| v.neck's new blocks review | 23 Jun, 2013 |
| v.neck | (15 comments, 3193 views) |
Hey peoples 
and welcome to a TM2 Staidum - NEW BLOCKS !!! review done by v.neck. In this review I will cover pretty much every single of the new added blocks, their viability on modern (FS) tracks and give my very personal opinion on it. Now, this might come up a bit prematurely, since I haven't even built a legit track out of those new blocks yet, but I spent my last day and a half well testing and figuring out how these blocks work and how you can use them. Furthermore I tested the mechanics on different speed, the usage on different angles etc. etc. Overall I would say I've got a good handful of information and opinions to share with you, and since I wanted to be the first one who does this kind of stuff I got this one up as quickly as possible. So without much further do let's jump straight into it NOTE - this list does not follow any particular order, it's just random. So if you're looking for one certain block you probably have to search a bit, sorry. 
2-1-3 This block is more or less a 'bug-fix' in my opinion. It was missing and they finally added it. Now, with the proper use of blockmix you were able to easily forego it, but having it now will come in quite handy. Furthermore I can see it being usefull to create new jumps and/or drops with the unique angle. Not so usefull as far as tech tracks go, I can only see it being used at low speedish drifts and as height-changer. All in all a long awaited block, but it turns out to be only semi-usefull. 
7-1-(1-7) - Underground blocks First off, since these blocks are very similar to each other I will cover them entirely at once, rather than writing about each one individually. So, as a heavy blockmixer I already built tons of underground sections back in TMNF, having this being implemented into the actual game though gave me chills, bigtime. Unfortunally it turned out to be not what I expected whatsoever. Reason being - you can't go underground into dirthills, you can't build stuff above underground parts, and the blocks itself are pretty lackluster when I comes to viability. On top of that the road you are supposed to drive on these blocks is unreasonably thin. But first things first, to explain you the blocks very quick, in case you have not checked them yourself, there are 7 blocks out of the first pack, 5 in the second one and 8 on the third. I will cover the third and the second one separately and individually, because we def. have some winners there that need to be mentioned. However as far as the first pack goes, there are variations out of straight parts, 90 degree turns, larger 90 degree turns, and a multi direction block (basically crossroads), as well as a non-covered and covered version of it. Unfortunately these turns are not large enough. Every single of these blocks is based on a thin road-line surrounded by two layers of dirt. Both the road and the dirt have the same mechanics as the usual road, or dirt street. That leads to a big problem. Having this incredible thin line renders all these blocks very useless at higher speeds. You can of course use them to great effect on tech and dirt tracks, but FS tracks will suffer by the narrowness of these block, making only low speed starts, and straight up's and down's possible. Overall I was, and am very disappointed by the usefulness of these blocks. Having that said though I do believe that, once the unlimiter is out, we may have some great mixes with these blocks, used as a legit underground block then. Besides that, you can use them as guiding scenery as holes on the ground, too. They look quite fancy, and I'm sure we'll see that from time to time being used. 
4-2-3 Okay, I know this one, along with the other ground-platform variations are not actually new, since there were added in one of the latest patches already, but I don't care. I hadn't had the chance to play with either of them as of yet, so I consider them as though they were new. Anyway, this block guys, is my clear winner. By far the best block they added to the game, and I'm gonna call it, we are gonna see this block being used in every single track. Now this might almost sound like a bad thing, because things might get very repetitive, but it's absolutely not. This block is so versatile, there must be at least a hundred possible ways to use it. Being able to now connect ground with platform, without any sort of transition, is just insane. Fullspeed tracks will have so much more use for dirt/ground because of this, and even tech, dirt ... you can use it in every single genre. Of course being able to use it on dirt-hills is just the icing on the cake. Simply marvelous block. I can't wait to build stuff with it, well done nadeo. 
4-2-2 This block, is not quite as awesome as the previous one (4-2-3), but still, we will see some good use of it. You can use it as a bit more of a 'rough' way to connect ground with platform, but most of the part this block is great because of the synergy between the 7-3-7 underground block. Stack them together and - voilá here is your platform to underground transition. Note - such as the 4-2-3 and the 4-2-5 this block is sightly different to the air variations of it, thus causing an horizontal transition between them to either not work, or will result in a little drop (depending which way you're going, ground to air variation will lead to a drop, the other way around into a crash). Nevertheless this error will not affect any vertical transitions between ground and air variations, since their angle perfectly match up at the point were they meet. 
