MP Route Creating Idea

[GN1996]

The other day I thought of an idea that might be worth some time, or maybe even not all that practical. My thought was to get a group of 5 to 15 people (or however many want to join) together who all plan a route together. The group would all create a set of standards such as what track to use, minimum radius for mainline track and, minimum radius for non-mainline track, signalling systems, and other stuff like that. Then they list and agree what kind of things they would like to see in their route. (stuff like deserts, mountain passes, tracks looping over themselves, etc.) After completion of the list, people in the group could start volunteering for what they want to do for their section. Everybody would then go on to create their section. When everybody has created their section, they send it to one person who then merges the sections together and creates the session and publishes the route and session.
The group would also have to create a list of industries and commodities designating where commoditites come from and go to.

I think this idea would make more people, more likely to play the route because there is a wider variety of people's tastes in the route and you are more likely to see something different. This could potentially draw more people in because with more people designing one route, you have a higher chance of sparking somebody's interest and bringing them back because of something they like in the route.

If you feel I left something out of the planning or creating process above, feel free to leave a post saying what it is.

Depending on how much good feedback this idea gets, I will enact the process and start recruiting people to join this project.

EDIT

If somebody really wanted to, they could setp up and say they wanted to do more than 10 baseboards in length. There would of course have to be a limit to how many they want to do.

 

[Scottbe8]

Alright, what I have in mind is a large sprawling city - a metropolis, as it were - with an abundance of industries and rapid transit lines.

 

[GN1996]

Alright, what I have in mind is a large sprawling city - a metropolis, as it were - with an abundance of industries and rapid transit lines.

Well, if you really want it that bad, you can hope that someone in the planning group volunteers to do something like that, or you could join the "committee" and do it yourself. I know I myself would very much like to see something along the lines of what you describe.

 

[Mouse84]

If somebody really wanted to, they could setp up and say they wanted to do more than 10 baseboards in length. There would of course have to be a limit to how many they want to do.

At least you have a great idea there. You don't want to create a lag-monster like certain other routes.

 

[JIb228]

Id say treat it like a modular railroad club, where each person dose their own thing, then we set them all up and run.
For the standards, here's what I would suggest:

-Each route is 10 boards long(east to west), by a minimum of 3 boards wide (north to south). With track set to run east to west. They may be taller to accommodate yards, industries, etc.

-Each module must have at least 2 industries

-Each module's industries must not be self serving. Meaning if you have a power pant you cant have a coal mine.

-Each module can have as many main line tracks as as its creator wants, but must have double track at each end, and the track must be in the center of the middle baseboard.

-Each module must be fully signaled, but signaling is up to the creator.

-Each module may be any theme, location, time, setting and railroad. But it must be stranded gunge.

Just my ideas on how it could be handled.

 

[boyerm25]

That's a good idea, but I think each module should only have to have 1 industry (more if you want) and you should be able to make it 1 board wide at the end if you want. And I think at the end of the module the Height of the track would have to be zero, to avoid problems. And the track only has to be at the center of the middle baseboard at either end.

 

[GN1996]

The way I thought of it, make it look like there is actually a transition between modules, so if one person does desert and another does dense forest, there isn't an abrubt change. It would be decided on after people chose and idea for their module, the order of where everybody's module would be in relation to each other. People who have adjacent modules could then communicate with each other on elevations of track at the end of the module so the end of every module didn't have to be at a height of 0 and a sub-group of people could collaborate with each other to create a mountain pass that could be longer than 10 baseboards if 10 was the maximum per person. Jib, I like your ideas, but they can't be just any theme. Maybe in the middles they could be any theme, but on the edges they would have to progress more towards the theme of the adjacent model. It's like I said, you don't want an abrubt edge, it would look really out of place.

 

[trainsim1995]

I agree with you. I like the idea of this and where its going...I'm currently working on a route that's going to have a town and a coal mine with mountains, water etc.
Btw... most of my track plan has a small track yard and a huge round house. Though i don't plant trees or any thing like that.. so if anyone can plant trees. Then i can take care of some small details.

As of 4:20 pm the town is finished and most of the trees are done the track is all done and the roads are done also and i'm working on painting everything. If you want to see it i can take a screen shot of it.

 

[GN1996]

Like Jib said, the modules can't be self-sustaining. You have a coal mine on your what you hope will be your module, and I assume you have a power plant in your town. Is that so? If you do, that won't work. Sorry.

 

[inprr]

if anyone wants to revive the old U-Make program, im in all the way. -inprr

 

[trainsim1995]

Here are the pictures. And no if i have a coal mine in town then i'm not going to put a power plant there too. I have more picture if you want to see them.

Clearwater roundhouse

The map of Clearwater

Downtown ClearWater

 

[GN1996]

@inprr: Cool, you've been added to the list.

@trainsim1995: Your module looks good. I would incorporate it, but it's just a matter of who elso would want to. A few suggestions: For your roundhouse, there is a one-stall bay on the DLS that has a door in the back of it, that way you don't have "gaps" in the roundhouse. You may also want to leave 2 or 3 uncovered tracks off of the roundhouse, but that's just personal preference. For the non-town end of your module, it should not attack to the "top" or "bottom" of the module, the tracks need to run from "side" to "side." UNLESS, you can figure out who would have the adjacent module on that end and see if they could do the same thing so the tracks line up easier. Those are just some ideas. Also, if we follow parts or all of Jib's plan, you can extend your module so it is 5 pieces longer. Go up and read his post for some of the guidelines.

 

[qassaquyangli]

I'd like to join. I could make a decent route I guess. Just a simple question, does the route have to go East-West or North-South?

 

[boyerm25]

Sounds fun. I might consider joining.

 

[GN1996]

@qassaquyangli: The group will decide the direction of travel after everybody has begun the planning process. I wouldn't start your module quite yet though. Everybody in the group needs to meet up in some sort of chat somewhere. Maybe a Teamspeak server would suffice. I guess I will start contacting people who are interested and try to schedule a time when we can all meet with each other.

@boyerm25: You definitely should. With more people, not only is the project more fun, it creates a wider variety of features and styles in the route. With more module makers, we can hopefully create a variety of features and styles that everybody will like, and hopefully get a higher average of people per session.

If anyobdy else is interested in joining, it's not too late! We are still looking for more builders.

 

[GN1996]

I have started a group page here on the forums for people who want to help in this project. To get into the list of helpers, just join the group. The group name is called "Modular Multiplayer Routes." This way I can know for sure just how many people are going to be a part of this. Lol, I ended that last sentence with the same word I started it with.

 

[trainsim1995]

Ok gn I had the same idea puls I already had the round house section with the door in it. Yea i know i dont have them in place yet but i already have them downloaded. ill check on the direction of the tracks.im also going to add to boards to the yard end and three to the other end and lay the track in the center.

 

[boyerm25]

But I was thinking, as long as the tracks end in the middle of a baseboard going in the same direction, why worry about wether it jogs over a couple baseboards. I mean, the route doesn't have to be a straight line.

 

[GN1996]

@trainsim1995: I'm just going off of your screenshots and I don't see roundhouse bays with doors in the back of them.

@boyerm25: Yeah, a little bit of a jog in the tracks is fine but on Trainsim's module, his route enters from (directions are just examples, I don't know what they are on his map) the west end of the map and exits on the north side. On all modules, they need to enter and exit from the west and east or if the group decides it, from the north and south.

 

[trainsim1995]

ok i just checked my route and my tracks run north to south. And i joined the group.