Mashinky

[_dp_]

Bridges, networks, whatever. I'm yet to find a youtuber who knows how to use signals properly.

[Pyoro]

Yeah, but everyone gets that signals are "complicated". Bridges ... I mean, I haven't even played the game but it's obvious they need a certain height to work, right? ^^;;;
I guess it shows the difficulty of developing such a game though - you really don't know what the user will do. Even if everything seems clear and easy to you, it might not be clear to them.

[_dp_]

I mean, I haven't even played the game but it's obvious they need a certain height to work, right? ^^;;;

Haha, I though so too before I tried it. And no, they're just broken

They seem to work fine if you build bridge first and then lay track under it but if you do it the other way around they just refuse to be placed. Also 3-level climb is too much for these early steam locos.

P.S. Also it seems OpenTTD has infected Mashinky with inability to build diagonal bridges

[Baldy's Boss]

Bridges, networks, whatever. I'm yet to find a youtuber who knows how to use signals properly.

Yes,I've been watching lots of Youtube Mashinky vids and cringing at their lack of savvy.

[uzurpator]

I've been playing it for about 5 hours so far. It looks good.

I especially like the token system when it comes to buying stuff - it nicely spreads the profit explosion in time, so even with several trains on the map I still need to be careful when it comes to spending wood and coal tokes.

The game lacks polish tho, but it's an alpha, so it's obvious.

I have been spoiled by two features from Transport Fever. One is free camera, another is the 'line' interface. Free camera is self explanatory. The game already supports this when tracking a train, but when free roaming, we are tied to a static camera angle. The 'line' interface is a detachment of the order list of trains from trains themselves. So we can add/remove trains to an orders list without being forced to do the tedious adding of stops to the train.

Other then that, the game gives very concrete TTD feel. Maybe track building will annoy some people, but I find cool.

So far I noticed two bugs - once a piece of track refused to remove itsself, another time pieces of trackage were disappearing from the viewing frustum, most likely due to issues with near clipping plane.

There are some usability issues:

- when creating orders list we need to keep on pressing 'add' button for every stop, which gets tedious fast
- there is no indication of how long a train is, so it is easy to overlengthen a train
- train orders are lost when a train is sold, so changing a locomotive is extra annoying
- switching signal type (one/two way) is a nightmare because of all the clicking required
- the --> -->>> ---->>> symbols in the info boxes are hardly obvious
- the removal tool has an icon that 'removes track', but also removes signals

And some gameplay issues:

- Signals are a simple block signals identical to the early TTD ones.
- Platform selection is also vanilla TTD so no presignals for you
- by playing with the land generation options we can get terrain that is 100% unplayable. Some tiles are so steep that nothing can be built over the terrain.

Overall - would recommend/10.

[NekoMaster]

I hope we do get path signaling eventually, I'm not good at working with block signals to ensure no traffic jams happen.

[uzurpator]

Another thing I noticed. There is no concept of station ratings in the game. So if you place two stations near an industry, then production is shared 50/50 between them. Don't know if this is intentional or not.

[Simozzz]

Also played a while.
Noticed that while placing signals you chose at which side you'll get it, not the way it will face. Takes a while to get used to it, but after that seems to be better that original TTD method. What I really miss with signals is "drag and drop" placing of them (like with pressed ctrl in OTTD).
Also got a bit frustratesd when new industry showed up everywhere in new era. Maybe make them appear one of a type at start of new era and then add new ones through time?
And way of picking cities for first mission. In one playthrough it picked town with 1 house and 1 passenger production. Anyhow to pick better ones for that?

[lobster]

Yeah I've played 4-5 hours now and am having a good time, definitely. There's bugs, missing features but overall I can't say I have had this fun playing a transport managing game since Locomotion. And seeing as I somehow still have a soft spot for that game and it is for me not far below TTD in rankings that's saying something.

Few mentions overall:
- Terrain doesn't load when clicking outside the screen in (the apparently unbordered) full-screen, usually I have to restart the game
- Workshop support (in due time I'm sure)
- As Simozzz said, the sudden appearance of industries is a bit much, better have this done gradually
- Maybe look into level bridges? I can't seem to build those
- Buses/lorries/trams would bring a lot of short-distance help, but I'd understand it if it were a train-only game (this was announced already too)
- Perhaps have a sort of "classic mode" with just one currency type, for those who crave that TTD feel
- The automated tracklaying thing comes up with weird junctions and sometimes it switches back just as I try to place the right one

Apart from that I'm just having fun with it. The tokens and other currency is a nice way of solving the issue of being too rich too quick. The graphics are actually excellent-looking, nothing overly fancy but focused on atmosphere. And that's something this game is already doing very well, shouldn't be underestimated.

