How to avoid the need for sky bridges?

[Edmund Greyfox]

I'm trying to tap the bauxite deposits on the tall plateaus in the middle of the west coast and deliver them down to the refinery complex i'm building across the islands just to the SW, and i can't come up with a way to avoid needing to either string lifters all the way down the cliff face or build a sky bridge for trucks up to the plateau. I don't use mods, so i can't see any reasonable way to build the columns to "support" the roadway. ThIs is too good of a location for most of you to have ignored, so how did you deal with getting the bauxite down to the oil?

[Dark Phoenix]

i did it with a kinda ugly conveyor elevator mess...cant say i was that proud of it, but its something that could have been iterated on.

[nfgman]

There's a cave going downhill nearby inside the north wall off the cliff. There's a pond at the bottom right beside another large cave that leads to 2 quartz deposits. I have a train going through that cave. Also managed to fit 6 water extractors from above and behind the waterfall to partially process locally,.

[Edmund Greyfox]

I didn't even think of caves. You just made me realize that i really haven't bothered exploring any of them since i finished the research on mycelia. :)

[Maehlice]

I like to hide my conveyor elevators inside a stack of Frame Foundations. Wall towers also work, but they're too monolithic for my tastes. Even though you can still make out the Conveyor Lifts inside the Frame Foundation, I don't find the construction as a whole to be obtrusive.

[Geck0]

I haven't been there yet, but I imagine an easy solution would be to either use conveyor elevators, or a ramp partly built into the wall to look supported (for either trucks, trains, or conveyors)

[🦊Λℚ𝓤ΛƑΛᗯҜᔕ🦊]

Originally posted by Edmund Greyfox:

I'm trying to tap the bauxite deposits on the tall plateaus in the middle of the west coast and deliver them down to the refinery complex i'm building across the islands just to the SW, and i can't come up with a way to avoid needing to either string lifters all the way down the cliff face or build a sky bridge for trucks up to the plateau. I don't use mods, so i can't see any reasonable way to build the columns to "support" the roadway. ThIs is too good of a location for most of you to have ignored, so how did you deal with getting the bauxite down to the oil?

Then don't bother building "Supports". There's no functional need for it in-game. Supports are visual / cosmetic only and not necessary to build bridges.

[Geck0]

Originally posted by Aquafawks:

Originally posted by Edmund Greyfox:

I'm trying to tap the bauxite deposits on the tall plateaus in the middle of the west coast and deliver them down to the refinery complex i'm building across the islands just to the SW, and i can't come up with a way to avoid needing to either string lifters all the way down the cliff face or build a sky bridge for trucks up to the plateau. I don't use mods, so i can't see any reasonable way to build the columns to "support" the roadway. ThIs is too good of a location for most of you to have ignored, so how did you deal with getting the bauxite down to the oil?

Then don't bother building "Supports". There's no functional need for it in-game. Supports are visual / cosmetic only and not necessary to build bridges.

I think that's what they're going for - designs that look realistically plausible.

[Abisha]

I used a mod called teleport to remove sky bridges. i find they ugly and stupid looking
also trucks stations are really bad they only have 1 function load or unload.

so teleport units over the map.

[Edmund Greyfox]

Thanks for the responses, and i apologize for my slow response.

Gecko hit it on the head. I'm trying to build things that look as real as possible given that the game takes place on an alien planet an unknown amount of time in the future. Running things through the air is pretty much a necessity, but i try to build in support columns or something similar often enough that it looks like they are supporting the structures above them. This location is just so far up in the air that the only real way to do that would be if i used mods to let me hover/fly.

Note- I don't use mods, and probably won't until the game is out of EA. 90% of the problems i see people having in other EA games are caused by mod interactions , and i also don't want to become dependent on a mod that may not still work once we get to release.

[DrNewcenstein]

This is the land bridge that is just South of the Rocky Desert? With the blue palm trees? I just found this location recently, and yes, there's no simple way to get it down to ground level.

