Maglev locomotives do have max T.E. Can we stop calling that "power"?

[rotsor]

Under the current acceleration model, maglev traction is computed as:

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force = power / 25;

This is a nonsense equation: it makes force not depend on speed, and therefore effective power is no longer limited by "power", but it scales linearly with speed:

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effective_power = force * speed = power * speed / 25

Which describes a T.E.-limited mode of motion, not a power-limited one.

I see two good ways out of this situation:

1. Declare that the maglev train acceleration is broken and needs a re-write
2. Improve the way game explains the existing implementation

Now (1) might be the better solution, but it is a lot of work and it will be really hard to please everyone. (2) on the other hand should be easy.

Here is what I propose for (2).
Let's compute

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tractive_effort [in N] = power [in W] / 25;

And show that number in the U.I. for maglev trains *instead* of power. E.g. for Chimaera, instead of showing:

Power: 20278 hp

we can show:

Tractive Effort: 605 kN

This way we can pretend that acceleration model for maglev trains is the same (with appropriate differences, such as no friction for maglev), and it's just the power and T.E. values that are wacky.

One can confirm that this T.E. is indeed correct by conducting hill-climbing experiments and comparing maglev trains to non-maglev ones with the same T.E. and mass. I did one such test and found that the hill-climbing ability of the two was remarkably close.

[trainman1432]

Hm. Sounds logical.
Perhaps it maybe should be split into, I dunno, "Vertical Tractive effort" and "Horizontal Tractive Effort"
Perhaps.