Retaining walls

[IkaDemandred 124]

retaining walls for both buildings and landscaping so that ground can be leveled in behind

make it skill dependent ie masonry level 

would require reinforcing bars for foundation and maybe even concrete base

[Reylaark 1,100]

Do you mean something like this?

 

So it would be a fence type on a tile border allowing the tile directly adjacent to be level, but higher?  At the height of the retaining wall I presume.

 

If that's what you mean, I don't think the tile system can accommodate that, from a technical/programming standpoint.

Would be really cool though!

 

I think the closest we can get for the moment is flat raising a tile and then paving it.  Not really that close to what you're suggesting but just in case you are new and had not come across that yet

[IkaDemandred 124]

yes exactly that but also for buildings but same principal-I have seen flat raising as you say

I would think that filling in behind a wall would be a simple matter like raising the ground without the spill over that occurs now when raising

a shame if not possible as it would create some massive building potential

 

[belthize 438]

It's come up in the past.  Here's one of the older threads on it.  http://forum.wurmonline.com/index.php?/topic/33904-retaining-wall

 

Technically it's problematic because slope is defined along an edge from two corners not at the edge.  What you're describing would create an infinite slope (vertical).

Edited January 30, 2017 by belthize

[armyskin 930]

I have thought about this as well but didn't get around to posting anything. Messing with the tile borders would cause problems with the current coding but an in-game feature could give us retaining walls. Bridges. If a bridge tile that was repurposed allowed a player to pave, farm, or build on it the intended result would be a retaining wall with minimal coding needed. I also see this being a great tool in building canals and docks. This could effectively eliminate the sloped tiles that are wasted when space is at a premium.

[Ayes 3,715]

Yep, I suggested this years ago as well. Living in an area of the country where these type "sea walls" are common along canals I am familiar with their construction and function. They should be fairly simple to construct as there will be a need for quite a lot of them along a horizontal line. They should also be stackable vertically for tall ascending structures.

 

Maybe just use slabs turned on edge with another one flat beneath them like an L shape and throw in 2 iron rods on each end, tying the top of the L to the bottom of it at an angle. Then when the dirt is filled in another one could be created on top of it. Not up to RL engineering specifications of course but close enough to make some resemblance of sense without excess materials required.

 

As Belthize noted, there might be some problem with the concept in Wurm since dirt here is never allowed to be stacked straight vertically against walls, maybe due to max slope imposed limitations. Too complex coding for Wurm I suppose. Another idea never to see the pliable soil of these WO/WU dreamscapes.

 

=Ayes=

[belthize 438]

One solution would be to dictate the height, say 20 slope, with the top and bottom edges level at zero slope.  Then make a retaining wall take up the entire tile like a massive diagonal wall from the bottom edge to the top.  Lastly make the top be considered dirt that could then be packed or planted.

 

That would solve the slope issue and simplify the graphics since it's a fixed sized solid object.

[Ricowan 199]

Wurm terrain is based on a heightmap.  It's a square grid of points.  It doesn't matter what the elevation (Z) of each point is, the corner is always at the same horizontal coordinates (X,Y).  You cannot move a corner north or south, you can only move it up or down.  This means it's not possible to move one corner on top of another corner, and that's what would be required to make vertical walls.

 

[Aeryck 862]

 I'm no expert in coding but wouldn't this basically just be a bridge ?  If I plan a bridge starting from 60 slope up and ending level 4 tiles away and only complete one  Tiles worth I effectively make a retaining wall if you just remove the rest of the bridge plan.

[Etherdrifter 2,518]

The issue here is the variable height nature of such walls.  Yes there is a precedent with bridges, however bridge height can't change when built which would not be true with the tile next to a retaining wall.

 

Definitely a feature to consider should wurm's engine move from 2d to 3d, but until then just not codable.

 

 

[belthize 438]

2 hours ago, Etherdrifter said:

The issue here is the variable height nature of such walls.  Yes there is a precedent with bridges, however bridge height can't change when built which would not be true with the tile next to a retaining wall.

 

Definitely a feature to consider should wurm's engine move from 2d to 3d, but until then just not codable.

 

 

Any suggestion that mucks around trying to tweak the slope or that doesn't understand how tile edges work is a non starter like you say  but that doesn't necessarily mean there's no solution.  Just means you need to re-define the problem a bit.

 

For example instead of twiddling the dirt or tile edges just treat it like a form of house with the following requirements/mechanism.

 

• Tile must have two edges flat and parallel, other two edges must be parallel and at a fixed slope, e.g. 24 dirts.  .So basically like a flat tile for houses but at a predetermined slope.  Corner variant has to be 12, 12, 12, 12 diagonal slope.  (whether it's 20 or 24 or 36 or whatever is immaterial, just has to be fixed)
• Plan exactly like a house with mallet/hammer so it shows a frame.  Just like a house but one pair of edges are at an angle matching the slope.
• Requires 40 dirt + logs/bricks/clay/marble/whetever for different aesthetic variants.
• Make graphic for edge and corner variants with different materials.  This is doable because of the fixed slope, you know exactly how large to make it to mesh.
• Make the surface be considered dirt and packable/plantable/buildable but not diggable, nor can dirt be dropped on it.  You absolutely can't change the associated slopes at this point.

 

When complete it's essentially like you'd built a 1x1 house with a roof.  The only difference is you started with a fixed slop tile rather than a flat tile and the surface is a dirt graphic/type rather than stone/slate/slab/brick etc like a house.

 

Adjacent tiles on the up slope side would just see the top as analogous to the floor of a house,   adjacent tiles on the down slope side would see the top as analogous to the roof of a house.

 

Edited February 1, 2017 by belthize