Arch type seem the strongest, but suspension also have their place. I'm torn! Some of the coolest I've made look like turtles and are very strong.
One thing to remember with cables is that the longer they are, the stronger they are. Same goes for steel, actually.
That's one reason why it's good to drop your suspension bridges down a level or two instead of keeping them straight and level.
I've tried building arches but they never work. I can never get the angles right. I DID do a huge triangular arch for level 16, but I guess if it's triangular it's not really an arch...
Quote: from mendel on 6:07 pm on Oct. 24, 2001
...pls take the time to use your gfx prg to crop them...
Good point... I resized them, but in a rush to get them to print... I didn't crop them as I should have.
Arch bridges are strong but as the span gets wider they lose a lot of strength. I have found that a suspention bridge (as long as the towers are high enough and strong enough) can go a lot farther
Another good site is
http://www.pontifex.cjb.net.
Please upload your files there.
I don't know if this is one you'll like, but one of the bridges I was making for the contest has a nice arch. You can see it on this
url. About halfway down the page. I'm rather fond of it even if it didn't break any records, or even 贄,000.
I think I need to look at some good suspension bridges, I really haven't got the hang of them at all (ugh, just re-read this...no pun intended!)! Anyone wanna share??
:-D
(Edited by Chillum at 8:05 am on Oct. 22, 2001)
klei, I understand that you want to promote your site, but their are better ways of doing it than just plastering every single thread that deals with bridge design with posts about it. One way to do it might be to put your site address in your signature, that way when you contribute somthing valuable to a discussion, people will take notice of it. Sorry if I come off sounding harsh.
Thanks. I think that this will help me a lot when I want to build arch bridges.
Arches are the strongest but are slightly more expensive than Suspension. With a little ingenuity, though suspension can easily become stronger. (I.e. replace the top with a 'V' shape tied together with cable will give you a better angle to support the deck)
okay, i used a bit alternative method for complex 10..
instead of using crossing wires, i have suspended 2 light steel bars bethween the anchor points, and used those for stable points for hanging other wires.. hehe.. enjoy

(http://www.stovring.net/u2pa_complex10.jpg)
(Edited by u2pa at 5:52 pm on Oct. 26, 2001)
Although it won't win any prize for effeciency, Normal 12 is perhaps one of my favorite bridges. I tried to make a combination arch/suspension bridge. In effort to add strength, it became a double arch as I went into complex mode to arch the deck. This screen capture shows max stress on the bridge BEFORE running the train over it. Surprisingly, it looks about the same afterwards, with 0 BL.

You can download this bridge from:
ftp://chronic:logic@24.20.221.2:100/-%20normal%20-/Baggio/level12.pxb
-or-
http://www.klei.dns2go.com/Downloa....012.pxb

A big THANKS to Poogle and his FTP server. Let me know if you want me to change how I'm using the site -- this seems like a good use of a great resource.
Thanks to Klei for his Web server.
(Edited by baggio at 4:04 am on Oct. 24, 2001)
(Edited by baggio at 4:37 am on Oct. 27, 2001)
Your bridge will very likely work without those light steel bars.. just connect cable to cable
Another favorite of mine is I think what falkon2 was describing. Maybe to a lesser degree. Normal Level 7. Believe it or not, I designed this level to get the most sway and broken links as I could. Something breaks on every pass.

Get it here:
ftp://chronic:logic@24.20.221.2:100/-%20normal%20-/Baggio/level07.pxb
-or-
http://www.klei.dns2go.com/Downloa....007.pxb

