Transport Tycoon Forums

Hello people!

Now this time isn't exactly a problem of the game, just myself being too stupid to figure out what I'm not doing right. It's about trains, which I don't really use that much. I was fooling around trying to decipher them (see picture below) and the thing about signals, but even after reading the wiki and the building tutorial I'm not sure if what I want to do is simply not possible, or if I can't find the way to do it.

Looked at the picture yet? Good, then here's the thing. I have three rails and three trains; when placing orders, I made sure to select one different track for each of them, but when they went to the depot for service they autonomously changed tracks however they pleased. Of course, sooner than later they crashed. Is there a way to keep Train 1 in Track 1, and etc?

Also, since the three tracks connect at the depot, I'm getting the feeling that the game considers them all one big track instead, because when one train is running the other two refuse to leave, even if the other two tracks are free. I always need to force them out by clicking the signal in their window. And then, it also happens sometimes that when I get the three of them running at the same time, one train goes to a track in the station already occupied by the other. I tried placing every kind of signal possible, but didn't find which is the one supposed to prevent this (because I'm assuming there must be one, right?).

Also, in case anyone asks, the three tracks follow the same path around the city in a circle, clockwise.

Put one way PBS BEFORE junction and after station. This would solve the problem.

To ensure that a train uses a definite track place waypoints on that track and place waypoints in route directions.
Use 'path signals' as per highlighted in your PNG.
You will need at least one tile before each platform (space for signal) , no junction, signal should face platform.
A signal (path) will also be needed before any junction.
My prefered solution but there will be others

Ok, I tried your advices and they helped... some.

With the suggestion of waypoints, trains more or less try to remain in the same tracks (sometimes they still misbehave, don't know why, but it's a rare ocurrence). But since now I put the middle train going opposite clockwise, I placed one-way signals and another problem surfaced.

Look at the picture, please. There, at nº1 track, where there's the red circle? The train stops there and refuses to move, even if ALL the tracks are free; even if it is the only train running; even if there's no other point where the tracks join except the depot. I thought maybe the signal was placed backwards and changed it, but the train went the other way, so that wasn't the issue. The signal is signaling the right direction and there's no reason the train won't go, but it doesn't. And this time, even trying to force it going gets ignored. The train isn't stopped, it just keeps "waiting for a free track" or something when the whole net is empty!

well, where is the next signal down the line? if the line goes in a circle, the train might try to reserve a track until it hits its own tail, and that will fail because that track will be occupied.

OpenTTD per se has no such concept as "track". When ordered to a station or waypoint train will go there whichever way it finds the shortest. And signals have their own logic that has nothing to do with tracks either. If you want each train to have a separate track then just don't ever connect them:

Eddi wrote: ↑18 Oct 2020 23:59 well, where is the next signal down the line? if the line goes in a circle, the train might try to reserve a track until it hits its own tail, and that will fail because that track will be occupied.

There are three more stations to bypass in the circle until the train reaches the same point, so I didn't think it would need more signals. I sorta thought that the "track counting" was reset in each next station as individual sections, was I wrong? If this is the case, how many signals should I place? Would it be enough if I only place more before/after each station, or is there a limit of how many tiles a signal covers?

_dp_ wrote: ↑19 Oct 2020 10:07 OpenTTD per se has no such concept as "track". When ordered to a station or waypoint train will go there whichever way it finds the shortest. And signals have their own logic that has nothing to do with tracks either. If you want each train to have a separate track then just don't ever connect them:
Screenshot from 2020-10-19 13-06-12.png

Until now that's what I've been doing, since my use of trains has been somewhat scarce. I didn't want to mess the tracks (like I'm doing right now ) Each train had its own track and depot, but after seeing lots of incredibly complex train sharing structures, I grew curious about how the people manage that without the trains crashing. Compared to that, what I'm trying should be easy as cake... (even if we know the cake was a lie ).

Relax, it's not as difficult as it may seem.

In simplification: the signal shows whether there is a free path in the next section. Only signals can divide the route into sections - not stations, checkpoints or intersections.
If you only put one signal in your loop, no matter how large, you'll still have one section. To solve the problem, build more signals. The more there are, the more trains will be able to run on the same track. As for the type of signaling devices, the one you have used is the most universal. On the sections where there are no intersections, you can also use simple block signals (you can see them in my pictures). Their advantage is that they clearly show whether an section is free or not.
Presignals are more complex and not very useful for players who are just starting their adventure with the railroad in OTTD.

Here are some examples of how signals can be used. If you manage to repeat a few of the constructs, it should keep getting easier.