Please don't TLDR this, I promise it's worth your while.
A roller block would look like a round metal roller suspended between two metal plates.
A roller block doesn't have a single front or back, it instead has two faces that consist of the roller and two faces that are the metal plates. Here's a handy little top down diagram of a roller block.
Metal Plate
<-Roller->
Metal Plate
You'd determine which way a roller block is aligned, east/west or north/south, by which direction you're facing when you place it. A roller side would always face you when its placed.
What does a roller block do?
A roller block does something pretty neat. Anything that moves on top of a roller block from one of the two directions its roller is facing retains momentum, gliding over and off the roller block (unless a wall blocks it).
So if you walk onto the far left side of this line of three roller blocks, you'd glide all the way to the right side. And if you walk onto the far right side you'd glide all the way to the left.
Metal Plate Metal Plate Metal Plate
<-Roller-> <-Roller-> <-Roller->
Metal Plate Metal Plate Metal Plate
That only applies if you climb on from a roller side though. If you climb on from one of the directions a metal plate side is facing, it doesn't move you at all.
A player gliding on roller blocks cannot instantly stop. They can reverse directions by walking the other way, or they can move off the rollers entirely. The only way to stop in place is if a wall prevents you from rolling further.
Woah, that's awesome! Can it do anything besides move people?
Yes! Pretty much anything that moves onto a roller block from one of the two roller sides will roll.
Mobs will roll. Ideal for mob traps!
Items will roll. You could toss, dispense, or have a river deposit items on a roller block and they'll roll down the conveyor belt.
SOLID BLOCKS WILL ROLL! A block wouldn't roll if it's placed on a roller block. You'd have to push it on with a piston. And I'm not talking about just sand and gravel here. Any block a piston can push, a roller conveyor block will carry. Sand/gravel will roll to the end of the conveyor belt and fall off. Other blocks will roll off the end and just freeze in mid-air, since gravity doesn't affect them.
Will These Make Minecarts Obsolete?
No! And here's why. The only speed that any item travels on a roller block is equal to normal human walking speed. No matter how fast you move onto a roller, it carries you at walking speed.
You could actually move a minecart (or a boat!) onto rollers and travel in it any distance on flat ground without needing any booster rails. But it won't transport you faster than walking yourself, it just frees you from having to press W to move forward.
Rollers also cannot turn like minecarts, they only go in straight lines. You could use pistons to push you (and other objects) onto rollers facing the other way though, allowing turns. You'd have to make clever use of redstone circuitry though.
Rollers also don't form slopes like minecart tracks. So you while you can drop down onto rollers on a lower level, you can't climb up.
What do you think? It's a little bit of a complex idea so please ask questions!
P.S. Also check out Chute Blocks, another suggestion meant to compliment this one!
Roller conveyors move pretty much anything: players/mobs, items, solid blocks (and they can move minecarts too!). Minecart tracks can only move minecarts, and minecarts lose momentum unless you're going downhill or have boosters.
Although rollers can do many things that minecarts cannot, they can't move anything faster than normal walking speed. So in terms of speed, minecarts would still win every time. Rollers aren't a way of speedy travel like minecarts, they're just a way of moving pretty much anything automatically.
So is this something you want to put Notch to put into minecraft or is it a mod?
I was hoping it'd go in vanilla minecraft (although a mod would be nice until that happens).
I don't think it's too modern to fit the tone of minecraft...after all, it has no high tech gizmos. It'd just a lubricated metal wheel. It's arguably much lower tech than TNT, powered rail, and a lot of other things in the game.
P.S. here's what I mean when I say it can move solid blocks.
Imagine -> is a piston, is a roller block, and is a cobblestone block. This is a side view.
->
When the piston pushes the cobblestone block onto the roller block, it'll continue traveling to the right until this happens:
->
If it were a sand or gravel block it'd fall, but since cobblestone isn't affected by gravity it'll just hang there. You could then use another piston to push it onto roller blocks lined up in a different direction.
So it is a redstone powered block that slides any block like items on ice?
It's not redstone powered at all. It's just a "slippery" block. Except much more slippery than ice, since your momentum doesn't drop below walking speed. And it's only slippery if you move onto it from one of two opposite directions.
You do need redstone to move placed blocks with it though, but only because you need to activate pistons to push already placed blocks.
It's not redstone powered at all. It's just a "slippery" block. Except much more slippery than ice, since your momentum doesn't drop below walking speed. And it's only slippery if you move onto it from one of two opposite directions.
You do need redstone to move placed blocks with it though, but only because you need to activate pistons to push already placed blocks.
this is a nice idea but as the others have said it is just to modern for minecraft if i were you i would try to get the owners of the industrial craft mod to add it
this is a nice idea but as the others have said it is just to modern for minecraft if i were you i would try to get the owners of the industrial craft mod to add it
This is much lower tech than pistons, if those are added to vanilla minecraft there's no reason not to add this.
