[OTTD] The Vactrain Set

[Jacko]

Thats more of a inflation problem
I play without inflation so I don't really have this problem
Also they're supposed to be expensive, if you read through the topic you will see that is supposed to be the case
Also bridge coding is separate to this grf (i think...?) and is currently not coded

[bjgttd]

Is there a solution allowing to use this set together with NuTracks and 2cc train set?

[FlameSing]

Yes. But you should disable any metro or 3rd rail tracks in NuTracks settings.

[bjgttd]

Yes. But you should disable any metro or 3rd rail tracks in NuTracks settings.

This isn't really a solution. I like metro. Don't need all 5 of them, though (who does?), but it's all or none.

[Transportman]

Yes. But you should disable any metro or 3rd rail tracks in NuTracks settings.

This isn't really a solution. I like metro. Don't need all 5 of them, though (who does?), but it's all or none.

Unfortunately the problem is with NuTracks in this case. It takes up almost all railtype slots, creating (more) problems in combination with other track sets. I don't know why you are using NuTracks, but if it is for Metro Tracks, you might want to look at the Metro Track Set. That only needs 3 slots, which should leave enough room for the Vactrain Set.

[bjgttd]

... you might want to look at the Metro Track Set. That only needs 3 slots, which should leave enough room for the Vactrain Set.

Thanks, I'll try it. A "test" new game creates fine, metro and vacuum are available.

[MinchinWeb]

I got annoyed at the possess of upgrading between rail systems (like normal rail -> monorail) so I wrote a small NewGRF to greatly simplify it. It also proved trivial to include Vacuum Trains. Thus with my NewGRF you can now run Vacuum Tube engines with Maglev wagons on Vaccum Tube 'rails'. Now you can run a 'full service' vacuum tube rail system moving all cargos!

Progressive Rail Set

[Emperor Jake]

So I've been trying to draw cargo vactrains, due to high demand. Here's a sample of what I imagine cargo vactrains to be like, please let me know waht you think

(The top row will be first gen, the bottom row will be second/third gen. See the spreadsheet for proposed stats. The purple load will be recoloured to any bulk cargo via code.)

[Voyager One]

You can use any of my sprites any time.

I'll try to see if some of my Dutch sprites look futuristic and streamlined enough for you.

[Emperor Jake]

Well, the Swissmetro is streamlined because it's supposed to be a transition between regular maglev and vactrain, because it runs in a partial vacuum as opposed to a near full vacuum like the later generations. Therefore it is limited to 800km/h. I was thinking that the later trains would be less strteamlined, but still sleeker than the ugly aluminium cans we have now. Here's an unfinished sprite for one of the later generations of vactrain, this one has short vestibule wagons with doors between the main wagons

vactrain.png (1.05 KiB) Viewed 8254 times

Regarding the cargo wagons, I'm not sure how some cargoes would be transported in a vactrain, especially livestock. Also pressurised cargo wagons would cost a lot more than non-pressurised ones such as those for coal and steel.

[Purno]

I'll try to see if some of my Dutch sprites look futuristic and streamlined enough for you.

Vacuum Tube trains don't need to be streamlined, as there's no air resistance
A can-shaped train would probably be most cost-efficient

[Voyager One]

Then it remains just the "futuristic" part...

[54x]

Well, the Swissmetro is streamlined because it's supposed to be a transition between regular maglev and vactrain, because it runs in a partial vacuum as opposed to a near full vacuum like the later generations. Therefore it is limited to 800km/h. I was thinking that the later trains would be less strteamlined, but still sleeker than the ugly aluminium cans we have now. Here's an unfinished sprite for one of the later generations of vactrain, this one has short vestibule wagons with doors between the main wagons

vactrain.png

Regarding the cargo wagons, I'm not sure how some cargoes would be transported in a vactrain, especially livestock. Also pressurised cargo wagons would cost a lot more than non-pressurised ones such as those for coal and steel.

I think you should only need pressurised passengers and livestock. As long as cargo is held down securely, there wouldn't be any adverse effects on for instance wood or mail in an anaerobic environment. Food has no particular issues being depressurised either, the safety concerns merely change from aerobic bacteria to anaerobic ones, so you'd need some sort of freezing or chilling solution that would function in a vacuum or near-vacuum, but this would probably be a matter of direct contact with some sort of conducting element to leech away heat and is unlikely to be anywhere near as expensive as pressurised compartments. Hope that helps.

[SciFi]

Food has no particular issues being depressurised either, the safety concerns merely change from aerobic bacteria to anaerobic ones, so you'd need some sort of freezing or chilling solution that would function in a vacuum or near-vacuum, but this would probably be a matter of direct contact with some sort of conducting element to leech away heat and is unlikely to be anywhere near as expensive as pressurised compartments. Hope that helps.

I won't be sending any foods by your vacu-train service any time soon then.
Tins and bottles will survive, probably, but anything like marshmallows, soft fruit and cream filled cakes would be ruined. Mythbusters S01E02.
So white the cargo of Food could be considered fine, the tropical Fruit cargo wouldn't be.

[Afdal]

I've finally made an account here just to comment on this newGRF that I always have turned on in my games but almost never end up using.

I really, really wish you would reconsider increasing these trains' acceleration again. Even with the absolute best setup for acceleration (Euroliners with Intercity wagons; Shinku-eki's acceleration is worse, and Airline Killer's acceleration is absolutely abysmal), the room needed to accelerate to maximum speed is just too great to design high-speed networks with these. They require too much space to accelerate before merging with another track in order to prevent traffic disruption. If you care so much about adhering to realism can't you at least pretend we'll invent futuristic gravity-canceling gyros or something? And even then, non-biological cargo shouldn't care about massive acceleration forces.

As it is now it remains little more than an endgame novelty, only useful for generating extreme revenue on easily made and very simple train lines. It would be so much fun if this newGRF was more compatible with advanced networking.


That aside, I've noticed that the Euroliner only has powered Intercity wagons, while the Airline Killer only has powered Long Distance wagons. Finally, the Shinku-eki has all wagons powered including mail. Is this intended? Perhaps you should change this somehow because this effectively makes the Shinku-eki the only engine choice for doing anything not involving passengers.

[Zhall]

Insane when trains go 4000 Km/h

[V453000 :)]

That is honestly the reason why I consider this set very ver very bad ... 4000kmh trains are very barely visible unless you zoom out.

What that means is that the player totally does not care about details on the network, just one long line connecting 2 stations... as boring as it could get

I would suggest to sanitize those speeds, even if it is the "purpose" of this newGRF, as it collides with playability quite a lot.

In my eyes 600km/h is around the sane maximum, maybe around 800 would be the last bearable point... more is just wtf.

[Zhall]

I would have to say that the price justifies the speed.

You have to have a formidable maglev network setup to generate the income you need to get vacuum trains...

Then you just encircle the map with a single line and your done!

[Afdal]

Yeah I love the high speed of this newGRF--that's the whole reason I use it. My problem is just with the pitiful acceleration of the trains that becomes extremely limiting for networking. Any time a train bumps into another on a busy track it completely kills the speed of others around it for a very long distance, and you need massive pre-acceleration space for junctions if you want high-speed track merges to prevent such a thing.

The size of track priorities for high-speed merges surprisingly doesn't change much with these crazy speeds. You only need to slightly lengthen your track priorities for Airline Killers' 4099 hm/hr speed; the rest of the Vactrains work with the same size of priorities and high-speed train density used by all trains with max speed 100 km/hr and up.

[Zhall]

Using multiple engines can help with the acceleration issues.

Atleast I'm pretty sure.