Sitemap :
- See also Real_Trolleys_and_Subs_and_Trains
- See also Bathyspheres
- See also Atlantic Express
- See also Trolley_System
- See also Transportation Stuff
- See also Port_Of_Rapture
- See also Submarines For Rapture
- See also Watertight_Doors_and_Bulkheads ( Walking is also 'Transportation )
- See also Streets , Tunnels , Viaducts
- See also Derp_Transportation_in_Columbia
- See also Trams
- See also Vehicle_Use_In_Rapture
- See also TechnicalDrawings (Diagrams)
automobile what modern cities have .... Roads being the lack in Rapture
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Bathyspheres in Rapture were not ANYTHING like Automobiles. The gamewriters attempted to imply it was (a little), but the setting was not conducive to its practicality. ( Bathyspheres and their Infrastructure were far too complex, inflexible and expensive to be anything like Automobiles were in the Surface World. ) Do understand ALSO that Rapture's population is of the magnitude of 20000 [1], which would not be the scale of something in a City 100 times larger than Rapture AND the added transport needs of all the country OUTSIDE this city which Rapture does not possess.
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AND On THE OTHER HAND : FloatyShitz(tm) could(should) have been used far more in Infinite BS's Columbia - The Real World was buzzing with revolutions in Public Transit by 1893, and further by 1912 with Automobiles/Trucks/Buses/Motorcycles. BUT then, that required the gamemakers to have alot more City for the Player to explore, AND a far more fluid gameplay than Infinite's mediocre/run-of-the-mill maze-level terrain and choreographed events.
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Within The City
Rapture Transportation :
Rapture is a town/city which likely had 10000+ workers who needed to get around every day, and there is all the sustenance for the population to be moving all across Rapture.
There really is no equivalent to the flexible Automobile/Truck transport there which became central to American cities in the 20th Century.
Rapture needed something more substantial than 'Bathyspheres' (or 'Subs') for its mechanized transportation. Large numbers of passengers AND great masses freight need to move everywhere in the City. Those (grand) Huge/clumsy Bathysphere stations too far and few between ( YOU DO NOT see all what HAS to be there BELOW them - the needed machinery ). That coupled with the Bathysphere vehicles's small size (small capacity), they would be wholly insufficient for the Busy City's needed transport.
The AE seen in BS2 was more like the city's main arteries ( more like a subway train ), and could move bulk but was quite limited in flexibility. Its stations were too complex and large.
The Pneumo ( which potentially COULD be used for *small* freight ) is limited in size, and in any case wasn't added/operational until quite late in Rapture's history.
Walking and bicycling is only sufficient for local traversals ( not sufficient for mass cross city transit/transport ).
The Trolley/Trams with their 'street' paths ( and with no bothersome water interfaces ) could be more effective, and would be far more extensive so as to sufficiently/efficiently interconnect Rapture's many building clusters ( we saw only a minute representation of its Trolley system ). A system criss-crossing all of Rapture with Viaducts and Tunnels would be required.
Rapture really was only a caricature of a city, purpose-built in that form, so could have its transport systems tailored without having to self-form as had most real world cities. Skipping the historic 'automobile' component could be done as the City was largely pre-planned to incorporate alternate transport.
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SO Now How Do The Majority of Citizens in Rapture Get Around ? :
Operating a Submarine is like an Airplane - If anything critical goes wrong you are Dead :
Bathysphere complexity requires more maintenance (expense), and bother to make use of. Facilities required for use are not some dirt road or curbside street access ( possible with automobiles ) - the Bathyspheres require complex 'docks', which likely cost far more than the subs themselves.
Basically in Rapture, submarines would simply be rich people's toys ( even the Transit Bathyspheres are 'premium' travel for any kind of day-to-day use. ) There wouldn't be the monstrous industrial infrastructure, with economy of scale (ie- massive assembly line production), to mass-produce submarines cheaply (and they still ARE far more complex than autos are), like even luxury cars are now in our world. ( They are near to being hand made, which makes them 20 to 50 times more expensive. ) So multiply the equivalent costs to build such complex machines by many times further. In Rapture's population, How many could there really be ? - Who all could afford them ? Few enough that facilities for them would be limited as well reducing their utility even further.
Mass public transit like the Trolleys and the Atlantic Express ( which because of the distances within Rapture is more like a Subway system ) would be the primary methods for people to get around the city.
The Atlantic Express was used to build the city (initial funding), and has a limited route map. In-game it is shown to have already gone bankrupt for the passenger business.
Bicycles ( if you could get rid of the unneeded stairs ) and walking short distances would also play their part.
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This is for New York City ( 9 million people versus 20 thousand for Rapture ).
A consideration for any such system is that it required enough equipment for the "Rush Hours", which often needed to be Three Times the capacity of any other time of day.
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Real World Transit Systems Don't Make Profits (Rapture Transit) :
That was the reality by Rapture's Time, and starting to be true by Columbia's.
So who would pay to maintain a system that makes no profit in Rapture ? The users ... ( and if it exceeds practicality for them, then it just never happens/or fails ). The Fares in a 'pay as you go' system there would be high.
Bathyspheres would HAVE HAD to be more like automobiles to have an advantage over the other public transit ( which we did not see other than obscure hints "Austin Streamliner" ... ), and even then the overhead of the simplest facilities required to facilitate them would put Personal Bathyspheres outside the affordability range of many/most citizens. ( The grand Stations we see are neither the simplest part nor even a fraction of all such facilities which would HAVE to be common throughout the city ).
SO, effective TRANSIT is back to the Trolleys/Trains and 'Streets' ( which at least could be partially cost-alleviated by being built INTO the city from the start ) being the City's transit/transportation backbone used by the majority of Rapturites. Perhaps Motorized Bikes ... Etc ...
