine made its way from Brazil to Argentina. For further context, the Argentinian army was extremely crippled in the Battle of Resistencia and then totally routed in the Battle of Santa Fe. Without much of an army and fearing for its people, the Argentinian government gave in at the first sight of the Combine entering into Buenos Aires.

Unlike some cities, City Six never gave itself away to rebellious elements. This is mainly due in part because of a large Combine force garrisoned in the city. Not only that, Buenos Aires was heavily targeted for massive propaganda campaigns due to City Six’s strategic resources and unharmed labor pool known as its population of some twenty-million residents at the time. The resources pooled into Buenos Aires paid off as the Combine saw great returns in the form of a growing agri-sector and food processing industry with plentiful workers to fill in various demanded jobs.

Returning to the present, City Six is a shining jewel for the Combine. Only a few urban centers have grown to this scope and this importance to their Benefactors. Given City Six's size, the administration has designated different blocks and zones within the city for easier management and overall easier layout understanding for pencil pushers and citizens. Welcome to City Six. It’s Great Here!


BASTION SIX
LOGGED RECENT LOGS: N/A
FORTRESS INTEGRITY: ONE-HUNDRED-PERCENT
GARRISONED LEGIONS: 31st Legion [60,000]

Bastion-Six is the heart and fortress of City Six. All city major administration functionaries live in this sector, including the city administrator herself. It is here that all crucial decisions are made, and where all the political happenings occur. Whilst Bastion-Six is known for its large body of suits and pencil pushers, the area also serves a secondary purpose. Bastion-Six is a fortress that contains considerable military installations (Airwatch facilities, barracks, supply depots, underground command bunkers, etc) and military formations. The importance of City Six and its production capacity and population cannot fall into anyone else's hands but the Combine itself. Direct attacks and assaults will end badly for anyone attempting to harm Bastion-Six or City Six. It is advised not to get close to Bastion-Six unless you are authorized personnel or have been authorized to enter. A gun will be pointed at anyone that is not authorized to enter.


RESIDENTIAL BLOCK-1A
SOCI-STABILITY: STABLE
LOGGED RECENT LOGS: N/A
SURVEILLANCE SYSTEM INTEGRITY: NINETY-PERCENT
CIVIL PROTECTION COHESION: EIGHTY-NINE-PERCENT

For those newly arriving or for those who have stayed in the city since the war, Residential Block 1A serves as the homes for everyone living in City Six. The former conurbation of Buenos Aires has been completely transformed into a sprawling urban density housing space for the millions residing. Residential Block 1A is most characterized by its massive towering apartment complexes and its usage of heavy blue lighting for its tight streets and alleyways. Citizens will find no shortage of shops and stalls, mainly food vendors to feed the hungry masses every day. There is no shortage of work either, with the Combine unwilling to waste such labor stored in Block 1A. The main industrial concern for City Six is food processing, turning raw foodstuffs into more digestible items. Workers are expected to wake up at seven o'clock in the morning and walk themselves to their respective factories for their daily work hours. Rush hours are common with millions waking from their beds and this is often the best time for food vendors to sell to passing-by workers that need their quick breakfast.

To get everyone to where they need, mainly their workspace, Residential Block 1A has a highly developed transportation network of busses and trains. The Combine rather not waste time with people having to walk to their factories. The city has production quotas and failing these quotas will GREATLY ANGER the Benefactors. City Six is the premier shipper of foodstuffs and untold hundreds of millions of citizens relies on City-Six for their next meal. The very livelihood of many citizens depends on their work quota. Being late to work is not recommended.

A mass surveillance system is installed within the whole block, ensuring anti-citizen behavior does not go unnoticed. Public and hidden cameras are everywhere, equipped with highly advanced facial recognition and identification technology. Scanners will fly above masses of workers walking to their workplace and watch over them for the good of the Benefactors. Whole apartment blocks have been also turned into civil protection stations, housing a lot of civil protection teams and their equipment. This level of security ensures the safety and steady flow of operations in the block, keeping production up and downtime low.


RESIDENTIAL BLOCK-2B
SOCI-STABILITY: STABLE
LOGGED RECENT LOGS: N/A
SURVEILLANCE SYSTEM INTEGRITY: EIGHTY-PERCENT
CIVIL PROTECTION COHESION: SEVENTY-PERCENT

Welcome to Residential Block 2B, a younger sister to Residential Block 1A. The construction of this high-density housing block resulted from the massive relocation of people from failed cities with hundreds of millions being moved across Earth. The majority of these newly arrived people were moved to Residential Block 1A but the need for a new residential block became apparent. A higher concentration of loyalists does live in Block 2B. This likely has to do with the lower concentration of people here, and the improved loyalist housing section in 2B. The block follows a very general layout to Block 1A without much difference between the two. The apartment might be called something different, but it is all the same in the end. Go to Block 1A and that same apartment will be there, friend.


