Industry closing mechanics

[AnniKa32]

hey, it seems that industrys and mines are randomly closing all the time.
even if i pick up theyr cargo, this is really annoying.
i know there is manual industry where i can turn this off, but i want to use the openGRF industry pack, also im not searching for an option generall turn it off,
i just want to know how to stop this gameplay whise.

[Mister_X]

Do you have a save game (auto save) ?

[Alberth]

For default industries, the general solution is to serve the industries well.
Have a train loading all the time, and bring its cargo swiftly to the destination. A transport rating of 65% is quite easily obtainable.

The production of industries fluctuates randomly. When the production hits the bottom the industry closes.
A well served industry has a slightly larger chance for increasing production, so it will most often not close on you (and instead give you the problem of ever increasing amounts of produced cargo ). The chance of closure isn't zero though, but it's pretty small once you have given it time to rise to higher production levels.

The one exception is oil wells in temperate climate. They can only decrease production, as they get replaced by oilrigs starting at 1960.


Spoiler: https://wiki.openttd.org/Game_mechanics ... production describes the precise mechanic behind production changes.

[AnniKa32]

okay, thankies i think that helped me A LOT =)
so just spam trains so that there allways is a train

[Baldy's Boss]

+ there IS a NewGRF fix for the disappearing oil wells.

[Sylf]

so just spam trains so that there allways is a train

Check the trains' orders too. I've see people not using "Full load" orders that cause industries to close too. With full load orders, you don't need very many trains per industry in the beginning.

[AnniKa32]

ok there are still some questions wich are not answered (at least to me) in the wiki article:

1. so, if i have the smooth algorythm, and if we make sure that a given industry will allways be in service with more than 60% then it will very unlikely close down?

2. if a ressource industry production increased from 32coal to like 320coal because it had a good service for a while, and then for any reason, train crash or whatever, the rate is below 60%, will the industry then step down to the lowest value and close then, or is there a chance that it closes right in the first moment where its below 60%?

just an experience how it was for us with 3 new players wich played first time:
we just started a server, and after like 10 minutes the messages spamms that the industrys are closing overall on the map, this is pretty annoying since we dont even have a chance then to pick a good route on the map to build. we was 5 players, and 3 of us (2 new players) was still constructing the train tracks where the industry wich they wanted to build to just dissapeared.

i think this is really annoying, there should be an option to secure an industry, as example with a montly fee or pay something and the industry wont close for 1 year or something, or if you place a station nearby an industry it should have a quaranted time to not close for like a year or something like that, so players that are not so fast in constructing and plannig the track also have a chance to finish before the industry dissapears.

for the new players this was really annoying and they felt like not playing this game anymore, so that we decided to use manual industries with closing off.

just my experience with this.

[Alberth]

1. so, if i have the smooth algorythm, and if we make sure that a given industry will allways be in service with more than 60% then it will very unlikely close down?

In my experience it is.

2. if a ressource industry production increased from 32coal to like 320coal because it had a good service for a while, and then for any reason, train crash or whatever, the rate is below 60%, will the industry then step down to the lowest value and close then, or is there a chance that it closes right in the first moment where its below 60%?

If you stop servicing an industry (for whatever reason), the rating drops, and from then, the chance to decrease production is slightly bigger than the chance for increase. Eventually, it will drop to 0 production, and close.
A temporary stop in servicing won't be a problem thus.

just an experience how it was for us with 3 new players wich played first time:
we just started a server, and after like 10 minutes the messages spamms that the industrys are closing overall on the map

Previously, you said you played 2048x2048 or so. That is a very big map. A single player can play a game in about 512x512. A map of 2048x2048 is 16 times as much, you may want to start with something smaller at first. Also, you can use a lower industry density. The high ones are mostly for small maps, to force you get every industry type, but for large maps, it just dumps a few thousand industries over the map, causing lots of "closing down" messages, as you won't be able to give good service to almost all industries.

Last but not least, start with shorter routes so you get to the servicing point quicker.

this is pretty annoying since we dont even have a chance then to pick a good route on the map to build. we was 5 players, and 3 of us (2 new players) was still constructing the train tracks where the industry wich they wanted to build to just dissapeared.

