[Railroads!]

On 7/16/2020 at 8:58 AM, Liesel Weppen said:

I don't think that will work with the engine. Roads are not really roads, that are just a bunch of blocks of asphalt. They don't really have a "context".

For a working railroad you'd imho need 1 dedicated block as a rail. That leeds to the next problem: Corners. With the voxelsystem you can only build 90° corners in one block (like in minecraft). Or you need some kind of prefabs that do long corners over several blocks, e.g. a 90° curve with 5x5 blocks. Still very unrealistic. So you will need a lot of those prefabs for just curves. And you can still build only 90° curves as you can't build straight lines diagonally, you'd need even prefabs for diagonal straights, so additional 4 prefabs for only being able to build in 45° steps. And and all of them could only be placed on absolutely even terrain. And placing prefabs is not even a part of the common gameplay.

Slopes would be the next thing. Only 30° allowed? And further then, only A-to-B-tracks possible or do you also want/need switches and crossings?

 

I think it's a nice idea. Maybe something that could be included in world generation (hardly) or been used in handmade maps like Navez. But building them in the actual game... imho will not work and also doesn't really fit to 7d2d.

 

Or see it the other way: The RWG can not even handle bridges over water/rivers to connect roads. Not even fully premade bridges, not even thinking about dynamic bridges with variable length. Railroads would be much more complicated.

Wow that’s very informative, I never really thought in-depth about the voxelsystem but yes that introduces a lot of difficulty. To beat the uneven terrain there could be a wooden support that you can build or just the wood block to keep things even. I kinda just assumed to build them I would first flatten and build some kind of base block. Would definitely have to stick to just 90 degree turns. No switches or crossings but would allow the track to go a->b or b->a. That introduces collisions though. Inclines/declines would be it’s own challange for sure. If it’s simplified down to a few single track blocks with no big prefabs, the weight system should take over for things like bridges or floating tracks, makes sense any kind of bridge or variable prefab would be a lot of work.

[Railroads!]

That is a really good question, wish I knew a little more about game development haha! I think the movement of a pushcart should feasible be as they have the 4x4 in the game. I'm not sure how they would deal with railroads - like would they generate them like they do roads or maybe have it completely player built? the kind of performance impact that might put on a server? maybe drop any idea of it being powered by a generator? the push style transportation would feel at home I think in the game.

[Railroads!]

railroads / subways(underground railroads)

 

New Items -

 

Tier 1 - placeable railway tracks - its own perk (Choo Choo!) or a combination of Advanced engineering and  Grease Monkey

Tier 2 - Build railway tracks(straight and corners only), handcarts - requires top level intellect + perk - wood/oil/steel?

Tier 3 - Build engine powered handcarts, switches, more sophisticated rail designs 

Tier 4 - Build an storage cart ? you can place a forge and some chests and maybe a crafting bench. kinda like a small portable base you can bring around with you. attaches to the handcart but you move slower.

 

-handcar - cartable push powered railcar to move around. Moves slower than feral zombies so you can’t break horde nights!

 

poi’s

-Train stations

-derailed train

-railway yard - could have a chance of like grain cars or other resources to harvest

subway system with a couple stops - rare - in a couple large cities only - See Below*

-Subway station

-derailed train

-abandoned subway train

 

New Zombies 

-zombie conductor

-zombie train worker

 

*Underground rail(subway system) system:

Used to connect 2-3 places in the larger cites for random gen worlds. not something players could craft but maybe we could use railway tracks underground to achieve the same kind of thing. 

 

Other thoughts

I don’t want to see it go to actual moving trains or automation. Would prefer seeing manual driven railcarts and slow moving powered carts that you can drive. Not something to avoid zombies but move between cities and bring loot with you. 
 

*Just wanna state that I’m not the first to suggest this kind of idea for the game.*