Maybe I can help. I have my own struggles and found this thread through the bestof link. So I feel your pain very much.
I do, among other things, professional webhosting. It doesn't pay the bills because I'm not good at making sales; but the hosting is business-class quality.
Perhaps I can help you get started with making a website about something. The "what" would be the big question. I took a glance at your posting history, and I'm not sure what your interests are, but I can tell you that the site could be anything from informative to selling things - whatever we can come up with that you're interested in.
I'll provide hosting in perpetuity. And I have credentials at not being fly-by-night: I've hosted much of the Simutrans community since 2004, and although my business is to sell web design and hosting, for "charity" sites, I don't charge anything, nor do I advertise or anything. I treat all of them like real customers, with the exception of payment.
If you're interested in talking about the possibility, let me know. It might lead nowhere, but it might get something going for you.
Seems like a wiki page might be better, imho.
Also, I'm bummed on the timing — Simutrans has recently made it to Steam, so we'd probably be disqualified from that list now. heh
Simutrans which is also available at http://simutrans.com/ and the forum is at http://forum.simutrans.com/ :)
It's actually open source these days, but we're also on Steam now. :)
Isometric: http://simutrans.com/
Simutrans was originally based on / inspired by Transport Tycoon, but went its own way early on. One thing many like is that cargo and passengers have specific destinations. It features very deep gameplay - but it's pretty easy to get started. So it's satisfying for many.
Featuring transport by train, truck/bus, ships, trams, airplanes. Multiple different paks (sort of like tile sets but they have their own vehicles/buildings/industries/etc and some gameplay differences).
There's even Simutrans Experimental, but it's a sort of not-exactly-a-fork (it's not the "beta" branch) - but play regular Simutrans first to get a feel for it.
I host and administer the International Simutrans Forum - http://forum.simutrans.com/ - feel free to say hi and ask questions about the game (although we're a small community; we'll generally try to help though).
Oh and available on Steam for free, too! http://store.steampowered.com/app/434520/
Actually, Simutrans is sorta moving in this direction. It's a transportation simulator, but there's finally been enough support to add a few features that will sort of let it work more like SimCity, at least a little.
Here's a thread I made on the Simutrans forum showing off a little bit of design in the hopes of getting the devs to give a little bit of functionality: http://forum.simutrans.com/index.php?topic=10759.0
Also Simutrans — originally based on OpenTTD but quickly evolved in a different direction with deeper gameplay (not disparaging OpenTTD in the slightest - both a great transportation simulator games).
An aqueduct, as your definition says, conveys water. That is, it moves water.
Canals don't necessarily move any water, especially in cases where they're built for ships.
So if your canal primarily serves to move water with no water traffic on it, perhaps an elevated portion might be an aqueduct.
If you canal primarily serves to move water traffic, then perhaps an elevated portion might be a canal bridge.
And it all might depend on the language and where you live that has such things, too.
I mainly know about canal bridges because I play Simutrans, which has them in some paksets. :)
OTTD is good; a different take is also http://Simutrans.com/ - generally, folks who like one don't care for the other, so if you're new to both, check them both out and chances are you'll like one of them, at least. :)
Truth. And speaking as someone who is marginally in that business... it's scary how many "companies" are run by people who know so little, who get a server somewhere and oversell the hell out of it...
I'm not a real expert - but I also just host my web design customers anyway, so it's not like I'm a public host. heh. And I have a GOOD server, and have been stable since 2004.
...and I don't do free hosting, except for Simutrans :)
I'm a Windows dude, so I'm not sure... The wiki - http://en.wiki.simutrans.com/index.php/Install_and_configure - seems to indicate that they aren't included. I'm assuming you went here: http://simutrans.com/download.htm - where it says they're included.
I've started a help thread on the forum - http://forum.simutrans.com/index.php?topic=8790.new#new - you can post as a guest, if you'd like at some point. Perhaps give it until tomorrow sometime and see if someone's responded...
Actually, although it's a free (And now open-source) game, Simutrans has been in constant development since 1997. I'm very used to the Minecraft experience, and hope development is still going on in 2020 :)
I agree very much. :-)
Another game those who also agree might want to check out is Simutrans (forum)^1 - it's a freeware (open source) game that is nearly 15 years old. The graphics look dated, but the gameplay is very deep (and pretty easy to get started - certainly easier than Dwarf Fortress... heh).
Ninjaedit: It's sort of like Transport Tycoon, only... a bit different. For example, passengers and goods have specific destinations. You can play pretty simply, or dive in and make huge complex networks that are logical...
^1 Disclaimer: I am the webhost and main administrator for the Simutrans International Forum. Nobody makes money from the project, but I still felt compelled to disclaim. And besides, if you get hooked on the game and hang out, feel free to say hi on the forum. I'm Isaac Eiland-Hall. :)
Simutrans is an open-source transportation simulator (originally inspired by Tranport Tycoon, but went its own way) with several "paksets" (different graphics, but also different vehicles/trains/ships/etc and industry chains and such).
It has a reputation as having somewhat "deep" gameplay, in that passengers that are generated by cities have specific destinations in mind; mostly in the same city, but some all across the map or to factories or tourist destinations; factories have contracts with specific target factories, so you have to transport the goods to one of those target factories, and depending on your game settings, the target may stop taking more goods until you connect its target factories and transport goods for more of the chain.
