I have been working on this idea for some time, and I now feel that it is ready to be critiqued on these forums. So here goes nothing.
Improvements/Changes to Minecarts
1. Connecting Minecarts
It has finally been confirmed for 1.5 that minecarts will be able to be linked together, a feature I have wanted for some time. I thought that there should be more than one method for connecting minecarts.
The first method is by using slime balls and iron ingots, in this recipe:
You get three sticky connector sets. One set is attached to a minecart by shift clicking it while holding the connectors. When two minecarts with stick connectors collide, they are connected. This connection can only be broken when one of the carts is broken.However, perhaps you want connectors that don't have to be reattached to each minecart when you want to reconnect carts. Or perhaps you want couplers that can be disconnected by passing over a powered activator rail. For that, you need couplers.
This gives you three coupler sets. They are put onto a cart the same way as sticky connectors. Carts connected with couplers can be disconnected by shift-left clicking one of the carts. To avoid them reconnecting, the formerly connected carts slowly move about a half-block apart. And, as mentioned before, powering activator rails can disconnect carts coupled together (which I'm sure could be used to help make a cart sorting yard to some extent).
2. Propulsion
So now we can more easily use powered minecarts for transportation (we no longer would have to use powered carts to push an empty cart, let alone stand on the powered cart, facing the direction you want to travel, put in as much (char) coal as you think you'll need, and jump into your cart before it gets too far away). But powered carts still have a couple flaws (at least in my mind):
-Powered minecarts travel far too slow to be any sort of alternative to powered rails, aside from being far cheaper
-If you want a train to be able to go in two directions, one must either put a powered minecart on either end, break the powered cart on the front and move it to the back, or put a turn-around loop at the ends of the track
The first problem should have been solved a long time ago. The top speed of powered minecarts should be increased from the current, meager 3.2 meters a second, to a more reasonable 5 or 6 meters a second. To completely erase both problems however, either powered minecarts need the feature I am going to mention later, or an "enhanced" powered minecart could be added, possibly crafted like this:
(This may be considered an unnecessary addition, and I'll include an option in the poll about it. If you agree with the thinking that there shouldn't be a second version of a powered minecart, please consider the following information to apply to the currently existing powered minecart).
Enhanced powered minecarts are superior to "regular" powered minecarts in a couple ways:
-they have a top speed of 7.5/8 meters a second, compared to my suggested powered minecart top speed of 5/6 meters a second-enhanced powered minecarts,
-as hinted at by the lever included in their recipe, can push forwards or backwards, determined by either shift clicking them (would that be possible/convenient while riding a cart?) or by including a GUI (would it get in the way of the players field of view? I'll include an option in the poll).
This enhanced powered cart/powered cart with new features should be pretty awesome in itself, but what if you need several chest worth of storage space in your mining train, or wish to bring your whole herd of cows to your other base, several thousand blocks away? Sure you could use several powered carts, but wouldn't you eventually have too many to easily put fuel in each one? Is 8 meters a second still too slow for you? Then you probably would like your minecart system to include a steam locomotive:
This recipe may look a bit random, but please wait a minute while I introduce the features of the locomotive:
-it possesses a top speed of 12(too high?) meters a second, allowing you to complete the "on a rail" achievement in a mere 84 seconds (versus powered rail taking, at best 125 seconds). As a possible compromise for its fast top speed, the locomotive may need to take a few seconds to reach top speed.
-considering it is a steam locomotive, water should play a part in running it, right? Although it isn't necessary for it to run at top speed, water buckets can be put into the locomotive (this and some of the other features of the locomotive would most likely require a GUI) to travel at 13(if 12 is too high for the standard speed of the locomotive, this would simply be 1 meter a second higher than its normal speed) meters a second ("on a rail" in only 77 seconds!). The locomotive has an internal storage capacity of 5 water buckets worth, with one bucket worth depleted after 1 minute(is this a good length of time?). For further convenience, when a water bucket is shift clicked into this GUI, the emptied bucket moves to another slot in the GUI, to allow for quick filling of the water tank.
