Buying used vehicles

[Csaboka]

Hi,

Some days ago, a Hungarian guy (who doesn't speak English) sent me an idea for TTDPatch. Although I don't like the idea, I've promised him to post it here so maybe someone else will want to implement it:

The idea is allowing players to buy used vehicles, with lower prices than new models. The harder way would be collecting the vehicles AI companies want to sell, and offering them to human players for purchase. The easier way would be just offering some vehicles with randomized age, and cost decreased according to the age, so you can buy vehicles even when you can't afford a brand new one.

I think implementing the idea would be too much work for too little benefit (people have more than enough money usually, so they wouldn't benefit much from the switch), that's why I wouldn't like implementing it. Still, if it turns out many people like it, I may change my mind

[wallyweb]

Selling earlier models at lower prices is intriguing ... but often the newer models take over the id of an earlier retired model .. no?

[Redirect Left]

Intriguing idea, and it would be a nice feature, especially at the early stages of a game, however it would be pointless after the initial lack of money has faded

[Csaboka]

but often the newer models take over the id of an earlier retired model .. no?

No. Model slots can't be reused because you can still have vehicles of the old type when the new one is introduced. Plus, if persistentengines is used, you may be able to still buy steamers in 2020.

[Dave]

This would probably only worth a go if the pricing becomes really difficult.

I think this raises an important point. Rather than being a real challenge, a lot of people play the game for the enjoyment of building efficient networks (which of course is fine ).

[Snail]

I think it would be quite interesting.

Buying a used vehicle wouldn't really make the game any easier. Of course, the initial cost of an used vehicle would be lower than the cost of a new one. But, a used vehicle wouldn't live as long as a new one (the model life would be crippled). So, in exchange for a cut in the purchase price, one would be forced to replace the engine much sooner than a new one. The replacement cost would come sooner and this would be a thing a player should keep in mind.

Additionally, a used vehicle could (presumably) have a reliability handicap against a new one.

I think it would be a very interesting feature, that would allow players to buy fast or powerful engines from the very start of the game, for a lower price, but whose life would last much less.

Buying used vehicles, by the way, was a strategy that many real railroad companies exploited a lot in their early years! So it would add realism as well.

[michael blunck]

> The idea is allowing players to buy used vehicles, with lower prices than new models.

Because the new prices are very much higher than before and because some of the very early rolling stock has been launched before the DB set´s start date in 1920, you´ll get the chance to buy those older vehicles for a reduced price:

"A budding entrepreneur wants to open a railway business (that happens to become the DB in later years), and to start with, buys old rolling stock from other railways in Germany. Then, they move onto electrics, and order some from Bavaria (which is why they are brown). As time goes on, newer tech is developed and bought brand-new for the railway, painted in the livery of the DB." (Raichase)

(from the DB Set donotreadme)

O/c this is done w/o any Patch support. Just the idea holds.

regards
Michael

[krtaylor]

I think it would be a nice touch, but as the game's economic model stands currently, it would be almost totally useless. HOWEVER, one of the thoughts that's been bandied around for a long time, is charging facilities maintenance costs. If this was started, the enormous profitability would be vastly reduced, and operating the railroad would be much more realistic. In that way, having the ability to buy used equipment for less-important services, would be rather nice.

[Flavius]

Related to this could be that locomotives parked in depots be regularly maintenanced and cared for. As one would expect being in a depot afterall.
Its rediculous to return to a stored loco to find it zero reliability and it quickely breaks down outside of depot. Not to mention it needs to go back in to get serviced once more.

[jfs]

@Rollo's suggestion: Insted of regular servicing, maybe just havea check if the reliability is lower than max, when a vehicle leaves the depot, and service it then. Maybe replace the original servicing-on-enter with servicing-on-exit instead?