Great work Jan.

[Dave]

God damn I love it when lobster shows up.

I’ve had a pretty big hand in some of the English strings for this (my name is in the credits!) - I’m delighted to be part of something so awesome. Jan is THE man.

[_dp_]

Hello everyone!

I was missing competitive play in Mashinky so I decided to start a new website dedicated to it, similar to what we do on CityMania.org for OpenTTD.
Predictably, it's called MashinkyMania and it's a bit empty right now but there is a first competition "Race to the Diesel Age"
It's quite simple, you just need to reach the Diesel Age (end of Early Access) as fast as you can on hard difficulty. Sadly there is no multiplayer in Mashinky yet so you need to record your whole game in order to participate. Check the rules on the competition page before you start playing, there is more to it.
I think I did pretty good setting first score of 7 years, can you beat it? 

[Baldy's Boss]

I have to wonder...is it possible to bypass diesels in Mashinky the way I do in OpenTTD?...I take my fleet from steam to electric,I don't know if Zeleny plans to obligate everyone to buy diesels to get past them.

[Emisja]

nice mini diesel loco

mashinky.png

(3.35 MiB) Not downloaded yet

[NekoMaster]

nice mini diesel loco :)mashinky.png

Yeah, thats a British Rail Class 08 Switcher I believe.

[EXTspotter]

It looks amazing! Although I think it looks like it resembles a Class 03 shunter. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_Rail_Class_03

[NekoMaster]

It looks amazing! Although I think it looks like it resembles a Class 03 shunter. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_Rail_Class_03

Ahh, my mistake, I'm not as well versed with British/European Locomotives as I am with North american stuff. At least I tried

[Dave]

It’s an 03 alright, but you’re not meant to be able to get to the diesel locos in the early access version

[Emisja]

It is available after minor modifications in the xml configuration file.
And now I'm going to lead another diesel as a sideman.

zza nastawnika.png

(2.58 MiB) Not downloaded yet

As a push.




I did not succeed, derailed and ruined the locomotive ;/

[JanZeleny85]

Hello guys,

sorry I haven't been here for a while, so I will try to comment / answer now:

@Drury, @Redirect Left, @NekoMaster, @Pyoro: I think it is perfectly ok to talk about piracy and protections. For Mashinky, I did not include any. Only steam protects it a bit, but this is almost the weakest protection possible Since I was not able to do the demo before the relase (I really had no time to dig into, due to unbelievable huge pile of things to do before EA release), Trynig the game via cracked one and via buying and refunding is not that different. The only issue I have is that cracked version was made from very first released build, while buy & refund game means you have the latest version, where many compatibility issues were already fixed, so it gives you wrong information about performance and compatibility of the game on your hardware.

To give you some nombers, in last 3 weeks the game is out, I've uploaded 7 updates with 26 fixes of bug/compatibility/perfomrance, 9 balancing fixes / modifications and 19 new features or assets. This is unfortunatelly not included in cracked version:/

Therefore also creating separate branch for the demo is not possible, since I would need these fixes also be made to the demo.

Drunk thought :Will seasons ever be a think in Mashinky? it might be nice if there where seasons eventually and perhaps it would effect how trains, trucks, and other things would perform like in the winter.

Seasons are there, but not affect gameplay yet (we plan to introduce some quests related to this)

Hi Jan!

I've been keeping an eye on Mashinky progress for quite some time and have a great hopes for it to become a better OpenTTD alternative. So far I must say the game looks amazing and have some interesting ideas like token system. Though I'm not that much into sandbox and eye-candy aspect of it as I only play OpenTTD on multiplayer goal servers. So I'm very interested in core game mechanics and modding possibilities of Mashinky to create a competive gameplay environment for it and potentially host such servers on CityMania as we currently do for OpenTTD. Sadly from what I saw on youtube videos the game is still lacking a lot on a basic mechanics part for that. Most notable things I found are:
1. Lack of advanced signals. You can't build dense fail-safe networks with just block signals.
2. Cargo payment/exchange rate seems to be independent of distance and time. This eliminates any need for long-distance travel as well as train and station upgrades. As you can always go for shortest connection with cheapest trains.
3. Off-station loading penalty seems very small. Combined with no time penalty this probably makes one-tile stations the most effecient solution. Only advantage of longer station seems to be extented coverage area, but that's rarely necessary.
4. I didn't see any town growth in the game. And in OpenTTD city-builder is pretty much the only competitive game mode that is advanced enough to be interesting even for very good players
5. Lack of Linux support. It's not a big issue to get a windows for myself to play the game. But integrating it in our automated server running environment will be a different story. Having linux support at least for dedicated servers will be very helpful.