AGRI-ZONE 'AIRES'
CURRENT PRODUCTION CAPACITY: ONE-HUNDRED-PERCENT
LOGGED RECENT LOGS: N/A

City-Six employs thousands of workers here to operate various farming machines to harvest, clean, and plant a wide selection of different crops (soybeans, wheat, maize, grapes, sunflower seeds, sugar cane, and apples). Food is the name of the game here and the city does everything it can to make sure that its food production is safe and sound. Cattle and chicken are no longer raised in this agri-zone. Instead, all meat-based products are synthetically grown in vast "protein factories" located in the fields. Inside these protein factories are an array of growing vats. The inefficacy of traditional animal farming has been removed and meat production skyrocketed. Other crops grown here are cotton and flax. Two industrial crops are vital for City Six's textile industry.

While not often needed, the CRU plays a role in the protection of the fields. If any sighting of Xenian fauna and flora is seen close to the agri-zone that could threaten the farming fields, then specialist teams would be used to clear out the area of Xenian items. If the threat is outside the agri-zone then teams are allowed to use anything in their department to get rid of it. If the Xenian plants are inside/very near the agri-zone then CRU teams have to follow very strict guidelines and use expensive special equipment to root out the issue - only veteran operators are allowed in this mission case.


INDUSTRIAL BLOCK-1
CURRENT PRODUCTION CAPACITY: ONE-HUNDRED-PERCENT
LOGGED RECENT LOGS: N/A

Unlike some other industrial sites, Block-1's pollution is kept to a minimum. A big wind turbine and solar farm array (along with plenty of battery storage) play a big role in powering Block-1 and its industrial operations and in keeping the pollution levels down. Food processing is the largest industrial concern here, with an army of workers cutting beef and chicken, crushing soybeans, turning cane into sugar, baking bread, packaging grains, and much more. PASTE-014B, a food-paste, is also manufactured here. Unknown to the workers that create the paste, it is the food of the Transhumanist Arm of Overwatch. If not food then there is plenty of other products that need to be manufactured. The city does not want to waste its vast labor pool, and it will find things for its workers to make. Textiles are the second-largest product that Block-1 fabricates. Workers are employed in the full process of making clothing from the dye plant, thread factory, fabric factory, and sewing factory. But the labor pool available is still big enough to afford even more production. Assembly work is the third-largest industrial factor in Block-1. Shipments of different parts for a product are sent over and are then assembled in vast warehouse factories, where workers put together all the components for the finished product. City-Six is often called the 'sweatshop', as it producers large volumes of textile and finished goods.

 
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This is really good.

I have no complaints about this lore document at all apart from the lack of a picture. @Dog find a picture for this city that's appropriate to put on the world map and I'm sure this could be approved.
 
This is really good.

I have no complaints about this lore document at all apart from the lack of a picture. @Dog find a picture for this city that's appropriate to put on the world map and I'm sure this could be approved.
Added an overall city image. Every heading should have an image now. Heavily bumped up the population numbers to make it fit the context of a grand-city.
 
23844612_10213758842748371_4726417448861192483_n.jpg

MMMMMM...

But reduce the population by more than 50%+, please. We need a realistic number. We're in Half Life, not Cyberpunk :p
Though I understand it's the only city in So. America, so I get the premise.
 
One thing I will suggest right off the bat is to change the % values from 100%. That is impossible in almost every regard and makes the whole thing sound pretty unrealistic. I would play around with the numbers a bit, just to give it greater legitimacy.



Just want to clarify this, are you wanting this city to have an actual Citadel within it? Or is this just a fortress name? If it is the later, I would suggest using another title for the structure. The post later mentions use of a dark-energy core which is only found within Citadels. As far as having an actual citadel is concerned, the city is not currently listed as having one, so that would be up to the rest of the team, if it would. I would personally say no, since it is very much on the frontier of the combines rule. Even after more details are added it is unlikely for it to be a central piece.

GARRISONED LEGIONS: ‘DIMES’ - ‘STONE’ - ‘OATES’ - ‘DAY’ - TOTAL OPERATIONAL NUMBERS [850,000]

One area having four OTA legions is way too overkill. Reduce this to one, or maybe two at most.


(70-90 floors depending on each section)

Another small thing, but this is very large for typical apartment buildings, with high-rise apartments usually not even coming close to Seventy floors. I understand this would be a transformation, but this really makes it sound like something that belongs on Deus Ex, or Cyberpunk, rather than Half Life. Grand structures do not always jive well with the setting.

If you are lucky then you might end up in a loyalist apartment that has a cozy pool on it. Just don't peek into the girl's room, or else you might be beaten to death by a Rank Leader that is two doors down the hall.

Big personal preference here, do what you will with it, but this line caught me off guard and was pretty strange.

Your alleyway might be called something different, but it is all the same in the end. Go to Block 1A and that same alleyway will be there, friend.

This doesn't make much sense to me. The idea is that the layouts of the two blocks are pretty symmetrical, but the way it is written makes it sound more literal than intended. Might want to refrain from mentioning alleys specifically and comment on the larger layout as a whole with more metaphorical language.

City-Six logo stamped on all its made products.

