Some Questions and Suggestions on Bridges

[DonRazzi]

Reading this thread http://www.tt-forums.net/viewtopic.php?t=32720 forced me to read a lot about bridges the past few days. The lecture led into the idea that it would be nice to replace all the original bridges because I came to the conclusion that the original bridge-style isn't very realistic. I've written down some sheets about how a new bridge set should be, and I ask myself which of my ideas are possible or maybe implemented yet. I've to note that I prefer OTTD, but I think both OTTD as well as TTDP would benefit from a new bridge set. As most of developers are in this section of the forums, I post this new thread here, but it could be also in the OTTD graphics forum as well as in the suggestions sections of both games. But enough words, here we go with my questions...

1. Is it possible to limit the hight of a specific bridge?

This would be nice as there exist several very low but also very long bridges like the bridges beyond Lake Pontchartrain at New Orleans. Bridges like this are not that expensive to build. But building a high girder bridge could be far more expensive.

2. Which graphical limitations are there for bridges in OTTD and TTDP?

Exspecially suspension bridges look much to small in both games right now. For example the largest suspension bridge in the world has a span of nearly 2 kilometers. A large bridge like this in TTD should have much larger towers.

3. Is it possible to have different speeds for different vehicles?

Most people don't know there are not many suspension bridges for rail. This is because the structure of suspension bridges isn't rigid enough. So suspension bridges should become unatractive for rail vehicles in the game.

4. Is it possible to change the names of the specific bridges?

There are three different kinds of cantilever bridges in the original game. I think this is far too much for a type which became obsolete in the middle of the last century whe concrete became availiable. So for realism other bridges like arch bridges or cable stayed bridges should be intruduced. But I never have seen that bridge names are changed by a .grf

5. Would it be possible to make a specific type of bridge not passable for ships?

One of the main advantages of suspension bridges is that they can overpass even highly frequented rivers or firths.

So, that are just my first thoughts. I think I will continue when I get some answers to this questions. I think more realistic bridges could bring much fun into the game and especially building long tracks would be more challenging.

Have a nice day,

DonRazzi

[Bilbo]

5. Would it be possible to make a specific type of bridge not passable for ships?

Wouldn't it make it "the favorite bridge for blocking boats" in multiplayer sor some people? I don't think such feature will get implemented (though if you want to block boats, you can raise land and build track on it anyway, but the bridge would be probably much cheaper)

[DonRazzi]

Touché, did'nt think about that...

[Railwaymodeler]

It COULD be possible, that the cheapest bridge could be a causeway, like in SimCity2000. Cheap and easy to build, but boats can't pass through. To discourage their use in multiplayer games, the vehicles' top speed over them could be something like 40 MPH or so.

[m3henry]

or make them land only crossing bridges?

[DonRazzi]

Hmm... The reason why I want to add a height limit to a realistic set is that a heigher bridge should be much more expansive and less than a very low bridge. That Lake Pontchartrain bridges are very long and not very high and they also are quite slow. Prohibiting ships to pass would only be a method to make suspension bridges more interesting in a single user game. Bu you're right - for a multi user game this would be horrible, on the other there always is a way for an unfair player to block out the opponents.

More interesting for me right now is another question: What are the code limits for bridgebuilding as they are right now in OTTD and TTD? I think bridges should be much higher to look much more realistic. For example, a suspension bridge might have a span of approx. 2 kilometers, while an intercity train is 400 meters long. I know it isn't possible to use real scales. But I think it would be superawesome to use more than 5 tiles for each side of a bridge. Bridges I have in mind would use 13 sprites for each side. I don't know wether such a bridge is possibel to be coded. The answer to this wuestion would help a lot...

THX,

DonRazzi

[Bilbo]

It COULD be possible, that the cheapest bridge could be a causeway, like in SimCity2000. Cheap and easy to build, but boats can't pass through. To discourage their use in multiplayer games, the vehicles' top speed over them could be something like 40 MPH or so.

If you need bridge to block boats, you don't care about the speed, as you won't have any traffic over it

[Bilbo]

Prohibiting ships to pass would only be a method to make suspension bridges more interesting in a single user game. Bu you're right - for a multi user game this would be horrible, on the other there always is a way for an unfair player to block out the opponents.

Yes, there is, but current methods for blocking boats are relatively expensive (raising land from sea cost quite a lot). You don't want to give these people very cheap methods for that, like the bridge ...