Still, even the cheapest transportation expenses in Rapture's Economy would add to everything's Cost (not being subsidized), thus skewing the economy somewhat. Consider that railroads were America's first mega-industry, and in Rapture the transport systems would be something similar.
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The whole "Bathyspheres bankrupted the AE" is actually unlikely -- and more the product of writers facilitating the game's inter-Level data 'loading' (cutscene) mechanism than anything story logical. ( Note - How the BS2 Writes brought the trains back to have something different from the previous game's Level transition mechanism ).
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The Transit Will Actually Transit :
NO FAKE/ILLOGICAL SYSTEM LIKE IN Infinite BS ...
- The MMORPG game's ocean scenery terrain is actually going to be in the game world (in detail) not just a backdrop.
- The trips via the Metro and Atlantic Express will actually show the terrains and current activities ( both human and Sea_Life ) going on out there as you are transported.
- Since the Metro (in places) is suspended on Cables high over the cityscape ( like the Skyride at Disneyland ) you will be able to look down on large vistas of the City ( hopefully with more of those impressive city lights turned back on ).
- While you take a simulated long trip (mere minutes) you can peruse some of your mini-games and check up on what your 'team' is up to via the Team Task interface or check your mail.
- The Bathyspheres lockout that Ryan ordered was later broken by Hackers ( became common knowledge ), besides any that Jack released for his 'Evil' ending. By later times they were mostly disused because the cableway mechanisms no longer were functioning from lack of maintenance. The City is trying to restore the Metro system as fast as possible.
- From time to time there will be 'breakdowns' that will require either transit delays or even rescue. Likely at Rush Hour you will have to wait in some lines to board your 'sphere to your intended destination. The City is taking great efforts to improve service and to expand capacity of its Transit systems.
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Rapture Maintenance Transport :
Alot of various machinery in Rapture was sized to be assembled from parts which had to be shipped via the City's transport system AE/Submarines/Trolleys/Airlocks/halls/passages/doorways/elevators, and thus had to fit a Standard size restrictions.
Likewise, City Utility machinery which would be transported via the Utility Trams were restricted in size. ( Reaching many places via the sewer viaducts. )
(( Who knows what the hell 'maintenance' is for Columbia - probably just have one guy with a magic wand... ))
Some Diagrams
The Trains - Atlantic Express - the backbone of Rapture, and the Trolley system - the Arteries :
Blueprint_extraction - Freight Loco/boxcar -
TRAINS
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Trains to Planes :
Prentice Mill was being forced to sell out his Atlantic Express passenger service because the Metro Transit ( Austen and other companies had outcompeted him with the more flexible/extensive Trolley and Bathysphere systems ). The Freight system continued ( a reason why parts of it was still working 8 years later to be used in BS2 ... ) but the cost of passenger operations made them unprofitable ( insufficient passengers, inflexible destinations, maintaining all the extra equipment/facilities required for Rush Hour crowds - all real world issues ). The same things happened to US passenger train operations in the 1950s ( replaced by bus, planes and automobiles ) and commuter lines have NEVER been profitable anywhere - always subsidized ( which was a no-no in Rapture -- and STILL the only reason the Trolleys are profitable is because of a combined freight/express delivery service ). The Bathysphere system was more a 'prestige' operation and was supported by the charges for Private Submarines accessing the same facilities.
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The Atlantic Express Did Keep Running - FREIGHT :
- A removed Public Service Announcement from BS2 game directed civilians to use the Atlantic Express due to Ryan's genetic lockdown of Bathyspheres throughout the city. "Rapture Metro regrets to inform you all bathysphere travel is currently restricted. Please use The Atlantic Express until further notice." This would demonstrate the AE train system is still functional, despite its 'buyout' or abandonment.
- Note - that says 'Bathyspheres' instead of Trolleys ( I would strongly argue those Trolleys we saw in BS2 went far further than the 300 feet track paths as portrayed in-game ).
- The Atlantic Express would continue to be heavily used for freight traffic, and when the Metro took over much of the passenger service the profitable freight part of the AE operation remained ( again like real US Railroads ).
- Unfortunately, lack of maintenance on the AE system after Ryan's demise started to take its toll and eventually many routes no longer functioned.
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Different Atlantic Express Lines :
- The scene outside of Paupers Drop and AE Depot belongs to a much larger system than that small/limited Map seen in BS2. So that represents only a fraction of the entire AE system. The map really highlighted only that one route ( as many 'local maps' do ).
- The "Short Line" ( We take this from the AE Depot to The Abyss and Persephone ) seen in BS2 used the smaller Mk-1 cars/track built in the earliest days to facilitate the City's construction.
- Mk1 equipment was superseded by the larger capacity Mk2 cars, running thru expanded population and industrial centers of the City. Even the extensive Mk-2 system was not sufficiently flexible for passenger traffic needs and was replaced with the Metro Trolley Lines.
- Mk1s built in the early days had been relegated-to/remained-for minor 'low traffic' lines going thru 'lesser' destinations -- Like the one we rode going thru Ryan Amusements, Paupers_Drop, Dionysus_Park (which had been something else before conversion to Lamb's hoity-toity art establishment ...), Fontaine Futuristics, and terminating at the Abyss Lookout.
- The Mk2 track support girder system was designed after it was found that the concrete structures used for much of the Mk-1 lines could not stand up to increasing freight loads. The new MK2 girder system could be repaired piecemeal quickly and were stronger and responded much more flexibly to vibrations and stress. The more heavily traveled routes had their track supports switched to the new system as were all further track extensions. Some Mk-1 equipment was sold for use to a few of the later built satellite communities.
- "Line 47 - South East Branch" ( sign seen in the AE station at Fontaine Futuristics in BS2 ) :
- The Line indicated on the AE Map is not actually to Persephone ( which is adjacent to Fontaine Futuristics ), instead it runs down to a site that processed the unusual materials brought up from the Abyss ( using a water elevator system to access the great depths ) and also served as a Tourist destination.