I built a series of lifts that drop down to a truck station under the arch, but will change this out to a train station (eventually). In my first save, I belted the bauxite from the middle of the pink forest to my base at Grass Fields over a sky bridge. It's unrealistic AF, but then, alien planet and all that.

I did try sticking with a more "realistic" build for most stuff this time, but do still employ a fair amount of sky bridges, not all of which can be "dressed up" with pillars from the Awesome Shop.

Alternatively, you can process the bauxite on the plateau by pumping oil up the side of the mesa. That's somewhat realistic, but you're going to need a lot of pumps, and I think there might be elevation limits on those.

Another alternative is to build platforms into the side of the mesa, and step the bauxite down those. However, you'd want a more realistic-looking support base for those, like a triangular frame rather than a box frame.

Hiding lifts inside the foundation frames is probably going to be as realistic as you're going to get, however.

[Edmund Greyfox]

Originally posted by DrNewcenstein:

This is the land bridge that is just South of the Rocky Desert? With the blue palm trees? I just found this location recently, and yes, there's no simple way to get it down to ground level.

I built a series of lifts that drop down to a truck station under the arch, but will change this out to a train station (eventually). In my first save, I belted the bauxite from the middle of the pink forest to my base at Grass Fields over a sky bridge. It's unrealistic AF, but then, alien planet and all that.

I did try sticking with a more "realistic" build for most stuff this time, but do still employ a fair amount of sky bridges, not all of which can be "dressed up" with pillars from the Awesome Shop.

Alternatively, you can process the bauxite on the plateau by pumping oil up the side of the mesa. That's somewhat realistic, but you're going to need a lot of pumps, and I think there might be elevation limits on those.

Another alternative is to build platforms into the side of the mesa, and step the bauxite down those. However, you'd want a more realistic-looking support base for those, like a triangular frame rather than a box frame.

Hiding lifts inside the foundation frames is probably going to be as realistic as you're going to get, however.

Not sure if we are talking about the same spot or not. It's right about the mid point of the west coast. There are a whole group of islands with oil on them, and just to the NE there are a series of plateaus along the shoreline with pure bauxite deposits on top. The one closest to the refinery complex i had already built on the islands was right next to a wreck that required heat sinks to open.

For now i ended up just building a flying ramp all the way up to the top from my refinery, and decided to give trucks another try for the hauling. In hindsight it would have been easier to just build a rail line or extend the one i already have running to the refinery, and eventually I'll do that.

[DrNewcenstein]

Yep, same spot.

[Weaver]

Originally posted by Edmund Greyfox:

I'm trying to tap the bauxite deposits on the tall plateaus in the middle of the west coast and deliver them down to the refinery complex i'm building across the islands just to the SW, and i can't come up with a way to avoid needing to either string lifters all the way down the cliff face or build a sky bridge for trucks up to the plateau. I don't use mods, so i can't see any reasonable way to build the columns to "support" the roadway. ThIs is too good of a location for most of you to have ignored, so how did you deal with getting the bauxite down to the oil?

Build angled supports out of ramps and double ramps, that way it looks like they are anchored in the cliffside. That's what I do to for my train for example, its on an elevated railway and when it runs along cliffs I anchor it that way.

[Astra]

you can process bauxites in situ. The plateaus has coal and water. (alternative receipts). You need to bring Qz and Cu (there are deposits on another side from Grassland and it is only 2 vertical conveyors away from the plateaus to the east).
Also you may need rubber and it is again only two vertical conveyors away to the north.
The products (the radiator and belt Mk5) can be transported using alien technologies in future. In the meantime I build a railroad station there and connected to the rail net - and yes, unfortunately it is sky walker. The train is climbing up from the grassland at a very steep angle.

[Samtana]

I find that realism is a facade at best considering we're all "females" that are "property" of some company. ;-D