Greymead - Whitefay Highway upgrade

[Thorinoakshield 603]

After preparing for a bit - and still not well enough, I have to admit - I have begun upgrading the highway between Greymead and Whitefay.

The initial plan was to plant catseyes all the way to the tunnel, then upgrade the tunnel entrances as well as the floors inside, before continuing planting catseyes again.

But as with all plans, this one didn't didn't survive either, the moment I encountered the enemy. Or in my case, an inactive deed with its perimeter over the highway.   Since you can't plant catseyes if you don't have the dropping / planting rights at other deeds and thus also not in the perimeter, I decided to leave the catseyes for what they were and instead move on to the tunnel. Which I already knew would be a much greater challenge as just upgrading an old highway to the new system.

 

And it was indeed a challenge.

 

As it turned out, several tiles inside  that tunnel had been mined out, meaning that to level the floor I had to use concrete, mine it out or do both. Turned out the latter was the best option, although it also depleted my stock of concrete, meaning at some point I need to return with a new supply to increase some tiles close to the western entrance to a "normal" level. However, with most of the floors mined out at the same level, the inside of the tunnel now looks a lot better.

 

Next stage of the project was to widen the entrance at the East side; simply because it was the one I was close too, wich meant dropping a deed to remove the reinforcements, digging down the road to get to the rockface because the border wasn't flat, widening the entrance and finally followed by dropping all dirt and pave a single tile again to make all look as it should be.

 

Currently I'm mining out the ceilings of the eastern side of the tunnel, to make that look better compared to the flat part which has high ceilings due to the lowered tiles. After that I'm going to rework the current western entrance, or add a new entrance now an old deed blocking that has gone. I'll look at that as soon as I'm up to it.

 

As for the request:

 

Just in case the owners of the deeds along the highway between Greymead and Whitefay (mapgrids I-18/20 and J-20) are reading this; please grant me the permissions to drop / plant items at your deed, so I can continue the construction of the highway. In case you don't want the highway, let me know, so I can bypass your perimeter.

Of course, those who want to help are welcome to do so. Since I was unable to plant catseyes at some point when coming from Greymead - for now - starting to plant catseyes from Whitefay towards Greymead is the best option.

 

And finally, some pictures.

 

Tunnel improvement stage I

 

The old eastern entrance

 

The new eastern entrance

 

 

 

 

Thorin

[Thorinoakshield 603]

Work is progressing well, meaning the tunnel is almost upgraded with higher ceilings and reinforced floors. To make it all more beautiful, the entrance at the Western side of the mountain is now placed at the intended spot, something that wasn't possible when the tunnel was build. Because of that, a small part of the former tunnel has been blocked off and over time I will collapse the old entrance as well.

Parts of the floor have been reinforced; with the exception of the tiles which weren't flat. Some concrete will solve that in the near future, after which the entire length of the tunnel will be paved as well.

 

As for the progress:

 

The road as it was intended to be.

 

The old - and now obsolete - entrance

 

The new entrance

 

The flattened and reinforced tunnel.

 

 

Thorin

[Thorinoakshield 603]

I continued my work yesterday; starting from Whitefay this time. Thanks to a generous donation of catseyes I was able to plant eyes all the way to the tunnel.

And there it stops for the moment, as I discovered I need a lot more concrete as planned to get the eastern ramp at the required 20 slope.

 

While working out how to get the concrete, I have reinforced and paved all the floors of the tunnel that don't need leveling. I've also planted lanterns in the  tunnel to make things looking a bit better.

 

One great discovery I did, was that you don't need to pave floors inside tunnels to plant catseyes. Simply reinforcing floors is enough.

 

Reinforced tunnel floor with catseyes

 

Eastern ramp with paved floor

 

Current progress.

 

 

 

To be continued.

 

 

Thorin

 

 

[Qdlaty 111]

i will check if got any ash left over and can make some concrete, contact me in game and you know where to collect in

 

Edited December 10, 2017 by Qdlaty

[Thorinoakshield 603]

Last night I managed to get all the ramps in the tunnel at a nice 20 slope, after which they were reinforced and paved. Followed by catseyes and lamps being planted and the lamps all being filled, lit and blessed.

Today I managed to plant catseyes all the way up to the first deed that's currently blocking me, so I planted a waystone to protect my work from Whitefay up to that point. As a small part of the highway was already having catseyes, I can't take full credit for connecting to Whitefay. However, between the placeholder waystone and the first deed is a total of 1150 tiles covered, or a total of 1196 tiles to Whitefay.

 

As for the distance that seperates me from the eyes I planted from Greymead: 64 tiles. I do have the resources for that, so the moment the deeds are gone the connection will be made.

 

And that leaves me with the - for now anyway - last task to be done: cutting down trees and dropping a single sandtile next to the highway at both sides to make sure travelers don't have to face overhanging branches.

The first part of that is done today, more will follow.

 

Lamps, reinforcement, pavement and catseyes; it's done!

 

Still room to worship Magranon in the tunnel.

 

The final stage of the project has begun.

 

Thorin

[Ajala 581]

On 12/12/2017 at 9:33 PM, Thorinoakshield said:

And that leaves me with the - for now anyway - last task to be done: cutting down trees and dropping a single sandtile next to the highway at both sides to make sure travelers don't have to face overhanging branches.

The first part of that is done today, more will follow.

 

 

I hope you don't mind, but I did this chop-n-drop work on the north-south stretch from the west exit to the tunnel to where it turns west into the desert.

 

You were offline and I was bored 

[Thorinoakshield 603]

Not at all. I've got to deal with some RL issues atm, which limit my time in Wurm a lot. Hence why I wasn't online. I hope to be back soon and continue my "work", but if you feel like helping with it, go ahead. 

All help is apreciated.

 

 

Thorin

[Thorinoakshield 603]

[16:05:43] You plant the catseye.

[16:28:39] You drop a heap of sand.

 

And with that the upgrading of the highway has been completed. For now.

 

A full connection is made, giving players the opportunity to choose from two routes to travel between those starter towns. Wherever possible, sand has been  dropped at the sides to prevent trees growing near the highway and blocking vision with their branches. Where using sand was too hard to do due to slopes - meaning 40+ slopes over multiple tiles - , I've paved the sides next to the road. Considering those sides were all over 100 dirt, the pavement can't be used as road anyway.

 

The only thing that needs to be done at some point is flattening some parts of the highway to get better looking ramps and a more flat road in general. I might do that some time in the future, but for now it's other projects I'd like to focus at. I don't think ppl would blame me for doing so, wouldn't they?

 

So what's left the list of those I'd like to thank;

 

To start with:

 

- Caroligan

- Miskleur

- Mortommes

 

For building this highway in the first place. I've been using it in the past and I hope I'm able to keep using it in the future.

 

- Ajala:

 

For helping removing trees and dropping sand

 

- Angusrufhide

- Petrius

 

Both for donating a load of eyes so I can create more catseyes

 

- Dredbanger: For donating finished catseyes.

 

 

And of course all players who gave me their support in Freedom Chat.

 

 

Thorin

 

[Ajala 581]

Nice work Thorin! I traveled the full length of this highway earlier this week and it's looking good