- Grand Central Station is at the Atlantic Express Depot ( was called 'Grand Central' on Passenger Schedules and maps before the takeover ). The trains out of Rapture to all the support communities and industrial sites ( "Ryanville", "Progresston", "Prosperity", etc ... ) originated here. The largely unused state we saw in BS2 ( you can see a closed-off portal "To All Tracks" ) was years after the Metro took over and the Atlantic Express in-city passenger service was first shutdown. Later with the Bathysphere lockdown, some passenger routes were reactivated ( many the ones the Trolleys did not service ). A majority of routes eventually fell into disrepair, even though Factions outside of Lamb's reach tried to maintain them
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Blueprint of the 'Atlantic Express' Units ( seen in the workshops of the AE Depot ) :
- These Blueprints are of something NOT the AE traincars you use to travel in BS2. It does NOT match the type Delta uses. It has no window looking out the front, has different headlights ( Looks like the unit shown on one of the AE advertisements )_.
http://www.game-archivist.com/rapture ...test_Way_1.jpg ).
- The blueprint shows the unit's engine being where the operator's cabin is in the game. The arrangement looks like some kind of freight 'locomotive' type, which would be used to pull freightcars on the AE track system ( or maybe long distance trains of multiple passenger cars ).
- The Unit would be loaded with batteries ( for extended operating range ) in the midsection with a operator cab in the middle or rear end.
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Station Controls :
It is interesting looking at the fake control panels in the AE stations ( missing are the track situation/status boards that railroads usually have, with indicators for track switch positions and track occupation (showing where trains are on the tracks ). Still, those are nice Asset bits there that could be used for various 'working' machinery in the MMORPG ( as-well-as AE system controls ). A Central Dispatcher and Traffic Control would be used for Rapture's trains, and the stations controls are a redundant local set ( and since by the MMORPG time the Central System (The Thinker ?) is down and any functional AE trackage/trains will be under local 'Tower' Control ). Mini-game playing 'Train Dispatcher' would be expected to be included in the 'role playing' activities that demonstrate New Rapture's functioning infrastructure.
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Issue of 'Charging Batteries' :
- Powering the AE 'trains' by burning fuel might be used ( compressed oxygen as well a liquid fuel ), though venting the exhaust gas to the Ocean at 280+ psi would be a significant technical problem. Burning hydrolysis generated hydrogen ( burns and byproduct is water vapor which can be condensed into liquid ) could work but hydrogen fuel is bulky and doesn't have alot of BTUs for the gases volume.
- Any kind of compressed/liquid gas ( using gas expansion and 'air-motors' ) would face the same venting into sea pressure inefficiencies. Really big, really high pressure tanks are needed to overcome the exhaust problem - tanks need filling which with high pressures means hazards and extra maintenance (... expenses).
- Battery Power - Large banks of batteries (under the floor for the passenger cars and making up much of the volume of a 'locomotive') could work ( particularly since the mass of the vehicle has to be over its displacement ). Charging them constantly would have to be done ( automatic charging pads/rails on the station track, so as not to require manual and constant 'plugging-in' of charging cables ). Keeping that mechanism dry and clean and handling the constant submerging in salt water would have to be made to work. 'Pick-up' shoes that engage in-station charging rails might be simplest ( ie - practical third rail systems in the real world which work in rain, etc ... ).
- Rejected ideas :
- Atomic power units - we'll save those for the "Bioshock 5 - On the Moon" game.
- Wound up Giant Rubber bands -- who does the winding ? Actually using ultra-high RPM gyroscopic energy storage was proposed like 15-20 years ago (Popular Mechanics) for things like buses, but those things are like bombs (kinetic energy) and are not quite 'bus mechanic' friendly even today.
- ADAM enhanced Hamsters in those little spinning treadmills ... lots of them ( who will feed them and clean out the cages ??? ).
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Automatic Running :
- Trolleys had to avoid running over people in Streets, automatic stations stops and waiting for traffic ahead is much simpler.
- Bathyspheres run point to point on cables, so could run without an operator if the on-off cable switch operation could be done consistently -- nothing the AI brain of a Security Bot couldn't handle.
- Those systems broke down fairly quickly when 'civil war' curtailed maintenance.
- The trains would always have drivers to handle other contingencies, if not automatic train operation.
- For the MMORPG, there will be drivers/operators for the various transportation vehicles. The City (New Rapture) is getting some of the automatics to work again, but so far is limited to only a few of the main routes. Some of the City Jobs offered (Missions) is to be an operator of the various transit vehicles.
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Basic Underwater Physics :
62.4 lb/cubic Foot (Cubic Yard = 1684.8 lb) - Weight for water displacement ( cubic foot of water is heavy... ) :
One of the things to consider about all these undersea vehicles is that if they have internal empty volume ( ie- the passenger cabin on the AE train cars ) they have to have some massive weights somewhere in their structure to prevent them from floating away ( need to have less than a neutral buoyancy to stay on the track ).
- A heavy steel hull can easily weigh more by just making it thicker ( The 600+ ft depth works with a steel hull about 1 inch thick (40 lb/foot^2) with a more than adequate safety margin -- still not enough though ).
- The Trains would be battery powered and those batteries would weight quite alot (heavier than water) and take up much of the space below the passenger cabin deck. The mass of the traincars will be substantial, requiring the tracks to be built able to take the vibrations and acceleration forces used on such masses ( if not the real weight ).
- The 'empty weight' of the Train cars would have to be heavier than their neutral buoyancy weight to keep them hanging from the track, but unlike the Bathyspheres they need nothing complicated to maintain the neutral buoyancy since all the weight ( including added cargo ) now is supported by the track.