-The glowstone dust included in the recipe does not mean that the locomotive will generate light, a task which would be too much for our current lighting engine. Instead, there would be a part of the locomotive that appears to generate light, allowing it to easily be seen in the dark (like the eyes of spiders/enderman)
Locomotive recipe explanation
-the iron door in the recipe is supposed to be a whistle, crafted like this:
In the locomotive GUI there will be a button. A whistle sound will be played from the locomotive as long as this button is held. Additionally, a whistle is can be placed as a block, and plays the same sound as long as it receives a redstone signal. (The whistle sound scares away mobs within 10 blocks of the whistle block/locomotive)
-the gold block is really a bell, crafted like this:
In the locomotive GUI there will be a button separate from the whistle button. A ringing bell sound will be toggled by clicking this button. Additionally, similar to whistles, bells can be placed as a block and plays the same sound for as long as it receives a redstone signal
-the wooden stairs are really a cowcatcher, crafted like this:[IMG]http://i.imgur.com/b4GzeQ8.png(In case you didn't know what a cowcatcher is, they were triangular wood/metal frames/plows put on the front of some train engines to keep things on the track from de-railing the engine). Cowcatchers would reduce the wind resistance of any cart it is attached to (attached similar to couplers) by 10%. Additionally, the cowcatcher would increase the damage and knockback a cart deals to a player/mob it collides with.cowcatcher mechanics
Without a cowcatcher, the damage in hit-points (d) of a cart is calculated based on its speed on impact (s) and mass (m; assuming the mass of an empty cart=1; see 4) with:
d=.8(s-2)m (rounded down to the nearest hit-point)
And knockback in meters (k) based on the same variables is:
k=.4(s-4)m
Based on this, an empty cart would deal 4 hit-points of damage and knock what it hits 1.6 meters back if it collides with a player/mob at 8 meters a second.
However, with a cowcatcher, damage is calculated with:
d=sm
And knockback with:
k=.5(s-4)m
Based on this, an empty cart with a cowcatcher would deal 8 hit-points of damage and knock what it hits 2 meters back if it collides with a player/mob at 8 meters a second
3. Miscellaneous
So, you have faster propulsion, minecart trains, and new sound blocks. What more could you want from a minecart related thread?Perhaps you view the inclusion of water as a bit of a chore, an annoying method for making the locomotive go faster? If you want a method to remove some of the effort of "watering" your locomotive, then you need a trough:
This gives you one trough block. When a trough block is placed over an infinite water source, and rails are placed on the trough block, the water meter in a locomotive is refilled by 20% (1 water bucket equivalent) when the locomotive passes over it. Additionally, (if this isn't too overpowered), empty buckets in storage minecarts would be filled with water when they pass over the trough block (assuming they could move to an empty space in the chest inventory). If I wasn't clear enough, it would refil one at a time (with a short delay between refillings to allow the water source block to regenerate below the trough block).
In case you didn't know, troughs (or track pans, which they were called in America) were real things used in the late 19th century to allow steam locomotives to refill on water without stopping.[/font]
[font=arial,helvetica,sans-serif]Perhaps you want a way to easily remove players (or, more importantly, mobs) from minecarts. For that, perhaps Mojang could give us something like a “kicker rail”, possibly crafted like this:[/font]
[font=arial,helvetica,sans-serif]This recipe gives you 6 kicker rails. Simply enough, this rail removes any mob/player that is in a minecart that passes over it when it receives a redstone signal. This would allow for easier unloading of trains carrying your herd of cattle (where you don’t want to break and replace the minecarts ,especially if you would have to reattach couplers) or the villagers you’re transporting t a new location (where accidentally hitting them could make them hate you, as compared to it doing nothing to your cows).[/font]
As it stands now, storage and powered minecarts behave the same way as empty carts (they require the same amount of powered rails to maintain top speed, and likewise lose speed at the same rate). I think this should be changed, so that storage carts and powered carts could possibly be differentiated from empty carts. In addition, the new types of carts being added in 1.5 (TNT, Hopper, Dispenser, Spawner) could receive this mass increase as well, and the enhanced powered minecart and locomotive would have even greater masses. This could possibly be useful for a minecart station that automatically disconnects (couplers being disconnected by activator rails) and sorts a train, because (possibly), the strength given off by a detector rail could be based on the mass of the cart that passes over it (or a weighted detector rail crafted with a gold/iron pressure plate could serve this purpose).
5. Final remarks
-If you consider that the locomotive is too modern for Minecraft, I can understand where you're coming from. I admit it would seem a bit strange to be fighting off creepers with an iron sword, and then hop in a train and run away. However, minecarts were used in real world mines until the 17th century, and steam locomotives actually came around in the early 1800s (kind of pathetic defense for my part, considering that is about 200 years). It's kind of my favorite part of my idea, but if the public demands that it be removed from this suggestion, I will remove it.
-If you're going to tell me the recipes are too expensive/cheap, or the locomotive is too fast/slow, please say by how much. I want to be able to improve this suggestion to the best of my ability.
If Facebook, Myspace, and Twitter were all destroyed, 99% of teens would go insane. If you're one of the 1% that would be laughing at them, copy this into your signature and hope it happens.
No I will not +1 you unless you say something worth +1ing. Respect is earned, not given.
Added kicker rail (probably could use a better name) to the OP.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
If Facebook, Myspace, and Twitter were all destroyed, 99% of teens would go insane. If you're one of the 1% that would be laughing at them, copy this into your signature and hope it happens.
