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.

Hyde's Tower

Government Center Station and the Spawn Wall are still under construction, so I thought I'd take today to start a series of focus articles on some of the significant constructions in our gameworld. Today we'll start with the first, and probably most famous structure in our world: Hyde's Tower.

Original Tower:

Built 22 January 2011 by Baronweasle

58 Meters Tall

Waterfall and Lavafall added 23 January

Reinforced Tower:

Built 25 January 2011 by Baronweasle

Highest Habitable Floor: 55 Meters

Highest Block: 58 Meters

Hyde's Tower was the first significant structure built on the server. When users first started logging on, it was the only obviously artificial building within sight of the spawn point, and thus most gravitated toward it and the small, squat building that stood at its base. The day after the Reinforced Tower was built, Baronweasle built the server's first Portal at the top, although the Nether was not available on SMP at the time (nor is at present, for that matter.) The lava and waterfalls on the south and west facings, respectively, provided a lighthouse and an orientation point in the early days of the server, allowing explorers within site of the Tower to determine not only where they were in relation to the tower itself, but also in roughly which direction they were from it. Today it is known primarily for the town that shares its name that has grown up around it, serving at the primary hub of all activity on the server, and the first place that most newcomers are directed to find public stores, living space, and resources to get them started.

What Lies Below?

Back from a long and exciting weekend, the Minecraft world has seen some changes. TechieMikey has begun construction of a protective wall around the Spawn Point, to save us from those pesky monster-spawns killing us just after we have been dekilled. The rail line from South Station to the Wilds has been upgraded with bridges and anti-animal fencing to avoid some of the unscheduled creep and cow stops. There have been some upgrades to the Government Center/Hyde's Tower line, but it still has only about a 40% success rate on throwing a cart from one end to the other without interruption. The Doom Fortress continues to lie fallow, its raging forest fire having burnt out.

Intriguingly, there are rumors of a new facility being constructed, this one lying below the surface of the vast lakes that cover approximately 50% of the known map space. Its location remains an utter mystery, as does its purpose. Could this be new townhouses for the more aquatically inclined among us to recline in? Or do the fishmen have some more sinister purpose in mind?

Bridges

Yesterday I continued building out the lines from Government Center Station, laying railbed north to the Doom Fortress, since I ran out of actual track a while ago. Th Y70 track protocol has provided a number of opportunities to give the rail lines a much more organic feel than the Causeway's freefloating appearance, even if they require fences and cleared land to properly keep passive mobs off the rails. So far the nicest set piece I've created is a bridge just north of Government Center on the way to the Doom Fortress:

I expect if we ever convert the Hyde/South Station line to Y70, we'll have a number of other artifacts like this on the line as we work our way across the Loop.

Bringing The World Together

In the last 24 hours, we've started laying out from the Government Center Station that MikeXIV set out the skeleton for. A bridge line gets close to Arco (although the location of the future station there is considerably higher than the Y70 track protocol provides for.) In addition, the Hyde's Tower line was laid in its entirety, and we've successfully launched carts in both directions using simple manual launchers. All told, it takes a minute or two off the Arco-Hyde's Tower transit. In addition, a new station was built near Hyde's Tower, just east of the wall, with a station platform and a large (and presently unoccupied) electromechanical room beneath it. It is connected to Hyde's Tower proper by an underground walkway that leads into the Hyde-Spiral tunnel.

Back In Orbit

Good news! c10t 1.6 released, and we're back in business. Above is the first world image since the Backstep. Not a whole lot has changed on the 1km view that I didn't cover before. The Doom Fortress has burned out, as have the other non-lava beacons around the world. I haven't had much of a chance to investigate closely, so let me know what else is different.

Lost

Spawned in at Spawn Point Station today. Can't remember how I got there. Nothing in my inventory. Server's just restarted, but creepers roam the daylit landscape below. Don't know why.

Where was I? How did I end up here? Where is all my stuff?

There's no minecart waiting at the station, and the chest with the lying sign contains only knick-knacks, and that golden sword that's been there for weeks. Who made that, anyways? I start walking north.

Hyde's tower is eerily silent. Even the ubiquitous cows and pigs are missing from the courtyard. All the beacons have burned out. Was that staircase at the fountain there last time I was here? I don't remember. I head down into the stores.

My chest has everything I remember being there in it. The public storeroom downstairs looks colder, lonelier somehow. Was ceiling raised? I don't think so, but something's different. I go outside. Awells' townhouse has changed. More glass, more books. The others look the same... I think.

A vague memory comes back. Arco. I was at Arco, doing Deep Range Expeditions. Getting iron for MikeXIV's railroad and North Station. How did I end up back at spawn with nothing?

Nevermind. Dumb question. Where did I die, then? Where is my iron gear? Maybe there are clues at Arco. I leave Hyde's Tower, heading north on the Causeway.

On the eastern branch, a new structure comes into view. Wooden platforms and doorways, crisscrossing complexly in a roughly rectangular shape directly below the Causeway. When I get closer, I see railheads. This must be North Station, or what will become North Station. Wooden structure. I think back to the night of Forest Fire, the night when we tests the Townhouse's fire suppression system and learned it nothing but add flood to fire. I continue east.

Arco looks much as I remembered it. Past the sealed Portal, I make my way to the grass level. No new apartments taken, I go to the DRE house I had fitted. The hardwood floors are missing. I remember now, the Backstep. We set the clock back two days. All the modifications I made in that time were gone. I check my inventory in the chest.

125 iron bars, plus miscellaneous other items. Enough for a third of a kilometer of rail. Almost enough to connect Hyde's Tower to Arco. But I remember other sources of track... where? I should find those. Highwind? The Cabin?

The Cabin. I was there after the Backstep. What was I doing there? I take a minecart from the inventory and set off back to Hyde's Tower.

The minecart launcher at Hyde's hasn't been reset. I work on it a bit and repair it. I'm off again, now under power. At the Spawn, I take the cart with me, and head west and south.

At the Pyramid, there's a new set of torches, leading from the exit off the Causeway to the entrance. Has somebody been running it while I've been away? Past the Highwind's exit, looking west towards CraigP's towers of blinking lights. Are those relays new? Or do I just not remember them? No matter. I'm almost at the cabin.

The cabin hasn't changed from what I remember. The chests are somewhat emptier than I recall, but the half-stack of track I remembered was still there. Downstairs, a full stack of stone waits in furnance, freshly cooked. I move it upstairs. I notice the loft has a bed now. I put that there, just after the Backstep. I tested the beds from here... but then what? What happened to me?