Here's an idea for a new type of powered minecart rail: a track that doesn't impart forward momentum but vertical momentum.
Meet the Launch Rail.
When unpowered it behaves just like a normal minecart rail, allowing you to pass over. But when powered it launches any cart that passes over it 5 blocks into the air.
The launcher rail doesn't add or subtract forward momentum when it does this. So if the minecart isn't moving when the rail is turned on it'll just endlessly bounce up and down on the launcher rail. But if the minecart is already moving it'll be launched into an arc, and how far it travels before landing would depend on how fast it's moving.
What could you do with launcher rail?
The very obvious use is to just travel to a rail on higher ground without requiring a slope, or to jump your cart over a gap in the rail. You could use it to leap over a small river without requiring a bridge.
Several isolated launcher tracks in a row could be used like lily pads, allowing your cart to bounce over large distances or up high in the air without requiring continuous track.
A more sophisticated use of the launcher rail is to use them to create rail junctions. Right now you can select which way a cart travels only on T shaped intersections, using a redstone switch to determine whether you go right or left. A launcher rail, when turned on, would allow you to jump over the T intersection entirely and continue going straight. When turned off you'd enter the intersection as normal. It'd give all track designers a third direction to use in each junction.
This would also allow a more complex type of junctionless rail junction I think I'd like to call the Jump Junction.
Imagine a railway that starts a few blocks in the air above another one. Like this:
[] [] [] []
[] [] [] [] [] [] [] []
If the jump rail is off you continue on the lower rail. If the jump rail is on you leap up to the higher track.
You could also make this work in both directions:
[]
[] [] [] [] [] [] [] []
In this rail the upper track continues in both directions, with a gap for the jump junction. You can jump up to the higher track from the lower track no matter which way you're going. And when you're on the higher track you can choose whether to drop down to the lower track, or to jump across and stay on the upper level.
A nice and simple crafting recipe would be to just combine a piece of powered rail with an iron ingot.
This would also allow a more complex type of junctionless rail junction I think I'd like to call the Jump Junction.
Imagine a railway that starts a few blocks in the air above another one. Like this:
[] [] [] []
[] [] [] [] [] [] [] []
If the jump rail is off you continue on the lower rail. If the jump rail is on you leap up to the higher track.
You could also make this work in both directions:
[]
[] [] [] [] [] [] [] []
In this rail the upper track continues in both directions, with a gap for the jump junction. You can jump up to the higher track from the lower track no matter which way you're going. And when you're on the higher track you can choose whether to drop down to the lower track, or to jump across and stay on the upper level.
Here's another junction idea. A Speed Junction. You have a single launcher rail, but it lands on a different track depending on how fast the cart is going when you hit the launch rail.
This could definitely be fun. I've always been a bit disappointed when I make a ramp, propel carts up it at high speed ... and then nothing, they drop to the ground with no momentum. Another +1 for the Piston + Power Rail recipe.
so has anyone actually tried to use just a piston instead of tracks to make carts jump?
and can't there simply be a fix for momentum to make minecart trajectory longer?
so has anyone actually tried to use just a piston instead of tracks to make carts jump?
and can't there simply be a fix for momentum to make minecart trajectory longer?
A piston could launch a minecart in the air I think, but it would also take away the cart's forward momentum. And that would be the case whether the piston launches the minecart up or not.
Part of what would make the launch rail useful is that it operates just like normal rail when unpowered and lets carts pass over it, otherwise you'd couldn't use it in junctions.
Meet the Launch Rail.
When unpowered it behaves just like a normal minecart rail, allowing you to pass over. But when powered it launches any cart that passes over it 5 blocks into the air.
The launcher rail doesn't add or subtract forward momentum when it does this. So if the minecart isn't moving when the rail is turned on it'll just endlessly bounce up and down on the launcher rail. But if the minecart is already moving it'll be launched into an arc, and how far it travels before landing would depend on how fast it's moving.
What could you do with launcher rail?
The very obvious use is to just travel to a rail on higher ground without requiring a slope, or to jump your cart over a gap in the rail. You could use it to leap over a small river without requiring a bridge.
Several isolated launcher tracks in a row could be used like lily pads, allowing your cart to bounce over large distances or up high in the air without requiring continuous track.
A more sophisticated use of the launcher rail is to use them to create rail junctions. Right now you can select which way a cart travels only on T shaped intersections, using a redstone switch to determine whether you go right or left. A launcher rail, when turned on, would allow you to jump over the T intersection entirely and continue going straight. When turned off you'd enter the intersection as normal. It'd give all track designers a third direction to use in each junction.
This would also allow a more complex type of junctionless rail junction I think I'd like to call the Jump Junction.
Imagine a railway that starts a few blocks in the air above another one. Like this:
[] [] [] []
[] [] [] [] [] [] [] []
If the jump rail is off you continue on the lower rail. If the jump rail is on you leap up to the higher track.
You could also make this work in both directions:
[]
[] [] [] [] [] [] [] []
In this rail the upper track continues in both directions, with a gap for the jump junction. You can jump up to the higher track from the lower track no matter which way you're going. And when you're on the higher track you can choose whether to drop down to the lower track, or to jump across and stay on the upper level.
A nice and simple crafting recipe would be to just combine a piece of powered rail with an iron ingot.
What do you think?
Maybe. The crafting recipe isn't that important though, anything could work.
Just to clarify, the rail doesn't extend outwards like a piston though. It remains flat. It just sends the cart upwards.
Imagine a railway that starts a few blocks in the air above another one. Like this:
[] [] [] []
[] [] [] [] [] [] [] []
If the jump rail is off you continue on the lower rail. If the jump rail is on you leap up to the higher track.
You could also make this work in both directions:
[]
[] [] [] [] [] [] [] []
In this rail the upper track continues in both directions, with a gap for the jump junction. You can jump up to the higher track from the lower track no matter which way you're going. And when you're on the higher track you can choose whether to drop down to the lower track, or to jump across and stay on the upper level.
I think I'll put this in the first post too.
So you could use a powered booster like this one: viewtopic.php?f=1020&t=308670
Then just have controls to adjust how long you spend in the acceleration loop, so that determines how far you fly when you hit the launcher rail.
Not a bad idea, if the crafting recipe ends up being combining a powered rail and a piston.
So if just run over a launch rail it sends you 5 blocks in the air.
If you fall 10 blocks and land directly onto a launch rail, it sends you 15 blocks in the air.
If you fall 30 blocks and land directly on a launch rail, it sends you 35 blocks into the air.
Etc.
this is exactly the first thing I thought when I read this thread
Hm? I don't get what you mean.
This wouldn't replace powered rail of course. You'd often need powered rail to provide the momentum to carry you forward during jumps.
this is it.
and can't there simply be a fix for momentum to make minecart trajectory longer?
A piston could launch a minecart in the air I think, but it would also take away the cart's forward momentum. And that would be the case whether the piston launches the minecart up or not.
Part of what would make the launch rail useful is that it operates just like normal rail when unpowered and lets carts pass over it, otherwise you'd couldn't use it in junctions.
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Yes that is a bad idea.
I like this idea.