Because they're probably useful.
For a start, don't play. really.
Trees can be turned off entirely using ctrl+x and clicking randomly at the tree button and the one below it.
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Dr. kitteny berk
- Morbo
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1. Don't believe Berk when he says it'll be good for a quick look
2. Don't ignore Berk when he warns you it'll take up the next two weeks of your life.
All the factories & resource (e.g. coal mines) have an Output and a % Delivered. The % Delivered is the amount that the factory is releasing to nearby stations, so look for high numbers in both.
Output changes periodically. The higher your station rating, the greater the chance of the output increasing over time.
The best way to achieve a high station rating is to keep the station empty. Sticking a very long train on Full Loading in the station will do this (but ofc won't make very much profit).
Towns grow fastest based on the numbers of passengers picked up and dropped off in that town. Even if you have just one bus going round in circles it'll still grow.
2. Don't ignore Berk when he warns you it'll take up the next two weeks of your life.
All the factories & resource (e.g. coal mines) have an Output and a % Delivered. The % Delivered is the amount that the factory is releasing to nearby stations, so look for high numbers in both.
Output changes periodically. The higher your station rating, the greater the chance of the output increasing over time.
The best way to achieve a high station rating is to keep the station empty. Sticking a very long train on Full Loading in the station will do this (but ofc won't make very much profit).
Towns grow fastest based on the numbers of passengers picked up and dropped off in that town. Even if you have just one bus going round in circles it'll still grow.
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Dr. kitteny berk
- Morbo
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Distances are measured as the crow flies, rather than distance actually travelled, so make routes as straight as you can, and don't be afraid to go long distances with stuff like coal, it makes better money that way (though risking lower ratings due to stuff stacking in the station, multiple trains are good)
The payment rate info is useful as fuck.
Terraforming can be helpful, but also fucking expensive, it's often cheaper to build bridges/tunnels than flatten a route.
Bridges have speed limits and maximum lengths, make a few islands and use short, faster bridges.
If you're tunnelling a long way and need to turn a corner, terraform a hole where you need to turn, then tunnel away from it.
Longer corners are better for trains, especially if you're doing an s-bend, else they slow down.
Train stations can pick up from oil rigs, it might not always be economical, but terraforming out to them works, and trains are much faster than boats.
The payment rate info is useful as fuck.
Terraforming can be helpful, but also fucking expensive, it's often cheaper to build bridges/tunnels than flatten a route.
Bridges have speed limits and maximum lengths, make a few islands and use short, faster bridges.
If you're tunnelling a long way and need to turn a corner, terraform a hole where you need to turn, then tunnel away from it.
Longer corners are better for trains, especially if you're doing an s-bend, else they slow down.
Train stations can pick up from oil rigs, it might not always be economical, but terraforming out to them works, and trains are much faster than boats.
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Dr. kitteny berk
- Morbo
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Autorenew is bloody handy, but doesn't work if the old vehicle has gone out of production. Doesn't replace crashed vehicles.
Replace vehicles allows you to replace all of a certain vehicle with another, useful for replacing stuff that's getting old or can't be replaced by autorenew.
Replace vehicles allows you to replace all of a certain vehicle with another, useful for replacing stuff that's getting old or can't be replaced by autorenew.
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Dr. kitteny berk
- Morbo
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Dr. kitteny berk
- Morbo
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FatherJack
- Site Owner
- Posts: 9597
- Joined: May 16th, 2005, 15:31
- Location: Coventry, UK
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Stuff I found when starting out:
Connecting a coal mine to a power station is the simplest way to start, which will get you some money flowing.
Then maybe put on some buses between villages, or passenger trains between towns. The game doesn't simulate where the passengers want to go, it just pays you for distance wherever you drop them off. You can just ferry them around the same town, or even dump them in the middle of nowhere at a passenger-accepting place like a dock, then make them pay again to get the next bus back to where they started. It's probably better to link two areas with a population, though.
When you have half a million in the bank, you can probably afford two airports and a couple of planes, build them both next to big cities around the distance apart that both can just be seen on the screen when fully zoomed out.
