Ideas - Even the smallest helps. Be reasonable...

[Lega-C]

here are some of my ideas hope you like 'em

1. a clock
so you can say the plane from buddingfield airport leaves 11:00AM

2.double train tracks
like in RRT2 could be smart... well i liked 'em

3.bigger maps
just bigger than in TT i hate when all the map is filled with my trains

4.bigger City's
bigger and more detailed city's.... sorry dont know how to write

5.more tracks*
more tracks to choose from when you build tracks

6.intelligent trains
so trains dont crash onto each other so easily... maybe not intelligent trains but... you know

7.Workers
it costs money to pay the people driving the trains and other stuff

8.more industry
so that there is more to transport

9.destination points
there should be destination points for every thing

10.more stuff
more trains and stuff with REAL names not like in TT deluxe


my ideas

ohh yes forgot to say that i like ashleys idea of tourist attractions

*just instead of building your own junction then make some that you can choose from... just look at the junctionairy it would have been much easier if you could choose them in the interface

that is all..... for now

[RaveWar]

I am new here. If i could programme I would love to help you, but for now I add my suggestions to the huge amount already there

• I have played the demo of Rails Across America and I really like its style, but as a UK citizen have not been able to buy this game in the shops. This game makes it easy to manage large numbers of trains per route, and the way that the graphics are abstracted somehow make it seem like you are in charge of a large railway, a feeling that Railroad Tycoon fails in by making large cities look like villages, and proves it is possible to get that vibe of being a VIP railway king without complicating everything too much. In TTD, having to schedule individual vehicles could become a drag because of the need to maintain a large fleet. Rails Across America, if I remember correctly, required the player to create a route, he could then assign a certain number of identical trains to this route, more could be added if needed, and when these trains became obsolete they could all be replacced with a more modern design in one go (I think you could even cascade the engines to replace the oldest ones!). This is a very good way to manage passenger trains. IMO if you combined this system of traffic management to something with ttd Patch's building and tweaking ability you will have one heck of a game.

• Other ways of reducing the need for micromanagement could be to let the freight side of things run itself, more or less. I am thinking along the lines of making a freight sector (e.g. refrigerated containers), giving it locomotives and cars (or choosing the consist of trains), and telling it what stations to serve, and letting it get on with it, with trains going where most traffic and profit is. This of course could be a nightmare to implement and in the game (imagine freight trains all deciding to go to one place at one time)

• When several networks link together, other agencies (Thalys, Eurostar, Orient Express, Amtrak) ask to run long distance services across your network. This brings profit, but they will go away again if they cannot maintain a good average speed due to congestion

• There should be a good endgame for more competitive people (who like a finishing point to the game). Civilisation had the spaceship to Alpha Centuri which absorbed resources over many years. I propose the "space elevator", familiar to readers of Arthur C. Clarke, a piece of infrastructure that can give mankind cheap transport to space. It is essentially a tower, or cable, that extends from Earth to geosynchronous orbit. In the game this should take the form of a giant tower which will become taller during construction in proportion to the resources spent on it. First person to complete the space elevator wins the game!

• I do not know if the GPL license will benefit the TT genre of games. I am thinking that the completed game may be too complex for many new players, but if a license was chosen that allowed a commercial software house to invest in making (as an example) a simpler to play game incorporating the Transport Empire engine but with more "eye candy" and sell it, this would be good for the TT genre of games. AFAIK Free software compatible licences such as LGPL and MIT allow this to happpen.

Sorry about such a long post, and good luck!

[Hellfire]

Welcome to the forums and thank you for your input!

...Rails Across America...
...Macromanagement...

I have been thinking along those lines myself. A macromanagement feature could be a really big improvement over Transport Tycoon.

...and letting it get on with it, with trains going where most traffic and profit is. This of course could be a nightmare to implement and in the game (imagine freight trains all deciding to go to one place at one time)

There is actually a term describing such a property. It's called fairness, and there are a number of ways to guarantee fairness. (Round robin, First come first serve, nearest first, random)

When several networks link together, other agencies (...) ask to run long distance services across your network...

Using competitors tracks and allowing competitor traffic over your own tracks can be a nice element!

...space elevator...

I believe space travel was already proposed as a way of transporting (even) more people

... GPL, LGPL, MIT

That is something that might be worth looking into. AFAIK we have not chosen a licence yet.

[BlackAurora]

Perhaps this has been suggested before, but:

Realistic passengers. I really hate the fact that all passengers get out at the first station they encounter when I have a long passenger line with many stations. Set it so, that passengers can wait a few stations to get out. Perhaps include something per town connected to a station a ratio that decides how many passengers want to go there:

Home
|
|
Station one (place A, 20% of the passengers from Home want to go here)
|
|
Station two (Place B, Big city, draws 50% from Home)
|
|
Station three (substation in place B, draws 15% from Home)
|
etc

Ofcourse, home would draw a number of passengers from those places. Make it more realistic.

[Conditional Zenith]

... GPL, LGPL, MIT

That is something that might be worth looking into. AFAIK we have not chosen a licence yet.

AFAIK, the GPL has been put forward in the FAQ thread (and at SF) and no-one has said anything different.

but if a license was chosen that allowed a commercial software house to invest in making (as an example) a simpler to play game incorporating the Transport Empire engine but with more "eye candy" and sell it, this would be good for the TT genre of games.

The GPL allows this to happen, the condition being that the game is sold under the GPL. I think this is a good thing; I don't want TE code being incorporated into a proprietry product.

I think the GPL is the appropriate license for this project.

[Arathorn]

I don't think this is the appropriate topic for a discussion about licenses, can someone spilt it?

[Snoopy]

I was thinking maybe to add to the realism of the game, although its probably stupid, i was thinking:

Before 1970, you could only chose from building track with wooden sleepers (jointed track) and the signals would be mechanical (Exactly like semaphore(?) signals) and road crossings would have gates. After 1970, you could build track with concrete sleepers (Non jointed, its weilded together, i think its called CWS), the signals would be electronic and the road crossings would have electronic gates. The pre-1970 jointed track could affect the speeds of the trains as it gets a lot older and you would need to relay it with CWS.

Just a thought as ive been to ireland a few times and ive seen they still use these jointed rails, crossing gates and mechanical signalling. the track is dated back to 1910!

[Hellfire]

Just a thought as ive been to ireland a few times and ive seen they still use these jointed rails, crossing gates and mechanical signalling.

We still have wooden sleepers at some locations here in the Netherlands, but I haven't seen a mechanical signal around here

But it's a good idea. Several track types, all with a max speed. (but I think that was already suggested )

[Hyronymus]

Me like the idea too. They only recently (<1 year ago) replaced the wooden sleepers on the Hofpleinlijn (between Den Haag Lan vaan NOI and Voorburg 't Loo). I think speed should be limited to track radius too. The larger the radius the higher the possible speed.

[ChrisCF]

Topic locked, pending writeup. New topic to follow shortly.

Topic locked and processed (09112006).