[OTTD] Rennford Fish & Tram Company (UKRS2, early start)

[teccuk]

I must get this fish add on. The others are FIRS plugin right?

[damerell]

As well as FISH, I have "Sailing Ships" (called that in the online content browser) from where the very early ships come. They are not a lot of use because they are so slow - OTTD cargo payment rates don't really work for the situation where an average 16 knots by clipper ship is the fastest anything can be transported anywhere. The eGRVTS horse vehicles work because their purchase and running costs are extremely low, even for vehicles of such low capacity.

[damerell]

I think this is my final update, since I took these screenshots three months ago and haven't played or updated since and I don't totally remember what's going on:



An unusual 3-platform station at Great Buntown with the middle platform used, after careful design of signalling equipment, to serve trains in both directions. This station was built largely to test ideas for the future - the small size of the village does not justify it, as can be seen from the complete lack of inclination to build a branch into the village itself.



Here we see the completely rebuilt Wrinfingfield station after the connection of the Wrinfingfield line to the main network; a Crampton with still higher-capacity six-wheel coaches is heading out to Rennford. It was clear that the Cramptons could be used to pull more and heavier passenger carriages than they were being used for previously - provided that signals were arranged carefully to avoid starting trains on uphill slopes.



This is the second urban railway built to relieve pressure on the Rennford tram service. Initially this service would use leftover Planets taken off longer-distance services, but it was rapidly upgraded to a Crampton.



This odd section of railway is used only for stock moves between the main lines out of Rennford. Because of this low use, it is single track, with only one train or light engine permitted to be using the line at any given time. There is no signalling facility to move two trains in the same direction at the same time.

(In reality, I used it to move Planets from the Wrinfingfield line, using them to increase capacity on the line from Rennford North, while adding Cramptons to replace them.)

http://www.chiark.greenend.org.uk/~dame ... p-1855.png is a browser-chokingly huge map of the entire world.

If I do this again, and I might, I'll try and avoid giving up in 1855 by:

Not starting _so_ early. Sure, the horse tram era is interesting, but if you start in 1800 it's 34 years to the Planet - and the Planet is not a lot of use for anything but pax in flat terrain, with another 10 years passing before you should even consider freight services.

Remembering that early locomotives are so very weak. I'm used to starting UKRS1 games with the 4-4-0 express and friends. An early game needs careful study of the map to find the very shortest cargo delivery routes so that your entire capital is not tied up servicing one route - ideally entirely downhill for loaded trains, which can double the effective performance of a locomotive.

Not being afraid to fiddle with the daylength factor shamelessly. These days daylength patches try not to affect per annum income, so there's no real cheat factor here - and the exponential growth of OTTD companies means that if the game is going to be at all challenging later, the flat part of the graph at the start will be very slow paced indeed, especially if you are using a set like UKRS2 with running costs intended to make you think.

Avoiding starting a cargodist game a little while before the release of YACD. That's kind of a joke, but of course the long real-time this game took increased the chance that I'd find myself thinking I'd really rather be playing with such-and-such a cool new patch.

What I'd be grateful to see in OTTD as a result of playing this game:

Taxes for big companies and more generous subsidies for small ones. I realise - to put it mildly - this is a fraught subject on the forums, but personally I don't feel either the "wait three months and build a little something" start or the "you now have money to pave the earth" end are the best parts of an OTTD game.

The other idea that's been knocking round my head is that when a vehicle of any kind is sold it goes into a "sold pool". When buying vehicles, then, a player could opt to buy vehicles "new" or "no more than n years old". Old vehicles would come at a discount, obviously. This would combine well with age-based autoreplace, another hard perennial suggestion.