The other industries have more complex supply chains:
Doing these needs a little more cash in the bank, as not only are there more things to build, the distances will probably be greater. Note it's well worth getting the final stage's transportation in place before you start producing goods, or they'll sit in a depot, hurt your rating and potentially eventually disappear. When delivering goods, any station close enough to a town centre will accept them all - doesn't have to be a big town and you don't have to worry about supplying every town.
Connecting a coal mine to a power station is the simplest way to start, which will get you some money flowing.
Then maybe put on some buses between villages, or passenger trains between towns. The game doesn't simulate where the passengers want to go, it just pays you for distance wherever you drop them off. You can just ferry them around the same town, or even dump them in the middle of nowhere at a passenger-accepting place like a dock, then make them pay again to get the next bus back to where they started. It's probably better to link two areas with a population, though.
When you have half a million in the bank, you can probably afford two airports and a couple of planes, build them both next to big cities around the distance apart that both can just be seen on the screen when fully zoomed out.
The other industries have more complex supply chains:
Code: Select all
Oil Rig/Field (Oil) -> Oil refinery (Goods) -> Town
Forest (Wood) -> Sawmill (Goods) -> Town
Farm (Grain, Livestock) -> Factory and
Ore mine (Iron Ore) -> Steelworks (Steel) -> Factory
Factory (Goods) -> TownWorth noting that not all stations at towns accept goods. Click on the station to find out what it accepts.
As soon as I've worked it out I'm going make up some plug and play junctions with an explanation of how the signals work. Some people out there have already done some of this, but never explain the signals. This seems to be a stumbling block for everyone except Friz.
As soon as I've worked it out I'm going make up some plug and play junctions with an explanation of how the signals work. Some people out there have already done some of this, but never explain the signals. This seems to be a stumbling block for everyone except Friz.
It's a pretence, I'm actually still not quite sure how they all work but I'm getting better. So far I've learnt the most about signals by copying this bit of the wiki.
There are 3 types of signal:
Block Signals: basically traffic lights. They go red when a train is in the next block of track. They can be turned into one-way signals as well.
Entry & Exit (& Combo) Signals: called pre-signals, useful for controlling entry into stations where normal signals would cause trains to stack up on the crossover lines as they wait for free platorms, screwing up the traffic flow. A train passing the Exit triggers a green light on the Entry, so you can make trains wait behind the junction until everything is clear. A Combo just combines both into one square.
Path Signals: works in the same way as a normal block signal, except that the train will look ahead to the block of track in front. If it can reserve a safe path to the next stopping point it'll go.
There are 3 types of signal:
Block Signals: basically traffic lights. They go red when a train is in the next block of track. They can be turned into one-way signals as well.
Entry & Exit (& Combo) Signals: called pre-signals, useful for controlling entry into stations where normal signals would cause trains to stack up on the crossover lines as they wait for free platorms, screwing up the traffic flow. A train passing the Exit triggers a green light on the Entry, so you can make trains wait behind the junction until everything is clear. A Combo just combines both into one square.
Path Signals: works in the same way as a normal block signal, except that the train will look ahead to the block of track in front. If it can reserve a safe path to the next stopping point it'll go.
See even that isn't clear, and it's about as simple as you can get. What constitutes a block of track? Is that the area between two signals?
My thinking at the moment is that having strings of signals down your lines (something you do but I don't) keeps your trains moving down the straights as far as they can, rather than stopping at junctions. I can see that lights behind junctions is bad because if a train stops there it blocks the junction, but what if you have two-way traffic? Presumably the train ignores a signal facing the other way (in most cases), but it just doesn't seem to work that way for me. It might be my constant use of path signals making trains look several junctions ahead, stopping them even when there are clear paths.
I'll have a play around and see what I come up with. Most important for me are overtaking and crossing points, since I tend to lay a double track with crossovers so that I can have multiple trains on the same pair of lines, switching to avoid each other when they cross paths. I'll get it soon, it's becoming clearer. Once I do, like I said up there, I'll start posting some generic junctions with a description of their use, which signals are used, and how the signals work.
