Transport Tycoon Forums

Abstract:
The primary purpose of this set is to provide a plethora of generic style multiple units, locomotives and rolling stock primarily based on east Asian and Australasian designs. Trains in this set should fill a large enough variety of roles in order to not limit the player while also not overwhelming them with choices.

In general, when I play openttd I try to get into the headspace of someone running an IRL railway or transport department and as such I like my trains to feel generic because it helps improve that immersion, It makes it feel like it's *my* railway, and not a fictional one that's just pinched a bunch of designs from IRL railways.

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Current Roles:

EMUs: (All EMUs use OHLE)

Metro Trains: High Capacity, quick loading and fast accelerating trains designed for frequent stops and crush loads within the densest of urban centres. These trains pay for their increased capacity and loading speed with faster cargo aging and overall slower top speed (60-80kph~).

Suburban Trains: Also called "commuter" trains, these trains are designed for bringing people from the suburbs and into the city centre. They still retain the high capacity and fast acceleration of the metro type trains, albeit in a reduced capacity; They make up for this with slower cargo aging and a higher top speed (80-130kph~). These trains come in both "single-decker" and "double-decker" designs. Double-decker designs share the same states as their single decker counterparts, just with a higher overall capacity at the cost of higher running costs and slower acceleration due to the added weight.

Intercity/Regional Trains: These trains are designed for long-distance intercity and interurban service. They have lower capacity, slower loading speed and slower acceleration compared to their metro and suburban counterparts, but are capable of higher speed (100-200kph~) and have the slowest cargo aging of the conventional MU trains. They have both single-decker and double-decker designs with the double-decker designs having a higher overall capacity at the cost of slower acceleration and higher running costs.

High-Speed Trains: These trains are designed for high-speed operation between large metropolitan areas. They share the same states as their Intercity/Regional counterparts, just with slightly lower overall capacity but a much higher top speed (200-400kph~) and much higher running costs.

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All of this is subject to change so I'm open to suggestions. I'll be updating this as I draw more sprites and get more settled on how I want to do locomotives, non-electric multiple units and other rolling stock, the primary goal at the moment is to get a prototype cobbled together with a few of the EMU sprites I've done prior.


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Current Testing Version:

We've currently got a fairly wide range of EMUs with more on the way, this GRF is mostly to test the balancing to help us direct further development. If you have any suggestions or bugs, please tell us
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Final Notes:
The first credit goes to GarryG, who got me into drawing sprites in the first place, and has helped me immensely in learning how to draw sprites properly (I'll still work on Auztrains, I just wanna do my own thing too ). The second credit goes to Andythenorth, whose sprites I've heavily "referenced" from and whose set Iron Horse effectively inspired this in its entirely.

Special credit to Fairyfloss, who is acting as the coder on this project, alongside Wolfram who is helping to draw the sprites for this set.

Welcome aboard .. maybe you could do what you mentioned to me, you like to do another State and you already did some Victoria one. So why not do a Australian Victoria set for now and if like do other States later.

All the best.

Generic trainsets are quite an interesting concept, in my opinion. I might be able to help out with coding at some point; I've got a bit of experience coding trains in NML.

How 'expansive' are you intending this set to be? Just modern MUs? Or also earlier things, like steam trains?

Welcome aboard .. maybe you could do what you mentioned to me, you like to do another State and you already did some Victoria one. So why not do a Australian Victoria set for now and if like do other States later.

Well doing Auztrains is still gonna be my side thing, I've still got the Harris sprites sitting on my pc unfinished because I lost all inspiration to do them. This is all fictional stuff so I can do what I want and be as creative as I want

Generic trainsets are quite an interesting concept, in my opinion. I might be able to help out with coding at some point; I've got a bit of experience coding trains in NML.

Well, I'd certainly appreciate any help I can get

How 'expansive' are you intending this set to be? Just modern MUs? Or also earlier things, like steam trains?

The current plan is for this set to have trains from 1855-2100. I've only really included modern EMUs since that's what I'm comfortable with atm. Generally, I am planning that each type of train should have a new generation approx every 20 years, sometimes every 10, so it should be fairly expansive.

