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Messages - mendel

#196
General Discussion / Contest ended
October 31, 2001, 09:35:02 AM
Calis, OverClok: I like those "inverted cable-stayed" designs much as well. Apart from the fact that I haven't used V-supports because I thought it wasn't worth the extra steel cost (which seems to have been a bad decision), this type of bridge is, in my experience, extremely susceptible to twisting - I had a bridge that had 1 train passing just fine, but the back journey would commence on a bridge slightly askew, and the whole underpinnings would just slide out on that pass, resulting in bridge twisting, keeling over  and the big splash. I found this to depend on the cable setup in ways I don't understand.
OverClok was seemingly fighting the same problems because he broadened some supports in #6 to a trapeze-shape.
I find refining this kind of bridge very difficult, because I cannot refine a working design to another by small working steps - intermediate steps would show twist, and I wouldn't be sure whether that could be remedied by a small change or whether that idea was worthless.
Calis, if you would provide some construction strategies, I'd be forever indebted to you (or at least for as long as your new title lasts :-)

AFAIK, Vienna has some nice bridges, too! http://www.pontifex2.com/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/smile.gif" border="0" valign="absmiddle" alt=':)'>

#197
General Discussion / Contest ended
October 30, 2001, 12:38:17 AM
Since the question of changes in contest 2 has come up, let me just mention that Gray put up a new poll on www.bridgebuilder-game.com , asking your opinion on whether to "Allow posting of scores/designs for an ongoing Pontifex contest?" Go cast your vote!
#198
General Discussion / Help with Complex 11
October 29, 2001, 07:22:04 PM
I have double-posted by mistake/impatience, too, when the post seemed to be stuck - luckily, only one copy was created, I noticed it and edited it into a joke... http://www.pontifex2.com/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/smile.gif" border="0" valign="absmiddle" alt=':)'>

Pontimania addon: you're a pontimaniac if you know which thread this happened on :-)

#199
General Discussion / I just would like to know..
October 27, 2001, 09:51:05 AM
a) cables attach the same regardless of joint twist. Just disregard them for this discussion.

b) Rotating joint boxes runs the danger of twisting the adjoining bars. If you have three bars that are not coplanar (= in the same plane), you will get twist.

c) If it is worth the effort of checking for condition b)  - need only be done in the editor - my suggestion would be to set orientientation when the second bar is connected to the joint and not change it afterwards unless a non-coplanar beam is attached (it reverts to regular orientation then).
Orientation is also changed when after deletion, only two beams remain.
That way, you don't need extra interface stuff, yet have the orientation under your control.

#200
General Discussion / I just would like to know..
October 28, 2001, 05:58:22 PM
Yes, different beam configurations could come in handy:
1) regular
2) half of the diagonals left off; can swing in one direction
3) all diagonals left off; swings freely & twists
#201
General Discussion / 180 degree turnaround now!
October 27, 2001, 10:34:18 PM
http://pontifex.mendelsohn.de/forum/go90deg.jpg" border="0">
A slightly modified turnaround, http://pontifex.mendelsohn.de/forum/go90deg.pxl" target="_blank">go90deg.pxl has a downslope to the front, so that the 10 car easy train goes on until it is on the level ground again. Note: the pair of anchors is oriented the usual way - the train is not. The single anchor marks the corner of my 32x32 level.1) Another use for the turnaround ramp: the 10 car easy train will go on and on if you slope the terrain to the front - now wouldn't it be a challenge if there was a gap to cross? If you build your bridge wrong, a high arch might make the train lose momentum, and the force would pull it back...

2) As the level is now, the train will come to a stop in the position pictured, wait awhile, then suddenly, for no reason, the engine will keel over sideways - any suggestions why this might be?

3) It seems to me the centering force does not change with distance since the train stops nicely as it did in turnramp, just farther out, although the slope may have something to do with this.

(Edited by mendel at 4:22 pm on Oct. 27, 2001)

#202
General Discussion / 180 degree turnaround now!
October 27, 2001, 03:13:58 PM
http://pontifex.mendelsohn.de/forum/turnramp.jpg" border="0">
No gods involved here; 9 cars on hard. Level is http://pontifex.mendelsohn.de/forum/turnramp.pxl" target="_blank">turnramp.pxl. A better picture of the ramp is in the 2nd post on this thread. As you can see, there's a steep ramp that guides the train around. Try it with any train length at any difficulty for different results - train turnback (it rolls off into the sunset until it falls of the edge of the world with a splash), train snaking endlessly, train getting caught on ramp, train making 90 degree turn and stopping (almost; 10 cars on easy).
As you will observe, there's a force in effect that guides the train back to the X-axis. Perhaps making the level deeper (increase Z size) makes that effect less severe - notice how the force just prevents the train from leaving the defined level? You will also note that the strength of the engine varies with the cars behind it - longer trains have stronger engines. Difficulty seems to play a part in this as well.

