Tw1

I discovered that I-beams make very good floats. Got my amphibious rover to float and drive much better. Except I somehow ended up with more weight on one side. I could not find the offending, non-matched part, very frustrating. Also, my Mun base had a bit of a blowing up problem. Solved this by raising it five meters in the save file.

I like how it has a decoupler.

Ha ha! Mechanical Jeb is cool.

Awesome work! That should be plenty fast. Perhaps changing from box shaped track to at shape would improve the chances of it staying on for curves and inclines. This would need a. Different design though, maybe it can wait. I completely agree about signs. How they will work may be tricky, as I imagine there will be different doable speeds on different planets. Maybe a set of standard signs, that correspond to what will eventually be standard curves. Plus ones that warn of a track end. One thing that could derail the idea, is if track segments can't be. Put together. Have you tried putting two separate models end to end, and getting trains to cross over? Perhaps I could do that test if you upload it. Also, I did some landscape analysis on your city site. Will post ideas in your thread later. Also, I might post a drawing of an updated concept for this some time tomorrow evening. (18-20 hours time.)

That seems to be working well. I wonder how well they'll stand up at speed. I like the way the puffs from multiwheels look like steam from a steam engine... Leaving space for kerbals to walk about to connect the cables seems like a good idea. Also, I have been thinking that by making the train bogie part ridiculously strong, that could overcome some of the problem of bumps in the track somewhat. Assuming the rest of the train doesn't fall to bits from shaking when it crosses from one segment to another.

Delivered a pile of kerbals to the top of the VAB. Then, did some pyrotechnics. ↑ Working as intended.

I may have a base in exactly the same situation. It secretly wants to rival KSC, but the closest ore was found 100 Km away. Sounds about right, that'd be the max. Or maybe a little lower, so it doesn't wipe out the use of orbit hops completely. As far as I know, it has to to a certain extent, or there will be problems attaching the train bogie to other parts. I may be wrong. If someone who can write code decides to join, then it might be able to just follow a set path. I hope.

That's it. I went back to the VAB, and found it floating next to the rocket, acting as if it was the root part. It was kinda cool though, as this was an Apollo replication, and it allowed me to recreate the part where strange objects were seen out the window in one of the Apollo flights. Except because this was KSP, my astronauts could just get out and investigate.

According to the Encyclopedia of Railways I've got: (these are raidi) It doesn't give info on banking angles, (apart from giving 150mm as max for stationary trains) and this is for Earth gravity and real life physics.. Coping with the various gravity wells of the Kerbol system may give problems if it just relies on banking.

Now that is cool! As part of Kerbin City? That will be cool. And high speed should be the goal, no point setting up a long line from your base to a resource deposit if it takes forever to get there. I was going to try using a T shape rail thing, but didn't get around to it.. Maybe that would hold stuff down better. This was just the one model?

Maybe you could play it in the games section of the forum!

Nope. Functioning as expected. Those graphatrons had some strange bugs... Strut connectors are also weird though...

Those are some impressive creations! Clipping at high speed would be bad...

You make some good points there. Plus, having thought about it, most of the advantages that kind of track could be replicated with a plugin based system. I wonder how likely that would be though, as long as I get the colliders right. Rails made of stock parts seem to run alright. The kerbtown maker said they might add node connections, like in the ship editors in future, which would make getting things lined up much simpler. But I like the advantages that could come from a plugin. If someone would like to team up to help bring railways to KSP, they'd be most welcome.

You raise some very interesting ideas, but not sure we need more intermediate steps, IMHO. Depends on how cool the ore sorter looks

Are we still offering Jool aerobrakers? I should go finish that tour at some point.

On the Kerbal city building thread, nothke raised an alternative idea: This would simplify some things. I'd need more colliders, including those wheel ones I guess, but it would do away with the need for scripting stuff. I'd either go with a T shaped monorail thing, or a pair of bracket shaped rails, and give the bogie both supporting wheels and horizontal guidance wheels. This would mean that track segments would have to be closely lined up, but using tapered sections at the end could give a little leeway. Don't know if overlapping collision meshes like that will cause any problems, but leaving a gap won't be good either. Another disadvantage would be a need for more types of track segment. At least one curve part, assuming it's possible to place it with either end touching the previous part, or maybe two, a tighter one may be useful in some places. There would need to be at least one angle adjustment part as well. Extra models mean a less efficient mod, and more chance of bugs. Curves and colliders also make for more complex models. But, this way has more potential for adding extra things. Someone could script a junction, or make a railyard if they wish, as long as they make the track the right size and shape. So, what about this other option? What to you guys think/ recommend?

Just using physics for the rail, that's an idea.. I have no coding ability, and haven't got someone who does to help ATM, but this could speed things up a little.. I see some disadvantages, tracks would have to line up just right for trains to pass over. I've got an idea that could give it a little leniency though. Not being able to jump from one piece to another as easy means is probably need to add at least one curve piece, and an angle piece. I suspect I'd also have to learn to use wheel colliders, rather than just fudging it... If you'd rather keep this thread on topic, I have one for this. http://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/showthread.php/46201-Simple-Railway-mod-in-early-development?p=602841#post602841 May post updated ideas there later.

That's a pretty cool train, the kind of thing I imagine people making. But, if I'm going to get rails working, I need advice on two things: 1. How to make ladders. That is the basic idea, use the ladder system like rails. As long as you're generous enough with the angles you place track segments at, you should be able to travel down the line at speed. There seems to be a discrepancy between the wiki's ladder tutorial, and what I'm seeing in unity. Maybe I installed part tools wrong, or maybe I also need the old one. 2. The second thing, is I need to get the bogie (train wheel base) to grip to the ladder that is the track, like a Kerbal does. This part looks tricky, may need to read some unity tutorials. Everything else, like the bogie providing propulsion, and a resource requiring part that lays track segments. (Interacts with kerbtown, uses metal from exraplanetary launchpads) are just details if the main idea works. So far, I have a simple viaduct model, that could be modified to make different lengths. Textures are not intended as final.

No, it's definitely not connected. Maybe I'll try redownloading, you never know.

Same, will help plan the new island. I study the landscape architecture, so this is right up my alley.

That's kind of the plan for that mod, rail segments which use a collider like the ladder, that interacts with a radially placeable train bogie part. Except I have no idea how to set up colliders.

Umm.. This is true. Unless you can offer some advice or help.?

Ok. I got unity. I made a very simple test model. I managed to get a box collider on it. Ummm... The ladder tutorial suggests something to do with tags and part triggers? The ladder tag seems to be missing. I do have a prototype model for a viaduct now. Textures are just a placeholder. It may be a little tall, but you never know what kind of terrain you'll want to cross. Also, might this be better in another forum now? Moderators, could you shift it somewhere?

Tempted to take that last plot for a park or something. This kind of thing is what I'm studying to do IRL. But I won't be able to get something on it for a while. Or, perhaps a train station.