FIRS Vs. ECS

[CodeVengeance]

Hey, I just wanted to know your opinion on FIRS and ECS. What is the difference? Which one should I take? Do you have any other industry NewGRF which you recommend?

[sevenfm]

I prefer SPI - it is easier than ECS and allows to start early, and it has more advanced production model than FIRS.
In ECS I don't like that production is station rating dependent - you have to either micromanage it all the time or cheat it to always 100%.
FIRS is nice but instant production is meh.
And fish cargo in SPI is great for early start with sailing ships.

[jfs]

Seconding that SPI is the more interesting choice, gameplay-wise.

[andythenorth]

I get the point of the poll, but all I'm saying here is, FIRS had a big debt to ECS where ECS pioneered doing a big complex industry set.

So I don't like A vs. B, it's kinda divisive. Making content for OpenTTD used to be fun.

[Railwaymodeler]

I don't think it really is a matter of which is "Better", but rather, which one a player prefers to use. ECS, as said, relies on station ratings, and for a large network, it can be difficult to keep everything working smoothly, especially in earlier eras. FIRS is a bit simpler and is easier to manage with large networks (At least I find it is) but the cargo conversion is a bit simplistic. For new players I'd suggest FIRS, but if you like to micromanage, ECS.

There are also some older GRFs that work well with ECS but not FIRS, like the old US Set which I still enjoy.

[CodeVengeance]

I don't think it really is a matter of which is "Better", but rather, which one a player prefers to use. ECS, as said, relies on station ratings, and for a large network, it can be difficult to keep everything working smoothly, especially in earlier eras. FIRS is a bit simpler and is easier to manage with large networks (At least I find it is) but the cargo conversion is a bit simplistic. For new players I'd suggest FIRS, but if you like to micromanage, ECS.

There are also some older GRFs that work well with ECS but not FIRS, like the old US Set which I still enjoy.

Do you know if ECS is still being updated?