Screenshots by D-CHGU [OTTD]

[D-CHGU]

Hi everyone !

Just wanted to share a few screenshots of a game that's actually quite old now but as I kept building similar networks till now I wanted to find out if there was anything I could do better... I try to aim at something in between efficiency and realism (and therefore most likely won't achieve either, I know...)

So here goes, using DBsetXL and a few others...

1. A map showing the network... it's not quite finished I know, but for unknown reasons I didn't feel like finishing it but juste kept watching the trains run around the map.

2. This won't help getting an idea about my network-building but I wanted to add it for a bit of a history-background. On this site during modification of the nearby junction two fully loaded 20 car ICE 1 were lead on the same track by signaling error and ended up in a head-on collision at top speed.

3. One of the main stations of the network. All trains of the western branch go through here. The screenshot was taken on a quiet day though. Most of the time all platforms are busy. The shorter ones bring passengers from the two neighbouring citys that can then hop onto ICs or ICEs or leave by plane.

That's part one, more to follow right now !

[D-CHGU]

And we continue :

4. Another big hub. passengers from all surounding cities seen on the picture can catch a train here that either goes east or west. Since the western branch is more used there are a few tracks that end here in addition to those that sit on the mainline.

5. Another terminus on a sideline to the western branch. The airport sees regional service mostly with passengers arriving from the other side of the large city to hop on a train here.

6. The northern hub and assorted junction where the eastern and western branch meet. Most of the passenger traffic stops here but there are a few trains that bypass the station.

... so what dyou think ?

[Ruskij]

The shorter platforms in Pic. 3 don't have entrance signals. In my opinion you could set them to handle more traffic.
In Pic. 6 I can't figure out why you built the extra loop.

[D-CHGU]

Hi and thanks for the reply !

In pic n°3 there is actually a PBS that's hidden behind the grey and brown building on the left of the pic.
Or d'you mean I should put a signal on every track, closer to the platforms ?

As for pic 6, his will be a bit complicated to explain... I guess I'll end up drawing arrows on the pic and re-post it, but I can't do that right now...
The track with the IC about to leave the pic on the left side is the actual mainline going to and from the terminus station.
There's one track in each direction. The empty tracks above that train both go in the same direction namely to the west. The tracks in the loop basically also only go to one direction, they come from the east and turn around here to go allow trains to go back to the station. I doubled up everything because this area sees a lot of traffic including trains from the east to the station seen here, from the east to the west (or vice versa), from the west to the station seen here.
Also the freight train hauled by a diesel on the top of the pic didn't always have a dedicated track... it used to be one big roundabout junction squeezed instead of that loop (I got sick of having to solve deadlocks that kept happening and so I rebuilt the whole thing a few times ending up with this... In my opinion it's adapted to the situation at hand and it does the job reasonably well (but well that's my opinion and since I built it I may be somewhat subjective in my judgement)

[D-CHGU]

It's been a while, but here are two new screenshots from me... still playing with DBsetXL and a couple more newGRFs (among others av8, FISH ships, eGRVTS...)

Feel free to comment !

[D-CHGU]

3 new pics from the same game... the scenery has evolved quite a bit since the last pics...

A steel mill is now provided with iron ore from way south of the map and pumps out a decent amount of steel. You can see a train waiting for full load before it will leave to the factory further north. Two trains can be seen on the mainline. One is an empty coal train returning to the mines in the south the other is loaded with grain from the farm transfer station. Due to great camera action, you can not see that the grain train is still pulled by the original steamer while the newer coal train is pulled by two diesel engines...

At the refinery, one oil train is pulling out of the station as another waits to enter... the access to the station will have to be redesigned as more oil is transported here. A goods train is seen travelling north to deliver to the cities there. This goods line was the first electrified line on the map.
The bypass of the oil station was built for our first passenger service. There are two diesel express trains linking the 3 main cities on the map, but the service is still very irregular so none can be seen on this picture... again, great camera action...

[LittleBear]

I love those big industrial stations in your latest post. Keep it up!