No I will not +1 you unless you say something worth +1ing. Respect is earned, not given.
It has finally been confirmed for 1.5 that minecarts will be able to be linked together, a feature I have wanted for some time. I thought that there should be more than one method for connecting minecarts.
The first method is by using slime balls and iron ingots, in this recipe:
http://imgur.com/vFqQEoU
You get three sticky connector sets. One set is attached to a minecart by shift clicking it while holding the connectors. When two minecarts with stick connectors collide, they are connected. This connection can only be broken when one of the carts is broken.However, perhaps you want connectors that don't have to be reattached to each minecart when you want to reconnect carts. Or perhaps you want couplers that can be disconnected by passing over a powered activator rail. For that, you need couplers.
http://imgur.com/xg6nB6K
This gives you three coupler sets. They are put onto a cart the same way as sticky connectors. Carts connected with couplers can be disconnected by shift-left clicking one of the carts. To avoid them reconnecting, the formerly connected carts slowly move about a half-block apart. And, as mentioned before, powering activator rails can disconnect carts coupled together (which I'm sure could be used to help make a cart sorting yard to some extent).
So now we can more easily use powered minecarts for transportation (we no longer would have to use powered carts to push an empty cart, let alone stand on the powered cart, facing the direction you want to travel, put in as much (char) coal as you think you'll need, and jump into your cart before it gets too far away). But powered carts still have a couple flaws (at least in my mind):
-Powered minecarts travel far too slow to be any sort of alternative to powered rails, aside from being far cheaper
-If you want a train to be able to go in two directions, one must either put a powered minecart on either end, break the powered cart on the front and move it to the back, or put a turn-around loop at the ends of the track
The first problem should have been solved a long time ago. The top speed of powered minecarts should be increased from the current, meager 3.2 meters a second, to a more reasonable 5 or 6 meters a second. To completely erase both problems however, either powered minecarts need the feature I am going to mention later, or an "enhanced" powered minecart could be added, possibly crafted like this:
http://imgur.com/QQ2y9Zr
(This may be considered an unnecessary addition, and I'll include an option in the poll about it. If you agree with the thinking that there shouldn't be a second version of a powered minecart, please consider the following information to apply to the currently existing powered minecart).
Enhanced powered minecarts are superior to "regular" powered minecarts in a couple ways:
-they have a top speed of 7.5/8 meters a second, compared to my suggested powered minecart top speed of 5/6 meters a second-enhanced powered minecarts,
-as hinted at by the lever included in their recipe, can push forwards or backwards, determined by either shift clicking them (would that be possible/convenient while riding a cart?) or by including a GUI (would it get in the way of the players field of view? I'll include an option in the poll).
This enhanced powered cart/powered cart with new features should be pretty awesome in itself, but what if you need several chest worth of storage space in your mining train, or wish to bring your whole herd of cows to your other base, several thousand blocks away? Sure you could use several powered carts, but wouldn't you eventually have too many to easily put fuel in each one? Is 8 meters a second still too slow for you? Then you probably would like your minecart system to include a steam locomotive:
http://imgur.com/pf9ApjM
This recipe may look a bit random, but please wait a minute while I introduce the features of the locomotive:
-it possesses a top speed of 12(too high?) meters a second, allowing you to complete the "on a rail" achievement in a mere 84 seconds (versus powered rail taking, at best 125 seconds). As a possible compromise for its fast top speed, the locomotive may need to take a few seconds to reach top speed.
-considering it is a steam locomotive, water should play a part in running it, right? Although it isn't necessary for it to run at top speed, water buckets can be put into the locomotive (this and some of the other features of the locomotive would most likely require a GUI) to travel at 13(if 12 is too high for the standard speed of the locomotive, this would simply be 1 meter a second higher than its normal speed) meters a second ("on a rail" in only 77 seconds!). The locomotive has an internal storage capacity of 5 water buckets worth, with one bucket worth depleted after 1 minute(is this a good length of time?). For further convenience, when a water bucket is shift clicked into this GUI, the emptied bucket moves to another slot in the GUI, to allow for quick filling of the water tank.
