[OTTD] JamesP's UK Screenshots

[JamesP]

Well, thanks to A321's city development skills, the western quarter of Ganingwell is recovering nicely. What is more, during the dark days of its decline the authorities bowed to local pressure and, rather than closing Bank station, took the opportunity to re-locate it onto abandoned land in the once-bustling heart of the quarter. In doing so they were able to close the costly-to-maintain tunnel, as well as aiding the area's regeneration efforts.

A few years on, and the authorities are reaping the rewards of their foresight. Population and commerce have returned to the quarter, and Bank station generates a steady flow of customers for the 3-car DMUs on their way to Central station.

[JamesP]

As you may have noticed from the previous screenshot, Robin Region has undergone some cosmetic changes of late. The introduction of 'New Trees', 'no gridland' and the 'UK roadset' GRF have changed the appearance of the map quite dramatically for the better in my opinion. A big 'thank you' to the authors of those GRFs, and of all the others used, as shown in the attached screenshot.

[JamesP]

The 'New Trees' and 'No Gridland' GRFs appear to best advantage in rural areas. Here, a little to the south of Meham, a long coal train hauled by a pair of Sulzer Type 2s heads East. In the opposite direction, and partly hidden by trees, a 'peak' takes a passenger train Westward.

[Pilot]

That last shot looked great. And welcome back Ganingwell.

[Katve]

Last shot was amazing.

[JamesP]

Towards the South West of the region lies the city of Pronborough - a busy hub of the railway network, where newly introduced Class 91 and Mark 4 sets on the electrified mainline from Sennington meets HSTs on the Cross Country route to the far South West. Also serving the city are loco hauled trains on two different regional routes, EMUs on the new spur to the Airport, and DMUs on local services.

The city has too main stations: Pronborough Main is served by both of the two primary routes as well as some of the other services, and is full to capacity, being completely hemmed in by buildings giving it no opportunity of further expansion. Pronborough Central was originally built only for local services, but once Main station reached capacity, new services - including the recently introduced Airport link - were routed to Central until it too, became almost full.

In this picture a 'Peak' hauled rake and a local DMU climb the steep gradient at the West end of Main station while an HST awaits departures to the East. Accelerating out of the tunnels is a Class 37 hauled secondary service on the last leg of its journey to Pronborough Central.

At Central station an EMU and another Class 37 hauled train depart through the tunnels, while a DMU approaches Pronbough South - one of a number of small suburban stations in the city - with an 'all stations' cross-city local for Pronborough North.

[JamesP]

On the right of this picture is Rartfield Junction, where the Punningwell line leaves the Cross Country route to Pronborough and the South West.

A Class 47 hauled Rartfield fast takes the diverging route, running on the signals of a Class 150 DMU on a local service ahead.

To the left of the picture is Rartfield Viaduct, carrying the railway high above the valley floor. An HST screams West, passing a Peak on an Eastbound semi-fast.

[JamesP]

One of the beauties of the very large maps available on OTTD is that domestic air travel become a realistic possibility.

Two cities of the Robin Region now have their own airports, with regular flights between them. Rather than shy away from the new competition, the railway company looked to embrace it, building rail links to both airports.

This is Pronborough Flonston Aiport, with an EMU departing on the rail link, while a domestic jet enters the flare on final approach to runway 23R. I don't envy the captain, descending so close to the tree tops, but environmentalists have campaigned against further felling.

There has been discussion previously on the forums about the best way to organise realistic airport operations on OTTD. The problem, of course, is that real airports are not (with a few notable exceptions) located in the middle of cities, so some sort of feeder service is needed. If only one airport is used, both planes and feeder services take away passengers who they have just brought to the airport.

I use the dual-airport solution, with an 'arrivals' and 'departures' terminal (actually separate airports). Planes bring passengers to the 'Arrivals' terminal and 'unload only', then fly (unfortunately - if only they could taxi there) to the the 'Departures' terminal where they load up with passengers brought by the feeder service. The feeder service does the opposite - having unloaded its passengers at 'Departures', it proceeds to 'Arrivals' for a load of passengers to take to the nearby city.

Visually, the impression is improved by the two stations sitting end-to-end to form one long platform, sitting between the two terminals. i.e. there appears to be one platform, but it is actually made up of two stations - one part of the 'Arrivals' terminal, and one part of 'Departures'. The train disgorges its passengers at 'Arrivals', then simply moves up the platform to 'Departures'. The 'City Station' GRF fits well with the airport architecture, and the whole does a reasonable job of looking like a single airport.

The journey from the city of Pronborough to Sonninghall by air (including the rail connections at both ends) is about 30% quicker than making the whole journey by rail. The two cities are at opposite extremes of the region - on shorter distances air travel is not viable as journey times are not competitive with the train.

[Dave]

I have assessed these shots and am utterly in awe. Some awesome building work here my friend. Makes me want to pick up OTTD again. Great stuff.

[kamnet]

There has been discussion previously on the forums about the best way to organise realistic airport operations on OTTD. The problem, of course, is that real airports are not (with a few notable exceptions) located in the middle of cities, so some sort of feeder service is needed. If only one airport is used, both planes and feeder services take away passengers who they have just brought to the airport.

This is a wonderful reason to play with a version of OpenTTD that has been patched with either CargoDist or YACD, which allow passengers to be expressly distributed to specific destinations with no need for the dual airport scenario.

[JamesP]

Thanks for the comments, all.

Kamnet - good point, and I intend to use one of these on my next game. That could be some time off though, because I've been working on the Robin Region for at least 6 months and there's lots more to do on it yet! (As far as I know these patches can't be applied mid-game?)

Dave W - go for it! I always got inspiration from your screenshots

[Pilot]

Can I come and fly your BAe 146's (Avro RJ's). Would love to get an Aerial View of the entire region.

[JamesP]

As luck would have it, I happen to have a shot from the cockpit just before commencing descent into Sonninghall Hetown......

[romazoon]

that s looking like a big and nice network there

(As far as I know these patches can't be applied mid-game?)

well if you play with a unpatched version, the patched version are able to open savegame from previous or same version of ottd , the reverse ofc is not true.
exemple: if you play with a version newer than ottd 1.0.5, the chillpathcpack won t be able to load it.
But for YACD and Cargodist, there are versions avalaible on the forum working with some "recent" nightlies.

Anyway... loading YACD midgame might make a huge mess as people wont even show up at your station if they can t reach their destination.
Loading Cargodist mid game seems a safer move as only capacities will matter (plus there is many settings to tune up or down as you prefer)

[Supercheese]

As luck would have it, I happen to have a shot from the cockpit just before commencing descent into Sonninghall Hetown......

Wow, that is a lot of oil rigs to the northeast!

[Pilot]

As luck would have it, I happen to have a shot from the cockpit just before commencing descent into Sonninghall Hetown......

Very Nice. You make me want to post Screens again. I just don't have time.

[Jacko]

Those are some awesome screenshots

[JamesP]

As luck would have it, I happen to have a shot from the cockpit just before commencing descent into Sonninghall Hetown......

Wow, that is a lot of oil rigs to the northeast!

Yes...I'm not sure why that happened. There aren't excessive numbers of other industries, but the oil rigs just went a bit mad. I don't make any use of them - they just make coastal screenshots look odd. Anyone know of a way I can get rid of them mid-game?

[Pilot]

Ctrl+Alt+C, select Magic Bulldozer and destroy them. It's not Permanant but it does the Job. Just make sure you turn it off again after you use it.

[Emperor Jake]

Leaving the magic bulldozer on doesn't do anything bad - it may have done so a long time ago, but for some reason people still think it will make your cities build over your industries.