In article <384D191D.65636...@york.ac.uk>,
Stephen Down <sjd...@york.ac.uk> wrote:
I wrote this reply related to my own project, 3DTT. I deleted much text
when it was so obvious that even an agree was redundant.
One thing I really wouldn't want to see
happen is that people with PCs
over a year old couldn't play the game
because it had too high a spec.
requirement:
Hm. This is depending on what people use. Some are still using 486-ies.
Very many still have no 3D card.
* Option to start *earlier* than 1950 ... maybe, say, 1900.
3DTT starts in 1820.
Towns should ... keep low-density
housing on the outskirts.
This is already so in TT, isn't it?
Growth should be proportional to:
This is a science of its own. I have some different opinion.
~ quality of transport provided
This seems to have not much influence in reality.
~ productivity of industries. If
there are lots of active industries
in a town they would encourage the
town to grow in real life, so
they should in TT,
Yes, THIS is the main factor. Probably the one and only. People go
where work is to earn money and ensure their life standard.
A secondary factor is the supply of a city with things that improve
life standard. So many people refuse to work in small villages because
there are no cultural institutions and no possibility for shopping.
* Towns (or the catchment area for a station) can not accept more
passengers per month than they can 'produce'.
Why not? They stay resident and town grows...
But you are right if you want to improve the existing system of
producing and accepting passengers and mail. 3DTT has a completely
different system where you can't carry passengers where YOU want. They
use your transportation only if it brings them nearer to their
destination.
* Larger maps (again, possibly by option, to allow for high or low
power computers).
The map in 3DTT is very big. If there would be tiles as in TT it would
be 1024x1024. But cities are also larger and some constructions need
more space (no curves with 10 meters of radius, hehe).
* Water above sea level.
Already implemented in 3DTT.
* Option to change fares.
Will be.
* Rail, road and sea depots should be large enough to accommodate all
the vehicles in them.
The other way: if there is a vehicle inside, it is full.
* Option to run more than one company in the same game.
Interesting idea, but what for?
~ different companies can share construction costs, and could (but
don't have to) share any stations and railway track.
Will be. You will have to sign contracts with other companies to use
their structures.
* Option to buy road from opponents or local authorities. Ditto
for bridges.
Will be.
The problem of local authorities that you cannot tear down bridges and
roads that are connected to other roads will persist in 3DTT. but you
can get permission if you promise to build a new bridge/new road not
too far away.
* New towns to appear during the game (maybe).
Good idea. Shouldn't some disappear, too?
* Towns should be larger, but less dense
I agree. But it requires a larger map.
* Bridges should not be restricted to single-height level. They
should also be able to cross diagonal track and track with signals.
Already implemented in 3DTT.
* Can "build a tile up" ... ie, if you try to build anything on a
broken tile or a gradient tile, it will build up as it does when
houses etc are built. But it would be expensive.
Yes, this is a feature I missed desperately. It will be no problem in
3DTT. It MUST be no problem since you have no flat ground on the whole
fractal map.
* Catchment area should depend on type of station, eg
~ airport, 6-tile radius
~ railway station, 5-tile radius
~ docks or underground station, 4-tile radius
~ bus station or tramstop, 3-tile radius
~ bus stop or taxi rank, 2-tile radius.
I agree within the old system. But I do not like this catchment area
concept in general, therefore 3DTT hasn't this at all. Airports are
made for far distances and commonly there are not many airports in a
city so people come from a farer area to use planes. Buses instead you
will use for short rides and for short rides you will not travel many
miles to the bus station. But the underlying algorithm has no catching
area. You select your route and including transport vehicles to reach
your destination quicker, more comfortable, safer. If there is a bus
that takes me to China and for some reason there is no plane or I am
afraid of flying I will use the bus and I will go to the bus station
even if it is in the next city, 100 miles from home.
* Can set vehicles to "Half Load" or any other %age load, so that
they will wait until there is at least that much of the train
full before departing.
Why do this? Use half the amount of vehicles instead. The solution in
Josef's patch ist much more interesting: the mixed train starts when
one type of cargo is fulfilled.
* Choice of road types;
Will be in 3DTT.
* Speed limits in towns.
Will be.
