Two publishing contracts signed

[Yeol]

Bonjour,

pour l’instant les usines sont static. Ils sont present dans le jeu sans plus, et seront toujours disponible pendant l’entiereté d’un jeu. Il ne font pas faillite, et il n’auront pas des nouveaux qui apparessent. C’est au joueurs pour convaincre les usines existante a produire. Rien de plus.

J’aimerai aussi une modele d’economie plus elabore comme Railroad Tycoon 2 ou 3, mais dommage. Ce sera pas pour toute de suit (si jamais). Mais je suis un simple joueur, et j’espere comme toi de voir ceci dans une mise a jour… un jour.

(excuses pour mon francais)

[Yeol]

Running trains in the early years is a little problematic. The locomotives are slow so they take quiet a lot of time to reach the closest villages. And travelling time is the decisive factor why people will take the train, or not. So:

• Keep train routes short, straight an flat
• Have maximum about 8-10 minute frequency (preferable with only 1 train to reduce the running costs)
• Have bus or tram lines from the station to one ore more key city centre points, straight , no circular line as one see them being build a lot. (people can walk from one city end to the other within 20 minutes. They don’t need your bus. You have to convince people to go to the station as quick as possible, in one straight line)
• have the bus/tram routes with max about 3 minutes frequency.
• Let it run about 2-3 years for it to become popular. You should get about 30-50 passengers per run, which just covers the running costs (in hard mode)

[Yeol]

It’s possible to gain a small profit with trains when very causious about the running costs and keep infrastructure at a minimum. But you will not be able to survive with trains only. The profit is not enough to invest in both expansion and replacement after x years of service. Trams, and especially buses and trucks are the money bringers, and make the game playable on hard mode.

Train with still a little Fever… but I’m having a ball with it! 😉

• This reply was modified 9 years, 7 months ago by Yeol.

[Yeol]

I also have fatal experiences with station upgrades; program crashes with exit to desktop. I seem able to delete the old station, but once I place the newer, longer and wider station, the game exits without any further notice.

I really would like to see the possibility to upgrade a station without having to delete the old one. For the moment replacing stations do not work, and building the large stations from the start is financial suicide. So, large station are bit useless for the moment… a menu filler. (just my experience. And, I LOVE the game!)

And just another gadget about station upgrade would be to be able to add extra services to a train station, like a parking/garage (to convince automobile drivers to take the train), waiting rooms with snack shops (to increase the 20-minute travel limit), small repair service (to reduce the station costs), Annex bus/tram station with bus/tram platforms (to promote easy and fast transit),…

But that is all secondary. First I like to see the crashes fixed. 😉

• This reply was modified 9 years, 7 months ago by Yeol.

[Yeol]

Interesting adjustment you made. Can you tel us in what files you modified which numbers?

[Yeol]

“Passing loop” is English, “passing siding” is American. Both seem ok to me. 😉

[Yeol]

Emeg, I completely agree about your remarks about the signaling. It does it job rather well in the current system with fixed paths.

But about the selection of platforms, the game lacks some controlling options. Now you can not select which “path” is using which platform. Often you will see an accumulation of paths using one platform, and other platforms are not being used at all. With waypoints one could assign a dedicated platform per path.

Also, in real life often trains arrive at the same platform. But often see an alternative platform used (train is late, during rush hour, previous train is late…). In real life a train with passengers is not kept waiting outside the station while there are free platforms to receive it. They will bring in the train on another platform. So alternative paths in Train Fever are very welcome.

[Yeol]

In addition of the undo, I would like to see a “planning phase”. You lay down all track of the new section in a planning mode. Once you’re satisfied, you commit it all, and the building of the line is executed. Cool would be if you see the line being constructed in x amount of time (work men, bulldozers, work train…).

[Yeol]

I believe we will see some impovements on the station handling in the future. I am convinced (read: I hope), that the developers will see the necessity of waypoints to be able to explicitly tell where specific paths have to go, and so, which platform to use.

Secondly, I believe (read again: I hope) that the developers are taking in consideration to implement alternative paths. So upon block or platform occupation, an alternative platform is used.

And thirdly, an more elaborated signaling system is needed to influence when and how the flow of trains is approaching and leaving the station.

I’m convinces it’s just a matter of time.

[Yeol]

The “waiting for full load” has for the moment no real use. The generated traffic jams hinder the drop-off trucks and other traffic on the main road. Only in very specific cases “waiting for full load” is usefull (a longer approaching lane to hold the waiting trucks, only at raw source industries, with trains on dedicated lines,…).When the developers add the possibility that cars can overtake, the use of alternate platforms (alternate paths), dedicated platforms for drop-off an pick-up (waypoints), etc… I don’t see a real use for waiting for full load. It causes too much chaos and jams.

[Yeol]

Just to compare, I started my 13th game in 1850. I build 10 intercity stage coach lines with 20 coaches each. Ten years later (1860) I collect more then 1,5M per year on hard mode, with just the 1.2M initial loan. That’s insane! Buses (and trucks) are way too cheap. Trains on the other hand are almost impossible to get profitable in the long run (investment+running cost). Some re-balance of this “TRAIN fever” game would be welcome.

(But it’s fun to have that much money to replace and expand, I have to admit… And now the trains!) 😉

[Yeol]

Very well done! Are you playing on hard mode? If so, that would really be an amazing achievement. Keep it rolling!

[Yeol]

You confirm what I experienced: it is possible, but one has to rely on cargo by truck or long distant buses to get the financial lever to get trains rolling with losses in this game. “Train Fever” has the flew, and needs a little re-balance so trains can be profitable there where they are supposed to be adequate: medium to long distant hauling with larger volumes, and should outperform buses or trucks. Now they fail.

But thanks for your contribution and great that you managed to get beyond 1900 in hard mode without extra loan! 😉

[Yeol]

Following the simulation basics (http://www.train-fever.com/2014/01/simulation-basics/) all passenger traffic goes between the residence and a chosen destination (work, shop, leisure). I read somewhere a confirmation that is was implemented this way, but I can’t find back the article.

[Yeol]

I don’t like mods to make a game easier. It’s like cheating or using exploits to me. I don’t like to play with them. It’s just me. I like mods to add new stuff, or those that repair clear bugs and errors. But not those that make a game easier. I’ll wait and see what the developers will do. Is the game as it was intended to be, then I live with it, and try to make the best of it. If they decide to re-balance the running and ageing cost, then I’ll be a little happier and live with it also. 😉

[Author]

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