Would drop this small aspect of their production, as there would be no real need for marking items as belonging to certain cities.


Aside from those I didn't notice anything I did not like. I would recommend not mentioning exact population numbers, since it is really difficult to quantify with the Half Life Lore and is best left vague. However, I leave that up to you. The idea of the city being composed of mega-structures and generally being more science-fiction that Half Life is typically portrayed as, also is something I do not personally like. I think the scaling needs to be toned down and the city made more normal in scope to bring it more in line with the rest of the lore.
 
I mean. This city is allowed to have a abnormally high population due to it being a city focused on Agriculture. Focusing on normalization is not exactly going to work in the context of what exactly this city is.

Categorically "Industrial" Cities are almost always going to have a higher population then say City 24 or City 17.
 
Hi there, Dog.

We've relooked at this post and are once again needing to ask you reduce the population numbers by a very considerable number in all sectors. The variant to which it stands is far too high. It feels like a metropolis coming out of Judge Dredd, making the city feel absolutely huge in terms of its scale which is unfitting to Half Life 2 standards.

I'll leave this open considering we all believe this has solid writing potential and anticipate what may arise.

Cheers.
 
Hi there, Dog.

We've relooked at this post and are once again needing to ask you reduce the population numbers by a very considerable number in all sectors. The variant to which it stands is far too high. It feels like a metropolis coming out of Judge Dredd, making the city feel absolutely huge in terms of its scale which is unfitting to Half Life 2 standards.

I'll leave this open considering we all believe this has solid writing potential and anticipate what may arise.

Cheers.
Sure thing. I'll get to it. Time to C B T.
 
Alright getting back to it.

GARRISONED LEGIONS: ‘‘OATES’ and ‘DAY’ - TOTAL OPERATIONAL NUMBERS [850,000]
850,000 is an extreme number of OTA. Garrisons are not composed of over 400,000 units. OTA are a rarer force due to the inability to rapidly produce them. Reduce this to about 60,000 or so. Also make it so that only one legion is present as it is pretty rare for more than one to be within a city.

To get everyone to where they need, mainly their workspace, Residential Block 1A has a highly developed transportation network of busses and mag-lift-trains.

Minor as it may be, Upon rereading I noticed this particular detail. I believe this should be changed to some other type of transportation. This is simply because maglev trains are pretty technological and none are found within Argentina, thus bringing the implication back for some reason the combine cared enough to build an advanced rail systems and trains, just to transport some basic workers back and forth. This is never seen in Half Life 2, and I don't believe they would be used outside of places they already happened to be built in.

their breaks during work be cut down to just one minute.
Would make this a slightly more realistic number. I understand the posturing of the above however the number is slightly comical in it's exaggeration - at least to me.



Only other real problem I have upon rereading this is the writing style strikes me as slightly inconsistent. This is written from a Second person Point of View but the formatting does not really support this kind of style since it does not seem to be apart of a letter, pamphlet Etc. Also given the fact large portions of the post seem to go on without this style, only for it to briefly return with minor quips directed at the reader.

Smell that? No? Good, the city likes to keep it that way.
Your very livelihood depends on it. Don't be late to work.

Kind of what I mean. It addresses the reader directly, though seemingly without purpose. Wouldn't say this needs changed, unless other from the team collaborate on it, since it may just be my personal tastes at play here (I am not a massive fan of the style when it is not clearly formatted for its use.)


Lastly, I feel population may be of issue still
City-Six, over the course of many years, gained forty-eight million more people.
Is the implication that this added on top of the already lets say...10 million people living within the city prior to the SHW? (Taking some away due to casualties caused by Portal Storms) Even taking away casualties from the arriving population you are still looking at well over 40 million people.

Forty-eight is already a major stretch to be honest, but raising it to fifty-eight would be even more so. For reference the most populated city in the world is Tokyo, Japan, which has a very tightly packed ≈38 million people. We don't typically reveal population numbers since its a difficult metric to track, but this would likely make it the most populated city in the entire world by far. Which is unlikely. I would ensure the population is kept below 20 million at most.

Last thing is more of a suggestion from me.
City-Six also utilizes the CRU to keep watch on the vast fields, as the city cannot allow any form of invading Xenian fauna and flora.
would be neat to get slightly more info on this portion of the writing. How the CRU does this without contaminating crops with potentially harmful chemicals - or doing so without caring.


Despite my two texts walls, I do like this concept and this is my last round of changes/suggestions. After these are done and over with, I will say it can pass easily and be added to the common knowledge section and world map.
 
The Cocking will take some time. Give me a day or two to fix up the lore. When I say "THE COCK HAVE BEEN SUCKED" in an independent post then everything should have been addressed.
 
I lied about this taking a day or two.

The COCK HAS BEEN SUCKED.

The population number has been removed and instead, the city is labeled to have a high population of people.

The first-person perspective has been removed.

The transportation network is just a lot of buses and normal trains now.

OTA numbers has been fixed.
 
I give this an acceptance, my issues have been addressed.
 
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