1, It's stably safe.
2, It's easy to use. It's possible to make intersections with this feature.
3, the bouncing pads for trains should be removed.

Hi Yagao, thank you for the input. Like you say, having the jump at a fixed distance would 100% be safer and easier to use. I actually had the ramp work like that at first as a proof of concept, but there were two problems with it:

• Fast trains would jump and drop at superspeed to hit the fixed distance while maintaining speed
• Slow trains would defy gravity by hovering in order to hit the fixed distance while maintaining speed.

Functionally it works, but it doesn't feel right to me. I'm aware the ramp kinda sucks to use though. You know those chains at the start/end of a rollercoaster that pulls the cars uphill and slows them down before the end? At the moment the only idea I have to make a fixed distance ramp that also makes sense is to have a ramp with something like that built into it that would regulate the train's speed to match a distance you could set in a gui or something. If you have an idea, let me know.

I know the train bounce pads almost cross that "in a way that makes sense" line, but I think they're fun and for anyone who wants to use it, I'd like to keep it in. Its an add-on that you don't have to use, but I am leaning about mod settings and I would like to put it some settings to enable/disable different parts of the mod if something like that would help your issues with the train bouncers

Thanks again for feedback, it helps me know what needs work

Yeah, very glad to get replied.
I think one of the simplest of the solutions for the train jumping system is that, always rounding the distance to integers, and a min value to help voiding some boundry cases. If someone put coal into the motovitive, and ramp next to the station, the train might jump a very short distance. This is not very easy to calculate. It needs experience.
Another issue I found was that, if the train is long enough, such as 5 or more, and it accelerates slowly, it gets to the ramp not at it's max speed. In this case, the cargoes or motovatives in the front jump shorter, while the post parts jump longer. In some cases, the head is safe while the tail blasts.
When I tested the jumping pad for train, I couldn't even manage to get it to work. Train crashes with the pads all the time.
I think the usage of the jumping train, would probably limited to the intersections. So I said a fixed distance would be nice. But if this is prepared for something alike the roller coaster, ok, it's rides, not logistics.
Ok, let me think, if this mod is nod designed to be a part of the logistics, but something makes the game a purely funny. I have a lot ideas in this aspect.
But, I'm in China. I'll come back and write to you tomorrow.
Have a nice day.

Yeah it's definitely still pretty rough but over time it will get better. What version of the mod are you using? The issue where train wagons were separating mid air should have been fixed a while back, as well as the hitbox detection for the bounce pads. Let me know. And yes I originally made the mod mostly for fun, I never imagined people would start using it too seriously but now that they are, it encourages me to make it better

So, the first thing we need to figure out is that, what is the purpose of this mod. Enhancement of the logistics system for vanilla game? Or overhaul of the vanilla game only to make this game more entertaining rather that a serious speed run competition or even pvp arena? For the mods like angel, bob, py, they concentrate in complex crafting and upgrade chain, no matte what they based on. For mods like this and singistics, and scenorios like the famous Mtn fortress, Crash site, they concentrate in absolutely different way of playing. Singistics is almost an idle game( or incremental game). Mtn fortress is some copy of a game Unrailed. Crash site concentrates in the battle part of Factorio.
If you would like to lead this mod to a serious logistic enhancement, I think it's not wise to keep the funny things together. You could plan a new mod to do the funny things.
Btw, I don't know how often you check the internet game server list. The information is quite important imo. The most popular games are mtn fortress, crash site, and some other scenorio games. Recently, due to the 1.0's publishing, a lot new comers get into this game. This makes an illusion that players are more interesting in vanilla game. I assume you had played this game for over 1k hours, then you would probably know what is really fun and possible based on the api. Don't be misled.

Well I'm not aiming to be the next bob or angels, I'm not really good enough at programming (I work in manufacturing). I would say the main purpose of the mod is just to have fun, I have fun making it and I hope people have fun using it. I wanted to make something that could be used no matter what other mods someone is using. Whether just vanilla, some small mods, large mods like Bob's and space ex, or total overhauls mods, if the user likes things a little silly but also useful, I'd like my mod to be a good add on for them. I don't really have an overarching logistic system or gameplay experience in mind.