Current trains and roles on my planning list atm are:
- Steam locomotives (Light Passenger, Passenger, Express Passenger, Heavy Passenger)
- Diesel Locomotives (Light Passenger, Passenger, Express Passenger, Heavy Passenger, Light Freight, Freight, Heavy Freight, Express Freight)
- Electro-Diesel Locomotives (I have nothing on these yet, other than I want to include them)
- Electric Locomotives (Light Passenger, Passenger, Express Passenger, Freight, Heavy Freight)
- Battery-Electric locomotives (Not sure if I'll keep these, I'll probably only have one or two as early, lightweight shunters like the NZ E Class)
- Non-Electric Multiple Units (Suburban Single-Decker, Suburban Double-Decker, Intercity/Regional Single-Decker, Intercity/Regional Double-Decker, High-Speed Single-Decker)
- EMUs (As in the main post)
- Coaching Stock (Idk what I'm doing here yet)
- Freight Stock (Idk what I'm doing here yet either)

The primary goal for me atm is to get each group of trains out first, so MUs first, then locomotives and rolling stock.

Good news everyone!

With the help of Fairyfloss, we've started making progress on a prototype. There still is work to do but for now I'll show off some of Fairy's screenshots.

Are you going the JPset approach for variable Multiple Unit lengths, i. e. purchase the base units and then add additional trailers?

Taschi wrote: ↑05 Jul 2021 09:20 Are you going the JPset approach for variable Multiple Unit lengths, i. e. purchase the base units and then add additional trailers?

That's the plan atm.

Well, we finally have an early test release with a few suburban trains to show off! Thanks to FairyFloss for coding this.

Here's the current roster.


And an image showing off a few arrangements of MUs


Finally, Here's the file. Any criticism or suggestions are welcome

Hey Ragin, this is a neat project, best of luck!

The JP+ set MU approach is great. My hastily put together feedback would be:

[I know this is still a work-in-progress, and I'm assuming a bit, so ignore anything that doesn't make sense haha]:

1. At the moment, I think there are too many similar/redundant trains and concepts. For example, the Banko, Olympian, and Togo are almost identical. I think there needs to be greater visual difference.
2. Maybe some storyworld thinking would help here; what happened in your fictional space that prompted the development of the Olympian after the 1980's Togo, and how did that influence its design? What if Melbourne took on the double-decker, or if Sydney moved to rapid-transit earlier? Or you could just keep it simple and refer to real-world timelines and examples (idk, e.g. new millennium, new trains; edges became rounded; bam, M/H-set lookalike) (that might be better to keep it generic). Depends on how factual/imaginary or realistic/surreal your 'generic' approach is.
3. Continuing from the previous point, maybe it would be helpful to think about the each concept train in more detail — purpose/function, naming, your goals/personal twists, real-life influences/references — and to frequently revisit the big picture; how they would all work together as a set.
4. Besides the naming, additional information and descriptions (both in-game and external) would be helpful for the player to build a mental image of these trains and their relationships to coexisting/old/new replacements, and perhaps an easier association with real-world influences if that is what you intend. Andythenorth has some great underappreciated documentation (such as the tech tree).

Hope some of that was helpful!

mxnp wrote: ↑06 Jul 2021 08:56 Hey Ragin, this is a neat project, best of luck!

Thanks

At the moment, I think there are too many similar/redundant trains and concepts. For example, the Banko, Olympian, and Togo are almost identical. I think there needs to be greater visual difference.

I fully agree there, I was actually just working on the sprite for another train and I noticed they have all the same side view, for instance, I'm going to sort that tonight or tomorrow.

Maybe some storyworld thinking would help here; what happened in your fictional space that prompted the development of the Olympian after the 1980's Togo, and how did that influence its design? What if Melbourne took on the double-decker, or if Sydney moved to rapid-transit earlier? Or you could just keep it simple and refer to real-world timelines and examples (idk, e.g. new millennium, new trains; edges became rounded; bam, M/H-set lookalike) (that might be better to keep it generic). Depends on how factual/imaginary or realistic/surreal your 'generic' approach is.

