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As some of you might have notices, I started working on balance mod. Why?
Because, not disrispect to devs, the current balance is horridly bad. The issues I noticed so far:
– there are two missing generation of freight cars. One from late XIX century, one from late XX century.
– there is a quality gap in locomotives available in the late XIX century ( there is generic ~40kmh stuff, and then all of a sudden we get 100kmh loco )
– there is a huge 20+ period in late game ( 1978 to 2000 ) where only multiple unit trains are introduced, no new locomotives
– non-electified locomotives for branch lines are a minority. There is a period in the game where the only non-electric locomotive is the Mallard. Which is insane.
– there are statistical bugs ( Crocodile has 1000hp, BR 103.1 has too low power etc )
– there is a great cost chasm between roads and trains. Generally, due to the nature of the Agent Based model, atomic carriers ( such as trucks ) are preferred.
– acceleration is too slow, especially for trains.
– influence of hills is too little. It is easier for a train to climb a mountain then to race along level track. This is 100% opposite to reality.
– I believe I can also somewhat lower the influence of traffic jams in late game.
– anything I missed?
I have modded for transport tycoon, so I have alot of experience on this issue ( heck, I even tried to program an open source sequel -> http://www.transportempire.com ). I believe I can do this.
Anyhow – is there a resource of models or whatnot? I see that on train-fever.net there is more traffic, but I cannot speak german 🙁
Hi Uzarpator,
I would love to see the gaps filled, infact I had really wished for such a mod. Especially the introduction of 100kmph steam engine in the early 1900s.
I really loved the Tropic refurbished set, and read so many of your posts in Transport tycoon forums ( I am Vinaximus in that forum).
I wish you a best of luck for your mod and am already eager to use it as I know that its gonna be a masterpeice like tropic refurbished set.
By the way, I use google translator for train-fever.net 😉
This is a great initiative. The game is great fun but the balance is horrible. These things come to mind for me:
– The low speed limits for passenger wagons in early 20th century. For example Class A4 with its top speed 145 km/h is useless (at least for passenger traffic) at the moment because the passenger cars only go up to 120 km/h until 1960 by which it is already obsolete.
– I’d consider increasing the capacity of Red Arrow and Railbus slightly. Capacity of 15 is a bit low for a 320k year train when you can have a bus carry the same for 36k a year.
– How about changing the top speed of ordinary rail to 160 or 180 km/h and increasing the cost of high-speed rail significantly. Currently there is little reason to not use the high speed rail when it’s available because the price difference is very small and the top speed of ordinary rail is only 120 km/h.
I guess these balance issues are because the game is just recently released. It takes a lot of testing by a large community of players the get the balance right eventually.
Hello there. Work is progressing nicely.I have made preliminary drafts and am now developing a sensible cost structure. So far I have decided:
1. Make it possible to use RE450 and TGV as standalone locomotives
2. Move freight cars to three distinct classes – 1850, 1910 and 1960 respectively. Modify capacities, speeds and costs. MY aim is to gravitate towards longer (10-15) freight trains as the norm.
3. To work around slow acceleration, passanger cars are going to get much lighter
4. On the flip side, to make freight trains heavier, freight cars are going to get much heavier then realistically they should. This is to force considering hills and tractive effort as actual problems to address.
5. Reduce citizen traffic speed to 50-60 km/h to encourage agents to use public transport. Hopefully, this will help with congestion in large cities.
6. Trackage, especially high speed, will be more expensive to build. Trains will be much cheaper to run.
I am now thinking about dropping the requirement to place catenary to use electric trains ( just like original TTD did not require them ). Yes, it is unrealistic, but:
– catenary poles are performance issue
– there are not enough trains to split them into ‘electrified’ and ‘not electified’ categories, forcing the player to electrify. For example there are periods in the game where only one ‘non electric’ train is available. And it is LNER A4…
– electrification interface is clumsy as hell
Of course, I will allow placement of catenary for aesthetic reasons ( for free ). To offset this, electric locomotives are going to be much more exspensive to buy.
What do you think?
Hi uzurpator,
I’m glad to hear about the progress on the mod. I like the changes you are proposing so far. Have you considered also increasing the top speed of the passenger cars to make the A4 a better choice in early 20th century?
– there are not enough trains to split them into ‘electrified’ and ‘not electified’ categories, forcing the player to electrify. For example there are periods in the game where only one ‘non electric’ train is available. And it is LNER A4…
This problem might also be fixed by tweaking the locomotive availability. For example make the later steam locomotives (like Class 75.4 and A 3/5) available a bit longer and give the first diesel engines a bit (5- 10 years) earlier.
The choice between electrification or no electrification is a nice strategic choice for the player but I agree that the interface is clumsy and it ends up being a lot of work. I always find there are small pieces of track that are left without catenary lines and I end up spending a lot of time hunting them.
The A4 will get 145km/h coaches. BR 103.1 will also get 200km/h coaches in 1965.
The electtrification is a moot point. There are not enough vehicles for it. There is much more depth in deciding to use high-speed track then to electrification.
From my research it seems that at least 10 more locomotives areneeded to make electrification a sensible strategic choice.
I most likely failed 😛
That is, however, due to feature creep.
Due to low density of vehicles in the beginning stage of the game I have decided to do some clever repaints. There are going to be extra 4 locomotives.
1. Borsig II, a blue repaint of Borsig, available 1862, Borsig is pushed to 1857
2. ATE Class IIIa, available 1869, brown repaint of prussian BR53/G3, goods engine
3. Prussian Class G4, a gray repaint of BR53/G3, a medium goods engine
4. Bavarian Class CV, a teal repaint of A 3/5. 800kw power, 80km/h, available 1898
Bridges and tunnels should be most expensive. In the game its normal build very long and high bridges in no reason.
I created a forum account just to express my utmost interest in your upcoming mod. I seriously cannot wait! Most excited for the economy balance (more expensive purchases, cheaper maintenance), added reskinned early locomotives, and the more clearly defined eras of train cars with their balancing.
Do you have any kind of ETA? I know it’s next to impossible to estimate things like this, but I’m eager to beta test. 😀
Also, the absurdly high maintenance costs are forcing me to only play with road vehicles. 🙁
Progress!
An improved version of Borsig freight locomotive meets a goods rake led by D1 and Earlier Borsig.
I am doing the recoloring now. Stay tuned
Class IIIa of k.k. priv. Aussig-Teplitzer Eisenbahn push a heavy freight on the Tiverton Hill. In spite of having two locomotives, trains usually go through the summit at speed of 17km/h
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