Board Thread:Suggestions forum/@comment-26237442-20190519131203

One of this mod's defining traits is its map design, the translation of Tolkien's copious quantities of fictional geography into the realm of the digitally rendered and computer generated. One, when travelling through the carefully placed and designed biomes of MC Middle Earth, is particularly impressed with our dearly beloved Moofin's work on roads and rivers: the two essential linking features on any map. This considered, it is with no small degree of reticence that I must poke my tortoise-head out of its shell and squeak out some minor quibles with the world gen and display my ignorance and ingratitude to the world.

Part One - A Bridge too Far?

From the first time our collective ancestors first pootled about in coracles and constructed early rafts and canoes to the construction of Richard Trevithick's 1802 steam locomotive river and sea traffic has been the fastest and most efficient method of travel available to our species: it seems perhaps a little odd then, that the Lord of the Rings Mod for Minecraft 's bridges are not sufficiently tall to allow a pond-skater to slip under them, let alone a barge full of Pelargir marines.

It is therefore my suggestion that the centre of a bridge crossing a distance wider than say 50 blocks should have at least one point with five blocks of clearance from the water it is built over.

Part 2 - A-ford-able Losses

ford

/fɔːd/

<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial;color:#000000;background-color:transparent;font-weight:400;font-style:italic;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre;white-space:pre-wrap;">noun

<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial;color:#000000;background-color:transparent;font-weight:400;font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre;white-space:pre-wrap;">noun: <span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial;color:#000000;background-color:transparent;font-weight:700;font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre;white-space:pre-wrap;">ford <span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial;color:#000000;background-color:transparent;font-weight:400;font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre;white-space:pre-wrap;">; plural noun: <span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial;color:#000000;background-color:transparent;font-weight:700;font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre;white-space:pre-wrap;">fords <span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial;color:#000000;background-color:transparent;font-weight:400;font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre;white-space:pre-wrap;">a shallow place in a river or stream allowing one to walk or drive across. <span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial;color:#000000;background-color:transparent;font-weight:400;font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre;white-space:pre-wrap;"> <p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial;color:#000000;background-color:transparent;font-weight:400;font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre;white-space:pre-wrap;">There are a grand total of 7 waypoints in this mod pertaining to fords: from Sarn Ford in the West to the Golden Ford near the Sea of Rhûn - perhaps it would make this mod even more immersive if the Onomastics of these place-names had any correlation with gameplay features. For instance, it might be more accurate to have the depth of the water at Sarn Ford be 1 block deep rather than the current 9. Naturally, as a fool ignorant of coding this request may be entirely unfeasable, if so, I'm sure the moderators will be only too happy to slap me on the back of the head for my impudence.
 * 1) <p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial;color:#000000;background-color:transparent;font-weight:400;font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre;white-space:pre-wrap;">1. <span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial;color:#000000;background-color:transparent;font-weight:400;font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre;white-space:pre-wrap;">

<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial;color:#000000;background-color:transparent;font-weight:700;font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre;white-space:pre-wrap;">Part 3 - An in Depth look at a problem with Altitude

<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial;color:#000000;background-color:transparent;font-weight:400;font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre;white-space:pre-wrap;">Rivers, in real life, tend to flow towards the sea. These rivers tend to start in areas of high altitude where precipitation is common and flow across the land with the assistance of gravity until they reach a point where it is impossible to get any closer to the core of the earth and then form a relatively still body of water.

<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt;">

<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt;">This considered it seems a little odd that the tributaries of the Anduin in the misty mountain are at the same 63 block sea level as the mouth. The "Falls of Rauros" pose a problem to any prospective constructor in their determined stance of non-existence: all the water in the Anduin is at the same altitude.

I am not attempting to suggest that all rivers should be flowing, Minecraft is simply not complex enough for that. Instead I am proposing that the river biomes that are spawned on the map are subdivided so that water blocks are generated at a higher altitude in some areas than others and that perhaps the valleys appearing in mountainous valleys are ever so slightly less extreme.

I recognise that some of the suggestions enclosed in this suggestion may not be feasable or even desireable for the mod team, and will readily remove or edit such suggestions as required.

As always my intent was not to offend, impugn or otherwise distress but to put forward a few humble observations and perhaps entertain the reader a little on the way. - Draug T Dawg<ac_metadata title="A Few Thoughts on Rivers, Bridges and Fords"> </ac_metadata>