While playing today I had some PAINFULLY long waiting for stuff from my mine to get to where it needed to go then it hit me. (Like a train)
Mine carts + track
Made by the Engineer.
Track is placed much like a path.
Mine cart comes in its own station, Station’s have either have a large storage capacity or can connect to a stockpile, So we can ferry stuff over large distances.
Thoughts ?
I like your idea, the only problem I see is the ramp between levels. You know, the ground is all with cubes so if one can imagine a solution that will be great!
I think that would be awesome, but might not fit with the style of the game. Maybe too modern. On the other hand, though, you could have a train of pack mules that follow a route to and from your mine.
Rail tracks would likely be placeables so you could really do that with 2 kinds of tracks. lets say one straight normal rail would be 4 blocks long
the raise or fall would be 4 blocks long as well, but rise/fall 1 block over that distance.
Would also give natural rise and falls over distance for a cart.
You would need turns as well of course.
How are minecarts too modern? They’re from the 16th century and could very be well introduced as an Engineer’s Product considering the engineer makes turrets
Another way of doing this is When built, the minecart will be sent to the nearest mining location it has track to and will continue to sit there until the minecart is full so…lets say 64 item storage? Once full the cart will be sent to the end of the track where hearthlings could unload it to the nearest appropriate storage containers
Mine Carts are a great idea, especially when you are mass consuming/producing.This could lead to underground housing for extended stays of mining. This would be cool if the mining cart could ship more than just resources, food for example, or building supplies underground. Mining carts greatly increase the reality of an unground world becoming as lively as the outside world.
Okay thats a good option I think, cant really imagine that but sounds viable
I think if you take inspiration from minecraft, you might find some aesthetic solutions to the problem of going up on terrain, and maybe some concept designs
maybe some sorta elevator system to pull the cart up/down rather than making it go up a hill? it could be placed like a ladder and when the cart reaches the end its pulled up to the next section by like chains ect.
Here’s an idea; two types of cart.
Push carts are not as fast, but don’t require tracks, can be used to move large quantites of items elsewhere, but cannot be used to move hearthlings.
Rail carts require rails which are made by using a special type of road. When you place a minecart on this road it “activates”, allowing hearthlings or items to ride the minecart on the road. If the road splits it uses regular hearthling AI to find where it wants to go, and minecarts either clip through each other or you have to build the track to avoid possible clogging or a crash.
Using a special road is better than having additonal items, since it can handle slopes through the use of stairs, and doesn’t hinder regular hearthings tunneling since it’s walkable on top of, gets built faster, and doesn’t clutter your view of the tunnels.
Alternatively, you could have a solution like a track maker, where you place two ends and either draw or autogenerate a path to each end, with special pieces like jumps and elevators for that extra entertainment value. This solution could also be useful for determining how much a path would cost, especially since something that increases hearthling speed should be expensive, but not too expensive for short distances.
Either way, we shouldn’t do the place track one piece at a time thing, especially since that would get annoying fast.
One Thing: Rail placer
For getting up and down the cliffs some kind of clunky mechanical cog based mine cart lift? Like lvl 6 engineer stuff only when tier 2 or even 3 is reached?
Something like that could become part of Zulser one day.
I think transportation of goods and hearthlings will be a feature in the future anyway. At a point, where the player must excessively explore the whole world (and not just the closest surroundings) these features are needed for fast travel and getting the goods to your town. Not sure if it’s worth discussing this at this point, but I think many would like to see it. 