[D-CHGU]

Thanks !

By now, most of the steamers have been replaced by multiple diesel engines... pics will follow soon !
(as in tomorrow morning, I guess...)

The next game I start I will make a little more challenging for myself... and post pics from the beginning so you all can follow the developpment... if people would like that, of course

[LittleBear]

I love story pics. I don't know about anyone else, but I also like details on HOW you play... train groupings, go-to orders, etc. But that might just be me.

[D-CHGU]

Ok, three more screens from that game... these will be the last ones from this game.

The next ones will be from a new game I haven't started yet, so it might be a couple of days...

@Littlebear : I know how you feel... I also enjoy reading a story illustrated with nice screenshots rather than just have them dumped on me

So to finish of this part :

1) the factory station... wood and farm products arrive here and goods go to the nearest city.
You can see a few of the diesel locomotives that replace the old steamers

2) the mining transfer station... iron ore and coal are shipped from here to the steel mill seen on a previous pic and the coal power plant further north.

3) a map of the whole network... the big hub in the lower left corner is the mining transfer. the 3 stations that surround the larger city near the middle of the map are from left to right : the oil transfer, the farm and wood transfer, the steel mill. Further north and far from cities are the factory station (left) and the refinnery station (right). Above the nearest city is the coal power plant. And last but not least, the northernmost station on the map is a passenger and goods terminal.


That was it from this game... see you soon in the next episode

[D-CHGU]

Ok, time for some multiple-posting

Here goes my first ever serious try at a game featuring FIRS and Nutracks... actually my second one but after I was 30 minutes into the first one I realized that I hadn't the FIRS expansion for DBsetXL installed and was wondering why I couldn't refit the wagons as I needed... ahem... so... here goes...

Our company is created in 1920 with the promising name of DB cargo... I really can't deny where I'm from, can I ?
In the souther corner of the map we find a nice group of mines and quarries and quickly devise a daring plan to exploit this occasion.
Soon, our first cargo line is opened to transport sand, coal and... is it clay ? I dunno I'm playing in german
Our first line is quickly crowded with our 3 trains and it is soon decided that the first stretch to the paperworks needs to be doubled in order to prevent unnecessary waiting time and thereby increasing profit.

Plans are allready drawn to change the station layout of our raw material station from terminus to RoRo and a new line to the nereby oil wells is also planned.

[D-CHGU]

And 3 more from the same era :

[Arexander]

Where'd you get those empty tracks? Are they the planning tracks of the Nu Tracks? They look awesome!

[Badger]

In pic 1 I would've put the tram tracks over the rail, limit the struggle for your lowly engines!

[D-CHGU]

@Arexander : those are indeed the planing tracks from Nutracks... a really good concept in my opinion and it does look good... especially if you're trying to have a storyline to your pics !

@Badger: thanks for the tip ! Will be the 1st thing to be changed when I get back to playing the game.
...now why didn't I think of that myself....

[Arexander]

I see. Thanks to that, I got a new aspect to my newest pics I just released.

[D-CHGU]

Back I am with some pics... much has changed since the beginning of this project !

The mainline has been extended to integrate two oil wells, the oil refinnery, distribution of chemicals to a factory, transport of engineering supplies to our quarry where all began, and even an express passenger service.

Here come the images :

[D-CHGU]

And 3 more :

[D-CHGU]

No new pics right now, but a question to all of you who are experts in the use of FIRS (or at least more experienced than me)

How do you go on about distributing supplies... I now have a train waiting to pick up many supplies from a factory and transfer them to a lorry station where trucks distribute small quantities to different mines, quarries and so on ?
Sounds about right ? Or is there something I could do better ?

I will post pics of that transfer station either tonight or tommorrow morning...

Opinions please !

[LittleBear]

I dropped in to say that I love your shots!

But since you posed your question I will say that what you described is what I've seen and understood to be the best method, and it's the one that always works best for me. I HAVE used a one-car train to distribute supplies to (one) mine before, but I think RV's are the more efficient way to increase production.