Originally posted by alpharius:

Never tried it but I doubt the amount of beams matter - right?

Sort of but not really. Each piece has its own stats for how much stability it needs and can transmit, and larger pieces have bigger numbers so it works out about the same. Best to place the larger pieces on the bottom for the same reason you place stone under wood.

its all about the ground. If you stuff the starting point into the terrain and go across to meed another tile stuffed into the terrain, and use ironwood supports, its about 20 or so 2x2 floor tiles. Additional support up from the ground or on the diagonal etc will add a bit more, but exceeding 30 by much without a true ground point somewhere else is going to be tricky. If you go up from ground and then across, it cuts your distance quickly.

When you go up, you need braces... here is an example, a longboat fits under this during a storm.

If the diagonal braces were not up the structure would fall apart.

This is a lot of covered iron beam work.

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2766713006

Do truss bridges work or isn't the physics working this way?

Trusses, not even slightly. The only thing it cares about is how much abstract 'stability' score is transmitted through the parts connecting each element to the ground.

Diagonal beams bracing the span from below can help a little, because they're treated as vertical supports so effectively shorten the cantilever.

Originally posted by Mharr:

Trusses, not even slightly. The only thing it cares about is how much abstract 'stability' score is transmitted through the parts connecting each element to the ground.

Diagonal beams bracing the span from below can help a little, because they're treated as vertical supports so effectively shorten the cantilever.

Never tried it but I doubt the amount of beams matter - right?

Originally posted by Frozztastic:

Honestly...just test it!

thanks for nothing

https://steamuserimages-a.akamaihd.net/ugc/1843665539770010061/524C2E514A747F36F56A8BC4651CB20398CA017D/?imw=5000&imh=5000&ima=fit&impolicy=Letterbox&imcolor=%23000000&letterbox=false

That image is a perfect example, stone for the vertical support and core wood for the span. Possibly with an iron frame (and some hidden earthworks inside the towers) that could be stone flooring for the entire horizontal part, but that's tricky. Stone in particular does *not* like going sideways.

Originally posted by InsectWhore:

https://steamuserimages-a.akamaihd.net/ugc/1843665539770010061/524C2E514A747F36F56A8BC4651CB20398CA017D/?imw=5000&imh=5000&ima=fit&impolicy=Letterbox&imcolor=%23000000&letterbox=false

DAAAAAAMMMMNNNN

In general about 1/8 as far as you can build vertically. Bridges pretty much require stone and core wood if you want space underneath and iron makes a huge difference.

Note that horizontal support is cumulative, the first piece that falls will probably hold as part of a completed span, so temporary vertical supports are a thing.

Honestly...just test it!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gD3YQGufXgA

This is a bit of an older video, but Firespark's videos are generally pretty good as far as facts go. (I disagree with a lot of his opinions, but he's got a great way of explaining the fundementals.)