All roads lead to Rome. (Or should that be Cinderfall?)

[Hotwingz]

Why an element for roads? That would just be limiting and boring. Why not a special material that makes vehicles that travel over it go faster. That way there would still be the incentive for roads without having a weird road element.

That is something that would work even better.

 

Still needs to be crafted and its indeed far less limiting then a fixed shape element.

[Hotwingz]

You can't send something via script to some other city because you need to be near the construct for the script to work.

 

But some kind of autopilot would work - I'll make sure all those afk autopilot users will lose their ship then

Hmmm that would be interesting though.

In space a ship in motion would stay in motion if I understood what was said correctly. You could send supplies to a planet without a pilot if you wanted to.

 

An autopilot feature (if implemented) could be interesting.

[Lethys]

Hmmm that would be interesting though.

In space a ship in motion would stay in motion if I understood what was said correctly. You could send supplies to a planet without a pilot if you wanted to.

 

An autopilot feature (if implemented) could be interesting.

No there's some sortof of drag in space as stated in the gdc video so ships will slow down to prevent people ending in the middle of nowhere when they accidentally disconnect or go on vacation

[Hotwingz]

No there's some sortof of drag in space as stated in the gdc video so ships will slow down to prevent people ending in the middle of nowhere when they accidentally disconnect or go on vacation

Aaaah, the audio wasnt that great for me.

I saw him answering but beyond yes it wasnt all that clear.

 

Thanks for clearing that up for me.

Its one of those solutions when making a game instead of a simulator.

[Begogian]

And if its just a cosmetic element then it is pointless to introduce. I only offered up the idea to make it an active element because it would introduce some extra spice.

 

Its the same idea as guns. Its not because it exists that you have to use it. But it could be useful in some situations.

 

It would probably only act as a cosmetic element and to people who will be playing the game to design cities and create economies will probably enjoy it but Twerk does make some sense, in his own special way, because he and a lot of people are playing the game more for the fighting, ship building, marketing, etc. For people who want to go into detail and create intricate cities should probably just go with voxel smoothing and such things, that way they are utilizing some of the added features and maybe we can see more user friendly and intense road designs instead of pre-built ones by the Devs. Also, adding a new element for cosmetic reasons would take away time from the Devs that they can be using to create other things, but maybe down the line they will come out with a Cosmetic Expansion Update.

 

Also, While I neither agree nor disagree with the topic, you can in no way compare guns with roads. Guns will be one of the main research branches of DU next to ships, mining, and markets. I don't want to in any way hate but come on, I mean guns=roads? "It's not because it exists that you have to use it." That is a very silly statement.

 

Why an element for roads? That would just be limiting and boring. Why not a special material that makes vehicles that travel over it go faster. That way there would still be the incentive for roads without having a weird road element.

 

A special material would bring too much of an unrealistic element into the game. Any road element would be a weird element and adding speedy material to it would only make it weirder. Watching JC in SF and talking to him about movement among hovercrafts, the crafts will be fast enough to travel but it should be a semi-realistic travel speed on the ground not a hovercraft driving from city to city at 300 mph (482 kmp). If they are ever introduced there shouldn't be any upgrade or special bonus to them to use as an incentive. If people need to be coerced into using an element in the game, then the element is useless and should be very minor or not in the game at all.

[Hotwingz]

I don't want to in any way hate but come on, I mean guns=roads? "It's not because it exists that you have to use it."

Oh I didnt mean to say that guns=roads.

That would indeed be silly. I only meant to say that you dont have to use them if you dont want to. Dont worry about speaking your mind.

 

I'm also not saying the devs need to do this or I quit, holding the team hostage. Thats also silly. And I mean it when I say I understand the reasons people are giving against the idea.

 

Would I like to see cities connected by roads? Yes.

Does that mean that NQ has to bend backwards spending resources creating this? Not at all.

 

I only offered up an idea for another block of lego.

 

Hopefully I am mistaken and people dont need an incentive to create roads. Or perhaps there wont be any roads at all on Alioth. I'm still going to love the game.

[Dhara]

Not sure why we can't just build the roads ourselves. We'll be able to build anything we want, I think roads would be about the easiest on the list.  If players in the area want roads, we will have no problem creating them.  If they don't, then there will be no road to their town; easy-peasy.  Now if space between the territories is the concern, then the cooperating settlements can just claim the area in between and protect it together.  Probably how it should be anyway.  Unless of course, there will be a giant buffer between them.  Don't remember hearing about that though, so might not be an issue at all.  Either way, I like the idea and would cooperate with my neighbors if the opportunity comes along to make connecting roads.  Would be fun and would look really nice.  

