Transport Tycoon Forums

Zeppelins went 80mph max, and isn't that about the same speed as trains & trucks move?

It would be great for transportation of passengers from a distant mountain city to a distant mountain ski centre. That's one good use for them. I use heli's to do that now.

Paasky wrote:Zeppelins went 80mph max, and isn't that about the same speed as trains & trucks move?

It would be great for transportation of passengers from a distant mountain city to a distant mountain ski centre. That's one good use for them. I use heli's to do that now.

I usually do about 80 on the interstate, though the speed limit is usually 65 or 70. Freight trains might occasionally see 80 mph in areas without road/rail crossings, but probably 60-70 is more common. I'm suprised a Zepplin can haul along at 80. Of course, that still doesn't compare with 250 or so with a jet aircraft.

It would be useless competition against planes - except for cargo, of which it should be able to carry a lot, and hence be really useful as a ship-replacement as it's faster, and can travel directly from industry to industry, ignoring the need to transport the goods to docks on the sea.

80mph's not bad either, I drive about 80-90mph on the M4 and for the first half of the game (when the airships would be most useful) most freight trains can't top 60 by much, can they?

It also has the advantage of going 'as the crow flies', ignoring terrain and towns, and doesn't need to stop for signals or worry about turning around and getting lost due to s*** AI

I think we can agree it's a good idea, but will need some balancing before it is released. We don't want to create something that is too good, or complete rubbish.

well we could make it die out too soon, like all the best airships fade out about the 1930s (when in their prime), then they all go out, then all the modern ones are abit too small to replace them till much later, or not.
Plus building the damn things would be expendsive (but thats why they are good), but I'm not quite sure on my ideas so prob best if theres more balancing done.

I like this idea A LOT, and I'm surprised that there aren't any airships in the game already. Why didn't CS think of them? They certainly were in their prime during the 30's, although that's pretty much the only decade they were used in. I also agree with using them as competition for ships, and with the advantages & disadvantages of doing so, for the reasons listed.

Is there a way to make them less reliable? I think maybe the risk of them blowing up with all your cargo aboard should be a factor too, but not too much of one. They were actually A LOT more useful for cargo service than for passenger service, but they could still be used for passengers as well.

Model them after the Graf Zeppelin for sure though, preferably complete with swastikas on the fins. I love the design of that Zeppelin, much more so than the design of the Hindenburg, although that would be nice to see.

And while we're on requests for some famous aircraft here, how about the Spruce Goose? That would be an excellent addition to the game. Who wouldn't want a huge seaplane capable of carrying insane amounts of cargo? Just make it take a long time to develop, and make it expensive.

yeah thats a thought, why not start making some seaplanes that can goto both a seaport and an airport (prob not possible but hey its fun to try), but the seaport would need a large enough area for the thing to land, so there could end up a second type of seaport with a landing strip that can do both ships and seaplanes

Anyway back to the topic, how about a reliablitiy of 30s Airships be around 30% for the best of them, then later in the game as they get smaller and filled with Helium they could be around 80% for the best, but they would be A LOT smaller then the 30s version.

Please vote on this subject!

I play with no breakdowns so the breakdown factor is just the same... And if aircraft breakdown, it only slow's them down.

If it could be kept at 30% somehow it would be great because every time it breaks down it could simulate the wind.

Well, my vote has been cast. I wish I knew A LOT more about the game, so I could comment on this subject further, but that will all come in due time.

And I'm glad that at least one other person likes my seaplane idea, so I think I'll start a separate thread for discussing that here now. Thanks all!

80mph! are you shore it wasn't 8

I'm positive it would be a lot more than 8mph! Don't forget, the thing floats, the engines only have to worry about pushing it forward.

Once some of the major design flaws had been over come, "Zeppelins", as they came to be known, began to make regular trips between several major cities in Germany. With roads and motor vehicles still in their infancy and aeroplanes being any thing but safe, Zeppelin travel was truly a thing of the future. These early Zeppelins carried approximately 24 passengers in great comfort. Sandwiches and wine were served for meals during flights. Many of these Zeppelins began to carry names painted on their bows in addition to their number designation and were known with fondness throughout Germany.

In 1908, Count Zeppelin established

Zeppelinstitung zur Foerderung der Luftfahrt
(Zeppelin Endowment for the Propogation of Air Navigation)

as the exclusive shareholder of the

Luftschiffbau-Zeppelin, Gmb. H.
(Zeppelin Airship Building Co., Ltd.)

the construction firm which built the airships operated by

Deutsche Luftschiffahrts-A.-G. ---> DELAG
(German Airship Transportation Company)

the airship passenger and mail service.

LZ 7 Deutschland

1910

19,300 cubic metres

three 120 hp engines

LZ 10 Schwaben

1911-1912

250 flights without a single accident

"Yes, there's no help for it; the ship does do 20 metres per second."
Herr von Parseval, quoted in Hugo Eckener's "Count Zeppelin: The Man and His Work", page 269.

During the Zeppelinpost period, these great airships ferried tons of transoceanic mail and no fewer that 26 countries issued special "Zeppelin" postage stamps.

Mooring facilities around the world were limited, and a stop must not be equated with a landing. More often than not, the airship would hover 1000 to 1500 feet above the ground and drop mail in weighted bags (Abwurpost) or haul mail up from the ground by means of rope (Aufnahme).

20 m/s = 72 km/h

So yea.

Steve wrote:20 m/s = 72 km/h

So yea.

A caveat however: It isn't clear to me if that is IAS, TAS (airspeed) or climb rate

I have been making a model (very simple Model) of a Airship in OpenFX (not sure if anyone uses that), I'll add the picture after I added some detail and once I've moved it from my PC to my Dads (this one, ain't got the net on mine ) plus I'll put a download of it somewhere too

Ok Jim-San, the first action! And will that model be ready to fly or will it just be a base for further developing? Or is this a silly question?

its more of a base for more development as I haven't the clue on how to make veichiles for the game or how to add them into a file that the game likes.
I might also need to remake it as I don't like the way I've made it, so another hour trying to get a perfect model and it might be ready for someone to use as a base model.

I've got a aircraft book in my room somewhere (and I do mean somewhere with the stuff I got) thats got all aircraft from WW2 to present (a few years back for its present, about 1995 I think, still good thou) and I'll be using that to make a more detailed model

Plus it can be used to make more aircraft for the game

ah ha, finally found this thread again, and also sorry for bumping it to the top again but I have done some work on the Airship idea, mainly a model that looks nice (not good, but its ok for now), to see the model in all its rotating splendor you'ld need to run it in IExplorer as the proper program is with OpenFX, thou Quicktime runs it roughly ok too

It may be an oddity of course, but they were real. Is that not the idea behind the game, take the real stuff and make it work in your own lil piece of the world? Let the imagination wander as you play the scenario (or at least the landmass) from Yew Island. Over on one side, they have the airships loading for passage to the other side across the bay (or shall i say ocean). Ok, got all that romantic, nostalgic 1920's feel going? Good. Doesnt matter if its 20 passangers, or 10000. Its all about the game, the feel, the atmosphere. If its a 1920's-1930's scenario, it should have that ability to include one of the more romantic, nostalgic transportation means then. Airplanes were not yet big enough, nor reliable enough (let alone pressurized) to take on many passangers. Airships WERE IT.

Oh, as far as seaplanes, flying boats, and the like. Great idea. Wish I had said it. Wait, I did over in ideas for "what I want in the expansion" of the game. hehe..