Hello folks. An idea for a worldwide rail system has been kicked around a bit, so I thought I'd formalize some of my own thoughts on the matter here, maybe help get things organized. I'm not electing myself foreman or anything like that. Just want to make sure anyone participating is on the same page.
What is it?
- A railway system that connects towns in the main world.
Where is it?
- Wherever it is needed or desired. Underground, in the air, under water, wherever you build it!
Who's gonna build it?
- Anyone may participate. All we ask is that you follow a few simple guidelines to help things go smoothly.
When do we start?
- If you feel like participating, let us know here.
Why do this?
- Because we can. Seriously, this is not a practical project since we can simply teleport (for a small fee) to whatever towns allow it. It's likely that any town connected to the worldwide rail system will also allow teleporting.
How do we approach this?
- I've gathered my thoughts on how we can approach this endeavor with minimal conflict. Details below.
General guidelines:
- Anything you want to build in your own town will be your business, but can not receive material assistance from the public works stash. However, anything built outside your town is eligible. Let me know if you need rails or other things to build out the "international" portion of the railway.
- For the international portion we should adhere to two rails, one block apart, in parallel. It requires less material overall, and is easier to secure against mobs. Exceptions can be made for splitting the pair for going around mountains or taking scenic routes, but it should always come back to the standard. This will also ensure ease of expansion and connectivity if a settlement wants to join in later.
- Right side forward vs left side forward: use whatever style you want, but make sure you post a sign saying which style is in use so we don't have any collisions. Overhead blocks could work as indicators, and/or arrow signs. Switchovers can be made when needed, as they aren't terribly complex.
- Use "cheap" blocks as much as possible to discourage vandalism and looting. Don't worry about fire spread, because it's turned off.
- Don't use tree trunks for long, unbroken stretches. The golden axe can be a mighty troll weapon. If you want to use very long logs, make sure they are broken up every so often and that no rails are laid upon them.
- Secure the system. Don't let monsters spawn on the trackway or get close enough to do damage to riders. Make barriers to protect against skeleton arrows and wall-climbing spiders.
- Build above the lava line and below the cloud line. Going too far in either direction gets expensive in terms of materials and requires more work to make adjustments when expanding the system.
- Make sure to completely clear out any trees that are in the way. Partially-destroyed trees are ugly. If the style of the railway itself is tree-based, make sure mobs can't get up there.
- If you're building a bridge over an ocean, make sure boats can pass underneath.
Style guidelines:
- Do not make cobblestone strings high in the air. Those are ugly. Feel free to make cobblestone monuments to the flying spaghetti monster in your own town, just don't do it anywhere else, please.
- Try to keep a consistent style for long stretches. Frequent changes without smooth transitions will look weird.
- If a bridge must "float", include something that looks like it's holding the bridge up. Balloons, rockets, whatever. It looks weird to have a huge structure simply float in the air, held up by nothing.
- Redstone torches are fine, but if they aren't necessary to the style and you can hide them, please do so. Same goes for switches. Hide those to prevent shenanigans.
- If you're building above ground or underwater, let riders see outside.
- If you're building underground, decorate.
Ideas for themes:
Here's some ideas for styles we can implement. They're not requirements at all, merely suggestions.
- Heavenly (quartz and other white blocks, glowstone, waterfalls)
- Hellish (nether blocks, fire, lavafalls)
- Aquatic (ocean monument blocks, glass)
- Natural (trees, leaves, vines, flowers)
- Rickety (wood planks, torches, thin or missing pieces)
- Aged (cracked/mossy/normal stone bricks, iron bars)
- Fancy (red brick, wood, flowers)
- Party Time (bright blocks, fireworks triggered by detector rails)
- End (purpur & end blocks, end rods, purple glass)
What is it?
- A railway system that connects towns in the main world.
Where is it?
- Wherever it is needed or desired. Underground, in the air, under water, wherever you build it!
Who's gonna build it?
- Anyone may participate. All we ask is that you follow a few simple guidelines to help things go smoothly.
When do we start?
- If you feel like participating, let us know here.
Why do this?
- Because we can. Seriously, this is not a practical project since we can simply teleport (for a small fee) to whatever towns allow it. It's likely that any town connected to the worldwide rail system will also allow teleporting.
How do we approach this?
- I've gathered my thoughts on how we can approach this endeavor with minimal conflict. Details below.
General guidelines:
- Anything you want to build in your own town will be your business, but can not receive material assistance from the public works stash. However, anything built outside your town is eligible. Let me know if you need rails or other things to build out the "international" portion of the railway.
- For the international portion we should adhere to two rails, one block apart, in parallel. It requires less material overall, and is easier to secure against mobs. Exceptions can be made for splitting the pair for going around mountains or taking scenic routes, but it should always come back to the standard. This will also ensure ease of expansion and connectivity if a settlement wants to join in later.
- Right side forward vs left side forward: use whatever style you want, but make sure you post a sign saying which style is in use so we don't have any collisions. Overhead blocks could work as indicators, and/or arrow signs. Switchovers can be made when needed, as they aren't terribly complex.
- Use "cheap" blocks as much as possible to discourage vandalism and looting. Don't worry about fire spread, because it's turned off.
- Don't use tree trunks for long, unbroken stretches. The golden axe can be a mighty troll weapon. If you want to use very long logs, make sure they are broken up every so often and that no rails are laid upon them.
- Secure the system. Don't let monsters spawn on the trackway or get close enough to do damage to riders. Make barriers to protect against skeleton arrows and wall-climbing spiders.
- Build above the lava line and below the cloud line. Going too far in either direction gets expensive in terms of materials and requires more work to make adjustments when expanding the system.
- Make sure to completely clear out any trees that are in the way. Partially-destroyed trees are ugly. If the style of the railway itself is tree-based, make sure mobs can't get up there.
- If you're building a bridge over an ocean, make sure boats can pass underneath.
Style guidelines:
- Do not make cobblestone strings high in the air. Those are ugly. Feel free to make cobblestone monuments to the flying spaghetti monster in your own town, just don't do it anywhere else, please.
- Try to keep a consistent style for long stretches. Frequent changes without smooth transitions will look weird.
- If a bridge must "float", include something that looks like it's holding the bridge up. Balloons, rockets, whatever. It looks weird to have a huge structure simply float in the air, held up by nothing.
- Redstone torches are fine, but if they aren't necessary to the style and you can hide them, please do so. Same goes for switches. Hide those to prevent shenanigans.
- If you're building above ground or underwater, let riders see outside.
- If you're building underground, decorate.
Ideas for themes:
Here's some ideas for styles we can implement. They're not requirements at all, merely suggestions.
- Heavenly (quartz and other white blocks, glowstone, waterfalls)
- Hellish (nether blocks, fire, lavafalls)
- Aquatic (ocean monument blocks, glass)
- Natural (trees, leaves, vines, flowers)
- Rickety (wood planks, torches, thin or missing pieces)
- Aged (cracked/mossy/normal stone bricks, iron bars)
- Fancy (red brick, wood, flowers)
- Party Time (bright blocks, fireworks triggered by detector rails)
- End (purpur & end blocks, end rods, purple glass)
