cargo lost?

[FatRat]

Hi folks,
I am running a large map with FIRS extreme cargo setting. Everything goes well except for one "bug" with a lime kiln. Even though production of farm supplies is constantly high, the delivery rate of the station where they are fetched is dropping at a certain point in time when I leave the game running for roughly 1,5 years without any changes or new builds. This causes trains to load extremely slow and therefore jam the station. Before this kicks in, one supplier train with coal is enough to fill two trains with farm supplies, now more than two coal trans are needed to fill one farm supply train.

As an additional craziness the delivery rate of chemicals produced at the same plant and loaded at the same station remains as high as ever. This effect only applies to this very lime kiln (but it's the only in the game). All other industries producing farm supplies are not affected at all.

I am completely clueless. Of course I can sell the superfluous trains to keep the station running, but where are all farm supplies gone? They are needed elsewhere. I have tried to replace the lime kiln by blowing it up in the scenario editor and rebuild it in the game - no changes. I also removed rebuilt the station in question and rerouted the farm supply trains to another station where the same effect occurred. WTF?

Thanks in advance!

FatRat

[FatRat]

To put some numbers to this, I have now created a new lime kiln and connected all the trains to this one. The same effect occurs though. Before 1990, a train of 420 tons of coal lets the kiln produce and deliver 165 crates of farm supplies. From 1.1.1990, the rating of the station's farm supplies drops from 83% constantly down to 26 %, even though I made sure there is always a train loading cargo and no farm supplies are left waiting on the platform.

Now the same 420-ton coal train lets the kiln deliver only 74 crates to the fetching station.

However, the production numbers of the kiln itself do not drop. Chemicals are the same before and after 1990, as well as any other industry producing farm supplies - so it's most likely not the trains.

Just discovered, that from 1994 the harbour has the same issue

[vrn]

Can you post a savegame so people can take a look at it?

[Wahazar]

Are you sure you are delivering cargo instead of transferring it into station stockpile?

[FatRat]

Hi again,

so here's the savegame.
http://ge.tt/5wEFY2w2

I have fastforwarded it to December 1989. Most likely because of that the effect of dropping station rating kicks in in may 1990 now.

[jfs]

I think I may have an explanation for why the rating is dropping. Some of the supplies are being brought to the station Berggiesshübel South where it gets unloaded for transfer onto trucks. Around May 1990 the amount of Farm Supplies waiting at this station grows massively, I haven't tried to figure out exactly why that is but presumably more is being delivered than the trucks can handle.

As it is, station ratings for a cargo depends not on how much of the cargo is waiting at the original station, but how much cargo from the original station is waiting at any station. This means that 1200 crates of farm supplies from Jena Exchange, waiting at Berggiesshübel South, will detract massively from the station rating at Jena Exchange.


Based on my reading of the code, this is an intentional mechanic, which is probably intended to prevent circumventing the station rating system at producing industry stations, just by moving the cargo to another "holding" station. If cargo from the producing industry's station waiting at another station still affect the rating for the producing station negatively, there is no gain from just moving the cargo somewhere else to pretend you're handling it.

[FatRat]

As it is, station ratings for a cargo depends not on how much of the cargo is waiting at the original station, but how much cargo from the original station is waiting at any station.

I was very unaware of this mechanics in the rating. That must be the solution though, because the rise of farm supplies at Berggießhübel occurs in the same time since trains travel for a long time and this matches with the drop of of the picking station's rating. Now I know what to do. Thank you so much!