RFC #01: Y70 Rail Guidelines

This is MikeXIV writing, just so nobody is confused. I don't expect to be writing for the Dispatch often, but here goes:

The construction of the rail link between Hyde's Tower and Government Center has exposed some flaws in the Y70 rail protocol, so I'd like to talk a bit about it and solicit feedback.

The original Y70 rail protocol: "Cross country rail links should be built at an altidude of Y=70. Cross country rail links should be built safe from mobs and livestock"

I choce Y=70 because I think the resulting track looks more natural than running the rail lines up as high as the causeway, and because floating 4 squares above sea level provided good views from the train, while being hard for monsters to reach.

That said, most of the track I was building at the time ran over water or low ground, or through hills much taller than 70 (and hence tunnels). The ground between Hyde's Tower and Government Center station (and in many other parts of the world, I'm sure) is right near 70. Attempts to monster-proof ground level track with fences are going badly for two reasons 1) fence along the track slows down trains and 2) mobs can still spawn on the track, and with fence in place they cannot get off.

Another way to mob-proof ground-level track is terraforming - dig a ditch on either side and no mob can get onto the track (or back on if he spawns on the track and falls off). We could also illuminate the track to remove the possibility for mobs to spawn on the track itself. Doing this is time consuming, however.

All that said, I think the best option is to loosen the Y=70 rule. The idea is for track to be about 4 squares above the predominant terrain level over its length, and with a reccomendation that tracklayers choose routes that are good looking and require minimal ditch-digging over routes that are incredibly efficient.