My thinking at the moment is that having strings of signals down your lines (something you do but I don't) keeps your trains moving down the straights as far as they can, rather than stopping at junctions. I can see that lights behind junctions is bad because if a train stops there it blocks the junction, but what if you have two-way traffic? Presumably the train ignores a signal facing the other way (in most cases), but it just doesn't seem to work that way for me. It might be my constant use of path signals making trains look several junctions ahead, stopping them even when there are clear paths.
I'll have a play around and see what I come up with. Most important for me are overtaking and crossing points, since I tend to lay a double track with crossovers so that I can have multiple trains on the same pair of lines, switching to avoid each other when they cross paths. I'll get it soon, it's becoming clearer. Once I do, like I said up there, I'll start posting some generic junctions with a description of their use, which signals are used, and how the signals work.
Exactly. Almost everything can be done simply with a few block signals. The other stuff is only really needed if you want to stack waiting trains away from your junctions so they don't get in the way.Dog Pants wrote:What constitutes a block of track? Is that the area between two signals?
I just wrote a load more, but the CEO came around and the session expired while I was pretending to work. The wiki has a few useful rules on signals which are worth noting (particularly how trains treat block signals).
Ed.: Good guide here. Suggests that pre-signals (the Entry/Exit ones) aren't really needed and you can do almost everything better with Path Based Signals now.
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Dr. kitteny berk
- Morbo
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FatherJack
- Site Owner
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- Joined: May 16th, 2005, 15:31
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You can tell when you place the station, which is when you should be checking if it's for a goods run. A rough guide is if a tower block is in range of the station's area of influence, then goods are accepted.Dog Pants wrote:Worth noting that not all stations at towns accept goods. Click on the station to find out what it accepts.
I've been pissing about with them too and have done a few screenshots. I try to keep it simple and only use the basic block signal but have managed to at least not make the trains crash. I'll put something together which may be helpful, but I'll let other people assplain the different signal types because they look too fiddly for me.Dog Pants wrote:As soon as I've worked it out I'm going make up some plug and play junctions with an explanation of how the signals work. Some people out there have already done some of this, but never explain the signals. This seems to be a stumbling block for everyone except Friz.
Last edited by FatherJack on April 15th, 2010, 15:21, edited 2 times in total.
The best way I've found so far to start out in the early years (1936 - circa 1960) is to find the largest city (population-wise) and build a complex of bus and lorry stations which accepts goods. Connect it to a nearby larger city, make sure it also accepts goods, and start transporting passengers and mail in high volume, this should get you a large amount of both for the coming years. Pick a nearby central factory, if possible one with a sawmill right next to it, if not, you'll be able to build one in 6-7 years. Connect all nearby relevant industries to this factory and from here, send goods to the two cities you picked. Keep a good rating on all stations, if even half a unit of stuff is waiting in a station, create new vehicles. Be aware that most "smart" AIs will try to steal your stuff (for example, goods from a factory only you supply) if you don't transport them efficiently - and I would probably do the same in a multiplayer game. You will probably have to turn maximum station size up to 12, as for efficient operations, you'll need 4-5 stations for pickup-only industries, 2-3 stations for dropoff-only industries and 10-12 stations for pickup and dropoff industries (eg. steel). Do not use drive-through stations. If there is a huge congestion forming around the station and there are still stuff waiting, you should consider attaching a 7-long multiplatform railway to help shipping off the goods. All this will get you off debt in around half a year, though you might hit the vehicle limit you forgot to raise in 10-15 years.
Also, I've always underestimated passenger transport lines, but now I've found it's a great investment to create a map-wide network of buses with frequent stops.
Also, I've always underestimated passenger transport lines, but now I've found it's a great investment to create a map-wide network of buses with frequent stops.
My favourite startup tactic is: open the industry list, sort by production, pick the top coal mine, build railway to nearest power station...profit. Repeat until bored of shifting coal.
Coal has the major advantage of being an end product that has no late delivery penalty and depreciates the least, so it's very hard to fuck up. It's a great cash earner for the early game until you can afford more lucrative stuff.
Coal has the major advantage of being an end product that has no late delivery penalty and depreciates the least, so it's very hard to fuck up. It's a great cash earner for the early game until you can afford more lucrative stuff.