Lyle Lanley: Well, sir, there’s nothing on earth like a genuine, bona fide, electrified, six-car monorail!
Fallen Earth’s landscape is desolate, but it isn’t deserted — part of the authentic feel of the environment is when you see outposts of human life or former human artifacts among the wastes. Perhaps the single most defining feature on the landscape in Sector 1, other than cacti, is the ever-present monorail track. At first glance, you might think it’s a bunch of oddly-placed Roman columns, but an up-close inspection reveals chunks and chunks of elevated tracks that are broken and crumbling. Sometimes you might even see a monorail car up there, hanging listlessly off to the side.
I have no idea in the lore of the game who built the monorail (I presume it was the company who purchased the Grand Canyon for their own personal playground), but you can’t help but wonder and muse about it from time to time. As in, what would it be like to ride that puppy?
And could we ever rebuild it?
I mention that, because the topic of fast travel in Fallen Earth is a pressing, hot-button one. There’s a large contingent of players who are very much opposed to any fast travel whatsoever, since it would have the effect of making the world smaller (as of right now, either horses/vehicles or dying and being sent to a LifeNet pod are the only ways of getting around quickly). Yet as the developers have stated that the game is slated for many further expansions into new sectors, such as the upcoming Sector 4, it’s quickly going to become ridiculous for anyone to try to traverse more than one or two sectors in a play session. The wide world will also continue to impact clans, who will find it more difficult to hook up with other mates in different level ranges. So fast travel is becoming a necessity, but the key is for Icarus to handle it in such a way that it isn’t something you use very often, and it isn’t an instant teleport.
I think the monorail is the answer.
Anyone with an imagination wonders what it’d be like if that thing was repaired. I’ve speculated in the past that it might be a great world crafting project — players everywhere contributing materials and resources to patch it up and get it working once more. Maybe even with incentive, such as the top five contributing clans would have their name etched on the sides of the monorail cars.
Even if it only connects with one town per sector, it would strike a balance between offering a quicker mode of travel and not being something you’d use every day (or even week). Riding that sucker would give you a grand elevated view of the world, a scenic tour even. Why, we’d be stupid not to build it!
I’ve heard other fast travel options stated, and while I’m sure that they might be far easier to impliment, the monorail is one of Fallen Earth’s trademark landmarks, and I’d hope they would capitalize on that.
I’d be ok with this, as long as we can actually ride the monorail from place to place and not have it start to move, zone, stop at destination station. Just make it move quickly and let us watch the scenery.
I do like your idea of implementation. Making it a HUGE crafting project. But I think the monorail as a set piece in the Fallen Earth world needs to stay decrepid. It’s dismantled outline on the horizon adds as a reminder that the world you live in is changed for the worse.
But, I’ve not played the game enough to really come up with a good counter suggestion. So, I’ll go back into my corner and twist my handlebar mustache until I can think of one.
Mono… doh!
Yea, they will have to add something eventually. A monorail would be a good fit.
“There’s a large contingent of players who are very much opposed to any fast travel whatsoever, since it would have the effect of making the world smaller”
I’d like to know how many of these well-intentioned people own a car, or have easy access to fast transportation.
99%? 99.9%?
Fast travel doesn’t “break immersion”. To the contrary, it helps to create the illusion of a believable world. It stands to any kind of reasoning that, just like us here in reality, our virtual counterparts in the virtual world would want transportation in order to deal with that world. And the faster the better.
Besides it’s slightly (just slightly) hypocritical to say that horses are okay, bikes are okay, but a monorail isn’t. Why? Well, because of the rules of transportation in virtual worlds I’ve just made up in my head.
ffs, if you wanna lone ranger it up all over the game world, please do so. No need to pee on the rest of players who would like a bit more comfort. I’ll never understand the hardcore faithful’s fascination with self-flagelation.
I am totally with ya on this Syp! I like the idea completely. And I think Slurms makes a good point about keeping the existing decrepid Mono present. Maybe if they would implement a scavenge monorail debris piles / community craft project new constrution process only avail in Sector Capital cities, Expensive to ride, and only one persistent train going back and forth during the game at any time.
Making it not only a thought process about when to use it, but making it just another option in how to traverse the long distances in the game.
Who knows, I like where your head is tho!
