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Posted: 01 Oct 2004 10:52
by Tyrell
You could even add a new type of road with no tarmac or sand or supports when raised
A comment on the no support suggestion.
Roads without support will probably not work very good in this game,
not because its not possible,
but because the side effects of the isometric viewpoint.
(or better, the lack of effect)

If there will be a road shadow it could work for a limited hight.

Posted: 01 Oct 2004 15:55
by PurdueGuy
norfolksouthern37 wrote: Singaporekid: how on earth does a steam powered maglev seem reasonable??? thats going down in my 'most rediculous things ive ever heard of' list.
A nuclear powered loco would be steam. Steam locos as we know them would probably be way too heavy for maglev. However, with some assumptions in materials advancement, we could probably say that it is nuclear and/or steam. Or we could just say it is electric, or fuel cell, or whatever.

Posted: 01 Oct 2004 19:04
by maartena
PurdueGuy wrote:
norfolksouthern37 wrote: Singaporekid: how on earth does a steam powered maglev seem reasonable??? thats going down in my 'most rediculous things ive ever heard of' list.
A nuclear powered loco would be steam. Steam locos as we know them would probably be way too heavy for maglev. However, with some assumptions in materials advancement, we could probably say that it is nuclear and/or steam. Or we could just say it is electric, or fuel cell, or whatever.
All of you guys seem to forget that Maglevs have NO ENGINES AT ALL!!, rather they are propelled by the track. Take a look at the German Transrapid trains:

Here's one on the German test track:

Image

And one on the worlds first operational commercial Maglev service in Shanghai:

Image

There are no enigines :) Theoretically speaking there is even no need for a driver, but people feel a lot safer when there is someone up fron to "drive" it.

Now in Locomotion that would be kind of awquard of course because power and speed are determined by the power of the locomotive. In reality though a fully automated maglev that just transports (massive long) trains of just wagons is very possible. With just a tiny little cabin up front so the driver can sit somewhere, if they wanted to put one in.

Since the maglev is powered by electricity and nothing else, steam powered, nuclear, fuel cell, or other technology. The on-board power is generated by linear generators integrated into the support magnets. There is a backup battery system on board that is continuesly recharged and allows the maglev to come to a stop in case of a full power failure of the track, and still hover for a while.

In Locomotion, all you would need to drive a train of maglev wagons is a small, nicely aerodynamically designed driver cabin up front. Because in locomotion the speed and power are determined by the "engine", this front cabin is where speed and power should be set, but large locomotives are absolutely not needed, although the design of the one I have seen in this thread are awesome!

Posted: 01 Oct 2004 19:30
by PurdueGuy
Made me remember an idea I had once. Due to the lack of a locomotive, and in an automated system the lack of a driver, the efficiency and cost is no longer changed by the length of the train. Why not just have single cars that "full load" and then scoot off on their own. The only downside is that traffic is more spread and blocks would have to be shrunken down a lot.

Any thoughts?

Posted: 01 Oct 2004 19:37
by Born Acorn
why not use some new Cooling towers for the Nuclear plant?

Then you wouldn't need to have green steam.

Posted: 01 Oct 2004 22:06
by norfolksouthern37
maartena wrote:All of you guys seem to forget that Maglevs have NO ENGINES AT ALL!!, rather they are propelled by the track.
i didnt forget that, in fact thats exactly what i meant.

the locomotive i made is not maglev, its standard rail.

i never have liked maglevs in ttd or anywhere else. while in real life they are nice, i just dont think anyone has gotten them to be quite right in a game.

Posted: 01 Oct 2004 22:13
by Born Acorn
I dislike the Maglevs and Monorails in TT games too.

They are so cheap and cheesey.

Posted: 01 Oct 2004 23:35
by maartena
norfolksouthern37 wrote:
maartena wrote:All of you guys seem to forget that Maglevs have NO ENGINES AT ALL!!, rather they are propelled by the track.
i didnt forget that, in fact thats exactly what i meant.

the locomotive i made is not maglev, its standard rail.

i never have liked maglevs in ttd or anywhere else. while in real life they are nice, i just dont think anyone has gotten them to be quite right in a game.
You design skills are obviously superb! I am looking forward to seeing more locomotives from you to keep regular railways going after 2000.... the fact is that railways are so established, its going to take at least a 100 years before they are replaced by something else.

