Summary of desired updates
Moderator: Locomotion Moderators
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joseph1944
- Engineer
- Posts: 3
- Joined: 12 Sep 2004 06:52
- Location: Napa, Ca. USA
For the love of Eris, let's have a "free deletion of items built within a month", a la Theme Park (and Rollercoaster Tycoon, IIRC). The early game is save-heavy because if you build a bridge in the wrong place you're toast.
Sort out the relative cost of bridges, tunnels and terrain editing. In TT[DLX], it was worth the speed penalty of a bridge over nasty terrain because it was cheaper (at least until you could afford to throw a few hundred thousand around without blinking). In Locomotion, you may as well bulldoze the lot flat, because even the 60-mph limited brick bridge costs more than flattening out terrain.
More frequent wagon updates. It is just plain *stupid* having trains that can go 120-odd when the only existing wagon technology caps out at 70. Speed is no longer important in choosing trains -- it all comes down to power and running cost.
Speaking of running cost, many self-powered diesel/electric engines are made pointless by having running costs higher than the cost of building the wires for the externally-powered ones. Either track modifications need to cost more, or self-powered trains ought to run cheaper.
When rebuilding a road vehicle or ship, restore the original position if unblocked. This would at least take out the infuriating hunt-and-drop stage of replacing such (which at least trains avoid).
Bridge/road upgrading. Basically, allow 'superior' (more expensive) bridges to be built where inferior bridges already exist, replacing the old bridge. (Dirt-to-paved road upgrades have already been mentioned.) This would be invaluable in the cases where some genius in the council builds a wooden bridge in a crucial spot, causing all your vehicles to route over it. (You often can't destroy/rebuild it because the council determines it to be in use.)
Try to make council road-building a touch less random. They love making pointless tunnels, and hate joining up sections of road that are right near eachother. Quite often a city will consist of two road networks, only joined in the town centre, despite passing within tiles of eachother in several places. It's almost impossible to spoit the lacking joins through the murk of hidden buildings, and it sends the AI drivers mad.
Lose the "competitor about to build here...". It's completely against the "AI should not cheat" philosophy Chris offers in the original TT manual intro. Bad programmer. No biscuit.
Hidden buildings/scenery should NOT count as cursor hits. If I can't see it, I don't want to remove it/view its dialogue/adjust the terrain height of the tile in which it resides. I want to do that to the tile/item that is actually *visible* at the mouse position. Once the skyscrapers start to pop up, it becomes impossible to properly modify inner-city roads/stations. And trying to flatten an area of forest on a hill requires insanely fine pixelwork.
The return of subsidies!
Road vehicle drivers which don't feel the need to frequently slam on the breaks to let others overtake. This frequently causes jams, because something is coming in the other direction. When it happens near a truck station, it's a disaster. Vehicles entering or leaving a station *should not be allowed to change lanes in the process*!
Seeing as vehicles now suffer *serious* slowdown on corners, make the drivers favour "straight ahead" over "play with all the bendy road". (Assuming that the pathfinding algorithm is based on some kind of weighted graph, make corners "weigh" more than straight lines.)
"Hide track supports". It was in RCT, it ought to be in Loco. It's *very* hard to identify/check track connections in the lattice bridges with all that metalwork in the way.
The return of TTDLX's "small" budget window, so that it can be left in a corner for quick access to extra funds (or loan paybacks).
A longer 'S' bend with less of a (no?) speed penalty. 'S' bends hurt more than the widest curve, but there's no more gradual way to shift sideways by only a single tile.
And, finally, a big "YES!" for some kind of "replace all my creaky old trains for me" button. As pretty much everyone has said, spending 50% of play time just replacing things is not fun.
Sort out the relative cost of bridges, tunnels and terrain editing. In TT[DLX], it was worth the speed penalty of a bridge over nasty terrain because it was cheaper (at least until you could afford to throw a few hundred thousand around without blinking). In Locomotion, you may as well bulldoze the lot flat, because even the 60-mph limited brick bridge costs more than flattening out terrain.
