Different stations capacity

[gravelpit]

I would like to take up a very important topic and so overlooked. I know that there are people on this forum who will not have a problem taking up this topic.
I believe that in openttd it cannot be that the local bus stop can take the same load (theory) as a large station for several trains. We have many beautiful graphics for the storage of various types of goods.
In every economic game there is a possibility of expanding the warehouses. In closing, I think that the size of the station should correspond to the capacity, it cannot be that there are 10,000 passengers on one tile.

[2TallTyler]

I would also be interested in this feature, but recognize the inherent difficulty in changing such a core mechanic in a game where backwards-compatibility and allowing a variety of play styles is highly valued.

Station ratings are already influenced by the amount of cargo waiting at a station, so code-wise it would probably be trivial to modify this to account for the number of station tiles (and likely the type of vehicle station).

More challenging would be the user experience. Do all station tiles have the same capacity? Code-wise, a warehouse tile is currently identical to a decorative fountain tile. Adding a new property to station tiles wouldn’t be backwards-compatible with existing stations — and coding new stations isn’t even possible in NML yet.

To avoid ruining old savegames and forcing a potentially-unwanted feature on everybody, I imagine this would need to be an optional setting. Would the per-tile limit be customizable or would it be hardcoded To limit complexity in an already-busy settings menu?

Just things to think about.

[Gadg8eer]

I would also be interested in this feature, but recognize the inherent difficulty in changing such a core mechanic in a game where backwards-compatibility and allowing a variety of play styles is highly valued.

Station ratings are already influenced by the amount of cargo waiting at a station, so code-wise it would probably be trivial to modify this to account for the number of station tiles (and likely the type of vehicle station).

More challenging would be the user experience. Do all station tiles have the same capacity? Code-wise, a warehouse tile is currently identical to a decorative fountain tile. Adding a new property to station tiles wouldn’t be backwards-compatible with existing stations — and coding new stations isn’t even possible in NML yet.

To avoid ruining old savegames and forcing a potentially-unwanted feature on everybody, I imagine this would need to be an optional setting. Would the per-tile limit be customizable or would it be hardcoded To limit complexity in an already-busy settings menu?

Just things to think about.

I completely agree. I think the best way to deal with it is that new games have the option to limit total cargo units based on how many tiles they have. Leave the difference between warehousing and passenger services to the imagination, and prevent existing games from turning on a feature that could break the game.

[odisseus]

The stations of OpenTTD have many unrealistic properties. Here are a few that spring to mind:

• trains reversing in place without shunting or turning loops;
• cargo distribution based on the monthly station rating instead of long-term transportation contracts;
• passengers and cargo teleporting between disjoint parts of a station.

It seems clear that the infinite stockpile capacity is not the most unrealistic thing about the stations.

[Taschi]

I believe that in openttd it cannot be that the local bus stop can take the same load (theory) as a large station for several trains.

Well, it actually can't.

Sure, it can have a lot of people in waiting, but it does not have the capacity to actually transport them, because it can only take one (ok, one on each side, and maybe even two) bus at a time, those have a limited capacity, and they need time to load and unload. Meaning that you cannot achieve the same throughput on a single bus stop that you can on even a basic two-track railway stop.

The thousands of passengers waiting are a silly notion but they have a gameplay purpose: they allow the player to gauge (heh, gauge) how much demand there is for certain routes / stops. If you limited the waiting capacity to a hundred-ish passengers, it would be really hard to tell the difference between "my bus route is running at about capacity" and "my bus route needs five times as many vehicles as it currently has".

And sure, you could propose fixes to solve that problem (like, say, letting vehicles carry up to 140% base capacity passengers for a high rating penalty) but they all carry their own set of problems.

(Also, @moderators, shouldn't this be in "OpenTTD Suggestions"?)