4-2-5 The looser of the triple stack of ground platforms in my opinion. Too little good use of it, except some bumpy ground to platform transitions and maybe some underground to this block jumps. Def. more of a fringe pick, but with some creativity you may do something out of it. Oh and of course you can use it just as the 4-2-3 block in conjunction with the 7-3-7 underground block to great effects. 
7-2-3/4/5 The 'cosmetic' underground blocks, a sign, turbo and a pole. These look pretty cool, and the turbo and the sign blocks are rather useful. The pole however is absolute garbage, it requires you to be at least half on the dirt part, which is pretty bad for FS. Dirt tracks may have some use for it, but all in all that block's the clear looser of this stack. One thing I was a bit disappointed about is the fact, you cannot drive across the signblock, it's JUST too thin T_T 
7-3-7 This one will make some good underground parts at high speeds, by either driving in, or out of it. With the synergy of the recently new added ground platforms it opens up really nice possibilities and I can't wait to build my first underground transitions with this block. 
4-5-5 Useless block. You easily solved the problem putting it on the ground with very simple blockmix, putting it on the ground now leads to an ugly rim which you need to cover with, guess what - blockmix. Nadeo should have thought about better blocks instead of an useless one like this. 
6-1-6 / 6-2-5 Well, cool. Always good to have other start blocks. Useful for dirt tracks, situational on others. This will hopefully lead to new track-starts, which is always a good thing. 
7-3-4 The only underground block that allows you to drive across it. Essential block, but since it's the only one of that kind things are quite limited. Looks great for making tunnels, and the road-variation is quite welcome too, nice little block! 
7-2-2 Yet another start. This time for underground. I already mentioned the downsides about the underground parts before, so with that, a start is actually rather useful in my opinion. I can see some good use of this block with new beginning jumps out of the ground and stuff like that. Useful! 
7-3-8 On of the more fancy blocks out there... underground loops guys, hell yeah. The transition from loop to road on this block seemed slightly sloppy at times, but overall it came along pretty nicely and opens up a variety of new loop uses. Note that you can use the backside of this block as a transition from ground to it too. It functions with the exact same angle as the 4-2-2 does, and is therefore pretty good for creating narrow transitions of that kind on a lower pace. 
4-5-6 If you would have asked about one/two years ago I'd have told you this is THE most awaited and needed block for me. Now don't get me wrong it's still very useful, and I can see it being used, but honestly I've learned to deal with the old metalmesh-road block. This just may be me, but I dare say every top tier trackbuilder should not need this one. Now having that said, I'm thinking very much so inside the box, there may be some amazing uses of this block, esp. in conjunction with diagonal lines, walls and tubes and these sort of things, but in the modern FS meta the only thing this block will do is make people lazy. In TMNF people had to deal with the tweaked version of this block, only having half of a block size covered with the mesh, now though, having this block makes things very easy and simple, people don't need to figure out a smart solution anymore, they simple use this block. All in all it's a good block, but it also might be a step in the wrong direction. We'll have to see how things turn out. Oh and by the way, it's great for scenery! 
7-3-3 An underground variation of the 2-1-5 block, very useful, very good block. I can see this being used very frequently, due to it's great shape and superb synergy with sloped roads and underground parts. Much alike the platform to underground block this one is great for FS, though I def. can see it being useful in any other kind of track, too. All that makes the block very versatile and I'm looking forward to see some sick underground parts with it. 
7-3-2 This block is a slight variation of the 7-3-3 block, shaped like the 2-1-3, and brings up a different angle and positioning for the point where you can jump off or into it. All in all this is less useful, since you can only make a smooth run along it with very low speed, but it's great for some drops I think, so pretty good block. 
7-3-1 The looser of the underground-to-road transition stack. The block has the same shape as the 2-1-2 block, and therefore can only be used to very similar measures. F.e. a platform downhill into this block combo, would work pretty well, but I can't really think about much other great use of it. 
