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[Otto Germain]

I browsed briefly through the suggestions and didn't see anything like this, but don't shoot me in the face if it's been mentioned already...

How 'bout a rail system for mine carts, to move materials around more efficiently? Watching those little guys carrying a single piece of rock halfway through the fortress makes me wanna slap 'em. Mine carts could be loaded up with stone, ore, or whatever and sent on their way. Levers could be rigged to intersecting tracks to act as switch points... I'm sure there's lots of stuff that could be done with the rails.

I wouldn't be shocked if something like this was already in the works, but it sounded pretty slick. I'm pretty big on automation, though. Whatcha think?

[qwertyuiopas]

I think that intersections would look like this:

code:

#######
--T-T--
##\T/##
###|###

[Otto Germain]

Yeah, you got the right idea... there'd be some sort of lever shenanigans in there.

Oh yeah, another thought... what about building walls from all that extra stone? Like, stone blocks would give you a nice finished wall, whereas uncut stone would just give you a really rough "pile o' rocks" sort of wall. Would help consolidate materials, and could be used to build up defenses outside.

[Anticheese]

Rewalling may be in the next version. For now though you can just use granite.exe

--

Mine carts sound really nice but they might be a pain to set up and dismantle. But any kind of cart would be very welcome right now.

[Tormy]

Rail system? I dont like the idea to be honest. It wouldnt really fit into a fantasy world.

[DR]

I could see it maybe being a feature of the late game... waggonways and such started to crop up in the real world around the 16th and 17th century. It's not like the dwarves don't do anything else that's pretty out there for a fantasy setting... like building metal bridges and what have you.

[zhe republican]

I like the idea
nuff said

[Tormy]

quote:Originally posted by DR:
<STRONG>I could see it maybe being a feature of the late game... waggonways and such started to crop up in the real world around the 16th and 17th century. It's not like the dwarves don't do anything else that's pretty out there for a fantasy setting... like building metal bridges and what have you.</STRONG>

..and what will be next? cannons?

[DR]

quote:Originally posted by Tormy:
<STRONG>

..and what will be next? cannons?</STRONG>

Haha, yes, I see your point.

But, on the other hand, while cannon don't usually mesh well with fantasy worlds... the case for having (primitive, not steam or mechanical) railways is a lot stronger I think. They evolved specifically to drag stuff out of mines and since dwarves are keen miners, it makes sense that they'd figure it out much sooner than we did.

They don't even really need that much know-how to build... just a series of wooden rails with the odd sleeper. Nothing more complicated than what dwarves build already.

[termitehead]

if not mining carts, they most definitely could have used mules/horses for hauling.  I'm tired of my 40 horses just running around avoiding the butcher

[axus]

Sort of agree, it should require iron or steel tracks though.  I'd rather use the metal for other things...

[Otto Germain]

Or, heck, even just wheelbarrows would work, when you get down to it. Or a cart to rig to one of those freeloading mules.

None of it sounds too unreasonable considering they can make pressure plates and all those other mechanisms.

[Jaiya]

quote:Originally posted by Tormy:
<STRONG>..and what will be next? cannons?</STRONG>

... pleeeaaase? <=(

Also!

I love the idea of a rail system. The science behind rails + carts is terribly simple, and I honestly have no doubt that these things would've sparked up a lot sooner in human history had we built our cities in the mountains. Dwarves need an effective way to unload unwanted materials that come from mining outside.

Dwarves already have the wheels, wagons and carts. A rail system is, as far as I understand, two metal bars placed upon either wooden, stone or metal supports and fastened into the ground. Then the carts (or wagons?) are placed upon these rails, and can be pushed by a dwarf, pulled by a mule or, using the wonders of gravity, simply nudged out. This takes alot less effort than grabbing materials and hauling it out, one by one by one. The carts wouldn't be fueled, automated or anything overly techological either. Switch points, like suggested in the first post, aren't really that far away from the idea of level A opening floodgate B, raising bridge C and destroying pillars D, E and G. (Pillar F is in my room, so NO.)

If that fails... what about replacing that idea with a system based on the channels. A stable 'boat' of sorts, able to carry a specific ammount of stones is filled up, placed in a channel that leads outside - and then the stream carries it out. Then the dwarves only have to haul the empty containers back up. Saves time!

I really like this idea! If it's not to be, that's fine. The game is good as it is, but to me it'd make it better. Because, more often than not I find myself annoyed at the ammount of rock littering all over the place inside of my fortress, and the painfully slow process of hauling the unwanted mess outside - added with the frustration over my haulers sometimes favoring the idea of hauling a rock outside over the idea of hauling ore to my forge stockpile. Grr grr grr. For once I'd like to have a nice clean fortress, without having to take 7 out of 14 dwarves off duty to just haul, haul, haul.   Rails would be a life saver for me... just the idea of using one dwarf to do the rock hauling job of 2 or more makes me giddy with glee!

(And yes, wheelbarrows, horses, mules (!!), dogs (?), cats (absolutely) and such being used to help with hauling would be awesome.)

[Tormy]

quote:Originally posted by Jaiya:
<STRONG>

... pleeeaaase? <=(

Also!

I love the idea of a rail system. The science behind rails + carts is terribly simple, and I honestly have no doubt that these things would've sparked up a lot sooner in human history had we built our cities in the mountains. Dwarves need an effective way to unload unwanted materials that come from mining outside.

Dwarves already have the wheels, wagons and carts. A rail system is, as far as I understand, two metal bars placed upon either wooden, stone or metal supports and fastened into the ground. Then the carts (or wagons?) are placed upon these rails, and can be pushed by a dwarf, pulled by a mule or, using the wonders of gravity, simply nudged out. This takes alot less effort than grabbing materials and hauling it out, one by one by one. The carts wouldn't be fueled, automated or anything overly techological either. Switch points, like suggested in the first post, aren't really that far away from the idea of level A opening floodgate B, raising bridge C and destroying pillars D, E and G. (Pillar F is in my room, so NO.)

If that fails... what about replacing that idea with a system based on the channels. A stable 'boat' of sorts, able to carry a specific ammount of stones is filled up, placed in a channel that leads outside - and then the stream carries it out. Then the dwarves only have to haul the empty containers back up. Saves time!

I really like this idea! If it's not to be, that's fine. The game is good as it is, but to me it'd make it better. Because, more often than not I find myself annoyed at the ammount of rock littering all over the place inside of my fortress, and the painfully slow process of hauling the unwanted mess outside - added with the frustration over my haulers sometimes favoring the idea of hauling a rock outside over the idea of hauling ore to my forge stockpile. Grr grr grr. For once I'd like to have a nice clean fortress, without having to take 7 out of 14 dwarves off duty to just haul, haul, haul.   Rails would be a life saver for me... just the idea of using one dwarf to do the rock hauling job of 2 or more makes me giddy with glee!

(And yes, wheelbarrows, horses, mules (!!), dogs (?), cats (absolutely) and such being used to help with hauling would be awesome.)</STRONG>

dogs and cats used for hauling? .....  

[LordoEverything]

quote:Originally posted by Tormy:
<STRONG>

dogs and cats used for hauling? .....    </STRONG>

Dog sleds would be unbeleivably cool.
But if we can train war dogs, we should be able to train workdogs to pull things.  It happened in or Real world past with some of the larger breeds pulling wagons and such...