Again, Thanks to Poogle and Klei!
(Edited by baggio at 4:39 am on Oct. 27, 2001)
Quote: from kvinge on 5:48 pm on Oct. 25, 2001
klei, I understand that you want to promote your site, but their are better ways of doing it than just plastering every single thread that deals with bridge design with posts about it. One way to do it might be to put your site address in your signature, that way when you contribute somthing valuable to a discussion, people will take notice of it. Sorry if I come off sounding harsh.
How do you put your site address in your signature? :confused:
How do you change that image on the left? :confused:
Don't thank poogle, it looks as if your account was deactivated (at least it does to my browser).
I suggest you learn what a forum member profile is. Hint: look for this word in the forum menu.
Quote: from mendel on 4:27 pm on Oct. 24, 2001
Don't thank poogle, it looks as if your account was deactivated (at least it does to my browser).Nope... just not working the way I'd like... If you right click and select show picture, the second one shows... I think Poogle's FTP only allows one DL request at a time. Most browsers try to grab about 4 things at a time, so the browser is requesting two files and only getting one. I'm going to have to find a web server to host the images I'm afraid.
Thanks, Gray.
If
I rightclick and select "Show picture" it doesn't ... however, Getright gets them right :-)
Nice Level7 bridge, I like that, too!
Btw, people posting in-line images, could you pls take the time to use your gfx prg to crop them? baggio's bridges have lots of sky, and I know how the buttons look! (they're not working as inlines, so it's no big deal in this case). It's not the size alone (although that adds up on a gfx-intensive thread), it's the screen space as well...
This is one of my favorites that I've produced. It's for Map Pack Level 6... it's a rather crappy solution, and in fact, it totally collapses on hard level, but on medium level, the train gets across with just a few broken links.

I guess the only reason I like it is the way it looks. Which I think is pretty funny.

Of course, I have a strange sense of humor. Whatever. ;)
James
does anyone have good screenshots of arch bridges. I can't seem to get them right.
yep, do you like suspension(my favorite) . . . that includes anything suspened by cables from towers . . cable-stayed and all the rest are included in this catagory
or triangly ones(dunno what to call them)
arches . . . . . includes arches with the deck suspended by cables . . . . .
most of the later levels in mine are all suspension bridges . . . the earlier are ones are usually triangly . . . .
i tried a coupla bridge suspended from arch by cables . . . the look cool, but mine have an unhealthy habit of falling apart . . . .
suspension bridges look the coolest, too.
(Edited by Frish at 2:24 pm on Oct. 12, 2001)
Sus bridges definitely look coolest, but the cable is a bit too strong maybe, makes it a bit easy once you have a half-decent arch on. I think elegantly supported bridges can be mega to watch as the stresses change, and you don`t tend to get this from cable as it kinda takes whatever you can put on it. Otherwise, congrats to the ChronicLogic team, Pontifex is definitely a huge step in the right direction and well worth getting the plastic out for.
Oh I disagree. Cables seem very strong with smaller bridges, but having been doing some larger ones, Complex 10 for example, cable snapping has become my biggest problem. Load them too much and they'll just let go. Splash.
For Complex 10 I initially thought I could just reproduce the Golden Gate Bridge, using the suspended anchors in place of towers. Hang a pair of cables from one anchor to the other, and hang the road from that. Nope. Cables can't take that much load.
My favorite bridges are the suspention. The definitly are the most fun to watch holding. (and falling) I also agree with Trurl, the cables are strong, but just a little too much wieght and KABOOM.
Trurl... my bridge holds up fine with cable on complex level 10. no problems at all...

It's all in HOW you place the cables...
And if you look closely you can see a 10 car train passing that bridge on hard difficulty.
(Edited by efflixi at 7:13 am on Oct. 13, 2001)
I really like one of the last levels of the map pack: level 14, maybe? It's a wide gap with 2 anchor points on the sides and only one (double, symmetric) point directly overhead. I found a level bridge deck doesn't work with cables - it collapses under its own weight, after the cable joints snap. The solution I had got me rather pleased with myself: It's a hanging (curved) bridge deck (a "chain-line" that keeps its shape) supported by cables from the center anchor point. It looks really fancy, and it's strong as..... well, erm, it's really strong!
Got no piccie of it at the moment, but I'll post one here soon enough.
I also made quite a nice Lvl 14 bridge with just the same consept as you Brinx.
Start the bridge like this \- and it is a lot more sturdy.
I much prefer arches...probably coz I've had more success with them. On a really tight, economical arch, almost every single strut is nearly at breaking point when you hit the max. You just don't see that with cables.
(Actually, what I usually see with cables is a big pile of girders in the river...)