Sure it was 10 minutes? Default industries are protected for the first 5 years, which amounts to 5*13 minutes ~= 1.5 hours real time. Maybe you had it set to fast-forward (left-most button with the >>)? In that case, yeah, 10 minutes is feasible
Alternatively, maybe you made a map, spending more than an hour on that map (~4 game years), you loaded that map on the server and started playing? Then the 5 year protection also ends in a year, as the major part of protection time was 'used' while making a map.

When playing MP in coop, we usually stop time (the server owner), and plan and discuss what to do. Once a cunning plan has been made, we start time again, and start building.

i think this is really annoying, there should be an option to secure an industry, as example with a montly fee or pay something and the industry wont close for 1 year or something, or if you place a station nearby an industry it should have a quaranted time to not close for like a year or something like that, so players that are not so fast in constructing and plannig the track also have a chance to finish before the industry dissapears.

The default industries are from the TTD era. Due to backwards compatibility, that cannot be changed. You do have the 5 year protection though. If you want something else, there are industry NewGRFs. The list is a bit too long to discuss now. (A wiki page would be nice with a list of them, don't know if it exists.)

for the new players this was really annoying and they felt like not playing this game anymore, so that we decided to use manual industries with closing off.

Yep, much of default game is less than optimal to play to say the least, but we're stuck with it due to backwards compatibility. However, there are lots of NewGRFs to tweak the game in the direction you like, which is what most players do.

[AnniKa32]

okaay, thank you very much!
now im fully clear about this topic and my questions now.

and yes i think i had the time running, the server was not on pause when i was explaining the ppl how to join and so on


maybe you can suggest a very good industrial grf ich you are using?

[Alberth]

I like the default industries, in particular in the toyland climate, lots of colourful animated industries there
It's not to everybodies liking though

You can try opengfx+industries if you want to stay close to the default industries. It uses the same graphics (doesn't work in toyland climate), but adds a number of nice additions to it. Browse the parameter list of the NewGRF for its options.

If you want something more different, FIRS is a well known set. Make sure you play a few games with "basic economy" in some climate first, to get used to the set (you can change it in its parameters). The default "full FIRS economy" is overwhelming otherwise. Edit: The key point of FIRS is its supplies to boost production of industries (although I am one of the few that mostly ignores that aspect

ECS is several NewGRFs together, it has stockpiling (it slowly processes cargo that you bring), which means you cannot just dump everything at one place (it also stops accepting cargo at some point when you bring too much) http://www.tt-wiki.net/wiki/ECS_Vectors

And then there are a number of industry sets I haven't tried (much): Yeti (bring Yetis to work, make things that Yetis like, bring things back to Yetis, get more Yetis), SPI (FIRS with stockpiling), and manpower industries (bring people to your industries).

Each industry set gives a very different play, lots of stuff to try

Be sure to load a vehicle set as soon as you load any industry NewGRF. Default vehicles cannot handle the different cargoes (and not even the 'old' ones of opengfx+industries). If you want to stick mostly with the default vehicle set, there is opengfx+trains, and opengfx+rvs (road vehicles). (in fact, everything opengfx+ ).

Other options include Squid (aka fish2, nicer ships), iron horse (trains), and road hog (road vehicles). Pineapple trains are also nice.
If you want high powered trains for big network building, NUTS is very good.

There are also a zillion NewGRFs that are more realistic, but as they are not my cup of tea, I'll leave that to someone else to explain

[TimeLapse1357]

messages spamms that the industrys are closing overall on the map

that message can be disabled in the settings.

[Buragan]

that message can be disabled in the settings.

To expand upon that, take a look at the image I have provided. Make sure to have the settings selection as 'Expert' so that you may see all settings.

[Huul]

Spoiler: https://wiki.openttd.org/Game_mechanics ... production describes the precise mechanic behind production changes.

Are the production change rules for smooth economy up to date? I've been closely monitoring industry production in my current game (for ~5 years), and even though my rating are consistently very good and above I'm actually discerning a downward trend in production. I know very good ratings are no guarantee for production growth, but I should be having an upward trend, which makes me wonder whether other factors come in to play in the latest version.

[Eddi]

if you use industry NewGRFs, that usually overrides the smooth economy behaviour.

[Huul]

I'm just playing plain OpenTTD.