- The boxcar shown in the diagram could easily carry more than 30 tons of cargo.
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"Millville" one of the City's 'Plazas' ( named after Prentice Mill who designed and built the Atlantic Express system ). Lots more locations in Rapture than those shown on the BS1 and BS2 maps ( Austen Bathysphere Co and that tiny AE map ). Many names are yet to be added for the MMORPG, which would encompass the entire city and outlying sites.
Weird looking Rapture Trolleys :
- That rather odd look of the Trolley cars ( also called 'Trams' ) which are ( seen near the Olympus Heights/Apollo Square levels in BS1 ) was probably done that way because they (the Game Developers) wanted the style to look to be simulate to that of the Bathyspheres --- With that odd round door, and the spotlight clusters, and the brass decorations.
- Those Bizarre short length of those double trolley tracks running to the 'residential areas' ( the longest is only ~300 feet long ) which is way too short to be useful. The real system would extend through the Plaza/Squares ( likely on a lower 'track' level ) to continue on to the next Plaza/Square along the 'streets'. Line endpoints would usually have a loop or a switch so the trolleycar could reverse direction back along the same path on the opposite track. The street Trolley lines would interconnect (criss-cross) most of the City to serve the majority of Raptures 20000 people.
- The station platforms should be match with the Trolley car's door level. The end opening with those weird steps is just wrong ( putting the passenger down on the track - trolleys just about always have passengers enter/exit from sides ).
- Add Trolley pole for power from overhead wire ( batteries never really worked for Trolley systems ) ... Trolley wire technology was already a well proven 70 years old when Rapture was built. So add the wires also.
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AE Station and Track Layouts On the Diagram :
- We usually only saw one 'door' the train went thru in BS2 when going into the ocean. But there would need to be a second door to make a working airlock ( to transition back out into the ocean water pressure ) and even a third door set to make it a safer double airlock. Some train lines could traverse an 'air' tunnel between stations, which would not require any expensive airlocks ( though would probably have safety bulkhead doors that would only close in emergencies. )
- The AE stations are not small ( and the Mk-2 even bigger because of the much larger/longer Mk2 railcars ). They would be located below the Plaza structures ( much like some modern train stations ), usually in proximity to the seabed which they would usually run along.
- The track structures - piers, switches, wide curves, double tracks, flyovers, station bypasses are all typical railroad arrangements. No rollercoaster tight curves or steep grades.
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The City Freight System :
- What is the equivalent of 'trucks' in Rapture ??? ( You cannot supply a city with everything carried by hand ).
- The Available Freight transport systems:
- Trolleys - Freight moves at night and many buildings adjacent to the 'Streets' have freight sidings ( small items can be loaded at any Trolley stop ).
- Metro Bathyspheres - for smaller sized deliveries that warrant the higher expense (used by hand couriers)
- Atlantic Express - Higher capacity, for large/bulk shipments ( including bulk industrial movement of raw materials with Long haulage from remote sites ). AE mainlines go to the larger satellite 'support' communities ( freight and passenger traffic ).
- Trams - used for the City Maintenance/Utilities and many of the industrial sites (where AE doesn't go).
- Jet Postal - Only small things can be moved by Pneumo (and expensively)
- Submarine - required for surface supply ( a pressure sealed Bathysphere sized 'container' can carry more than 15 tons of cargo from the surface ) or moving items 'Outside' in the ocean. Heavy lift for structural components ( ie - a towed Lift Balloon the size of a Bathysphere can lift more than 25 tons and can be made much larger for large pre-made building components ).
- Freight Elevators in High-Rise buildings (cable type) and elsewhere ( hydraulics for upto ~5 floors )
- There are many Transfer points between the different systems
- Port of Rapture Submarine transport and trans-shipping ( modules/containerized )
- Moving goods from Manufacturing to Warehouses to Shops and delivery to Residences
- Delivery Services to transport individual shipments manually to small locations ( residences, shops, etc ... )
- Various Airlocks would be utilized
- Bulk Loads :
- Food and goods distribution ( source to manufacturing to shops - just 1 pound per day for 20000 people in Rapture was 10 tons along each link of the transport chain )
- Refuse hauling - garbage to a "Dump" ( where much Recycling would take place )
- Fertilizer to the Farms ( processed fishguts and sewage )
- Construction Materials and Tools/Eqipment/Machinery for the rebuilding and maintenance
- Hauling City Environmental Machinery for repairs
- The AE Freight Yard ( located to the East of the AE Depot )
- Empty traincar storage, and as a marshaling yard ("switch yard") for organizing trains to take cars to specific destinations.
- Organize train routing for various destinations in the city.
- Destinations
- Freight Rooms in building basements ( including Delivery Service locations )
- Warehouses
- City Dump ( will be subjected to recycling by the City Dump employees )
- Freight Stations throughout the City
- The Partially rebuilt/restored system currently in New Rapture :
- A priority for the City Council to get all Trolleys running on the 'Streets' within the safe zones to improve productivity (less hours wasted walking).
- The 'Under the Street' Trams largely work, just need to clear the tracks/tunnels of obstructions and rewire.
- AE system is disjoint with heavy damage outside to the trackways which will take much more effort to reconstruct.
- Metro Bathyspheres - many routes repaired (cables restrung) but the automatic routings are mostly not working.
- Jet Postal Pneumo service restored in many sections within the City's control.
- Submarines - a number working, others are being repaired/rebuilt after years of neglect.
- Hydraulic elevators were simpler and easier to fix. High-rise cable elevators are harder to get working again and so many buildings do not have them running yet.
- Missions : MMORPG Jobs related to Freight operations :
- "Mr Brown buys a New Refrigerator" ... entire path from pickup at the manufacturing plant and to the freight station near the Residence and then manhandling to the Apartment.
