EDIT:
Well, i forgot to also mention i haven't tried this patch yet in my original post...
I like how this patch works. It maintains the flow of the vehicles while keeping them spaced evenly but the one issue i have with it is that whenever a vehicle breaks down it re-arranges the actual schedule of the vehicles so that any other lines that would rely on the schedule of this one would come out of sync. See my original post below for an example of what i am after.
With that said, maybe if i turn off automatic vehicle spacing the orders will stay on one schedule. Let me test that later, right now i am running a new game from 1900 with daylength patch. It's moving quite slow.
--- Original Post ---
So i just skimmed the thread and found no mention of my take on how to make "proper" spacing between your vehicles, especially when it comes to trains.
The most basic way to create spacing is to launch your train manually when the other train(s) are at the desired spacing and by doing so the timetable should (if buffered properly) maintain that spacing quite well.
The other option is to set the start dates of each of your trains and launch them at the time most suitable, preferably making the start dates a division of timetable completion time / number of trains.
If you want to get really advanced... as in making sure trains come and go in a specific order possibly sharing tracks while doing so and then branching off it gets quite complicated. Imagine this situation for example:
Train 1 is departing from Big City Central on June 11th.
Train 2 is departing from Big City Transfer on July 2nd.
Train 1 is set to arrive at Big City Suburbs on September 29th.
Train 2 is set to arrive at Big City Suburbs on September 24th.
Train 2 is set to leave Big City Suburbs AFTER train 1 has unloaded it's passengers on October 8th.
This is quite simple on paper until you have to make sure both lines are keeping this synchronization AND that when you add a second or third train on their respective routes they should also maintain spacing.
It takes quite a lot of calculation work just to make such synchronizations happen and converting days to calendar dates is only adding to the frustration.
...
So here are my suggestion for this or any patch like it:
- Add a text field where we can set start date in days/ticks from now or days/ticks from the selected date in the dropdown. (Both positive and negative values)
- Add some sort of functionality where you can either drag-drop or select an expected arrival date from the schedule of one train to a schedule of another and it tries to match the arrival date on the second train by modifying the time spent at stations. Optionally also setting the start date of the timetable of the second train.
- Re-introduce the virtual clock in 12/24 hour format to make it easier (once again?) to manage timetables. Of course while changing the start date drop-downs into a HH:MM:SS text field and keeping the above mentioned offset field but this time the offset is in HH:MM:SS format as well instead of days/ticks.
Any autospacing functionality could then exploit this new functionality by setting the start dates on trains.
If the timetable would take 10,000 ticks to complete and you have 5 trains to space it would set the start date (in ticks) as train 1 + 0 ticks, train 2 + 2,000 ticks, train 3 + 4,000 ticks and so on.
Where we go from there i leave up to you.
I just wish i could easily set up a schedule where (in theory) i wouldn't even need signals because all my trains would be scheduled to never try to occupy the same piece of track. Even though signals wouldn't hurt for when the unexpected happens.
Thanks for listening!
//Cadde