So as it now probably the most effective way of playing Machinky is to avoid any complex networks and go for the simplest short-distance routes with almost no signaling and only basic locomotives. Which is pretty disappointing to be honest, hope that can (and will) be changed by future game updates and mods.

But nevertheless it's a great game, will likely be the first one I buy on steam as I never was interested enough to get it working on my linux xD So keep a good work and good luck with upcoming release!

1. Signals are on my todo list pretty high. First will be implemented chain signals (better pre-signals). Regarding to Path signals, it is not easily usable due to future possibility to drive your train (=not possible to predict path and allocate track). But I will solve it somehow.
2. Cargo payment is already dependent on distance, but to keep token simple system, industry buildings alter their rules to reflect the distance to closest supplier. This is not applicable to passengers, so I will probably modify this to reflect it as well.
3. Having one tile station will do a huge penalty to you - you can load/unload only the number of wagons fitting to platform at once. Ahen having 6 wagons on long-enough platform, these are loaded in a parallel manner (every tick 1 unit is loaded to each of 6 wagons). Having only 1 wagon on platform, the same situation needs 6 ticks (each tick can only one wagon be loaded by 1 unit).
4. There is town growth already based on number of passangers delivered (you may see the progressing to the next town expansion in any town building)
5. It is playable via wine (although I was not able to try by myself). Other than that, you are right and I plan to add linux version in a distant future once the game content is nearly finished.

Bridges, networks, whatever. I'm yet to find a youtuber who knows how to use signals properly.

Try KatherineOfSky, she is amazing Mashinky player way more skilled than me

Bridges should not be broken (or at least not after some fixes), I only need to explain in better via some game visualization and stuff. But the truth is that there are no diagonal bridges / tunnel nor stations. The reason is it is quite confusing sine there could be 2 diagonal tracks on one tile and diagonal bridges/tunnels/stations would need to affect both tracks every time (not mentioning difficulties to modify terrain accordingly and many other design-challenges).



@uzurpator:
Thanks a lot! I plan to improve routelists and exchanging new locomotives a lot, these features are not yet closed in mashinky since I have tons of ideas still not implemented.
- Indicator how long the train is is already there
- switching signals is VERY easy, it is only different from TTD (thats why it confuses many players). The improvement is taht it depends on which side of track are you clicking it determines the side of signal (therefore the direction) you are placing.
- the -> / --> / ---> will be soon added to tutorial
- Icons are also very work in progress (and especially this one hase been changed 2 times in latest 5 weeks). Still not there :/
- Signals will be soon extended via CHain signals. Regarding to Path signals, it is not easily usable due to future possibility to drive your train (=not possible to predict path and allocate track). But I will solve it somehow.
- If some generated terrain is unplayable, please provide me the safe file so I can take a look and fix, thanks!
- Also the concept of station rating is implemented, but disabled until polished enough (I know this is needed a lot too)

@Simozzz:
- Good idea with slow appearing of new industry one by one.. I will add this thanks!

@lobster: Thanks a lot! I want to fix envetually most of things you mentioned, we are still in the very beginning of Mashinky development, I have tons of tasks in todo list to implement in upcomming 1/2 years.

God damn I love it when lobster shows up. I’ve had a pretty big hand in some of the English strings for this (my name is in the credits!) - I’m delighted to be part of something so awesome. Jan is THE man.

yeah, I owe you a lot Dave! I's been pleasure to work with you so far and we have just scratched the surface

@_dp_: Wow, thanks for setting up the page! yes, there is some competition needed and multiplayer implementation is very early atm.

I have to wonder...is it possible to bypass diesels in Mashinky the way I do in OpenTTD?...I take my fleet from steam to electric,I don't know if Zeleny plans to obligate everyone to buy diesels to get past them.

Yes, as far as you will satisfy petrochemical industry chain (and get some tokens needed out of it), there will be possibility to keep your steam fleet and still be able to progress to electric era.

nice mini diesel loco :)mashinky.png

Yeah, thats a British Rail Class 08 Switcher I believe.

You are right guys, this loco is locked until 3rd era appear

[Auge]

Hello

Is there any chance that the game additionally will be published on another channel than Steam?

Tschö, Auge