Road



Roads are a feature that was added in Public Beta 22.

Click here to see the official Facebook post about roads. Watch Mevans' video introducing roads "Now far ahead the Road has gone..." on youtube.

History
Roads were originally mentioned way back in August 2013. Mevans' original idea for making roads was to use something called a Lagrange polynomial. A Lagrange polynomial is essentially a fancier form of a quadratic equation.

Unfortunately, Mevans later found that these polynomials wouldn't work for a variety of reasons. So the search was on for a new kind of polynomial that would work. In the end, the decision was made to use a Bezier curve. This is the same type of curve that is used to make .svg files.

Why do roads need polynomial equations?
The roads have to be generated via a mathematical algorithm because if roads were a separate biome (like rivers) then the map would have to be 16 times bigger than it is at the moment (which would pretty much require a 1:1 scale map of Middle-Earth) or the roads would be the size of large rivers.

Features
Road generation adapts to the environment as much as possible. The paths will form bridges over major rivers and follow the terrain uphill or downhill.

The material used to build the roads varies as well; some roads will be made out of dirt or gravel, whereas other roads will be made out of cobblestone or faction bricks (especially in the more populated areas of Middle-Earth).

As of Beta 22.1 roads will make deep valleys from the terrain around them, which will make them a lot easier to navigate, especially in hilly terrain.