Reply To: Suggestions: about the new cargo system

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#19922
Semeon
Participant

– Allow modding of the 20 minute rule for each cargo type. Grain is perishable. Iron ore is not. Livestock HAS to be delivered quickly. Personally I’d like to set my own “recommended delivery time” for each good type.

– Allow different pricing for each cargo type.

I would say that 20 minute rule should be modified for cargo completely. This rule makes the simulation perfect for passanger traffic, and I would really want to thank developers for that, however it is absolutely unrealistic for goods. Delivery time is rarely a constraint for coal, iron, lumber, and oil as well as for the most of the industry supply one can introduce. What is usually important is the price difference of goods at locations. So, as opposed to the time-based simulation for passengers one should use price-based simulation for goods. Coal should be cheaper at the mine, however more expensive near the steel works. Production rate, demand and so on should affect the price. This system was used in RT3 many years ago and proved itself effective. It would be fun to still leave some time cutoff for each type of goods, say if modders would like to introduce meat, grain, or whatever, however the basis of cargo simulation should be changed in future.

At this point, the best strategy is to build a line from the other end of the map to deliver coal to steel works, although there is a source in the nearest city. This looks too artificial. With price-based simulation one may think of a region on the map with large source of coal, so the natural strategy would be to supply industry from this region, what makes cargo trains absolutely necessary. Besides, with this simulation players would no longer build randomly located tracks which are used for a single route, instead one can think of major artheria connecting parts of map with source and demand. Of course this would be too serious change for v1, however it would be nice to think about it in the future versions of TF.

  • This reply was modified 8 years, 6 months ago by Semeon.