More frequent wagon updates. It is just plain *stupid* having trains that can go 120-odd when the only existing wagon technology caps out at 70. Speed is no longer important in choosing trains -- it all comes down to power and running cost.
Speaking of running cost, many self-powered diesel/electric engines are made pointless by having running costs higher than the cost of building the wires for the externally-powered ones. Either track modifications need to cost more, or self-powered trains ought to run cheaper.
When rebuilding a road vehicle or ship, restore the original position if unblocked. This would at least take out the infuriating hunt-and-drop stage of replacing such (which at least trains avoid).
Bridge/road upgrading. Basically, allow 'superior' (more expensive) bridges to be built where inferior bridges already exist, replacing the old bridge. (Dirt-to-paved road upgrades have already been mentioned.) This would be invaluable in the cases where some genius in the council builds a wooden bridge in a crucial spot, causing all your vehicles to route over it. (You often can't destroy/rebuild it because the council determines it to be in use.)
Try to make council road-building a touch less random. They love making pointless tunnels, and hate joining up sections of road that are right near eachother. Quite often a city will consist of two road networks, only joined in the town centre, despite passing within tiles of eachother in several places. It's almost impossible to spoit the lacking joins through the murk of hidden buildings, and it sends the AI drivers mad.
Lose the "competitor about to build here...". It's completely against the "AI should not cheat" philosophy Chris offers in the original TT manual intro. Bad programmer. No biscuit.
Hidden buildings/scenery should NOT count as cursor hits. If I can't see it, I don't want to remove it/view its dialogue/adjust the terrain height of the tile in which it resides. I want to do that to the tile/item that is actually *visible* at the mouse position. Once the skyscrapers start to pop up, it becomes impossible to properly modify inner-city roads/stations. And trying to flatten an area of forest on a hill requires insanely fine pixelwork.
The return of subsidies!
Road vehicle drivers which don't feel the need to frequently slam on the breaks to let others overtake. This frequently causes jams, because something is coming in the other direction. When it happens near a truck station, it's a disaster. Vehicles entering or leaving a station *should not be allowed to change lanes in the process*!
Seeing as vehicles now suffer *serious* slowdown on corners, make the drivers favour "straight ahead" over "play with all the bendy road". (Assuming that the pathfinding algorithm is based on some kind of weighted graph, make corners "weigh" more than straight lines.)
"Hide track supports". It was in RCT, it ought to be in Loco. It's *very* hard to identify/check track connections in the lattice bridges with all that metalwork in the way.
The return of TTDLX's "small" budget window, so that it can be left in a corner for quick access to extra funds (or loan paybacks).
A longer 'S' bend with less of a (no?) speed penalty. 'S' bends hurt more than the widest curve, but there's no more gradual way to shift sideways by only a single tile.
And, finally, a big "YES!" for some kind of "replace all my creaky old trains for me" button. As pretty much everyone has said, spending 50% of play time just replacing things is not fun.
...and PLEASE gimme those dam' UFO's back!!
no not serious, but i really fond of the disasters in TTD. Right now the only bad things that can happen (if you plan your signals right) are a competitor taking over your business, or an industry closing down, which, i think, is far too soft.
it may be hard even in the first years to get a decent company, but when you've got a nice network lain, and spoonfulls of money, there isn't really anymore challenge in the game, just as it already was in TT an' TTD
no not serious, but i really fond of the disasters in TTD. Right now the only bad things that can happen (if you plan your signals right) are a competitor taking over your business, or an industry closing down, which, i think, is far too soft.
it may be hard even in the first years to get a decent company, but when you've got a nice network lain, and spoonfulls of money, there isn't really anymore challenge in the game, just as it already was in TT an' TTD
*hmz*
My wish list for Locomotion updates, but wont happen, because its now part of Atari. 
Floatplanes (land on lakes). They could use airports and/or seaports (lakeports and riverports?) interchangeably. And/Or seaplanes for longer distances or larger loads. Small planes for lakes, rivers, whereas seaplanes for seas and large lakes (not rivers or small lakes). (or even the huge, flyin boats for the more "strategic" sized maps)
Better vehicle maint (call it a depot, (or for road types, motorpools)).