- Playing Train Engineer - Driving AE trains thru Rapture and delivering/picking-up cars to the many sidings.
- Trolley Service - a busy day moving people in the City ( with the standard 12 incidents of boarding passenger not having change for the fare ... ) The New Rapture City is reinstituting a 'Trolley Token' system.
- Pneumo repairman and delivery (repair a tube from a routing junction to a Pneumo Box)
- Down in The Tram system
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"Freightyard" On My Map:
Near the Atlantic Express Depot ( on my maps and is that loop you see on the AE maps in BS2 ) is the 'Freightyard', which is a long series of parallel tunnels and tracks that feed into the AE Depot ( They are pressurized all the way from the far end - with fewer Airlocks to facilitate working there ). There would be hundreds of freight cars in Rapture - boxcars, tankcars, refrigerated cars, 'flatcars' to move large structural parts and equipment. Like any railroad, unused cars need to be stored, and track provided to sort freight cars into trains for different destinations. As most of Rapture's bulk freight is moved via the AE, 'Freightyard' is the place that is done. Trains from various parts of the city (and outside Rapture) go out and come back taking freight cars to/from destinations. The location was also convenient for central redistribution of freight, so warehouses and freight transfer facilities ( Yes, we can have forklifts !! ) are also located there. For the remaining long distance passenger traffic (outside of Rapture), passenger trains were made up to run the lines to those other population centers.
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Look at the Difference in the Controls of the AE Trains and the Bathyspheres.
It is obvious that the AE control cab in BS2 is overdone ( but pretty, in a jet-airliner/moon-capsule-type complex way ), and the Bathysphere (in BS1) is too simple. Neither requires much for (Player) game function activation. A train can be guided with a handful of controls. A submarine needs many. The Bathyspheres allegedly being 'automatic', with routing between a list of destinations, that would be MUCH simpler with a system that hangs on a cable, along fixed routes.
In my Rapture I have the Bathyspheres run on Cables directly between Transit Stations ( guided/safe/reliable/routine operation ). They thus don't need many maneuvering controls, but the vehicle's environmental systems DOES need indicators and such. Both vehicles have similar complexity for their environmental controls ( which are missing/not even indicated on the Bathysphere ).
TROLLEYS
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Trolley/Streetcars/Trams - A Useful Transport System :
Metro Central (node) Consolidated system ( with main Trolley barns, maintenance facilities, Offices, Token system ) :
- Distances in Rapture ( the City is like 3 miles across in any one direction ) aren't so great as to need too many dispersed maintenance facilities.
Seals on (large track sized) Watertight Pressure doors ... ( Safety mechanisms require to prevent catastrophic failure spreading ).
- The Trolley Emergency doors have alternate 'human-sized' path and service Airlocks
- The Main door(s) cannot opened until pressure integrity is restored.
- As with other Seal Systems, they would be tested regularly and conditions constantly monitored -- even then the local systems ( which activated the Seals) were independent and redundant to make them as Failsafe as possible.
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Trolley Circa late 1940s LA (Pacific Electric)
This is closer to what the Trolleys would look like in Rapture ( They could still keep some of the stylized attempt to look like a Bathysphere ).
Same Pacific Electric Trolley (old LA system) except is a caricature ( real cars were twice as long as that ).
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Trolley Routes - minimize # of Emergency Seal doors to make them economical ( they ARE expensive ). Typical configuration :
- At minor Stations, the individual Stations are Isolated from the buildings they serve, and Access is through Securis type doors ( to isolate any catastrophic leaks into any attached buildings/Plaza ). The whole City is sectioned a bit better than the Titanic was ...
- Large (expensive) emergency doors on the Tracks located only at strategic points. 'Streets' with inhabited buildings have more frequent compartmentalization ( are inhabited, thus with a higher cost of failure ).
- Proper Trolley Cars would be used ( not those bizarre things that look like they should be pulled down Main Street in Disneyland by a horse ).
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Trolley in Place of Trucks :
- There was no equivalent in Rapture to trucks (or even wagons) that make most real cities work ( movement of bulk quantities of goods to specific locations ).
- A logical alternative was using the extensive Trolley system for local freight deliveries of all kinds ( including transfers from The Atlantic Express system ). Add freight docks at all the Plaza hubs or even in individual building complexes ( include forklifts and conveyor belt systems ).
- Alot of this 'freight' is not any kind of curb-to-curb service (as we can have), but much better than the Bathyspheres -- which are near as limited as the AE system was ( requiring hand carrying from the Metro stations - up and down steps, etc ) - I suppose there could also be some 'freight' Bathysphere docks, but that whole system is still too inflexible/limited for this use, and the shear volume of freight the city required ).
- Freight-only Trolley cars run almost as frequently as the passenger version ( and more frequently at night when passenger traffic is lighter ). Freight cars ( pulled by Trolley engines ) get parked at spur (siding) tracks at destinations for loading/unloading. Raptures 20000+ citizens required a continuous flow of consumables and other merchandise, which requires daily distribution ( moving that all that thru those Bathysphere Metro stations is laughably ludicrous when you consider it ).
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SHIPS
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Ryan's (Coverted) Shipping Fleet :
A number of freighters would be used to transport ALL (huge amount) of the material and personnel to built Rapture and then later the immigrants and their possessions.
The Olympian ? One ship is not enough. A Fleet ( of at least a dozen ships ) would probably include WW2 freighters - "Liberty" and "Victory" ships ( which would be cheap to obtain at that time after WW2 ). They would be obtained by Ryan's Surface Industrial empire which would NOT have gone away and was likely still controlled indirectly by Ryan.
Later, fewer ships would be needed, but for quite a while ( even upto and during the 'civil war' ) additional critical materials would have been delivered. Even after Ryan's "death", cargo would be delivered to Ryan's Faction.
