Wow, you've been quicker than me
I had thought of a road type scheme, but I remain unsure, if it went out of hand or not ...
This is my proposal text I prepared:
It has been a couple of years since NRT (New Road Type) has been introduced into OpenTTD. Since then, we saw more and more road type sets pop up. Also road vehicle sets begin to use different road type labels.
This, however, brings us to the exact same problem we had with rail types many many years ago. Then, a standardized scheme for railtype labels has been proposed. Even though not every rail type set or rail vehicle set sticks to the standardized scheme (or equivalents), the overall situation is much improved.
Coming back to road vehicles, to my knowledge there is yet a standardized scheme to be proposed, hence why I created a scheme I wanted to present in this thread.
What are the prerequisites? As of now, there exist a ton of different road type labels used by the different NewGRFs creating roads. However, compatibility is not a big issue, as long as all vehicles are of the label ROAD. Much like RAIL and ELRL regarding Railroads or Tramways.
But what about road vehicle sets authors, who want to create different type of vehicles than simple ROAD?
If there should only be one type of vehicle, this discussion is obviously senseless. But more and more vehicle GRF authors adopt labels for micromanaging vehicles or to introduce different means of transport, i.e. watercraft.
The whole situation leads to compatibility hell. Additionally, hidden road types commonly used for compatibility reasons count towards the 64 road and tram type limit, further narrowing the usability and easy handling of road (vehicle) sets by players.
Hence, why I am proposing a standardized road type scheme for vehicles!
The scheme in short: (sorry for the markup text
)
Code: Select all
version 0.2
*meaning* *label* *letter*
vehicle class [X***] Public **R**oad vehicle, **I**dustrial road vehicle, **B**icycle, **W**atercraft, **S**ledge
feature [*X**] **O**(none), **A**nimal-drawn, **B**uoyant, **D**irt, **F**arming(dirt+slow), **H**overing, **T**all, Overhead-**W**ire-powered(general), **5**50V-powered(overhead), **6**00V-powered(overhead), **7**50V-powered(overhead)
axle weight [**X*] **A**(~10t), **B**(~20t), **C**(~40t), **a**(~5t), **b**(~1t)
cargo class [***X] **D**elivery, **P**AX, **T**raffic
The
vehicle class is the main differentiator between road vehicles and i.e. watercraft. While
road vehicles are meant to run on public streets,
industrial vehicles are not allowed on public streets. This could be everything from industrial road trains to quarry trucks.
Bicycle then is everything meant to run on bicycle lanes, much as
watercraft means everything that is meant to run on bodies of water, i.e. canals.
Sledges then are meant to run on snow and not on typical roads.
Feature describes additions to differentiate the vehicle types above. Here, authors can decide, which features their vehicle should have. Horse carts would be
animal-drawn, 4x4 or 6x6 trucks would be able to run on
dirt roads, farming tractors would do that too, but wouldn't be allowed on motorways (much as slow vehicles in general?), whereas
buoyant vehicles would refer to amphibious vehicles.
Hovering and
Tall would refer to hovercraft and sailing boats (or any other tall vehicle which might not be usable on canals or roads with catenary). Last,
overhead-wire-powered refers to trolleys which are powered by catenary. Here, specific
voltages can be used as well.
Axle weight refers to the weight the road surface needs to support. For bodies of water, it refers to the
depth of the vessel in water, which means a light vessel and go over a ford, whereas a deep vessel cannot.
And last,
cargo class differentiates the vehicles into
delivery, which refers to trucks,
pax, which refers to buses (which then are allowed on bus lanes or even pedestrian zones) and
traffic, which refers to cars which can also be used by Traffic AIs, but also as taxis (and which would be allowed on taxiways).
This would lead to the following
label tree:
Code: Select all
version 0.2
*1* *2* *3* *4* *type of vehicle* *special type of road*
R O A D truck road
P bus bus lane
B D heavy load truck supported road
I heavy on-site truck supported ISR
C D special transport not in city centres
a D light truck light road
P minibus light road
T taxi taxi lane
A A D horse cart dirt road
P horse carriage dirt road
T horse courier dirt road
B A D amphibious truck waterway
P amphibious bus waterway
T amphibious taxi waterway
D A D off-road truck supported dirt road
a D off-road light truck dirt road
P off-road bus dirt road
T jeep dirt road
F A D farming tractor not on motorways
a D light farming tractor not on motorways
b D tracked tractor not on motorways
H A P hoverbus road
W A D trolley truck wired road
P trolley bus wired road
5 A D trolley truck 550V-wired road
P trolley bus 550V-wired road
6 A D trolley truck 600V-wired road
P trolley bus 600V-wired road
7 A D trolley truck 750V-wired road
P trolley bus 750V-wired road
I O A D industrial truck ISR
B D heavy industrial truck supported ISR
A A D forestry horse forestry road
W A D industrial trolley truck wired ISR
B D heavy ind. trolley truck wired supported ISR
B O a D delivery bike bicycle lane
P riksha pedestrian zone
T bicycle bicycle lane
W O A D freighter waterway
B D deep water freighter seaway
P ferry waterway
a D light water freighter waterway
P gondola waterway
T boat waterway
A A D towed barque waterway with towway
B A D propeller boat swamp
D A D amphibious off-road truck dirt road
P amphibious off-road bus dirt road
T amphibious jeep dirt road
H A P hovercraft flat terrain
W A P trolley ferry wired waterway
T A D sailing ship no wires
T B D deep water sailing ship no wires
S O A D motor sledge snow
P motor sledge bus snow
A A D dog sledge snow
B A P propeller sledge bus snow
What is your opinion about this?
Do you think, we need every differentiation proposed? Or would you introduce further letters to differentiate vehicles further?
Or would you rather have a different categorization of the four letters?
... or do you think this whole discussion is mute, and you prefer an easier scheme like ROAD, BOAT, SLOW, SNOW, DIRT, ... you name it
Please let me know your opinions
PS: the whole thing can be ported to
trams as well:
- [+] Spoiler
-
Code: Select all
version 0.1
### label composition
*meaning* *label* *letter*
gauge [X***] **S**tandard(1435mm), **M**etre(1000mm), **B**road(1524mm), **N**arrow(900mm)
feature [*X**] **O**(none), **A**nimal-drawn, **C**able-drawn, **G**round-level-powered, **H**overing, Overhead-**W**ire-powered, **5**50V-powered(overhead), **6**00V-powered(overhead), **7**50V-powered(overhead), **1**500V-powered(overhead)
axle weight [**X*] **A**(tram), **B**(light-rail)
cargo class [***X] **D**elivery, **P**AX
### label tree
*1* *2* *3* *4* *type of vehicle* *special type of rail*
S O A D cargo tram rail
P tram rail
A A D cargo horse tram rail
P horse tram rail
C A P cable car cable rail
G A D ground-powered cargo tram third rail
P ground-powered tram third rail
H A P suspended tram suspended rail
B P suspended light rail suspended rail
W A D electrified cargo tram wired rail
P electrified tram wired rail
5 A D electrified cargo tram 550V wired rail
P electrified tram 550V wired rail
6 A D electrified cargo tram 600V wired rail
P electrified tram 600V wired rail
7 A D electrified cargo tram 750V wired rail
P electrified tram 750V wired rail
B P electrified light rail 750V wired rail
1 B P electrified light rail 1500V wired rail
M similar
B similar
N similar
... my two cents:
I'm not sure whether we really need all the differentiations. Personally, I think we need a light scheme to enhance compatibility, without being too cumbersome to actually implement by road/vehicle type authors ...
I just thought, it would be good for me to throw my ideas/thoughts into the arena