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Comment by defrost | Hacker News Reader

I've worked with IRL trains .. this just blows right past peak fantasy dreamworld alternative physics for me.

Yes, it's a game, yes there are many things that are real world simplifications, all that I can live with.

Trains going up short one story high ramps with no slippage or rack railway hurts my brain - laden freight trains even more so.

> I can't wait to make unholy train abominations

Blessings be upon you and may you not end up in hell.

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You must have thought of this, then — Factorio trains corner at full speed, which seems an even grosser violation of physics than free ascent up slopes. Folks on r/factorio did the math — https://www.reddit.com/r/factorio/comments/16ujbyf/what_g_fo...

I’m sure a mod that increases ramp length will be available shortly before release ;)

It’s already a low gravity planet and I’ve seen electric rail climb some annoying steep roads.

I think the short slope is for QOL. Satisfactory has much gentle slope, and player end up build giant spiral structure to go up to where the game say it is way too high.

Just because Lets Game It Out figured out how to abuse the game engine isn't a good reason not to build more expansive features for the rest of us.

> Blessings be upon you and may you not end up in hell.

I've played Factorio for 1800 hours. I'm already in hell.

Hell? Or heaven?

Different words for the same thing in this case.

Would it be enough to just retcon the elevated rail as rack and pinion track?

Heh.

It's a game, it's fun, I really don't care deeply beyond the craic of taking a position.

Changing the graphics to show a rack and pinion on the ramps (and short sections before and after the ramps) would be a knowing nod in the right direction that I'd endorse, sure.

IRL, however, we're not going to see a rack and pinion lift a 250 wagon x 100 tonne load 2.5 kilometre long iron ore train up a short one story high incline (throw in the engine and the wagon weight that's ~ 30,000 metric tonne).

> IRL, however, we're not going to see a rack and pinion lift a 250 wagon x 100 tonne load 2.5 kilometre long iron ore train up a short one story high incline (throw in the engine and the wagon weight that's ~ 30,000 metric tonne).

A 2.5km iron ore train? What are you talking about? A 2-8 train in Factorio is 10 wagon-lengths, and each wagon is 7 tiles = 7 meters, so a large iron train is only 70m long.

I think this means that some people utilize 250 waggon trains?

IRL - In Real Life (outside of Factorio) those are the mean statistics on the trains I've worked with.

You can see video if you look for Pilbara ore trains.

In game - short ramps lifting 30 feet are cute and look like fun in a tile based game. In real physics the inclines are much more gradual, especially for loded ore cars.

I'm aware that Australia and the US have extremely lengthy, heavy trains (the EU mostly deals in short trains, though). But I was pointing out that the visual scale of Factorio is already pretty out of whack, especially for what ought to be the largest entities (the rocket silo is also comically small if you math it out), so objecting to the absurdity of the vertical incline feels like it's closing the trainshed after the locomotive has left.

If we're seriously comparing game V. reality it's more than just the incline, light transit rail runs in the air (with a considerable amount of strengthened understory) heavy resource ore trains (long or short) just don't (aside from cannot be avoided rivers and chasms).

Although I do recognise the awesomeness of early victorian wide valley crossing bridges (which didn't come cheap, then or now) and the jaw dropping bridging a valley with a canal (water ain't light .. but at least it doesn't vibrate).

https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/1303/

https://www.countrylife.co.uk/out-and-about/the-pontcysyllte...

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