Posted: 03 Oct 2004 01:02
by Korenn
Tyrell wrote:
You could even add a new type of road with no tarmac or sand or supports when raised
A comment on the no support suggestion.
Roads without support will probably not work very good in this game,
not because its not possible,
but because the side effects of the isometric viewpoint.
(or better, the lack of effect)

If there will be a road shadow it could work for a limited hight.
that's a good point... it would look weird and right now for underground tracks it is already difficult to judge the depth...

But I think that could be solved quite easily, since the "road" should be marked by lighted beacons, and those needs supports. So you'd get a line of blinking (or non blinking:D) lights on poles that define the route.

Posted: 03 Oct 2004 22:35
by k_j_jacobs
can someone edit the sounds of the maglev? if the train floats and has no engine, the current mod (although brilliant) still has the chug chug sounds and clickety click sound as though still on a standard track. Maybe someone could put some scifi Wooooo sounds on there. You know something that give the feel that it floats, although im sure a real maglev makes hardley any noise at all.

Posted: 06 Oct 2004 14:08
by Johns_Volition
And another little update here....
The fusion power plant (filled by Nukefuel tm

Image

Posted: 06 Oct 2004 22:45
by ChrisCF
That looks nice, but you might want to use the radiation sign for the nuclear power plant. As obvious as it sounds, the biohazard sign is for biohazards, and a nuclear power plant doesn't present one. :)

Posted: 07 Oct 2004 15:38
by Olli
But its a fusion plant and no nuclear plant. Dont you now that fusion plants are biohazardous?


nice pack so far.
how about some Soilent Green in it?

Posted: 07 Oct 2004 16:43
by ChrisCF
Power plants operating by nuclear fusion do not present a biohazard :roll:

Posted: 07 Oct 2004 19:57
by Bart
Those pesky little details, it's a designer choice, so leave it be. It looks damn cool!

how soon for game play

Posted: 07 Oct 2004 20:59
by CZAR ALEKSANDER
hello

I like what I see how long before game play use because it looks neat to in the screenshot I saw. Please let me know, will be future looking buses
as well.? and aircraft also? please let em know

thank you

Czar ALeksander

Posted: 07 Oct 2004 21:11
by Johns_Volition
One thing after another Czar, and it might take some time until it is fully playable...

so a new version of the Fusion Reactor... I thought that Cubic building was ugly so I replaced it with an reactor... thingy.. i guess

Image

Posted: 08 Oct 2004 02:17
by DarkMatter
That new pic for the reactor you put in looks straight out of Fallout. Ahh, Fallout...

*dreams about Fallout*

Posted: 10 Oct 2004 22:51
by Johns_Volition
I heavily updated the front-page, and added a poll, so Hush go and take a look!

Click me

Posted: 11 Oct 2004 02:46
by Incoming9000
Future fuels? That's easy:

Hidrogen Fuel Cell. It already exists and is currently under practical field test in several cities around the world. Opel just developed a car using Fuel Cell technology and tested it Europe by making in travel 10.000Kms from the north, in Scandinavia to the south in Portugal. Also in Portugal there are several buses being tested in the city of Porto using such techology. All they relase to the air is water vapour. No other waste. I'm sure we'll see this also being used in trains, and it will most certainly be used also in future power stations since it's a eviromentaly friendly power source. As a result this opens the need for large scale Hidrogen producing facilities, and transportation too.

Therefore it would be necessary to create a facilty that splits the Hidrogen, and Oxigen, from the water in order for it to be used. The Oxigen could be used as a component for rocket fuel, and also in factories and Hospitals too, for example.

Anoter thing, Fusion Reactors aren't like the current Fission Reactors. First of all they don't leave nuclear waste. They transform simple elements, like Hidrogen into more complex elements, like Helium. It's done by heating up the atoms util they are so exited they start coliding with each other. The resulting energy, from the colision, is then used to heat the water that is used to power the electrical generators. Nothing is wasted. No Uranium or plutonium are needed, and therefore no Nuclear waste is produced.

What you do need is Liquid Hidrogen, in order to keep the Lasers used to heat the atoms cool enought, otherwise they could melt. Now that's something that you need a hightech facitly to produce too.