robot256 wrote: ↑Sat Apr 02, 2022 4:50 am
I really hope you're joking... It's April 2nd now where I live. That looks like an entertaining anime, I'll have to watch it.
The space elevator has been on the roadmap since long before your forum post in July 2021 (and was probably already in development at the time). It is very clearly inspired by more than a century of popular science fiction, and has nothing to do with Santa Claus-like flying steam engines.
The idea of interplanetary "laser rails" may or may not have been inspired by Leiji Matsumoto's anime production, but definitely predated your forum post as well. No offense, but unless you own the rights to the show I fail to see how the idea of recreating it in Factorio should be uniquely attributed to you. I would be more concerned that you were copying Kiplacon's train ramps from Renai Transportation.
I am not joking.
Furthermore, this was actually my second request to ask for a launch ramp. My first one was way back in the days of Early Access, around 2016 or so. My original post predates the roadmap by a few years.
For clarity however, I must add that the space elevator concept is a good idea. I'd be fine with that if it were just being used to transport standard vehicles, people and goods, etcetera, to starships at an orbital base. The fact that it is used to transport trains instead of a launch ramp, that's what I'd consider the perversion. (Because it's the same concept as my idea, but different visuals and different execution.)
Also technically it's two anime and a manga: Galaxy Express Three-Nine is the anime and manga, but there is also the eponymous Galaxy Railways, which is a spinoff of GE999. Additionally, it's not just steam engines that fly in GR, but diesels too. The Flame Swallow (red and white train that you can see if you rewind the video and play it from the beginning) is clearly not a steam engine. In fact it has more in common with a streamlined diesel. Additionally, some of the trains are based on electrified locomotives and trainsets such as the high speed bullet trains of Matsumoto's native Japan. And it's not just passenger trains that gets this treatment, there are also freight trains, switchers, orbital stations and yards, and everything else that comes with a planetary railway network. This one just happens to primarily exist in space.
Additionally, Factorio is uniquely qualified for this concept since the trains in Galaxy Railways are armed with both energy-based artillery and independent aerospace fighters, something you don't see any other place other than Factorio. They're basically space battleships on tracks. (Also technically the trains in Galaxy Express Three-Nine are armed too, but not all the time, and no aerospace fighters. They do however, utilize the same artillery car as in Galaxy Railways sometimes.)
So while I do not own the rights to the show, I was the first to recognize that this game is uniquely qualified to recreate it, to the letter. I also recognized this before this particular item was on the roadmap. The idea should therefore be attributed to me and me alone. "My way, or the highway."
On an off-topic note, if you're interested in the anime in question, I highly recommend watching both of them. Both Three-Nine and the first season of GR had english-language dubs, both being distributed by Funimation. However neither the second season of GR (AKA Eternal Divergence) nor the various GR and GE3-9 OVAs have dubs. There are SIGNIFICANT changes that occur between Season 1 and Season 2, so you need to get used to the idea of subtitles.
Also, some advice? Both Three-Nine and GR have a HEAVILY emotional start to them. NEITHER are for the faint of heart - they're uncensored and people do die, right in front of you. But if you can successfully get into them, both Three-Nine and GR become as potent and message-driven as something like Star Trek. Honestly? I'm surprised they don't have a much bigger following.