For the most part, I am trying to follow real-world trends and a lot of the designs are heavily based on irl models e.g. Togo = Tangara, Olympian = Millenium and Banko = Waratah. I'm still working out the style I want to go for so I'm not fully certain yet.

Continuing from the previous point, maybe it would be helpful to think about the each concept train in more detail — purpose/function, naming, your goals/personal twists, real-life influences/references — and to frequently revisit the big picture; how they would all work together as a set.

That's what I'm trying to do. I've got a big document for how I want to do things and how I want every train balanced and designed, just I need to get better at doing it. This is the first game project I've ever worked on outside of Auztrains.

Besides the naming, additional information and descriptions (both in-game and external) would be helpful for the player to build a mental image of these trains and their relationships to coexisting/old/new replacements, and perhaps an easier association with real-world influences if that is what you intend. Andythenorth has some great underappreciated documentation (such as the tech tree).

Already planned . I am considering having fake manufacturer names and lore style descriptions in the purchase menu. Maybe have a full techtree and wiki same as Andy has for Iron Horse.

Sorry if this is a bit incoherent on my end, I've been doing a first aid course all day in the city so I'm tired. If you do have any ideas or suggestions feel free to post them here or msg me privately and we can discuss more, I genuinely want to here any suggestions

Chiming in for a moment as the coder!

Prices for vehicles are currently identical since that still needs to be figured out and NML code for setting a price is... confusing. As for buymenu descriptions, those are currently in-progress, but it's a question of do we want to put pseudo-lore there, or a simple description of what a unit is for, like "Suburban Train - High Capacity, Average Speed" or "Overnight Train - Very Low Capacity, Minimal Aging"

Personally, as a player, I prefer clear and concise information about what the vehicle can do, especially in sets with a large variety of vehicles.

Fairyfloss wrote: ↑06 Jul 2021 10:40 Prices for vehicles are currently identical since that still needs to be figured out and NML code for setting a price is

You probably know about what I about to say, but just in case might give you some ideas.

Getting the price right easiest way is put a 1 in the price .. that will give you the a starting price for vehicles starting in 1855. Could be the cost to purchase all vehicles till 1865, then increase it by one for 1866 to 1875 or work on something like that. By 2021 prices be around 16.

I notice if place a 1 for steam locos and a 1 for carriages it gives different prices. Different vehicle types gives different prices.

Looks really nice, but as perfectionist i must say it would by nice to have an attribute like "Vehicle role: Metro Double Decker" or "Vehicle use: Country Couch". Also this gives my quite a mood to make few own sprites and concepts Maybe, if il ever do them, i can give them to you?

WolfRamXx wrote: ↑09 Jul 2021 18:57 Country Couch

Rural sofa?

WolfRamXx wrote: ↑09 Jul 2021 18:57 Looks really nice, but as perfectionist i must say it would by nice to have an attribute like "Vehicle role: Metro Double Decker" or "Vehicle use: Country Couch". Also this gives my quite a mood to make few own sprites and concepts Maybe, if il ever do them, i can give them to you?

I'm Currently aiming to have something like that in the purchase menu, I'm also considering icons so you can see what kind of train is which from a distance but it's still WIP. I'm including a couch in the DMU roster now . Also, if you ever want to help draw sprites, my DMs are open.

New testing version, this time with new intercity and metro trains .

Known Issues:
- Banko & Olympian sprites are too similar visually.
- Metro train capacities need to be increased
- Drivers window on the Laurel Changes locations when going around a corner.

I just wanted to put a call out asking if anyone has any good resources on Australian freight rolling stock? Preferably with years, capacities and photos to go alongside it. I'm currently looking for rolling stock to include in the set.

I am also willing to look at a foreign rolling stock, whether freight or passenger. Really, I just want cool looking trains, so if there's something you think looks cool, send it over and I might find a spot for it in PGT

New update!

This time we bring more multiple units alongside the introduction of locomotives and wagons.

Here's the current roster as of 0.3.0


Here's the most recent file.

Thanks for making these, they look amazing. I'd love to see some New Zealand inspired trains added in.