Maglevs, monorails, and/or subways. Monorails in particular can be built all over a city, without destroying a building as they are built between them.
Airport upgrades. "born" as landing strips, upgraded to small, medium, and large, even the truly massive internationals (lax).
Helo traffic to land at helo pads, included in most all airports, without holding up, or interfering with plane traffic.
Autoupgrades/replacements of vehicles which are so unreliable that they are only worthy as scrap metal.
no use = no decay of maint (no use includes sitting idle at a station while waiting for a load of a resource).
The ability to relocate a "fast train" and make it passenger/mail for "increased money" from prestige. By fast train, I mean one that set a speed record. Idea stolen from history, (or gameplay, the Railroad Tycoon line of games)
The ability to nuke the competition because they decided to be a total jerk and build right where you were building but had to stop due to fund shortage. If they can "get rights" to an area, why cant we?
Used businesses should not go out of business. at least not without some significant warning, or event (ie, coal vs nukes as prev mentioned).
Smarter vehicles. I dont know how many times I have thrown up my hands in frustration at the isolated road, well off the beaten path, off the traffic routes, that has all the trucks on it backed up with the resource locations waiting for them. (same for ships).(Stick to the route!!!)
Complete vehicle loading before proceeding to the next vehicle of same load at the same location.
An UNDO option. (nuff said).
Station height limits. Who is gonna board a train that is 5 bajillion feet in the sky!! (ok, slight exaggeration).
Make busses a bit more viable. It is in the real life. More cities have busses as mass transit than trams.
Loads stay in YOUR stations instead of becoming widespreadly available to others with stations in the area.
This is a short list, some which may be repeated, but..... its here nonetheless.
Floatplanes (land on lakes). They could use airports and/or seaports (lakeports and riverports?) interchangeably. And/Or seaplanes for longer distances or larger loads. Small planes for lakes, rivers, whereas seaplanes for seas and large lakes (not rivers or small lakes). (or even the huge, flyin boats for the more "strategic" sized maps)
Better vehicle maint (call it a depot, (or for road types, motorpools)).
Maglevs, monorails, and/or subways. Monorails in particular can be built all over a city, without destroying a building as they are built between them.
Airport upgrades. "born" as landing strips, upgraded to small, medium, and large, even the truly massive internationals (lax).
Helo traffic to land at helo pads, included in most all airports, without holding up, or interfering with plane traffic.
Autoupgrades/replacements of vehicles which are so unreliable that they are only worthy as scrap metal.
no use = no decay of maint (no use includes sitting idle at a station while waiting for a load of a resource).
The ability to relocate a "fast train" and make it passenger/mail for "increased money" from prestige. By fast train, I mean one that set a speed record. Idea stolen from history, (or gameplay, the Railroad Tycoon line of games)
The ability to nuke the competition because they decided to be a total jerk and build right where you were building but had to stop due to fund shortage. If they can "get rights" to an area, why cant we?
Used businesses should not go out of business. at least not without some significant warning, or event (ie, coal vs nukes as prev mentioned).
Smarter vehicles. I dont know how many times I have thrown up my hands in frustration at the isolated road, well off the beaten path, off the traffic routes, that has all the trucks on it backed up with the resource locations waiting for them. (same for ships).(Stick to the route!!!)
Complete vehicle loading before proceeding to the next vehicle of same load at the same location.
An UNDO option. (nuff said).
Station height limits. Who is gonna board a train that is 5 bajillion feet in the sky!! (ok, slight exaggeration).
Make busses a bit more viable. It is in the real life. More cities have busses as mass transit than trams.
Loads stay in YOUR stations instead of becoming widespreadly available to others with stations in the area.
This is a short list, some which may be repeated, but..... its here nonetheless.
Q: Is the glass half full or half empty
A: I have kids, thus the glass is empty.
