A (kind of) railroad in Spring

[Argh]

No, that's not going to be possible, unfortunately. Too CPU-heavy, can't handle collisions, can't handle arbitrary heights, etc.

[tombom]

Great. Now we can have a WW1 RTS game on spring.

i have wanted this for ever

the "crazy rail based rts" sounds good also

cool stuff

[yuritch]

New version. Moved train speed from the track to the train unit, made it configurable via unit's fbi customParams (so now different trains can have different speeds). Trains can now use a set number of frames for rotation at the track corners, also configurable via customParams.
A "crazy railroad rts" still needs at least 1 thing implemented, and that is switches. Another good thing would be multi-wagon trains, but I'm not sure the present system will ever allow for those - it was designed with single-unit trains in mind.
A game utilizing this rail system would not be playable against AIs since the trains don't accept usual Spring move orders - from AI point of view, they are completely immobile. Unless of course a special AI is made for it.

[overkill]

Well actually i have been planning a railroad based rts (steampunk themed) i will prolly start on it after i help FF and CA a little bit. The trains will be how fuel (coal) and ammo is delivered to your front line. pm me if you would like to know more.

[Alchemist]

This is great! I could play with it all day


Couple of things, though:

- When closing a circuit (if the tracks are not completely touching) the train gets jumpy, would be nice to make the transition more smooth.

- Would be nice if the base piece had a different texture/model just to be able to locate it easily and spawn more trains.

[yuritch]

Current models are just placeholders, all made in under 30 minutes together. Nicer models aren't my current goal, the basic system is (plus Argh had shown interest in this, so maybe he'll made some models).
I have some ideas for improving the 'jumpiness' thing, let's see how it all will work when they are done.

[MDV]

WoW. I even haven't thought that it is possible. Great.

[yuritch]

Small update: fixed an issue that if a train is destroyed, the track section where it was would remain in 'occupied' state forever (not allowing any other trains in). Now the train sends a signal from its Killed() event that notifies tracks the train is gone and the route is clear again.
Next on the line: make the station a real factory (so the train unit doesn't need to be lua-spawned).

[BlackLiger]

Most interesting...

I could see this actually being used in various mods, to various nefarious purposes. If nothing else, if you can make it so if the train hits anything other than track on route, both it and the train are destroyed, (or the object with the lower hitpoints is destroyed, and the other loses HP equal to the value of the killed unit?) and the tracks crossable, you could have defences that wander around the outside of a base easily.

[yuritch]

A new version, again.
Added the possibility to use the test_station as a 'normal' factory (ie train units can be built without using custom buttons). Only works if the station is linked to 'long' sections (not sure why, maybe has something to do with buildpos being blocked). Proper trains are auto-added to the rail system. To be considered a train, a unit must have istrain=1; in its customPatams fbi section. Other units are not linked to rails and can leave the factory as usual.
Made the sections turned 45 degrees become slightly longer. This should help to close the loops on long track lines (previously aligning rotated and unrotated sections was sometimes impossible, now it should work, at least more often than before).
Next in the to-do list: switches. That will allow quite complex systems to be built.

[Pendrokar]

Hmm after seeing moveable turrets along rails in UT3. Wouldn't anyone want add this to their mods.

"Hey! North side of their base hasn't got any defenses just rails!"
And then a bunch of turrets move to a new defense position!

[PicassoCT]

Its not a necro, if there are treasures in the thread. Tomb Raiders of all threads united!