Road Tool Constant Grade Mode

[TelluriumCrystal]

I'm reposting this from the main forum since we have a dedicated suggestions forum now.

One of the more frustrating things to do with the road tool is to try and maintain a consistent grade or, even worse, achieve a specific grade. This is due primarily to the fact that the road tool bases the height of the next node on the node's height above the surface, not relative to the existing node.

I propose a new mode be added to the road tool: grade mode. This would be a simple button toggle. In grade mode, instead of changing the height of the next node with pageup/pagedown, you control the vertical angle (or grade) between the existing node and the one you are placing. This meshes very well with the existing road toolset and would be pretty intuitive to use.

Such a feature would give  way more control over things like limiting railroad grade changes, maintaining a constant grade on a long multi-node highway ramp, and even ensuring that bridges remain flat. It would allow for much more realistic road layouts as normally grade is a major concern.

Edit: If you agree with this idea don't forget to upvote to the right (or below on mobile)!

 

[aubergine18]

Or a max grade mode (so it's more or less constant but can go up/down a little within the max grade, eg. train tracks should be +/- 2% grade ideally)

 

[cajunlibra]

We should also be able to determine the height of a segment that we are extending instead of guessing. This would really be helpful for tunnels especially since it's difficult to judge depth.

 

[Dumbell]

A constant grade mode would be excellent.

I would add that if this is selected an option to define how the road would react to achieve this constant grade would also be nice eg. use cut & fill, use bridge/tunnel or adjust terrain.

 

[Maege87]

This tool is a must have. I tryed to make a train-tunnel outside connection trough the Mountains at the end of the map and because now i can just go 50m deeper than the peak of the mountain, it said to me, that the street is too steep.

 

[der_da_vorne]

oh yes….