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Variable terra forming costs

Started by colonyan, August 04, 2010, 06:49:22 PM

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colonyan

    
   How about if terraform costs more on high ground and on the water body?
   If raise/low was 5000 on level 1, it could go up 5000 each level.
   So at height 8, 40 000 for raise and lower.
   This option will introduce advantage of tunnel more naturally.

   On the water side, slope can be constructed on the water.
   Player could just place slope on water and build on top of it.
   I think this is game balance breaking. If this was left available,
   appropriate price tag better placed. More expensive where more deeper.

   

ӔO

If you've ever taken a road trip through the Canadian rockies cutting, filling and bridges are preferred over tunnels. Even the trains that go through there rarely have tunnels.

Some terrain is just difficult to dig a tunnel in, so it costs less to cut and bridge than to tunnel.

Or, in the opposite direction there are underwater tunnels, which presumably cost less than a bridge. e.g. Channel tunnel, Seikan tunnel. Even then, these tunnels had to go through some very specific parts of the terrain where the earth wasn't too hard or too loose.
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colonyan

I always don't start discussion with careful choice of words.
Shouldn't have mentioned the tunnel.
This came from natural assumption that work will cost more on
high ground hard to reach locations. (I'm not a general contractor
wanting to make spend more)
By minimizing the terraform, there will be more place for more
high power, low speed locomotion, trucks.
Not only that by leaving more lines curving, leaving place for locking
trains,(fast at making curves).

Spike

Quote from: colonyan on August 04, 2010, 10:06:40 PM
This came from natural assumption that work will cost more on
high ground hard to reach locations. (I'm not a general contractor
wanting to make spend more)

I don't see a reason why ground altering costs should raise with height? I assume that coasts and high mountains are more difficult, but in between the extremes the costs should be fairly the same ... a ground filling or cut should be as easy on 200m above sea, as it is on 500 and on 1000?

Fabio

It might depend on climate, though.
I proposed years a go a climate modifier for terraforming (and way building), something like:
water: 10x
desert: 5x
temperate: 1x
mediterranean: 1x
tropical: 2x
tundra: 2x
alpine: 5x
arctic: 10x

Spike


Zeno

Yep, I agree with both of you. Those variations of climate-multiplier sound reasonable, in general terms.

prissi

Since in tropical every tile is covered with a tree, any modifications of the terrain costs already at least cutting the tree. So terraforming in tropics is considered.

Terraforming in high altitudes usually involves quite a lot of tiles and thus is expensive anyway. However, if you built a high mountian road in real life, the cost for moving earth along this road is not much more than cutting on flat land. What may be more expensive is the roadbed, as it had to stand more extreme weathers. But moving earth at 3000 meter on an road (and for such you are terraforming) is pretty much the same cost than on 0m. You can dump the earth probably even at a much closer location is such cases.

colonyan

I see terraform could cost more or less the same.

Pak dependent climate pricing sounds good idea.

I suppose in tropic, it rains much often then ground is softer so new soil have to be brought in and hardened.
I mean roadbed. Thus that cost could be considered other than wood cutting cost.

On other hand, any wood could be sold so any cutting wood cost could mean plus minus zero in terms of money.
This case, should give tree some other mean or it will be pure eye candy. [on another topic]

So it would be nice being able to change the way construction cost alternated depending on climate zone. (height)

On the other hand, slope cost is still the same even on the water.
There's is also a bridge type which can across any distance on the water.
Under ground tunnel is currently tool for fun by assuming tunnel cost more to maintain than above mentioned bridge type.