A: I have kids, thus the glass is empty.
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SilentMage
- Engineer
- Posts: 7
- Joined: 03 Mar 2005 01:56
- Location: Brooklyn, NY, USA
I wonder what Sawyer was thinking when he decided to remove these features from Locomotion, the automatic vehicle replacement practically a necessity. I LOVED the ability to replace all my trucks, buses, and trains when I had enough money to do so -- it takes the micromanagement of your vehicles down to a minimum while you focus on more important things, like new profitable routes.LionsPhil wrote:The return of subsidies!
...
And, finally, a big "YES!" for some kind of "replace all my creaky old trains for me" button. As pretty much everyone has said, spending 50% of play time just replacing things is not fun.
And the subsidies: incentives to make routes offered by the game. If it weren't for subsidies, I wouldn't have learned (of thought of making) certain routes that clearly would be profitable. Another great feature non-existant. Really, why??
Lastly, the inclusion of Meglevs from TTD. I did download an excellent Meglev mod from this site and I love it. However, remember the ability to convert existing track in TTD? For example, if you have an old rail line that you want converted to monorail or maglev, you could do so with a click of a button. This is a great feature that would compliment upgrades to existing rail transportation.
The previous lists I've read here pretty much sum up a lot of what I would've wanted in Loco. Too bad Sawyer didn't just take the existing features from his older game...
Resources exist to be consumed. And consumed they will be, if not by this generation then by some future. By what right does this forgotten future seek to deny us our birthright? None I say! Let us take what is ours, chew and eat our fill.
--CEO Nwabudike Morgan, "The Ethics of Greed"
Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri
Gaming is more than entertainment, it's a lifestyle.
--CEO Nwabudike Morgan, "The Ethics of Greed"
Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri
Gaming is more than entertainment, it's a lifestyle.
WAY bigger maps! The current size should be the smallest one, with larger ones ranging from 4-times to 16-times the current size.
About performance issues, just display a warning when choosing map size.
Bigger maps is really the only thing I feel necessary foro Loco. Of course, many other features (especially removed ones) would be good, but larger maps are a priority. I played a game ALONE (non AI companies) with half the maximum number of cities and industries; result: map too crowded after 50 years of game, with cities mergin together, industries in downtown and no space to build stations or lay tracks.
About performance issues, just display a warning when choosing map size.
Bigger maps is really the only thing I feel necessary foro Loco. Of course, many other features (especially removed ones) would be good, but larger maps are a priority. I played a game ALONE (non AI companies) with half the maximum number of cities and industries; result: map too crowded after 50 years of game, with cities mergin together, industries in downtown and no space to build stations or lay tracks.
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d00mh4mm3r
- Tycoon
- Posts: 1137
- Joined: 03 Feb 2005 03:32
- Location: Melbourne; Australia
i agree.. bigger... WAY bigger maps are needed... shore it may mean we need to click 16x more but hay.. theres mods for that
subsidies would be nice to put back... thats how i start my train lines in the first place....
i still play LoMo because the trains look sooooo.. ooooo... ooooo... cool/ sweet
cheers
subsidies would be nice to put back... thats how i start my train lines in the first place....
i still play LoMo because the trains look sooooo.. ooooo... ooooo... cool/ sweet
cheers
--==Out Of Order==--
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intercity125
- Transport Coordinator
- Posts: 306
- Joined: 29 Nov 2004 22:24
- Airports attracting aircraft from companies not associated with your map. There should be a list of airports that your aircraft can fly to which are random, and include details of people in the catchment area, how much you will have to pay the airport to land there, and thus bring in the possibility for your planes to bring you new passengers from a place you are unable to see. There is no point in me flying a concorde to say, Newcastle from London. None whatsoever. It makes air traffic pointless.
- More EMU's to be included in the game.
- More DMU's to be included in the game.
- A fence to build around your tracks to stop the AI/anyone else building hundreds of level crossings on your tracks.
- Larger maps containing more different kinds of industry, for instance ala Industry Giant. Grain to be transported to food factory, then another train to take it to a supermarket depot, and trucks to drive the goods to supermarket stores elsewhere in the cities.
