Fundamental industry flaws – Train Fever

Fundamental industry flaws

bv — Sat, 11 Oct 2014 03:56:00 +0000

It does not make any sense that TF has separate industries away from towns. The “blue zone” in the town should contain all the industries, not just the minor/generic ones. Mines have to be where the ores are, but then a settlement will spring up there to house the workers and the services that cater to them.

What is needed, both for an interesting transport situation and for more realistic town growth, is that town industries process many more raw materials of all kinds into intermediate products which in turn are used by other industries to make consumer products or build houses, roads and railroads.

This also means that it is not viable for a vehicle to have a list of every product type it can handle. It should instead be specified for each product if it is a liquid, coarse bulk item, fine-grained, in crates, barrels or bales (typical goods) or great lengths (timber, planks, rails).

Distance should not be a limit for non-perishable goods, transport cost should be the limiter. Loading, unloading and transloading all have a cost, and different goods have different handling costs.

Just like there are thousands of people moving around without need for micromanagement, there should also be thousands of products that the maker sells to customers at different locations, and which need to be transported.

Reply To: Fundamental industry flaws

Javis — Sat, 11 Oct 2014 11:26:58 +0000

On the other hand… , after about 3 weeks of playing this wonderful game i’m only just getting the hang of it and still find it quite a challenge to keep up with the demands of the mills and refineries. ” Deliver more oil, ship more goods, deliver more coal, deliver more ore, ship more goods, deliver more wood, ship more goods… ” etc. and so on. And, not to forget, keep all vehicles and trains up to date and make sure all inhabitants get to where they want to. As a beginner at this kind of transport game i find it very complex already and enjoy it a lot to get a better result in every new map i play.

For me, a better vehicle replacement system is all i’m looking out for at the moment, like say in the coming week or so.. 😉

Reply To: Fundamental industry flaws

modelcitizen — Sat, 11 Oct 2014 17:06:23 +0000

I’ve got to agree with “bv”. The steel mill, sawmill, and oil refineries need to be in the towns processing the raw materials into products that can be consumed by other industries or people. I’ll even go one further. There doesn’t need to be “generic” industries in towns at all. They should all be specific industries designed to further process lumber, steel, and oil into something usable and ultimately consumable by the commercial stores and people who shop at them.

For that matter, I would favor commercial buildings that were not generic. Hardware stores, department stores, etc. would be a step in the right direction.

Demand would determine whether a freight car was loaded or not. Say there’s a steel mill in town A and a factory that processes steel into consumable products in town B. It shouldn’t matter if it takes over 20 minutes to complete the trip. The demand is there. Now there’s a reason for freight trains to be seen barrelling through the center of town – not scurrying around in every nook and cranny out in the countryside.

Reply To: Fundamental industry flaws

BFalcon — Tue, 14 Oct 2014 10:18:30 +0000

I’m happy for industries outside the towns – such large industries would be inaccessible else and wouldn’t need you to haul cargo to the town they’re in.

You often found such businesses outside the towns, it’s just that the towns often grew to enclose them… which is going to happen if you start at 1850 and work forwards and keep growing the towns…

The one thing I want to see is variable load levels (25%, 50%, 75%) in the line instructions, so you can keep the goods flowing, while not having empty wagons moving back and forth.

Reply To: Fundamental industry flaws

theuros — Tue, 14 Oct 2014 11:50:21 +0000

I miss “city to city” goods transport. In RL a lot of goods are produced in one city and sell them in another… I also miss post wagons

For current situation is hard to create a network on which freighter train is full in each direction

and also … 20 min time limit shouldn’t apply to all kind of transport.