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[Fnear]

I've built a spiral made of stacks of 3-z-level ramps with a loop that connects them.

T = track
< > = up ramp and down ramp
H = hole (one for cart return, one for the powertrain)
X = up down staircase

Code: [Select]

TTT
T T
> T
 HT
<XT
THT
TTT
Z+1 and Z+2 just have an immediate up ramp.  Carts are intended to go clockwise up this spiral.

Tracks are all bidirectional, dwarves can guide carts up the tracks.  But when I power it with rollers, I can't get a cart up more than 1 ramp.  Even with 3 or 4 rollers at highest.

Carts are made of wood and filled with stone.  They have enough momentum that the first time I tried, with just one roller, 25 dwarves died (one was on the tracks, the rest wanted his socks).

Can anyone point me at good science about getting carts to go up multi-level ramps?  There's plenty of science about railguns, but not a lot about functional mine return initial ramp for a roller-coaster.

Do I need at least one flat before each ramp?  Do I need to power every single up ramp?  (I can't power the Z+1 ramp unless I have a powered gear assembly on Z+1 it seems).

[SnK-Arcbound]

You need to build momentum, and it doesn't look like you have a long straight path which the rollers will accelerate the minecart along. Game physics are similar to real world physics.

Someone who knows more about minecarts could probably tell you more.

[itg]

A couple stupid questions:

Do you have tracks on the ramps?
Are the rollers connected to the power supply?
Did you put the rollers on the ramps? That works best, I think.
Did you try to build any curved tracks on the ramps? I'm pretty sure that doesn't work.


If you want a functional cart elevator design, I built something that works pretty well. It's a helical track built around a central power supply shaft.

T = track
G = gear assembly over open space
< > = up/down ramps (with track)
W = wall
red = with rollers

T>W
<GW
WWW

Z+1: rotate 90 degrees counterclockwise and repeat
Z-1: rotate 90 degrees clockwise and repeat

Dig a dropshaft nearby for cart return.

Hope the diagram makes sense. It's actually pretty simple. I'm not certain that every roller is necessary, but if you want to be safe, you can't go wrong with one on every up ramp.

[QuantumMenace]

If you put a "highest" speed roller on the ramp itself, the cart will reach the next level at that speed, which is fast enough to take it up a second z-level. If you do that you'll only need a roller every 2 levels.

[Sutremaine]

Did you try to build any curved tracks on the ramps? I'm pretty sure that doesn't work.

It definitely works when the roller is placed on the flat tile before the ramp (in this case, 2x2 spiral ramp with no flat track). Haven't tried it with the roller on the ramp.

[Fnear]

A couple stupid questions:

Do you have tracks on the ramps?
Are the rollers connected to the power supply?
Did you put the rollers on the ramps? That works best, I think.
Did you try to build any curved tracks on the ramps? I'm pretty sure that doesn't work.

If you want a functional cart elevator design, I built something that works pretty well. It's a helical track built around a central power supply shaft.

Dig a dropshaft nearby for cart return.

Not stupid questions - always worth double checking the basics.  Yes, Yes, Yes, and No.

I actually settled on a central power shaft with a double helix track with rollers on the ramps and a return shaft from the top.  Next, I plan to have the carts roll out of the spiral 1 z-level above the unload point and drop down, then they'll get pushed through a hole and drop down before rolling back into the spiral.  This should make the spiral itself completely unpathable (I'll have locked doors for maintenance access).

It does sound plausible that a powered ramp provides only enough power to make it up that ramp and 1 more.

I actually had a setup with 4 rollers in a straight line with the 4th on the up ramp and it still only made it up 1 z-level beyond the powered ramp.  So I switched to the helix.

[GoombaGeek]

This probably won't help, but if you can get featherwood or candlenut wood from the elves then you can make really low-density stuff out of them, like minecarts. Every little bit helps