- Road traffic that doesnt belong to you or the AI
- Passengers remaining on the train/bus/tram etc and not just getting off at the next stop regardless of whether it is a rock in the sea with no houses or nothing, just a station.
- The capability of having certain buildings not being allowed to be built in certain cities. You wont get the same looking offices in this town as well a the next, and possibly seeing towns being created solely for housing and a few shops/church etc and passengers having to commute via your railway to work.school etc.
- Some of us would like to have small rural villages and not a hamlet becoming a city in 3 months and then merging into the next, and the next etc creating one giant supercity.
- Gamers should be able to enter the world of real-estate and build their own houses which they then rent out, or sell on depending on location whether you make or lose money on them.
- Trains should look visibly older and sometimes need a clean
- AI should be renamed 'A' because i see absolutely no level on intelligence there at all
- Ticket prices should be an option so that you can over/undercharge people thus attracting or disuading people from using your services.
- Whats this with one airplane only landing at an airport and having 307 circling? At the same time why is a light aircraft left in the sky for 9 months whilst 747's etc are given priority. They should be listed according to time they arrived in the vicinity of the airport, not speed.
- Subsidies return
- Perhaps you should be able to make up your own livery and import into the game, rather than have a yellow train with a big blue band going across it always.
- Overtaking???? Come off of it. If a vehicle is slowing you down, you wait behind it, not enter the other lane and get stuck by a tram going the other way.
- Slower gameplay and seasonal weather and related problems also would be nice. No service on xmas day etc etc etc. I can complete a game in one night. In fact, i never played the same game 2 nights running.
- More EMU's to be included in the game.
- More DMU's to be included in the game.
- A fence to build around your tracks to stop the AI/anyone else building hundreds of level crossings on your tracks.
- Larger maps containing more different kinds of industry, for instance ala Industry Giant. Grain to be transported to food factory, then another train to take it to a supermarket depot, and trucks to drive the goods to supermarket stores elsewhere in the cities.
- Road traffic that doesnt belong to you or the AI
- Passengers remaining on the train/bus/tram etc and not just getting off at the next stop regardless of whether it is a rock in the sea with no houses or nothing, just a station.
- The capability of having certain buildings not being allowed to be built in certain cities. You wont get the same looking offices in this town as well a the next, and possibly seeing towns being created solely for housing and a few shops/church etc and passengers having to commute via your railway to work.school etc.
- Some of us would like to have small rural villages and not a hamlet becoming a city in 3 months and then merging into the next, and the next etc creating one giant supercity.
- Gamers should be able to enter the world of real-estate and build their own houses which they then rent out, or sell on depending on location whether you make or lose money on them.
- Trains should look visibly older and sometimes need a clean
- AI should be renamed 'A' because i see absolutely no level on intelligence there at all
- Ticket prices should be an option so that you can over/undercharge people thus attracting or disuading people from using your services.
- Whats this with one airplane only landing at an airport and having 307 circling? At the same time why is a light aircraft left in the sky for 9 months whilst 747's etc are given priority. They should be listed according to time they arrived in the vicinity of the airport, not speed.
- Subsidies return
- Perhaps you should be able to make up your own livery and import into the game, rather than have a yellow train with a big blue band going across it always.
- Overtaking???? Come off of it. If a vehicle is slowing you down, you wait behind it, not enter the other lane and get stuck by a tram going the other way.
- Slower gameplay and seasonal weather and related problems also would be nice. No service on xmas day etc etc etc. I can complete a game in one night. In fact, i never played the same game 2 nights running.
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d00mh4mm3r
- Tycoon
- Posts: 1137
- Joined: 03 Feb 2005 03:32
- Location: Melbourne; Australia
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d00mh4mm3r
- Tycoon
- Posts: 1137
- Joined: 03 Feb 2005 03:32
- Location: Melbourne; Australia
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d00mh4mm3r
- Tycoon
- Posts: 1137
- Joined: 03 Feb 2005 03:32
- Location: Melbourne; Australia
Well, im not shore who realy reads these, but mainly im hoping for the guys that helped with making locomotion, etc.
