Waypoints vs. Depot

[Sentinel203NL]

Hi all,

What I often do is make (a lot of) dedicated lines for a certain type of Cargo which keeps things seperate however the lines then end up underused sometimes so I'm trying to find the right balance between the two. What I do to keep the flow a bit organized is use waypoints. My guess is that most of you will know what problem I'm running into....

When I place a waypoint the train sometimes skips it to go to the depot.

What I currently do is CTRL+place a waypoint right before and after the depot to partially fix this. What 'tricks' do you use to keep trains from doing a 3 month loop because they decided they had to go for the one depot you didn't want them to go to.

Example of a station attached. I want the train to go via Waypoint 1: Karhold Oil IN. The train decides they want to visit the depot at Waypoint 2 (even though there is perfectly good depot right by Waypoint 1). Because it goes to depot at Waypoint 2 it misses the correct waypoint and needs to circle back again.

Short of destroying those 2 depots, anything I can do?

[_dp_]

disable breakdowns

[Tsylatac]

Add the depots to their orders. They'll only use those depots (at those times) for maintenance.

[Sentinel203NL]

Add the depots to their orders. They'll only use those depots (at those times) for maintenance.

I would then have to disable them going for maintenance automatically or is that done by default? I'm asking because if I have to turn it off for all trains I have to add 'go-to-depot' to all trains' orders and I'm lazy and just want to do it for the problem area's

Also, how would trains react after a breakdown. Still go to the first nearest depot or wait until the visit the designated deport

And finally, I tend to use double depot's which helps so one train can enter while another leaves the depot across from the track. Is there a way to set it so the order is visit depot X or Y?

disable breakdowns

Thought of that one but just felt like cheating too much

[kamnet]

disable breakdowns

Thought of that one but just felt like cheating too much

The breakdown system in OpenTTD is somewhat flawed. It's completely broken if you're using NewGRFs. It's really just better to disable them, it's not cheating.

[peter1138]

How is it completely broken if you're using NewGRFs?

[_dp_]

To me they're broken either way

But yeah, the way breakdowns are implemented in OpenTTD they force you to build your networks in a very specific way. For example, at pretty much any point any train can choose to go to a nearest depot. So you have to make sure whenever it does so it can return to his route. That means building depots on every junction, station, etc. Also even if they're serviced regularly they still break down sometimes so you basically need to have lower train density than you would normally do. It all may sound ok to get working once but it starts to get annoying if you build a lot as instead of building new routes you waste time placing stupid depots and if you miss any you suddenly have trains stuck somewhere they don't belong. So many good players disable breakdowns and by no means that make game easier or can be viewed as cheating. There is pretty much no cheating in openttd since if you're playing in sp it's your game and nobody cares what you do there, so even using cheating menu isn't rly cheating let alone breakdowns. And in mp you can't change settings anyway unless you're server.

[peter1138]

I was specifically asking about brokenness with NewGRFs. I'm aware of the routing issues with path signals, etc.

[JGR]

I'm asking because if I have to turn it off for all trains I have to add 'go-to-depot' to all trains' orders and I'm lazy and just want to do it for the problem area's

Really, the time to add depot orders is when setting up a vehicle's orders prior to it leaving the depot for the first time.
Unless your network is exceptionally simple or servicing is disabled entirely, (in my opinion) you should never let vehicles (with the exception of aircraft) run without at least one depot order.
Really the game should warn about this in the same way as it does for vehicles with no or insufficient orders.

Also, how would trains react after a breakdown. Still go to the first nearest depot or wait until the visit the designated deport

They would wait until until reaching their next service at order, and then head to the designated depot.
Vehicles heading to depots of their own accord is the key thing to avoid.

And finally, I tend to use double depot's which helps so one train can enter while another leaves the depot across from the track. Is there a way to set it so the order is visit depot X or Y?

You can use "service at nearest depot orders", however under most conditions you are better off simply distributing more depots around your network and giving each train multiple service at depot orders. This way the average utilisation of an individual depot is lower, and the time between a vehicle needing to be serviced and it reaching its next service at depot order is also shorter.

[Sentinel203NL]

Thank you for all the replies

If I understand correctly I could tell a train you are allowed to service at depot X, Y and Z and it would only go into one of those depots if needed? That would actually be perfect.

[Eddi]

yes, that's pretty much it. i would advise to use waypoints to better direct when the train should make the choice to go to a specific depot.

[Sentinel203NL]

A waypoint order, does it matter if it's non-stop or normal? (I tend to have non-stop on by default)

[peter1138]

Same rules for other non-stop orders: if it's non-stop it won't stop at any stations on the way to the waypoint.

[Sentinel203NL]

Thank you for all the help/advice - flows a lot better now