Transport Fever officially announced!

[Mike]

Damn good idea BTW!!!
..But I think it’ll be more for TF2…

[Mike]

Guys!

Even Train Simulator’s catenary is thinner than TF’s!

Could you pleeeeeeeeeease make it moddable?

[Mike]

😀 lol that’s an oldie! 🙂

By the way, I think the “Contract” scheme would be the fastest, plausible and feasible solution:
– you “sign a contract” with an industry
– industry starts production (volume still depending on goods demand)
– all cargo is dedicated to your line: no 20 min, wait forever on stations, etc.
– you pay penalties for every minute cargo spent waiting

I think this plan can be implemented without huge development time.
What do you think?

[Mike]

Hm.. I’m pretty sure this constant can be hacked in the executable, but I’m afraid this is a backbone of the game logic, and it will terribly disbalance everything if removed and will make the game uninteresting. Any natural competition will disappear. People will wait forever at the bus stops, cargo will not lose its value, 3000 people at a station…

Much more stuff needs to be done rather than just removing 20 min rule..

[Mike]

Hi guys,
OMG how I understand you. That’s exactly how I felt after first hours of playing TF.
After playing TTD and Locomotion in the past I had the exact disappointment you’ve got now. But somehow I forced myself to love this game, maybe because of lack of competition, or admiration of the idea, job and realization done by 5 Swiss guys.

Train Fever is not compatible with both things you’d like – a network, and fully loaded cargo trains. I’m not even sure why they put “wait for full load” option! If train waits, production drops.
When I tried to build a shared network, trains stuck, intervals became unequal, efficiency drastically dropped. The best way here is to have a dedicated track for each line.

It really depends on a person. If you want to accept the things as they are, or if you want to look for workarounds, or you don’t accept.

I’m a developer myself, and seeing how things are done I can say it will need a TREMENDOUS amount of development to alter the train navigation system and separate passenger and cargo principles (for the moment they are the same).

But @imajor, there is a workaround if you want fully loaded trains – modify wagons capacity, create (or duplicate existing) wagons, for different stages of production. OK game sucks this part, but these difficulties could make things funnier? And anyways, when the production will raise even my 25-wagon train will become fully-loaded, and more trains will be necessary…

And after all, seeing these trains roll, on a beautiful landscape, makes me forget all other issues..

Cheers

[Mike]

Well guys, thanks to you I just did two things I would never do:

– fall in love with long trains
– made my first ever “kinda-tutorial” video 🙂

So here are the stats of my test:

– Yes in TF you can have a profitable maximum-length cargo line with 20+ wagon trains
– I can confirm the 20-minutes rule includes the waiting time on a station
– Trip time from corner to corner on a biggest map is about 9 minutes @120 km/h
– 25-wagon train with $1.2M loco becomes profitable starting from 10% load
– only 2 trains are sufficient to start the production

Sorry for the crappy quality (filmed the screen with the phone) and lotsa trainspotting, but I hope it will help you explore the new possibilities in the game (it did for me!). Tech stuff in the beginning, financials at the end.

Here’s the vid:

Cheers!

[Mike]

Douglas it seems like you still don’t believe me. I’ll make a sample “long-line-long-trains” and post the video.
But it’s awesome the game generates so many different experiences!

[Mike]

@douglas sorry but the number of trains does make a difference! It shortens the wait time on station. Total travel time includes waiting time on a station.

Let’s take the worst example: 30 km line, 1 train, an Oil canister arrived on a station right after the train left.
Train takes 10 minutes to reach the Oil Refinery. How long Oil canister will wait for the train to return? 20 minutes! Plus 10 minutes for the trip, Total travel time – 30 minutes. Not good at all.
Now let’s add a second train: Oil canister will wait 10 minutes. Plus 10 minutes to reach the Refinery -> almost there!
Now let’s add 2 more trains: the closest returning train is only 5 minutes away! Total travel time – 15 minutes.
Problem solved.
So frequency directly impacts total travel time. I’m not guessing, I’m doing this in the game.

BTW we’re not discussing our points of view here, someone has a problem of creating a long line with long trains. And I just gave a solution. If you don’t believe it, just try it! I swear no cheats or magic tricks.

[Mike]

We’re with you, homie.
I think DEVs/modders could create some Nepalese trains in TF to honor the country and its TF community.

Be strong and let the trains be with you!

[Mike]

Yes I’m doing quite long distances, but I have to use several trains to fit under 20 minutes. Here are the rules I usually follow:

– if the distance is short (< 2-3 km approx) – one track, one train, no signals
– if distance 3-15 km – double track (one way each), two trains, two signal ranges (just 1 signal at the exit of every station, to keep trains from getting too close to each other and creating gaps)
– > 15 km distance – double track, more trains, more signal ranges, depending on the distance

My general rule – check the interval for your line in “Lines” window. It should NEVER be more than 10 minutes, otherwise cargo production will drop (other 10 minutes are needed to get cargo to/from the station). The key to keep it under 10 minutes is the number of trains and their speed.

Yes my cargo trains go at least 100 km/h, but yes they can be long and yes they can travel far.

I once did a very long Iron Ore line, the length of one full side of the biggest map. I had 5 trains about 20 wagons each travelling at 120 km/h and 6 signal ranges to keep them apart. Together with shorter Coal line it served goods for 3 cities, and it was working well. The income for each train trip was about 1M 🙂
Not the Arizona-4-locos-150-wagons-30-mph beasts but it was working and I had my fun with it…

• This reply was modified 8 years, 7 months ago by Mike.

[Mike]

He he like Ubisoft send a crew to Tibet while making Far Cry 4, it wouldn’t hurt to send Urban guys to a week of “Live My Life” experience with drivers and techies on the real railroad 😉

[Mike]

Wow I had even more awesome teleport yesterday: paused, demolished the station, and, about 25 km from there, after 2 cities, the train which was stopped on a station in a 3rd city has moved to another track on the same station!

It happened on a double-track non-electrified line (2 one-way tracks) linking 4 cities. The demolished station was the terminus station in the first city.

[Mike]

But guys, the station limit in TF is 350 m, depending on the tank size this will allow you 20-25 wagons max, so anyways the huge badass trains of 150+ wagons aren’t possible here 🙂

So 20 minutes rule fits quite well to all the rest in the game.

Don’t forget: never specify “wait for full load” for any trains – it kills the production.

@douglas: 2 years too long? It’s like 20 min in the game or about 10 return trips of a train… Works ok for me..

[Mike]

Thanks Tom!

It’s a pity the wire thickness can’t be altered 🙁

Do you think you can add this feature in “ToDo” list for the future versions?

Thanks a lot guys!

Mike

[Mike]

I was more talking about like this one:

But for double-track junctions it’s a different story, i agree with you.

However, rather than it’s cheaper and simplier, it’s still less efficient than the one with the flyover:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Double_junction (look the E type)

Thus, in all my setups in TF i always do the flyover one – I hate when trains wait outside the station 😉

[Author]

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