TO have a sort of drag track, but it give you a chice if you want it to elevate over that whole drag point, ie. Inseat of a steep slope for trains to go up 5ft in two squares
You could pick how meny squares to be used in going up 5 ft. say 10 squares.
As well as with turns, just drag the mouse(with curve track selected). 1st spot is the start, then the drag is to show how wide or long the turn should be, and then after the click, it come up if you want to slope it, and by how meny ft.
THat would be neat.
TO have a sort of drag track, but it give you a chice if you want it to elevate over that whole drag point, ie. Inseat of a steep slope for trains to go up 5ft in two squares
You could pick how meny squares to be used in going up 5 ft. say 10 squares.
As well as with turns, just drag the mouse(with curve track selected). 1st spot is the start, then the drag is to show how wide or long the turn should be, and then after the click, it come up if you want to slope it, and by how meny ft.
THat would be neat.
--==Out Of Order==--
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Shifty Powers
- Director
- Posts: 629
- Joined: 04 Nov 2004 10:12
- Location: The Netherlands
Vehicle sheduling?
I don't know what the rest of you think, but i would love to see vehicle scheduling in LoMo
Re: Vehicle sheduling?
Could be a pain to manage but it is a great idea.neils wrote:I don't know what the rest of you think, but i would love to see vehicle scheduling in LoMo
Many of the things suggested here however are complex features, wich a game intended to be simple to play does not need. Like Passenger Destinations, or Time Schedules for trains.
Also i don't remember TTD having anykind of automatic train replacement, it only had servicing, and that only worked as long as the loco had not become obsolete.
Also trains looking more dirty only serves to make the game more & more bandwith requiring, not to mention size would triple or double for each train!
It serves no gameplay purpose.
Seasonal related problems aren't really needed either, only serves to make the game more complex. Seasons would be nice, but leave seasonal related problems out of it..
Also world of real estate got no place in game like Locomotion.
However things like path based signalling in TTDPatch would be useful for Locomotion, Diagonal rail & road crossings, more trailers for trucks(number & for each truck type, i.e each truck can pull max 3 trailers, and each truck would have a trailer, except mail, so you can make iron ore transportation viable with trucks etc).
When you make a suggestion, i suggest you consider 5 times if it is useful for gameplay, and 5 more times if it fits in the theme of the game(in this case, being a simple transporation simulation).
Also i don't remember TTD having anykind of automatic train replacement, it only had servicing, and that only worked as long as the loco had not become obsolete.
Also trains looking more dirty only serves to make the game more & more bandwith requiring, not to mention size would triple or double for each train!
It serves no gameplay purpose.
Seasonal related problems aren't really needed either, only serves to make the game more complex. Seasons would be nice, but leave seasonal related problems out of it..
Also world of real estate got no place in game like Locomotion.
However things like path based signalling in TTDPatch would be useful for Locomotion, Diagonal rail & road crossings, more trailers for trucks(number & for each truck type, i.e each truck can pull max 3 trailers, and each truck would have a trailer, except mail, so you can make iron ore transportation viable with trucks etc).
When you make a suggestion, i suggest you consider 5 times if it is useful for gameplay, and 5 more times if it fits in the theme of the game(in this case, being a simple transporation simulation).
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Shifty Powers
- Director
- Posts: 629
- Joined: 04 Nov 2004 10:12
- Location: The Netherlands
-
Shifty Powers
- Director
- Posts: 629
- Joined: 04 Nov 2004 10:12
- Location: The Netherlands
Ye, but it's his game, and he made it, Atari only published it.Akalamanaia wrote:He can't just pop-up new patches if Atari doesn't pay him to do new patches.Shifty Powers wrote:But why doesn't Chris Sawyer made this then, people are asking for it!Akalamanaia wrote:However things like path based signalling in TTDPatch would be useful for Locomotion.
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