There is no way for highway (without bitumen)

[€e$y]

Recently, one of my chars found some bitumen. He was a little bit suspicious about that gadget, so he sniff around and bite a lump of bitumen and… he throw away it. You can ask me why?
Because my charrie thought that he couldn’t use this and won’t sell it to anybody. Who need bitumen in Cantr?
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So, I suggest to widen the usage of bitumen through adding it to the highways-building. Let’s say about 500 grams per road of medium length. It could depend from the length of the road. Highways are very good roads, so I think they are worth special treatment. Wikipedia says that: “bitumen is primarily used for paving roads”. It is used for bonding the road, as far as I’m concerned.

You can get bitumen in Cantr in two ways:
1) you can dig it (100 gram per day, without tools)
2) you can purify it from oil (with gas purifier - purify bitumen: output per day of labour: 130 grams of bitumen; required resources: 200 grams of oil, 20 grams of coal or wood)


Implemention of this suggestion will:
1) give a nice usage of bitumen (it will be worth of digging and trading),
2) give a new usage for oil (also new possibilities for trading),
3) give a new purpose to use gas purifier,
4) make building roads more curious and challenging.

[Piscator]

Roads currently require oil to be build. I assume it was meant to simulate the bitumen used in the road surface. I have no clue why it doesn't require bitumen directly.

[SekoETC]

Sounds like a good suggestion. Of course it would make road building somewhat more difficult but it's not supposed to be too easy.

[Cogliostro]

Great suggestion, I think.

[Dudel]

I'm not sure what the effects on programming this would have but if moderately easy to do... I say go for it!


Side Note: I didn't even know Cantr had "bitumen".

[SekoETC]

I think it grows in the wild on the Finnish island (but I still have no idea of where the Finnish island is in relation to the other islands).

[Marcia]

Bitumen is also on Polish islands...

It's Great idea!
I hate things which don't have any usage (who seals envelopes?) or you can use it only once (vide tongs).

[Doug R.]

It would have been a good suggestion years ago, but it seems too late now.

Developed islands have most of their roads already upgraded, at least the important ones, and in any case would not have any trouble adapting to the change, whereas primitive areas that would have the hardest time improving their roads would suddenly find it even more difficult.

Adding a road improvement type with bitumen -or- oil would be a more equitable option, making it easier for places with natural bitumen to have a positive advantage, without making it harder for anyone.

If roads ever began to deteriorate, then perhaps the original suggestion would become timely, but I think, for now, that ship has left port.

[€e$y]

Developed islands have most of their roads already upgraded, at least the important ones, and in any case would not have any trouble adapting to the change, whereas primitive areas that would have the hardest time improving their roads would suddenly find it even more difficult.

I can't agree with this Doug, because primitive areas don't build highways very often (my suggestion was adding bitumen ONLY to highways-buliding). It is more common for developed islands to build more advanced road type. I know there are in game special brigades from bigger cities, which are building roads. And I think that highway should be more difficult to be built than other roads (maybe the reason of that is because I'm living in Poland, where highways are rare )

Adding a road improvement type with bitumen -or- oil would be a more equitable option, making it easier for places with natural bitumen to have a positive advantage, without making it harder for anyone.

Good remark! I'm for it.
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EDIT: I was just thinking one more time about all this resources, which are useless or almost useless in the game. Maybe we should try to think about new usages of reed, mud, bitumen, obsidian etc.) Maybe it's worth new topic?

I knowe there is one, but when you try sth from beginning it's easier to catch up new ideas