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Freighters :
All the materials used to build Rapture had to be transported from the mainland.
THEN the People had to be transported, along with all their belongings.
Additional supplies were then delivered until the 'Closing Off' of the City around 1952.
Some subsequently needed supplies after that would have to be be delivered ( infrequently )
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Rapture ( being in the depths of the sea ) couldn't have the free flowing pedestrians and automobile traffic of a Surface City. But the Need would still be there. The game's representation of the interconnected-ness ( existing in most all cities ) was poorly shown ( Rapture needed ALOT more accessible viaducts leading to adjacent buildings and running to distant complexes for a start ). The city needed some kind of Streets to give greater flexibility to the Citizens than the limited transportation systems the game allowed for.
SUBMARINES Out In The Ocean
Required for City Construction, and then Moving-In the Immigrants, and then handling the Supply Imports
Based at Port_Of_Rapture.
Fishing Fleet operating at Neptunes Bounty
need diagram of a 'fishing sub'
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"Bathyspheres" Effectively Were Submarines :
The model from the game. A real submarine/submersible NEEDS to have big propeller things if its expected to move ( and move fast enough for 'Metro Transit' ). This detail picture shows little to provide for that. Such a vehicle would have only a VERY limited range, and thus couldn't reach anywhere reasonable ( as to any land - with Rapture being at least 300 miles from even Iceland ) as is alleged in the game story.
Simpler : These game things called 'Bathyspheres' are a form of 'Cable Car' - Latching onto a cable that propels the vehicle and its occupants between fixed Cable stations in Rapture - as a FAR FAR more plausible mechanism.
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Transit for the Rich and Famous. But ...:
Most of the original city was reachable by the transport systems ( Streets/Trolley/Trams/Atlantic Express ) even though some 'Ritzy' locations preferring to think themselves 'Exclusive' might be only reachable by the Deluxe Metro service. The small Utility Tram lines run everywhere in the city to service the maintenance systems ( and to deliver small Freight where the Trolley systems did not extend ). It would be hard to 'fathom' (punny) that Hoity-Toity establishments like the Adonis Spa would use Metro Bathyspheres to haul away their inevitable garbage accumulations, or be the only method which the Staff used to get to work every day. Bigwigs might travel by Private Sub, but their Trash would take the Tram.
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NEEDED - A Sub Vehicle Small Enough To Fit Into The Standard Airlocks :
Squarish shape to fit all what needs to be contained ( a cockpit big enuf for a 'cumfy chair' - side by side seat ... ) within its volume, mechanism within and without the thick pressure hull.
Roll-in (small wheels) from outside ( nice track slots on the ground to guide in alignment ), the airlock cycles, and the vehicle rolls inside ( reverse all to go out ).
Small as 6 x 6 foot 'H x W door plate', and a little longer for length
Vehicle Still will weigh tons ( Approx 6 x 6 x 6 foot cube is 216 cubic feet = 13,484 lb of water displaced - almost 7 tons !!! )
Pretty sturdy wheels under that ( not meant to roll about inside much - just on a reinforced concrete rollway to park and on the external 'landing pad' )
A winch inside and a door on the front for 'ingress and egress' to manually work the winch mechanism to clear the airlock ( no automatics and 'winch is ON the vehicle itself )
Vehicle like this would have been used alot during construction when fewer vehicle airlocks were available/operating ( all buildings/structures have one or more maintenance access airlocks ).
Probably used as the 'cab' cockpits for construction machinery ( rather than so many guys outside in diving suits )
OPEN THE POD BAY DOORS HAL !!!
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Carson Fiddle Planned to Make His Escape :
Audio Diary - "Escape Plan" : "I been rationing my supplies ever since the park got cut off from the rest of Rapture. Gotta stay strong. I'm holed up in this workshop, surrounded by those wailing brats, tryin' to beat their way in. They want my food, my guns ... They want it all ! But I've got a plan -- gonna fix up the transport sub that's been rusting in the maintenance bay. Then I'm gonna get the hell out of this hole. These animals want Rapture? They can have it."
I am not sure that the battery powered mini-sub could make it the several hundred miles to Iceland.
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Mini Subs Used as Control Cabs for Machinery Used in City Construction and Later Maintenance
What Probably Carson Fiddle actually had at Ryan Amusements.
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pix gate 12
"Sea Gate 12" ( Seen in AE Depot and in the MP Game "Home for the Poor" level ) :
Was this a submarine docking port ?? ( Airlock to a submerged sub instead of the Metro station type installation ). This kind of system predated the Bathysphere Metro operation and was possibly used for private subs or commercial 'cab' service operations -- "Checkered Sub", "Yellow Submarine" ( before The Beatles ! ), "Sea Limo" ... The docking approach and airlock operation was slow ( when its to be safely done ). This was an issue and a reason why the much faster Metro out-of-water system was preferred.
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Submarine Docking Systems - Many attempts to find methods to speed-up docking, while maintaining safety :
- Very Fast airlock draining could be added, but that was only a small segment of the total time used while docking.
- Mass of submarine is a problem -- for even small ones weigh dozens of tons.
- Submarines/bathyspheres didn't have overly fine maneuvering capabilities to deal with random ocean currents or the fine movements required to match up and join at a precise point, and with the correct orientation.
- Docking arm mechanisms were too easily broken and more substantial ones dented the submarines.
- Automatic systems were not reliable, even with improved maneuverability.
- Flexible docking tubes ( like used at airports ) were too easily damaged or not that flexible ( constructed to be able to withstand 300+ psi pressure ).
- Mechanical lock-n-winch and a guide (funnel-like) structure kept getting fouled and required extra maintenance.
- Alignment guides for the final join matchup did work, but only in the last foot of docking approach.
- Slow approach and careful maneuvering continued to be required, limiting consumer convenience.
