I've posted this on GetSatisfaction and on Reddit, but I thought I'd share it here, too. Just 'cause. Although I developed the idea independently, it's not unlike other suggestions, such as Windsong07's idea for a booster track.
The basic idea is redstone-powered minecart track pieces that boost carts in a selected direction when they receive power. By right-clicking the track piece, you could select a single direction (forward or back), or both. Single-directional booster pieces would accelerate carts from a standstill or carts already in motion over them, whereas bidirectional boosters would only accelerate carts already in motion, in the direction they were traveling.
I don't know by what amount a powered booster would multiply the velocity of a cart, but I imagine that if two or three booster pieces would gave the effect of a standard booster today, the item would be fairly balanced in terms of cost and efficiency when compared to current boosters.
Check out the image for details:
Clarifications/questions:
Quote from chunk_of_ham »
"cannot boost uphill" is my only complaint here. Unless you mean that they cannot be placed on a slope, but their momentum can be carried uphill, then I agree.
This is exactly what I mean. This booster piece would not be placeable on an incline, so it couldn't provide a boost while carts were going uphill. Momentum could still carry carts uphill-- that'd be a really arbitrary and bizarre restriction otherwise.
"cannot boost uphill" is my only complaint here. Unless you mean that they cannot be placed on a slope, but their momentum can be carried uphill, then I agree.
I like this. I like this a lot.
THE PROBLEM: This would make furnace-carts obsolete. Not sure what to do about that.
Yeah, Powered Minecarts becoming useless could pose a problem, since they can barely push anything uphill as well. You would have to rely on gravity (again) to go uphill.
Here's how you implement this without making powered minecarts useless: the boost only affects powered minecarts.
You can accelerate other kinds of carts, but only by speeding up the powered minecart that's pushing it. In addition to speeding up your trip, boosters at the bottom of a hill could allow powered minecarts to climb inclines they otherwise couldn't.
Fueling the minecart would still be useful in order to not lose momentum between boosters. You could travel without fuel, but it would cost a lot of redstone to put the boosters close enough together for the cart to not stall in between.
I really like this idea. You could create all kinds of neat things with it. I'd use it to make a looping circuit of perpetually moving minecarts spaced out to pass by a series of train platforms every few seconds. It would be my own subway system. Just hop on and hop off to get where you want to go.
"cannot boost uphill" is my only complaint here. Unless you mean that they cannot be placed on a slope, but their momentum can be carried uphill, then I agree.
That's exactly what I meant, although my wording was poor. You can currently construct boosters that climb a slope and boost you as you ascend, but since my proposed booster doesn't slope, this would be impossible. By all means, though, the momentum of a boosted cart would carry it up a hill.
The basic idea is redstone-powered minecart track pieces that boost carts in a selected direction when they receive power. By right-clicking the track piece, you could select a single direction (forward or back), or both. Single-directional booster pieces would accelerate carts from a standstill or carts already in motion over them, whereas bidirectional boosters would only accelerate carts already in motion, in the direction they were traveling.
I don't know by what amount a powered booster would multiply the velocity of a cart, but I imagine that if two or three booster pieces would gave the effect of a standard booster today, the item would be fairly balanced in terms of cost and efficiency when compared to current boosters.
Check out the image for details:
Clarifications/questions:
This is exactly what I mean. This booster piece would not be placeable on an incline, so it couldn't provide a boost while carts were going uphill. Momentum could still carry carts uphill-- that'd be a really arbitrary and bizarre restriction otherwise.
I like this. I like this a lot.
THE PROBLEM: This would make furnace-carts obsolete. Not sure what to do about that.
You can accelerate other kinds of carts, but only by speeding up the powered minecart that's pushing it. In addition to speeding up your trip, boosters at the bottom of a hill could allow powered minecarts to climb inclines they otherwise couldn't.
Fueling the minecart would still be useful in order to not lose momentum between boosters. You could travel without fuel, but it would cost a lot of redstone to put the boosters close enough together for the cart to not stall in between.
I really like this idea. You could create all kinds of neat things with it. I'd use it to make a looping circuit of perpetually moving minecarts spaced out to pass by a series of train platforms every few seconds. It would be my own subway system. Just hop on and hop off to get where you want to go.
That's exactly what I meant, although my wording was poor. You can currently construct boosters that climb a slope and boost you as you ascend, but since my proposed booster doesn't slope, this would be impossible. By all means, though, the momentum of a boosted cart would carry it up a hill.
I like this. This works.