I've actually never played any scenarios. Steam says I've played about 400 hours so while it's not the thousands you might have thought, I know what I think is fun or might be fun. But for now I don't have a particular image I'm trying to make the mod into

Whops double post

So, why not play some scenarios first. All the most popular ones are recommended. Btw, in China, people prefer to hack the scenarios, modify some value to have different experience between rounds. This turned out very helpful for people who need to know how to build up a game. So, come play with us. I'll do the translating for you. But before that, I really think it's helpful to spend some time to play the original official server of those scenarios.
Secondly, according to my knowledge of all the games, all the mods, maps, including everything in factorio, I think it's not very possible to combine extreme fun and compatibility with other mods, and real game usage with angel-like or bob-like mods or without them. The mods have good compatibility are always very small, like infinity water, faster belts. Each of Them concentrates in only 1 function. If this is the purpose, then the hotfix of this version is the final stable one.
If the purpose is about fun. I really recommend you to start up another mod or scenario after some more playing. A completed design before starting the project helps a lot.

Personally i have to disagree with YagoDirac, I think the "funny things" should be keept even if it "gets serious" for the simple reason that it gives your mod a certain "character" or "personality" and makes it more recognizable over other mods.

I like the idea of making some ramps adjust velocity before the jump, but also the ability to still be able to have ones without that for silly jumps at ultra-high speeds for those that really are optimizing, the best of both worlds, a easy solution and a very fun solution for the overengineers

Also, the bouncing trains just looks ridiculus and i love it, plus would be fun to create trains that go their whole journey from place to place bouncing

Personally i have to disagree with YagoDirac, I think the "funny things" should be keept even if it "gets serious" for the simple reason that it gives your mod a certain "character" or "personality" and makes it more recognizable over other mods.

I like the idea of making some ramps adjust velocity before the jump, but also the ability to still be able to have ones without that for silly jumps at ultra-high speeds for those that really are optimizing, the best of both worlds, a easy solution and a very fun solution for the overengineers

emmm, Yeah. Keeping both styles is better suggestion. In this way, I think another series of throwing inserters are needed in this mod. They simply throw items way further than the existing ones, but the concrete distance is unstable. It's a range, like, I don't know, 100<=150? Or something even way more unreasonable than 100~150. But if it would be used properly as what the word overengineering describes, it has a chance to be very powerful. And what's more, if the item which is thrown flies super fast, the overall flying items could be very few, so this mod could be cpu friendly.
Yeah. Thank you for your disagreeing. The difference of our way of thinking actually comes from the difference of way of playing I think. I only design very few things overengineeringly. I don't even know how to calculate the nuclear power. I think over engineering is gonna be the next subject for me.

Curious if there is any way to detect what speed a train is moving or what fuel it uses and if the train is not fast enough "turn off" a ramp? that way you could have yellow, red, and blue ramps for different distances for instance, and only allow trains with a certain speed level (or fuel level) to use certain ramps. That could solve the speeding/slowing problems with fixed distance jumps, and add another layer of rail design to the game.

I know this is a month old now but to let anyone interested know, I added a new tier of train ramp that "uses electromagnets" to guide a jumping train to an exact desired landing point regardless of speed. This is the best solution I could come up with between actual utility, thematic memeing, and my brain power 👌

Curious if there is any way to detect what speed a train is moving or what fuel it uses and if the train is not fast enough "turn off" a ramp? that way you could have yellow, red, and blue ramps for different distances for instance, and only allow trains with a certain speed level (or fuel level) to use certain ramps. That could solve the speeding/slowing problems with fixed distance jumps, and add another layer of rail design to the game.

You can try to have a series of signals before it, and count the time it takes them to turn yellow, and if it's to slow set a red signal in the ramp. Just make sure you have another route for the train to slip off to (perhaps to accelerate again)