Hi,
Been playing simutrans on and off over the last couple of years and it is an awesome achievement. However, having had a gap and just rebuilt my computer, I've downloaded the current standard (120 standard and 1.16 Britain) and I am rather confused.
In short, how are you supposed to use the half height aspect that has been introduced? I assume this was to reduce the impact of gradients on performance, but my main query is how to do tunnels since the tunnel build icons only work on "full" height slops and yet every slope is half height. So, what is it I've missed in understanding this and how to adjust (if need be) the terrain to get tunnels working?
cheers for any help !
You need to terraform using the terrain tools to make a "full" slope before placing a tunnel.
Currently map generation is not very good. Features like mountains should be using double height ramps to represent steepness. Currently it still uses old model of map generation assuming that only single height exists. As such as good as no double height ramps are generated and mountains are more like hills now.
One could say that double height feature is not yet fully implemented in that the map generation code needs support for it. However it is in a usable state as far as creating transport networks goes.
Tunnel construction is a major headache, yet he never reached a solution. :-[
You just need to form a steep slope to start the tunnel with - Simutrans will handle the exit. To see steeper slopes in generated maps you'll probably need to increase height and/or roughness significantly over what had been usual in previous versions.
One could easily terraform and drag as bridges the protal.
But the problem remains that one need a two tile clearance throughout the way, especially since the landsacpe generator creates very few steeper isolated slopes except in extremly rugged terrain.
For all normal situation one woudl need to build a long trench first, if you want to go level as the only option. So I would propose an autotrench tool until a tunnel is possible.
If only a protal is requestd then the engine should build a double slope with an countersingleslope behind if needed and possible (on control+build).