User:Simons Mith/Roads

Generated roads


The most basic level of road is a simple gravel track, three blocks wide, with all corners at right angles. This is the design used in villages.



Desert villages use sandstone roads. These would have been completely invisible in an aerial view, but they follow the same layouts that gravel roads do.



Nether roads are much more imposing structures, as in this view (taken with a potion of night vision active). Note how the roads are three blocks wide as before, but they also have a one block wall around them, and the road bed is two blocks deep, making their total width five blocks and their height (with the parapet) three. As they often cross enormous chasms, they also have some impressive support columns holding them up, and when they burrow through netherrack they form long tunnels.

When making your own roads, you may choose to fit in with the road styles generated by the game, but all you need is a reasonably cheap road material that contrasts with the surrounding terrain.

Express roads
Placing ice blocks underneath a road made of slabs and a roof above it produces a road which can be travelled very quickly by jumping as you move.

(Example express road images welcome)

Curving roads
While small corners are reasonably easy to manage, it's not advisable to try curving a road over a large radius without computer assistance. But if you don't want your roads to travel only North-South and East-West, you can generate intermediate road angles by hand using the following simple block combinations:


 * 45&deg; – 4 blocks, 1m offset, 4 blocks, 1m offset, 4 blocks&hellip;
 * 27&deg; or 63&deg; – 4 blocks, 3 blocks, 1m offset, 4 blocks, 3 blocks, 1m offset, 4 blocks, 3 blocks&hellip;
 * 18&deg; or 72&deg; – 4 blocks, 3 blocks, 3 blocks, 1m offset, 4 blocks, 3 blocks, 3 blocks, 1m offset, 4 blocks, 3 blocks, 3 blocks&hellip;
 * 14&deg; or 76&deg; – 4 blocks, 3 blocks, 3 blocks, 3 blocks, 1m offset, 4 blocks, 3 blocks, 3 blocks, 1m offset, 4 blocks, 3 blocks, 3 blocks, 3 blocks&hellip;
 * &hellip;

By inserting ever more rows of 3 blocks, you can generate a wide range of road angles. In practice, the 4-3 and 4-3-3 patterns are usually accurate enough to 'aim' a road wherever you want it. By using four blocks along the diagonal, you produce a road that looks close enough the same width as a 3-wide horizontal road. To switch from one angle to another, place a row of four blocks, then place a different number of threes depending on the new angle.

If your roads were 4 blocks wide, you would use patterns such as 5-5-5 or 5-4-5-4, or 5-4-4-5-4-4, and so on. Other road widths would be altered similarly.

Railways
Instead of roads, you could make railways, using the track block. Track can be placed on almost any surface, but you may decide to use a particular block type underneath – commonly cobblestone or gravel – for aesthetic reasons. You can also have fun building passenger stations, cargo stations, signals, truck dispensers and other railway-related paraphernalia.

(Example railway images welcome)

Canals
A third option is to make canals. A 1×1 trench filled with water is sufficient for this. Banks, locks and wider sections of water can be added later. By using sections of flowing water, held in place with signs or pressure plates, you can create a canal that propels boats down it. One well-known form of powered canal is the water tram. This uses two lanes, with pairs of water spring blocks six blocks apart, held in place with retaining walls and pressure plates. Many minor variations are possible. Cornering successfully requires a 'braking area' of 2–3 blocks of backwards-flowing water, and in some areas adjustments to the placement of the pressure plates will be needed to get reliable boat movement.



(Other example powered canal images welcome)

Piston transports
It's also possible to use pistons to push Steve along. There are many possible implementations, but these designs tend to be complex and expensive, and they are generally intermediate level designs.

(Example piston transporter images or circuit diagrams welcome)