* None of those stupid ugly lattice
bridges that the computer builds.
What are lattice bridges?
* Bus stops!
~ Can be placed on any straight road.
~ Smaller catchment area to bus stations but cheaper to place.
~ You can not include bus stops in the 'orders', but a bus will
always stop if it passes one. (A coach OTOH wouldn't)
This is another kind of bus. I think the TT busses are travelling
busses and no public traffic. In case of designing public traffic of
course it is necessary to make it your way.
* Taxis (maybe).
Quite good idea!
* Intelligent level crossings. Where two or more adjacent tracks
cross a road, this should be treated as ONE level crossing.
Yes, it should.
Trains should set the bells going from one tile further away
for every additional track on the crossing
This sounds logical.
* Track needs to be electrified for
electric trains to run along it.
Yes, but this process has to be automatized. F.e. a train that upgrades
the track by passing.
* Special track should be needed for running at high speed
Hm... - it may be for realism, but this has to be automatized, too.
* Low-gradient track. Place a bridge
from one flat tile to an angled
one next to it, and voilà!
Already implemented in 3DTT.
* Can place signals on bridges.
Will be in 3DTT.
* First class travel for passengers.
Oh no, it increases micromanagement. Let's simply assume that the
vehicles already have a percentage of first class places and passengers.
* Greater 'lookahead' for trains planning their journey.
In 3DTT the vehicles will perform a *complete* pathfinding before
starting and whenever there is an unexpected obstacle.
To take into account,
~ signals facing the wrong way
~ cheap bridges that will slow you down
In 3DTT you will have to select the pathfinding priority for your
trains: cheapest, fastest or shortest way.
~ when approaching a destination station, look at the next
destination to select the appropriate platform(s) to use.
Is this really necessary? I never had a problem with it. But of course,
you could build stations with independent outlets. I will think about
it.
* Trains should not be able to turn 90° from one 'diagonal' track to
another. It is unrealistic and looks awful.
The maximum in 3DTT is 20°
* More than one type of train should be able to call at any station.
Oh yes! Josef's patch already made it possible. In 3DTT there will be
no problem either.
* Can build stations to a custom design - not all platforms the same
length, (maybe) some lying perpendicular to others.
* Possibly an "off-the-shelf" X-shaped station, consisting of 2 2x4
stations, at 90° to each other, one of which is one level up from
the other (centres in the same place).
Will be in 3DTT. You can also build stations in curves.
* Trains should take longer to slow down and stop, either on approach
to a station, a red signal or when you tell them to Stop! ... makes
it more realistic.
Hm - don't know. It was discussed in 3DTT, too. No decision yet. But
they will slow down in curves.
~ This would mean that trains would occasionally pass a red signal
- if this happens, a warning message should appear, "Signal
passed at danger near ~~~ville", and then you would have to do
your best to avoid a collision.
~ Ripping up track too close to a train (ie, it does not have time
to stop) would result in a derailment or crash.
Interesting, but I don't like these possibilities.
* Occasionally, signals or level crossings might fail (and stick at
either green or red); again this would bring up a warning message
so you could replace them.
* (Maybe) track could wear out (after prolonged and heavy usage) or
electricity supply could fail.
The disaster section. Yes, why not. But not very often.
* Option to build larger docks.
Oh yes, the navy is very low-detailed in TT. The 3DTT seaports will
probably be modular-sized.
* More sizes of airport should be available. Say, a 3x4 airfield from
1930 (or whenever!) onwards (yes, onwards; not just until bigger
planes are available); a 5x6 provincial airport from 1960ish when
the first 592mph planes appear and a large 6x8 with 2 runways from
1980ish.
Best would be a sizing like in SimCity2000. In 3DTT you will have to
build the airport module by module.
I would like to see trams and underground trains making an appearance.
With larger cities, they become more relevant.
Everybody likes trams. But honestly: how long would be a tram line on a
TT-like map? I (ab)used this Manley Morel DMU sometimes in big cities
as tram, hehe.
* Run on rails, which are laid as double-track on each tile. Can
be laid on bare land, along a main road or across a road.
Why no double tracks for trains, too? 2 tracks should consume lesser
space than 1 road.
Underground trains
Same comment as for the trams.
Peter
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