And I think they're lower tech than a lot of stuff already in game.
Please don't TLDR this, I promise it's worth your while.
A roller block would look like a round metal roller suspended between two metal plates.
A roller block doesn't have a single front or back, it instead has two faces that consist of the roller and two faces that are the metal plates. Here's a handy little top down diagram of a roller block.
Metal Plate
<-Roller->
Metal Plate
You'd determine which way a roller block is aligned, east/west or north/south, by which direction you're facing when you place it. A roller side would always face you when its placed.
What does a roller block do?
A roller block does something pretty neat. Anything that moves on top of a roller block from one of the two directions its roller is facing retains momentum, gliding over and off the roller block (unless a wall blocks it).
So if you walk onto the far left side of this line of three roller blocks, you'd glide all the way to the right side. And if you walk onto the far right side you'd glide all the way to the left.
Metal Plate Metal Plate Metal Plate
<-Roller-> <-Roller-> <-Roller->
Metal Plate Metal Plate Metal Plate
That only applies if you climb on from a roller side though. If you climb on from one of the directions a metal plate side is facing, it doesn't move you at all.
A player gliding on roller blocks cannot instantly stop. They can reverse directions by walking the other way, or they can move off the rollers entirely. The only way to stop in place is if a wall prevents you from rolling further.
Woah, that's awesome! Can it do anything besides move people?
Yes! Pretty much anything that moves onto a roller block from one of the two roller sides will roll.
Mobs will roll. Ideal for mob traps!
Items will roll. You could toss, dispense, or have a river deposit items on a roller block and they'll roll down the conveyor belt.
SOLID BLOCKS WILL ROLL! A block wouldn't roll if it's placed on a roller block. You'd have to push it on with a piston. And I'm not talking about just sand and gravel here. Any block a piston can push, a roller conveyor block will carry. Sand/gravel will roll to the end of the conveyor belt and fall off. Other blocks will roll off the end and just freeze in mid-air, since gravity doesn't affect them.
Will These Make Minecarts Obsolete?
No! And here's why. The only speed that any item travels on a roller block is equal to normal human walking speed. No matter how fast you move onto a roller, it carries you at walking speed.
You could actually move a minecart (or a boat!) onto rollers and travel in it any distance on flat ground without needing any booster rails. But it won't transport you faster than walking yourself, it just frees you from having to press W to move forward.
Rollers also cannot turn like minecarts, they only go in straight lines. You could use pistons to push you (and other objects) onto rollers facing the other way though, allowing turns. You'd have to make clever use of redstone circuitry though.
Rollers also don't form slopes like minecart tracks. So you while you can drop down onto rollers on a lower level, you can't climb up.
What do you think? It's a little bit of a complex idea so please ask questions!
P.S. Also check out Chute Blocks, another suggestion meant to compliment this one!
Roller conveyors move pretty much anything: players/mobs, items, solid blocks (and they can move minecarts too!). Minecart tracks can only move minecarts, and minecarts lose momentum unless you're going downhill or have boosters.
Although rollers can do many things that minecarts cannot, they can't move anything faster than normal walking speed. So in terms of speed, minecarts would still win every time. Rollers aren't a way of speedy travel like minecarts, they're just a way of moving pretty much anything automatically.
Maybe a mod? <--YES
I was hoping it'd go in vanilla minecraft (although a mod would be nice until that happens).
I don't think it's too modern to fit the tone of minecraft...after all, it has no high tech gizmos. It'd just a lubricated metal wheel. It's arguably much lower tech than TNT, powered rail, and a lot of other things in the game.
Imagine -> is a piston, is a roller block, and is a cobblestone block. This is a side view.
->
When the piston pushes the cobblestone block onto the roller block, it'll continue traveling to the right until this happens:
->
If it were a sand or gravel block it'd fall, but since cobblestone isn't affected by gravity it'll just hang there. You could then use another piston to push it onto roller blocks lined up in a different direction.
So it is a redstone powered block that slides any block like items on ice?
It's not redstone powered at all. It's just a "slippery" block. Except much more slippery than ice, since your momentum doesn't drop below walking speed. And it's only slippery if you move onto it from one of two opposite directions.
You do need redstone to move placed blocks with it though, but only because you need to activate pistons to push already placed blocks.
Sounds like a nice idea.
This is much lower tech than pistons, if those are added to vanilla minecraft there's no reason not to add this.
And I think they're lower tech than a lot of stuff already in game.
Using pistons, roller blocks, and chute blocks you'd be able to send placed blocks pretty much anywhere you like.
Either idea could work well by itself too, but together plus pistons they'd be fantastic.
I don't know doesn't really fit the style of Minecraft
Troll face
Water canals only affect items. This affects placed blocks.
http://www.minecraftforum.net/topic/349025-roller-block-chute-block-mod/
Essentially.