Possible Uses:
a) Pontifex Screensaver. Place two opposite ramps onlevel, green line in between, and the train goes back and forth, maybe with a bridge placed in between?

b) Train winds around a cliff face. A level designer could place a cliff that extends forward; the centering force will make the train hug the cliff, but the player's bridge might have to support it :-)

c) Be creative!


(Edited by mendel at 4:25 pm on Oct. 27, 2001)

#203
General Discussion / Hello everyone!
October 26, 2001, 02:53:45 PM
Well, I don't know about Steve Meier, but looking for "Meier" on www.mobygames.com yields:

Sid Meier's Pirates! (aka "Pirates")
Sid Meier's Colonization
Sid Meier's Civilization (aka "Civ")
Sid Meier's Civilization 2 (aka "Civ 2")
Sid Meier's Alien Crossfire
Sid Meier's Covert Action
Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri (aka "Alpha Centauri")
Sid Meier's Gettysburg (aka "Gettysburg")
Sid Meier's Civilization II: Conflicts in Civilization Scenarios
Sid Meier's CivNet

Go to http://www.mobygames.com/developer/sheet/view/by_year/developerId,3/" target="_blank">http://www.mobygames.com/developer/sheet/view/by_year/developerId,3/
to find even more!

(Edited by mendel at 8:00 am on Oct. 26, 2001)

#204
General Discussion / Custom Forum Titles
October 24, 2001, 05:33:55 AM
Once Chronic get around to putting a records table up, basing forum titles on that might be an option :-)

Actually, basing it on anything that has value for the community is probably a good idea.

#205
General Discussion / Custom Forum Titles
October 24, 2001, 10:54:02 PM
kvinge, your posts are such that the "member" title is well deserved, IMO.
Did it take the full 100 to promote from newbie???
BB forum promotes you much earlier...
#206
Bridges which barely stand the load are realistic if you assume all loads (train weights) are doubles compared to reality to allow for a safety margin, because Pontifex is a design tool. Just back down to normal (or even easy) when your bridge barely holds up on hard and see everything run smoothly in "real life" simulation ;-)
#207
Yeah, I imagine there being concrete towers that support them - these can't be modeled adequately using the "truss" system, so they're left off. But then I'm good at abstract thinking anyway...
#208
General Discussion / FiringSquad review Pontifex
October 22, 2001, 09:10:55 AM
Latka, remember: Mark Twain describes how Tom Sawyer could make his friends pay for painting a fence,so much fun it seemed to be at the time :-)
#209
General Discussion / How many people on Ikonboard?
October 21, 2001, 09:46:06 AM
Hmmm... I've fell flat on my face guessing pontifex facts before, so bear in mind this is probably more inaccurate than a "National Enquirer" = "Bild Zeitung" report...

a) From view numbers on the forum, my guess is that 40-50 people follow this forum closely. (Posts with many replies have higher numbers because they get viewes by poeple who already have seen them, to see the new answers.)

b) By the time Gray's first Pontifex poll closed on www.bridgebuilder-game.com, more than 200 people had indicated they had bought Pontifex. Since the poll was anonymous and allowed multiple entries, this number may be high. But keep in mind that not every bb-game user might have answered, and that by now many people have found ChronicLogic directly (through firing-squad, hotu, ntk etc..) and never saw that poll, which would make the real number substantially higher than 200 (I certainly wish this is the case).

#210
General Discussion / Benchmarking Pontifex
October 19, 2001, 09:00:44 PM
I am developing a Pontifex benchmark (Gray and falkon2 are helping) that works by timing how fast a certain huge bridge tests.
The benchmark needs some testing to find out if it works well; if you want to help developing the bench, send email to mailto:pfxbench@mendelsohn.de">pfxbench@mendelsohn.de, and you will receive instructions on how you can help.
Once everything works well, I will publish the benchmark and announce this fact here.

Let's do it!
Michael Mendelsohn
mailto:pfxbench@mendelsohn.de">pfxbench@mendelsohn.de