Many people like it, though I've noticed that most OTTD fans don't like Simutrans, and most Simutrans fans don't like OTTD, so if you're a happy OTTD player, you might not want to bother. lol.
We have a forum for help and discussion at http://forum.simutrans.com/ :)
<3 This really is one of the best little communities on reddit, I think. :)
I've been lucky - /r/discworld is chill, like you say. I also have hosted much of the Simutrans community for well over a decade, and drama in that community is also rare. I'm spoiled. :)
If you like transportation simulation, it'll run Simutrans just fine. The graphics may look a little dated, but it's still under development and the gameplay is plenty deep (although pretty easy to get into).
Suggestion: Move the "Home" button to the top-left, and add "Previous" and "Next". Or perhaps
[ Previous | Home | Next ]
(only... buttons, not text menu)
This is a fantastic resource I'm going to share with anyone and everyone who is just getting started with Linux. And I definitely don't consider myself an expert - I'm learning some things from you. Many thanks for an awesome resource.
If you ever need a mirror, or if you get too many hits for your hosting, please let me know. I'm http://PanamaCityPC.com/ and I've hosted the Simutrans community for basically a decade - I have experience hosting site that need a large amount of bandwidth. I'd be glad to volunteer hosting for you if you ever need. Just let me know. :)
I started out with SimCity, i.e. the original. I played through SC4. I understand the craving.
My craving is somewhat fulfilled with Tropico. It's more complex - as others mentioned, you're also the government, and there's limited military involvement (kinda silly to me, but it works in the game's context).
The scale is smaller. Instead of zoning, you build every single building. There's one kind of road that automatically decides whether to be dirt or asphalt (after the first era in the game). No bridges.
But I like it.
I also get part of my itch scratched by playing Simutrans. Disclaimer: I host most of the community's websites and have been involved in the project for more than a decade. It was originally inspired by Transport Tycoon, but it's long been its own game. Not much of a builder like SimCity, although if you like building roads, it scratches that itch nicely. Graphics look SC2k era or so, but the gameplay is really nice and deep. And you can, for example, build sort-of-freeways using one-way signs and ignoring the fact that vehicles only travel in the right-hand (or left-hand, if you enable that option) lane.
So between these two games, I get a lot of that itch scratched :)
Simutrans is a vaguely OTTD / Transport Tycoon game that has been developed since 1997. It's markedly different than OTTD - for example, passengers/cargo have specific destinations, so it's best to start out connecting a factory with another factory (that are connected to each other). Passenger networks need to cover some part of the map before they're profitable.
It's a pretty deep game, although not too hard to get going. :) You can say hello on the forum if you need help - http://forum.simutrans.com/
Disclaimer: I do much of the hosting, and I'm one of the admins on the forum. I also usually play with "freeplay" on because I treat it more like a virtual train set and almost-sorta-SimCity-like-kinda-not-really-leavemealoneit'sfundammit game. :)
And for those that like the idea of OTTD, but not quite the gameplay, give Simutrans a try. It's been actively developed since 1997, although we're a small community.
Also, if you really like OTTD, you might not like some of the way Simutrans works. Most like one or the other; a few like both. :)
Simutrans - libre (free & open source) transportation simulator - http://simutrans.com/
Some graphics packs look a bit dated - it's been in constant development since 1997 - but the development is constant. New features added somewhat slowly, but constantly.
It's not too hard to get into - but it has a lot of depth. More depth than Transport Tycoon / OTTD.
Many people who have played OTTD or Simutrans don't like the other, even though the look marginally alike and are sort of the same idea. (Simutrans was originally vaguely based on the idea of TT).
One critical thing: Passengers and freight have explicit destinations. So it's arguably more realistic on that front. :)
> But not a single day passed without someone calling me a Nazi
Seriously? Completely uncool.
I host the forum and much of the internet presence for Simutrans - a game that was started by a German (and the current lead dev is a German). I can't imagine anybody jokingly tossing that around.
But maybe it might depend on the situation. I'm a huge fan of Henning Wehn, who does get those sort of jokes sometimes - and he takes it with a smile, and dishes things back out, too. Adorable man.
Either way, I agree with your edit. Idiots abound. :(
SimCity 4 + Simutrans + Grand Theft Auto
Build a city; or rather, multiple cities in a region; transport goods and people; drive around and cause mayhem and play mini-games.
Simutrans - some compare it to OTTD. If you know what that is - it's different, and you might not like it. Many people who don't play OTTD prefer Simutrans - and some like both.
It's a transportation simulator. Trucks, busses, rail, ships, aircraft - get freight and passengers where they need to go. The graphics might look dated, but it's constantly being updated, and the gameplay is pretty simple, but surprisingly deep.
There's no widespread reports of this; so it's not a common problem, at the very least.
What might work best as the most simple solution: from here, download the Windows native plus at least one pak from the right. Extract them somewhere - Simutrans doesn't need to be installed, it's just for convenience.
We pushed a while back to make sure that all downloaded archives should contain a "simutrans" folder as the root of the archive - so you should be able to create a folder somewhere, copy all the archives, and extract "here" - and they will all go to the right place.