Rack and Pinion - a BASIC mechanical grid

Wim shared this feedback 5 years ago
Submitted

Hey guys,

I am a real engineer and a gamer. And I am also a software developer. I am a fan of games of these genre so it didn't take a lot of convincing for me to get it. But as I spent hours and hours of fun making my own designs, I noticed that the game is missing some really basic mechanical objects/components/grids.

I think a rail system (for sliding objects against each other without damage) would be useful. In the world of mechanics, this is called a "rack and pinion" system. The other part of the grid is a rack (a flat surface like a railroad track) and the other grid are small gears (or wheels) called pinions. If you carefully observe the world around us, this is a very common mechanical object. You can see it everywhere - in your homes, cars, even bird's wings use the same mechanic. This system can be used to create trains/trams, sliding doors or sliding blast doors, guided ramps or elevators, etc. And if you think about it, the game has "conveyors" which works on a similar principle.

I actually tried building a rail system in one of my games and it worked. I used armor blocks for the rail (rack) and a bunch of small grid 3x3 wheels for the pinion. The problem is, it becomes too large and too expensive (especially in Survival mode) that it takes away the usefulness of the system. But it was fun trying to see if I could make it work. Blocks dedicated for this very purpose would make so many people happy.


As a bonus, I'd also suggest a few more armor block shapes - maybe round ones - a set that can make a donut shape would be great.

Thanks guys! And thank you for making this great game.

Replies (1)

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With the game's propensity to throw up on collisions I'd rather have smooth blocks that are defined to run along each other instead of actual gears or rack/pinion arrangements. Like a linear motor.

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