For years, traffic has flowed through the underground trade network without a hitch. Wagons have been allowed occasionally, though if the humans were granted access for their wagons for a season, dwarven wagons were barred that same year to prevent traffic jams. This year, while the humans were packing up, the dwarven caravan was nowhere in sight.
Thinking that perhaps the earlier fighting with goblins had caused dwarven merchants to avoid the area, the human wagons were released. The dwarven caravan arrived soon after, causing a massive pile-up in the main northern tunnel.
The tunnel was expanded to no avail. The draft animals refused to budge, even when a troll prisoner was released nearby to frighten them into moving. Finally, several of the wagons broke down in the chaos and the merchants were able to squeeze by each other, though harsh words were shared between the humans and dwarves.
That looks like a good jam!
ReplyDeleteI didnt even think that disallowing wagons alternatively for humans and/or dwarves would prevent jams like this.
You mentioned something like "I have a single lever which toggles the whole maps ability to "land" wagons and I cant think how to do this without lots of bridges. Have you channeled out around the map edge and linked several bridged ?
Will be nice when/if roads can dictate caravan arrival locations, also caravans to path better and not jam.
The little 22 man fort has a pretty decent copy of your trade network on a 5 x 5 map and ive not worked out the kinks in its usage yet but im starting to wonder if a constructed above ground mirror image might be my preferred option.
Yup, you need a lot of bridges. I have 12 small 2x1 bridges that create 1-tile wide walls at each of the trade tunnel entrances. All the bridges are linked to a single lever located in the very center of the control room. Technically, 1x1 bridges will work, too, but it's easier to tell when 2x1 bridges are open vs. closed.
ReplyDeleteHere's a screenshot with wagons barred from entry. I designated the danger zone between the general access and wagon access bridges as restricted terrain.