7-3-5/6 This is the dirt variation of the underground transition, very situational pick up in FS, a key block for dirt tracks, esp. the longer variation seems very legit. 
6-6-8/9 Useless block. I have no idea why the hell you would want that, seriously.. /e: ^ keep in mind this statement is only pointed towards fs tracks. Dirt tracks will clearly benefit by this block since more cp's are always great to prevent cuts. Even though you still could solve that by a cp-ring mixed into it, but this one is def. a prettier solution. 
9-1-11 This is one of the most unique blocks of that patch. You can either use it as a ground block (left) or put it in the air (right). unfortunately neither of these variation makes it very useful. The air variation has got a pretty good height (a tad bit higher than road) but since the rim makes it impossible to make a proper jump off that thing, it's got very limited use. The ground variation can work as a slight bump up from ground to road f.e, if you drive along the rim at high speed. All though having better and less bugged options to do that makes this block sorta useless. Thus I can only see it being used for scenery. Quite sad if you think about what they could have done with it. I'm a bit disappoint 
/e: and of course this block's main function is to display online winners, but who cares right 
So... that's about it. I know there are some blocks I have not mentioned, and well, reason being - they're just very similar to other ones I did cover, and doing it all over again seemed a bit silly to me, so I just let them out to make things a bit shorter, overall. Anyway I really hope you enjoyed my first blog-post (give me feedback ) and I hope you'll stick with me, my tracks and further blog-posts in the near future. Before I'll post a new post I will most likely build a track first to get a bit into this community and of course, the game, but I'll see how things goes and yeah, I lost it.. anyway thanks for reading! Bye-bye.
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| serujio writes ... | 25, Jun, 2013 |
frostbeule made a video about the blocks too, and he also didnt figure out that it was a podium block, it´s just pretty funny, not stupid  . Nice review 
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| v.neck writes ... | 25, Jun, 2013 |
yeah I know.. I'm an idiot ^^ not doing my research haha 
thanks for your overall nice feedback though
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| serujio writes ... | 25, Jun, 2013 |
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9-1-11 is a podium block
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| Joost writes ... | 24, Jun, 2013 |
wormi says: Nope 
What made you think so? |
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| C4Freak writes ... | 24, Jun, 2013 |
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really nice to see all the new blocks good job mate!
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| Hans Holo writes ... | 24, Jun, 2013 |
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| nevermind.wp writes ... | 24, Jun, 2013 |
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Agree with wormi on that one.Nevertheless, from what I've experienced so far, I agree with pretty much everything you said.
Nice review V 
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| arzgaa writes ... | 23, Jun, 2013 |
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Great review, was neat to read
I don't own tm2 yet but was a joy to read about the new blocks this way. And dayum, i'm gonna want to get to the game asap I can spare the cash for it
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| eyebo writes ... | 23, Jun, 2013 |
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Nice review.
Besides what those guys below said, I might add that 4-5-6 will be great for RPGs. You can cover the roof but still let light in through these mesh holes. Because of the new lighting engine, this block becomes even more important for TM2S. |
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| wormi writes ... | 23, Jun, 2013 |
| Joost did you build E03? | |
| Joost writes ... | 23, Jun, 2013 |
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Really neat review, you did miss some points as mentioned before, but it's no biggie
Talking about BM when the game is still fresh is kinda uneasy for me, but maybe I'm too old-fashioned on that matter though. |
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| SnailMail writes ... | 23, Jun, 2013 |
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great post here,thank you
I´m not so in the FS thing,but I really like the new underground blocks 
think they fit well with all kind of dirt blocks..... so thx NADEO for bringing out these blocks,perhaps we will get some others soon ? |
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| v.neck writes ... | 23, Jun, 2013 |
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@ wormi: accepted my opinion about this was pointed very much towards fs tracks, but you're right, on dirt tracks this might be a great anti-cut block.
@ daniel/space: whoops. no I did not know this thank you for your information and feedback
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| Space writes ... | 23, Jun, 2013 |
| great post. last block is podium if you didn't know, online the winner cars are shown on it with a fancy cam. | |
| wormi writes ... | 23, Jun, 2013 |
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6-6-8/9 , the checkpoint on dirt. Useful as hell to remove cuts, gives a lot more options to build before & after it. Otherwise I agree with all
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