Intersnout System

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Aporkalypse Intersnout network, major highways, and proposed routes as of 19 May 2011. Existing roads are solid; proposed routes are dashed; safe areas are green. This is a suggested layout, not a master plan, and builders are welcome to engineer their own routes.

The Intersnout System (Dwight D. Eisenham National System of Interstate and Defense Highways) forms a number of trunk highways in Aporkalypse and Reporkalypse. The system was devised by crapmatic in February 2011 as a means of linking far-flung towns and cities to one another, though this occurred shortly before the great Tram Expansion of March 2011 which caused trams to become the de-facto backbone of intercity connections. Intersnouts are still important for getting around locally, especially they are heavily signposted and simplify getting to places through hilly and marshy terrain.

Some players are advocates of a more natural look for Aporkalypse roads, towns, and cities, with narrow gravel paths or no paths at all. On the other hand, the wide and open Intersnouts are ideally suited for the fast and fragile horses which appeared in the V1.6 update in summer 2013.

Aporkalypse

Routes

Major Intersnout routes are as follows:

• Intersnout 75, a.k.a. Porky R. Pig Expressway, is the original Intersnout, first built in February 2011 by mapcratic and extended significantly by joecacti and others. There are currently two segments of Intersnout 75 that will eventually be joined up:

* Main I-75 starts at Porkton, leading west then north to Hub St. John's and to a junction with the I-77 (Algebracon Expressway). From the junction it proceeds north about 6 km to Sunrise, then another 4 km onward to the North Wall Portal, and then outside the snow wall across the Great Northern Ocean to Cochonia.

* South Pole I-75 was built in spring 2012. A 6-km segment was built southwestward from the South Pole deep into empty territory outside the snow wall. It also extended 2 km into the snow wall, with a pilot road extending 6 km northward to Occidental. As of August 2012 it is planned for this to link up to the Intersnout 95 extension south of Shroom. This would form a single continuous road from the North Pole to the South Pole. When this happens, Intersnout 95 will cease to exist and the road will become part of Intersnout 75.

• Intersnout 77, a.k.a. the Algebracon Expressway, is a highway that runs from an interchange with Intersnout 75 to Algebracon.

• Intersnout 60 is a highway that runs from Porkton to New Hamsterdam to Ankh-Morpork and beyond. It is now nearly at Deep Blue, and will be extended soon to (Name Withheld) at x7925, z3277, and then eventually to the East Pole.

• Intersnout 95 is a highway that runs from I75 north of Porkton to GammonGetIt and The Shroom, and as of August 2012 extends southeastward toward Occidental. There it will meet with a northward extension of I-75 from the South Pole. As this will join the North Pole with the South Pole, the Intersnout 95 road will then cease to exist and this road will become part of Intersnout 75.

Proposed routes

While the endpoints of Intersnouts are designed to connect cities, the routing is usually planned to maximize the number of visitable tourist attractions and provide a scenic trip. The Intersnout also has a number of high-priority routes which are thought to be in highest demand. These include:

• Morepork - New Ham - Porkton - BDP - Hub St John (now Interstate I-60; partially built)
• Alashyre - Morepork - Besterly - Occidental - John Boren (proposed as I-45; not built).

Engineering standards

Any player is welcome to participate in extending an Intersnout or building a new one. Though mapcratic and joecacti are in charge of the project, any player may work on the Intersnout system and be as creative as they like, as long as the standards below are adhered to. Raw materials are located in an underground office close to Apork spawn (accessed inside the birthday cake) and also in an office at Repork spawn, and can be used as long as they are for the Intersnout builds.

Unless a specific variation is intended for aesthetic purposes, any roadway desiring to become an Intersnout route shall meet these simplified standards:

• General design. Care shall be taken to ensure that Intersnouts are strongly differentiated from minor roads through signage and design considerations. Birch logs are being phased in as material for Intersnout signposts.
• Pavement width. Minimum width of the roadway shall be 5 meters (5 blocks), consisting of cobble. Near cities or wherever an aesthetic look is desired, add trim on each side for a total width of 7 meters. The trim material may be either smooth slab or smooth brick slab. If a road has trim, the cobble width can be reduced to 4 blocks wide instead of 5 (for a total width of 6 meters) to conserve material.
• Curves. Highways shall be curved gradually. Absolutely no 90-degree turns are allowed.
• Slopes. Intersnouts will be sloped as minimally as possible. Do not allow the road to follow the slope of steep terrain; instead, use roadcuts and bridges. Any slopes shall be shallow, using alternating half-height and full-height blocks. Stairs will not be used. Travelers must never need to jump while walking an Intersnout route.
• Lighting. Torch or jack-o-lantern lighting will be installed at frequent intervals. We recommend the Backstreet Boys system: play an MP3 of "Backstreet's Back", and start walking, and put a torch down at every beat of the bass drum. It doesn't have to be perfect.
• Monster protection. Hostile mobs no longer exist in Apork, so the content here does not apply, though shelters are still sometimes built out of tradition or to mine materials for roadbuilding. In worlds with hostile mobs, Intersnouts should be built 8 to 20 meters above ground to avoid monster attacks, with half-height cobble for road surface (mobs do not spawn on half blocks) and lighting wherever trim or non-half block surfaces exist. Surface Intersnout highways in hostile territory will be equipped with secure roadside shelters every 500 meters with essentials for travelers seeking refuge.
• Highway numbers. Intersnout number assignments will be 2-digit for main routes or 3-digit for minor routes.
• Exit numbers. Exit numbers, if used, shall be posted in decameters (hundreds of meters) according to distance away from the highway start. For example, an exit at 2400 meters from the highway start will be known as Exit 24. Unofficial ramps and exits are always permissible as long as the highway itself is not damaged.
• Signs. It is important to place informative signs such as Intersnout name, places, distances, and points of interest at frequent intervals. Do not use free-standing signs; instead, affix them to birch log signposts. These signposts may not be placed on any part of the roadway or the trim (they must be on raw ground next to the trim or roadway).
• Distance measurements. Highway engineer joecacti has determined that any distance in meters can be calculated by multiplying minutes elapsed during a walk by 254, or seconds elapsed by 4.23. You can also look at your statistics in Minecraft where it shows distance walked, and make calculations that way.