Page 1 of 1

Skybridge Improvement Project

Posted: Thu Jan 06, 2011 11:09 am
by Ihmhi
I'm giving the skybridge we all know and love a much-deserved upgrade.



Old:

Image



New:
VIEW CONTENT:
Image


The canal system is meant to use boats as a means of fast travel.

By gaining speed and then holding shift, you can avoid smashing up your boat. I'm pretty sure that I'm going to widen the canals by one or two blocks, though.

I've only done one section (so far) - the first branch of the northern section from spawn.

If you'd care to help, the best thing you could do would be to gather supplies and place them in the proper chests as spawn. I need:
  • Cobblestone
  • Smooth Stone
  • Glass
  • Logs/Wood
  • Coal/Torches
I have also stocked up and organized the new player items. I wish to add compasses and watches to the mix, so if you have iron and gold that you can chip in to that effort, please do.

Special thanks to arfles for helping build (a LOT) and Dog for providing materials, as well as all of the unnamed awesome people who contributed resources to the sky bridge.

There is *one* problem, and that's the bare-minimum canals are difficult to navigate - even someone like me who can play driving games and the like and do all of those awesome "almost hit the wall" turns. Although I have precision in moving about, it's difficult to compensate for the lag and I end up grazing the wall most of the time. (I really wish that boats were less fragile. :( )

I'm going to test and see what's easier to navigate and then widen the canals to 3 or 4 - probably 4.

Feedback is appreciated, guys.

Oh, and to preface a likely question, that is, as to why I haven't used minecarts: minecart boosters seem to have a habit of erroneously kicking people backwards instead of forwards - especially if you have a *really* bad ping. Poor arfles has been bounced around my subway more than a few times. Considering that this costs 0 iron, is made of all renewable resources (save stone), and you can actually stop the boat whenever you like and get out, I feel that a canal system is superior.

Edit: As an addendum, for an idea of how resource-intensive the upgraded (and nice looking, I think - I hope you agree!) design is, well... every 1 block along the skybridge improvements requires the following materials (averaged out):
  • Water (infinite, no big deal here)
  • 11-14 blocks of cobble (possibly 13-16 or 15-18 in the future - the range depends on whether you count the 3 blocks already laid down or not).
  • 1 block of smooth stone
  • 2 blocks of stone steps
  • 7 blocks of wood (sticks for torches, wood rails, fuel for making smooth stone/glass)
  • 1/2 a piece of coal (torches)

Re: Skybridge Improvement Project

Posted: Thu Jan 06, 2011 12:10 pm
by barcode
holy cow, that looks freaking awesome!

Re: Skybridge Improvement Project

Posted: Thu Jan 06, 2011 1:01 pm
by Ihmhi
Thanks ;D

It's gonna be a buttload of work, the skybridge is huge. Just doing that section (including gathering materials) took me like 8 hours. :(

I really, truly could use help on this. I'm hugely grateful to arfles for helping me. I was up until 4:00 AM EST last night because I wanted to get this one section done. :lol:

Re: Skybridge Improvement Project

Posted: Thu Jan 06, 2011 4:37 pm
by Parade Kid
Dang, nice work. This makes me want to play MC

Re: Skybridge Improvement Project

Posted: Thu Jan 06, 2011 4:44 pm
by barcode
I have two full double-crates of sand; I am near where Stevo and Sargee is.

Feel free to take them if you need sand.

Re: Skybridge Improvement Project

Posted: Fri Jan 07, 2011 12:00 pm
by Plinko
I've been taking a break from MP until the lag/chunk errors get fixed, but I have probably 2000-3000 cobble in a double chest in my castle you could use.

If you're going to smelt large amounts of glass, I'd recommend building multiple furnaces and using lava buckets for fuel. Just swap out glass stacks every ten minutes or so, I think you can do 10 stacks or so on one lava bucket.

Re: Skybridge Improvement Project

Posted: Fri Jan 07, 2011 12:51 pm
by bullet4o1
What server is this on?

Re: Skybridge Improvement Project

Posted: Fri Jan 07, 2011 1:31 pm
by Flash
I don't have a presence on either of the MP servers (so I don't have any supplies saved up) but I'd be willing to help with construction if the resources are being keep near the building site.








.

Re: Skybridge Improvement Project

Posted: Fri Jan 07, 2011 3:17 pm
by Fraulein Arztin
Nice :D
I'm making something like that to connect my two houses and possible other ones if others wish.

Re: Skybridge Improvement Project

Posted: Fri Jan 07, 2011 6:12 pm
by Ihmhi
bullet4o1 wrote:What server is this on?
Dog's? The one that ends in 131. This is literally right by the spawn.
Flash wrote:I don't have a presence on either of the MP servers (so I don't have any supplies saved up) but I'd be willing to help with construction if the resources are being keep near the building site.
Supplies are kept at a building built on top of an intersection.

The majority of stuff that needs to be done is labor, i.e. building, or gathering sand, etc. I've already personally invested a lot into this, as have Dog and arfles and many others.

There's categorized chests at the spawn building (at the top of the stairs) where you can drop stuff if you want to.

Re: Skybridge Improvement Project

Posted: Fri Jan 07, 2011 9:29 pm
by Flash
Ihmhi wrote:Supplies are kept at a building built on top of an intersection.

The majority of stuff that needs to be done is labor, i.e. building, or gathering sand, etc. I've already personally invested a lot into this, as have Dog and arfles and many others.

There's categorized chests at the spawn building (at the top of the stairs) where you can drop stuff if you want to.
OK, the only SMP server I've been on ends in: .11 I actually don't see any Ville server that ends in .131 so somebody will have to PM me the address.

Ya, I'm happy to pitch in on the labor, duplicating the construction on down the bridge is something I should be able to do fairly easily without having to worry about where I'm mining, etc. I don't have hours at a time available, but I frequently find myself with 30 minutes to kill between assignments and could easily login and do a little work.


.

Re: Skybridge Improvement Project

Posted: Sat Jan 08, 2011 2:21 pm
by Flash
Hey Ihmhi, after we chatted last night I had another thought on the 4 wide waterways. It again is a question of material vs. time. We discussed adding two additional stone blocks on each side of the current expansion to accommodate the additional water area. However since glass cannot be reclaimed it will mean rebuilding the glass walls on both sides from scratch.

The alternative I thought of was to add four stone to the right side (when looking out from the storage room). This way you can keep the existing glass wall on the left requiring only half the glass material to rebuild the section you've already expanded. However that results in the labor part: the existing stone walkway and wood edge will need to be dug up and moved over by two blocks.

It is a bit of a tradeoff. You'd spend the time reclaiming and moving the middle section vs. the time spent mining and smelting the sand into glass. The advantage would be that you're elevated and lighted and can easily work through the night with no worry of mobs and fewer trips up and down from the sand pits.



.