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Submarine Operations :
- Usually requires a dedicated engineer to maintain a Sub's many systems
- Batteries and charging system/motors/air system/ballast/trim system/Rudder controls/etc etc etc ...
- Optional engines burning fuel ( only operable on the surface ) are needed for long-distance travel
- Alternative compressed gas drive system ( pressurized gas used to drive propulsion motors )
- Sub piloting skills are highly specialized and require licensing ( safety hazard issues )
- Many operators of subs will contract services for extended periods or will do 'trips' ( 'a 3 hour tour...' )
- There are many parts of the 'Wild' that are only easily accessible by submarine.
- Hangar space at Metro stations for 'parking' subs and bathyspheres out of the way of ongoing operations.
- Repair facilities at several City Docks. Unofficial facilities also available.
- Metro Bathyspheres are NOT submarines ( though some submarines are shaped small enough to use Metro Stations ).
- Bathysphere's hull is 1 inch steel plate ( to withstand base depth pressure ). Some subs may have thicker hull if they are to operate at lower depths (like mining sites).
- Small private submarines existed in Rapture with the popular 'mini' being able to use Metro station facilities.
- "Please lock the Sub" ... never know when a Splicer will want to go for a joyride ...
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Would Submarine Traffic Ever Been Sufficient to Require Traffic Signals ( in the Old Days ) ??? :
There's a advertisement poster of a luxury sub, so even though rich people would own them there still might have been quite a few. There also would be 'cabs', commercial, security, and maintenance traffic.
The subs do weigh quite a bit ( like 30 tons or more ) so if they collide they can do alot of damage.
Logical places for such signals WOULD be at docks ( where likelihood of multiple subs is much higher ).
The Sub-Canal leading into Port Rapture would have alot of traffic that would have to be carefully controlled - that would have a full signalling system.
Structures would have mounted warning lights to make them sufficiently visible to sub traffic, as would some buildings which don't have alot of decoration/windows/lights/neon -- like industrial complexes. The warning lights also serve as landmarks.
Subs would likely have some Sonar systems ( if Fly-bots can have them then Submarines definitely can ) that add extra inputs to the 'drivers'.
PLANES
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Flying To Rapture - For The Few :
You have to GET TO Rapture ( to build it, to get all the immigrants there, and to supply it for an extended period ).
So for at least the More Affluent residents, there would be a faster more convenient way to get to Rapture ( ie- Ryan going back and forth during the construction ).
So a 'Flying Boat' (as they were called) would be the way ( though the turbulent waters/weather of North Atlantic would make that a less than optimal operation ). This is a large model Sea Plane which was used in WW2 for Anti-Sub Patrols ( due to its extended range - similar ones were used before WW2 for long distance civilian airline operations - and were very expensive to operate and were limited to wealthy travelers ).
Smaller aircraft like ex-Navy PBYs (amphibious planes) would possibly be the most realistic option ( not quite having Pullman quality accommodations though ).
You could also fly into Reykjavik in Iceland and only take a boat/sub about 300 miles the rest of the way.
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A smaller amphibious airplane such as this would be more flexible for making priority deliveries (or pickups) to Rapture.
They do have limited Opoerational Range, so would be most likely flying out of Iceland.
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SST prices for tickets. ( Or for trips on the Graf Zeppelin/Hindenburg )
Called "Flying Boats". Don't expect them to be going to Rapture. Too expensive. Too Few of them existed. Hard to keep any Secrecy.
They also don't like choppy water, and Rapture is in the North Atlantic, which was known for its terrible weather ( and Rapture being on the open ocean ).
So really it would have to be something far smaller and robust ( like the thing immediately above ) - and that only for emergencies.
Boats and ships were then the really only viable answer ( even Submarines are horribly slow and terribly cramped/ineffective ).
Other Transport
See A System of Pedestrian-PLUS Paths
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Balloon Trains :
An alternate design from a downward hanging monorail type ( which the Rapture vehicles use - because they come inside, out-of-the-water ) -- instead have them hang like a balloon ABOVE a rail ( or a slot between 2 rails to restrain their 'floating away' ). But it could not come 'inside' (out of the water) or would have to float in a pool of water and people would have to climb up out of the top of it like a modern submarines deck hatch, or it would have to 'dock' outside -- maybe only good for a freight-only system ... Maybe we could have some (local) mechanism system like this at one of the mining sites.
Consider that spacecraft or space stations or the vacuum of the moon ( a possible future true 'BioShock' setting ) only need to contend with a 14.7 PSI pressure differential (vacuum to 1 Atm) and their structure need only be built strong enough to deal with that ( vs 280+ psi surface pressure for Rapture at a depth of 600 feet ). The Apollo LEMs (lander) hull was little more than thick foil (to save weight). Of course you would want to build a real space station with a 600% engineering safety margin ( as you would things in Rapture as well ) and built with massive shielding for radiation, puncture-proofing and such.
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Pneumo (Vacuum) Subway :
There is an abandoned project that might still be seen. In the early days constructing Rapture, a single specially built tunnel and Pneumatic mechanism link was built between the Welcome Center ( near the Bathysphere link to the Lighthouse ) and the Administrative Offices. It was built to quickly move Ryan and his important planners/supervisors back and forth in the days when they frequently commuted to The Surface World. The project eventually failed when the single subway car kept jamming in the precisely cut rock tunnel, when it iced up from the cold. A later correction ( tunnel heating being retrofitted ) was abandoned when the City construction was completed (1951-1952) and the need for that route for the intended passengers was no longer relevant.
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Water Column Elevator :
Internally (inside a Rapture building) it would not practically work - problem - 200 feet column of water = 6+ Atmospheres difference in pressure top to bottom. Might be used as an architectural gimmick ( high maintenance ).