It would be cool to have something to do while you rode the monorail. Idk maybe, try to keep zombies and mutants out of the box cars. How about a juice bar with Isacc from Love Boat serving up drinks?
Have some sort if mini games as you ride the rail. Have them like Daily quests in WoW. If you kill 25 mutants in a set amount of time you get X amount of money.
It would certainly stand out like a sore thumb if they build a fully functioning, glossy sleek unblemished monorail, so it all depends on the way they patch it up.
I’d certainly say that patching it together from odds and ends would keep it looking decrepit, while still functioning. Each missing bit replaced by a grey, unpainted, unfinished piece of steel.
And indeed, the monorail cars are a matter for the art team too, salvaging what they can, perhaps building more. one or more cars per train could be new cars, that, like the track, are unpainted scrapwagons.
There could be a zone that the monorail has to pass through where it gets attacked by mutants and takes damage. If enough people are on board they can defend the monorail so it takes minimal damage. The more damage it takes, the slower it runs, until it eventually stops for repairs in the next city. At that point people need to gather resources, much like they did to get it up & running in the first place, in order to repair it and get it back up & running again.
This way it doesn’t just become the Deeprun Tram but players will be forced to appreciate the monorail because if they don’t, then they’ll lose it.
Perhaps Monorail resources could even be gathered & dropped off at a station at any time, even while the train is still operational, so it can be repaired before it fully breaks down.
Is there any way to suggest these ideas to the designers?
Okay, how this would be an amazing world event if introduced in a future expansion. Great thinking!
Er “now” not “how.”
If what Capn John said was part of Fallen Earth or things like it to make the world feel “alive”, I would buy it today and play.
The interaction between players and the world is missing in most games. It would be awesome to have a Monorail on a use or loose basis. Obviously, it shouldn’t be so difficult it is annoying. 1 to 2 people should be able to save the Monorail from total distruction and if nobody is on the Monorail the event should not take place. There has to be a trigger for the event. Like excepting a “Escort” quest. That way if you don’t feel like defending the train, you don’t have to.
On the other hand, if people stop doing the defend quest, the train gets worn down and needs repairs just like fuel for ATVs and food for horses. The repairs are recieved from doing the quests or finding the resources around the world if the train is inop.
Nothing in FE is a free ride. You have to respect what you have and take care if it.
Probably not surprisingly, this idea reminds me of SWG. One of the many things I loved in that game was the way they implemented shuttles. Waiting for the shuttle to arrive, seeing it swooping overhead and touching down, jumping on board, waiting for the doors to close, and then taking off for a quick scenic flight over the town you were leaving was awesome. But then you got the loading screen, which was always a bit immersion-breaking.
There’s no doubt FE has the ‘easy’ option of tying the travel system to the cloning system. “For a small fee/debuff/penalty, we will recycle your current biomass and transport your consciousness to our main facility in Sector 1/2/3/4″. But the ideas posted above are so much better.
As much as I like the monorail, I personally think it should remain a devastated icon reminding us of better times. But it should also inspire us. Inspire us to build a new rail network in the scavenged post-apocalyptic way we do best. And it should be a massive crafting effort. Maybe done in a staged roll out. First we lay a rail track from the Sector 1 capital town to the Sector 2 capital town by contributing Sector 1 materials. That would have a dilapidated open-air rail car running between them. Then the 2-3 line could be built using Sector 2 materials, and so forth.
Things like this are just what FE needs to keep it standing out from the pack. I remember back in Horizons there were similar community projects – collapsed bridges that required everyone to contribute resources to ‘rebuild’ it so they could reach an island, a collapsed mining tunnel that needed a massive amount of wood to rebuild to reach another hidden area. It brought the community together and made it feel like you were contributing to changing the world.
A ‘functioning’ (including all the caveats that other commenters have mentioned) monorail still seems out of place in a post-apocalyptic setting. Too much need for infrastructure and civilization. Take one of those pillars down, and you’re out again. A road-warrior type truck caravan, or a basic rail line would fit better, methinks.
While your idea of implementing a monorail is good, I would hate to see it functioning as normal, as it would counter the setting of the game. I enjoy seeing an old, broken monorail system everywhere.
I believe a better solution would be an underground train. It would not break with the setting, and it would also provide a form of fast travel that is not instant; you would have to ride in it till your stop.
Definitely, there needs to be worthwhile and enjoyable things to do while riding on the train; other than crafting.