[Hotwingz]

Either way, I like the idea and would cooperate with my neighbors if the opportunity comes along to make connecting roads. Would be fun and would look really nice.

That would make me a very happy citizen.

If people dont need any buff reason to build roads that would be brilliant.

[Violet]

I don't buy this argument that we don't need roads because we have hovercraft, I've been playing the latest NMS updated and just because you can hover doesn't make it that much easier to get from A to B when you have trees, rock, ravines and mountains in the way.

 

If you have 2 places that people will regularly want to go between people will start clearing a path, building bridges over ravines and digging tunnels to make that journey easier and faster. Building a road then is the next logical step even if it's just a cosmetic thing to indicate that "yes, this is the way to San Jose" you are not lost. 

 

I don't know how the hover engines we have seen will work but its safe to assume your fuel efficiency will be better going along a nice flat road than up and down and dodging trees all the time

[Lethys]

Well that would be a trail and requires no element (as wanted). Such things will happen (I imagine a city only accessible via a tunnel for example) and as people won't dodge trees all the time they will make trails. But there's no sense in roads (as some suggested).

 

Those two are different things

[Dhara]

No sense in them or not, I bet we build them none-the-less.  As long as there isn't a giant buffer between us, that is.

 

And as far as I have seen in every game that has hover craft, the smoother the land you're hovering over is, the faster and easier it is to get around, so yeah, they will have a use.

[TheAtlasWarrior]

A road is still useful, even if the vehicle itself has no physical contact (or not a direct one anyway) with the ground, but is relatively near it - aka hovering.

 

It provides set traffic lanes and can separate vehicle traffic (ground based) from pedestrians, for example. It also adds that urban feel compared to just having, I guess, dirt between the buildings or 'dirt roads' basically. It can also provide structure or order in traffic if you apply lanes and directions.

 

Ships would be treated as helicopters in that sense, they just go straight from A to B etc.

 

While you can ignore roads for installations or small towns, I'm guessing the larger things become and the more people go to a place or through it, the more you benefit from some form of road or traffic system.

 

I'd bet large cities, if we ever get to see them in DU, will likely use roads as we know them, or some similar system to regulate ground based traffic a bit. As for trying to regulate air based traffic... I think that will likely be too tricky without any assistance from the game such as being able to designate traffic lanes and whatnot to keep airspace somewhat structured.

 

Time will tell.

I agree, roads will add order, structure and an urban feel to hovercraft and other ground vehicles traffic, so I think all, if not most cities should build them.

[TheAtlasWarrior]

I don't buy this argument that we don't need roads because we have hovercraft, I've been playing the latest NMS updated and just because you can hover doesn't make it that much easier to get from A to B when you have trees, rock, ravines and mountains in the way.

 

If you have 2 places that people will regularly want to go between people will start clearing a path, building bridges over ravines and digging tunnels to make that journey easier and faster. Building a road then is the next logical step even if it's just a cosmetic thing to indicate that "yes, this is the way to San Jose" you are not lost. 

 

I don't know how the hover engines we have seen will work but its safe to assume your fuel efficiency will be better going along a nice flat road than up and down and dodging trees all the time

I agree with you, and besides, what kind of city doesn't have roads? traffic of hovercraft and players will eventually need to be organized so players can move smoothly and easily through the city and in between buildings, and not only roads will be needed, but like you said, and depending on the terrain/landscape of where your city is built, we will also need tunnels and bridges.

[Robert_Brightstar]

Step 1 - Build a  structure

Step 2 - Build another structure across for it

Step 3 - The gap between then is the road or pathway

 

As for me, I say lets build tunnels. 

[Ripper]

[Shynras]

1- Speed is something that needs to be balanced both for gameplay and immersion, so I'd like better a bigger engine than road element

2- A road element it's too specific for 1 purpose only (not even that useful or important in a game like DU), at best should be an element that has various uses on different gameplay aspects. 

3- Rails for trains could actually be more useful. A train could me more efficient than a hovercraft energy wise, reach high speed, but with the downside of having a predefined road. Other than that, rails could be used for various purposes, including constructs with movable parts. 

[Ben Fargo]

One way of implementing roads would be to make the amount of energy a hovercraft uses depend on the height it hovers at.  Hovering at ten meters would use more energy than hovering at a few centimeters.  It would be difficult to hover that low on rough terrain without colliding with the ground, so it would only be practical on flat surfaces.  This seems realistic and it does not require any special elements or materials.  Roads would just be long, flat voxel constructions.  Since they would save energy, there would be an economic incentive to build them on frequently traveled routes.