-The glowstone dust included in the recipe does not mean that the locomotive will generate light, a task which would be too much for our current lighting engine. Instead, there would be a part of the locomotive that appears to generate light, allowing it to easily be seen in the dark (like the eyes of spiders/enderman)
Locomotive recipe explanation
-the iron door in the recipe is supposed to be a whistle, crafted like this:
http://imgur.com/lOAuzNm
In the locomotive GUI there will be a button. A whistle sound will be played from the locomotive as long as this button is held. Additionally, a whistle is can be placed as a block, and plays the same sound as long as it receives a redstone signal. (The whistle sound scares away mobs within 10 blocks of the whistle block/locomotive)
-the gold block is really a bell, crafted like this:
http://imgur.com/IKGOn2r
In the locomotive GUI there will be a button separate from the whistle button. A ringing bell sound will be toggled by clicking this button. Additionally, similar to whistles, bells can be placed as a block and plays the same sound for as long as it receives a redstone signal
-the wooden stairs are really a cowcatcher, crafted like this:[IMG]http://i.imgur.com/b4GzeQ8.png(In case you didn't know what a cowcatcher is, they were triangular wood/metal frames/plows put on the front of some train engines to keep things on the track from de-railing the engine). Cowcatchers would reduce the wind resistance of any cart it is attached to (attached similar to couplers) by 10%. Additionally, the cowcatcher would increase the damage and knockback a cart deals to a player/mob it collides with.cowcatcher mechanics
d=.8(s-2)m (rounded down to the nearest hit-point)
And knockback in meters (k) based on the same variables is:
k=.4(s-4)m
Based on this, an empty cart would deal 4 hit-points of damage and knock what it hits 1.6 meters back if it collides with a player/mob at 8 meters a second.
However, with a cowcatcher, damage is calculated with:
d=sm
And knockback with:
k=.5(s-4)m
Based on this, an empty cart with a cowcatcher would deal 8 hit-points of damage and knock what it hits 2 meters back if it collides with a player/mob at 8 meters a second
3. Miscellaneous
So, you have faster propulsion, minecart trains, and new sound blocks. What more could you want from a minecart related thread?Perhaps you view the inclusion of water as a bit of a chore, an annoying method for making the locomotive go faster? If you want a method to remove some of the effort of "watering" your locomotive, then you need a trough:
http://imgur.com/ccWNjx4
This gives you one trough block. When a trough block is placed over an infinite water source, and rails are placed on the trough block, the water meter in a locomotive is refilled by 20% (1 water bucket equivalent) when the locomotive passes over it. Additionally, (if this isn't too overpowered), empty buckets in storage minecarts would be filled with water when they pass over the trough block (assuming they could move to an empty space in the chest inventory). If I wasn't clear enough, it would refil one at a time (with a short delay between refillings to allow the water source block to regenerate below the trough block).
In case you didn't know, troughs (or track pans, which they were called in America) were real things used in the late 19th century to allow steam locomotives to refill on water without stopping.[/font]
[font=arial,helvetica,sans-serif]Perhaps you want a way to easily remove players (or, more importantly, mobs) from minecarts. For that, perhaps Mojang could give us something like a “kicker rail”, possibly crafted like this:[/font]
[font=arial,helvetica,sans-serif]http://imgur.com/7h38k1B[/font]
[font=arial,helvetica,sans-serif]This recipe gives you 6 kicker rails. Simply enough, this rail removes any mob/player that is in a minecart that passes over it when it receives a redstone signal. This would allow for easier unloading of trains carrying your herd of cattle (where you don’t want to break and replace the minecarts ,especially if you would have to reattach couplers) or the villagers you’re transporting t a new location (where accidentally hitting them could make them hate you, as compared to it doing nothing to your cows).[/font]
[font=arial,helvetica,sans-serif]4. Minecart Mass[/font]
As it stands now, storage and powered minecarts behave the same way as empty carts (they require the same amount of powered rails to maintain top speed, and likewise lose speed at the same rate). I think this should be changed, so that storage carts and powered carts could possibly be differentiated from empty carts. In addition, the new types of carts being added in 1.5 (TNT, Hopper, Dispenser, Spawner) could receive this mass increase as well, and the enhanced powered minecart and locomotive would have even greater masses. This could possibly be useful for a minecart station that automatically disconnects (couplers being disconnected by activator rails) and sorts a train, because (possibly), the strength given off by a detector rail could be based on the mass of the cart that passes over it (or a weighted detector rail crafted with a gold/iron pressure plate could serve this purpose).
-If you consider that the locomotive is too modern for Minecraft, I can understand where you're coming from. I admit it would seem a bit strange to be fighting off creepers with an iron sword, and then hop in a train and run away. However, minecarts were used in real world mines until the 17th century, and steam locomotives actually came around in the early 1800s (kind of pathetic defense for my part, considering that is about 200 years). It's kind of my favorite part of my idea, but if the public demands that it be removed from this suggestion, I will remove it.
-If you're going to tell me the recipes are too expensive/cheap, or the locomotive is too fast/slow, please say by how much. I want to be able to improve this suggestion to the best of my ability.
No I will not +1 you unless you say something worth +1ing. Respect is earned, not given.
No I will not +1 you unless you say something worth +1ing. Respect is earned, not given.