simmetry

[Feffol8]

since building a symmetric bridge seems to be quite important, how about adding something like a symmetry line, where everything on one side get "mirror-copied" on the other side? or even a simple mirror function togheter with copy and past might work as well

[Christian_Akacro]

It's in the plan, thanks for your suggestion!

[Raketenziesel]

Adding to this, and being fairly new to the discussion. What about adding some limited actual 3d modeling by allowing mirrored pairs of joints to be translated along an axis horizontally perpendicular to the point for allowing joins like this in is top down view:

=======
=<>=<>=

In the cross section view this would result in going from «H» shape to more like «A» or Diamond shape for added stability against sideway forces.

Most famous example is probaly the forth Bridge (top down view at bottom):
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Forth_Bridge#/media/File:Forth_Bridge_(1890)_Fig._4,_Page_5.png

Don't know if your physics model is 2d or 3d, but if it's 3d anyway this should be not a total game changer in terms of complexity.

[Raketenziesel]

I remember where I saw this a decade ago:
Pontifex 2/Bridge Construction Set, pretty much the gold standard when it comes to bridge builder games:
http://www.pontifex2.com/pontifex2/pfx2manual/advanced.html

http://www.pontifex2.com/pontifex2/pfx2manual/images/advanced05.jpg

allowing for super budget optimized single beam constructions like this one: https://youtu.be/RtFwL7PUawU

[Dry Cactus]

Hi Raketenziesel,
thanks for the suggestion.

While this would be an awesome addition to the game, it's not possible in our case as the simulation is actually 2D, with a few tricks to allow for ships to collide on the depth axis.

We did experiment with multi-lane bridges and the ability to do what you linked, but because the simulation is 2D it wouldn't correctly calculate diagonal forces on the depth axis, resulting in "odd" behavior that detracted from the experience.

BCS (aka Pontifex 2) is indeed the golden standard when it comes to accurate bridge-building simulators, and is my personal favorite game of all time.
I decided to do my own personal take on the genre, and ended up with a hybrid of bridge-builder mixed with physics playground.

I hope you enjoy the game nonetheless, and please let us know if you have any more suggestions.