Could be used as an external elevator for Daddies and other maintenance tasks - just a captive float cage held within guides, with some simple automatic mechanics ( a filled air chamber will cause it to rise, bleed out air and it descends ). A bubble shrinks the lower it descends - with less displacement - which can cause accelerate descent as the water displacement also shrinks ( solution is a pressure sealed ballast chamber isolated from the outside water, which you adjust the water content in via pumps ).
Use on the sides of buildings for maintenance - like Window cleaning platforms (on high rises) - to do work like removing accumulated sea grime, algae, to clean lights, etc... ( would be easier than trying to do it from a Submarine ).
Attachments and semi-automated washer rigs on high-rises with regular/even window patterns. Automated units using Flybot-type robotic-control tech had been experimented with, but manned control was better/simpler.
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Bright and Shiny :
New Rapture restoring partial Train Service between various points would be a big deal, with commemorations, and probably a new paint scheme to symbolize the New City's achievement. Nice shiny new looking cars running their routes would be a change from the Traincars the Splicers had scrawled their inane graffiti on (inside and out).
New advertisements would again be posted inside to replace the 10 year-old Steinman Plastic Surgery and Accu-Vox ads.
The 'new car smell' is more the artifact of having to fumigate many Traincars after being used as residences or garbage dumps by Splicers since 'The Fall'.
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Electric Golf Cart "Craze" in Rapture :
After seeing (in my level maps) the lengths of some of the Viaduct walkways ( and the 'Streets' ), which must've been common between many buildings in Rapture, there is a gap in the transport system for those who want more convenience than frequently walking the equivalent of several city blocks.
Bathyspheres/Submersibles would NOT be the equivalent of our Real World automobiles ( Too much facility overhead with what's been seen - no door-to-door service is really possible and no common driveways or street parking ), so if you used them ( or the Atlantic Express ) you STILL frequently had alot of distance to walk ( even with the Trolley Transit system, with its more frequently placed stops ). So, intermediate methods for middle distances would have been likely/wanted - conveyances (besides bicycles) like electric carts, or in some places moving walkways ( Heck, moving walkways were part of the World Exposition in 1893 ). Businesses could provide 'shuttles' for their preferred customers. Hmmm ... motorized Unicycles ... ( fits in a briefcase ).
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A Moving Walkway :
[pix of a real one] ( Like those things they have at many airports ... )
What installation in Rapture is big enough to NEED one of these ( around the bottom edge of the Stadium, and to its Transit Hub ? )
Note - one type was present/working at the 1893 Exposition ( and again at the Picture Paris Exhibition in 1900 )
Probably is too expensive to be done for other than prestige. Best if it was pre-planned, as Space would have to be allowed for its mechanism underneath.
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Some water craft which looks like it is designed to move on the seabed - More Stability when sitting on the Bottom ... ( Perhaps for tending some entrepreneur's Semi-Automated Kelp Farm ). Similar design issues apply : Submarine mechanisms and resistance to deep water pressure.
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Elevators - One Type of Transportation Often Not Thought Of :
Moving people and goods up and down within buildings. Walking up and down stairs is not to be preferred ( and is prohibitive with too many stories in a building ).
With elevator shafts spanning many floors of tallish buildings, there would be integral Emergency Bulkheads and their Airlocks to prevent an entire building from being entirely flooded by one leak.
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End of : *** Transportation Systems ***
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Now for an Advertisement from Ryan Industries ...
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| Spoiler Warning !
This WIKI contains plot details about the BioShock games. |
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Fantasy ? ? ? I Andrew Ryan Reject This !!!
Is not the Player due a proper Sci-Fi game paid for by the $60 Sweat of their Brow ??? The Game Companies say " NOOOOOOOOO ! The players will eat whatever rubbish we set before them !! "
"SO I left the Parasites and created "BioShock: Rapture Reborn" , a MMORPG place where the Player will FEEL they are in a real 'World Under the Sea', and the Players IMAGINATION will Pull The Great Chain !!! ..... "
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Because I WANT computer games to be better than what we typically get from the Game Industry, and perhaps by pointing out ClapTrap like BioShock Infinite, strong criticisms being voiced might serve to SHAME the makers of such substandard games, and MIGHT cause them to DO BETTER in Future.
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I wont hold my breath that this will happen though.
Note - This Wiki is for people who have the ability to NOT lose attention for content posted in MORE than 144 Characters of TEXT
Drink *CalciO* And Achieve Greatness !!!
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*** Fanboi Spoilage Alert *** :
The contents of this Wiki may Collapse the Fanboi's vision of the BioShock games from being "The most greatest awesomeness thing evah !!", into just one of the many average games ... ( Your reason for existing may decline severely and/or your entire viewpoint of the universe may be utterly crushed. )
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MANY Images on the Rapture Reborn Wiki are taken from the BioShock video game series or from websites created and owned by 2K Games, the Copyright of which is held by Take-Two Interactive Software, Inc. All Trademarks and Registered Trademarks present in those images are proprietary to Take-Two Interactive and its subsidiaries. The use of such Images to illustrate articles concerning the subject of the images in question is believed to qualify as fair use under United States Copyright Law, as such display does not significantly impede the right of the copyright holder to sell the Copyrighted material and is not being used to generate profit in this context.
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Final Disclaimer : I am aware that various Fanbois think any kind of negative or different comments about BioShock makes me a "Poo Poo Head" ( in their minds ), and they feel fully justified in their 'Being So Offended' by my contrary ideas, and for their fervent wish to Silence anyone talking/thinking expressing such things ...
But I don't give a Rodents Rectum about such small-mindedness and slavish infantile infatuation with a game ( or its writers ), Nor for those who merely complain-whine out of their own Attention Whoring mental issues.
"GLORY TO THOSE WHO THINK FOR THEMSELVES" - Democritus
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