Skip to main content ↑ ↓
Topic: Making the game easier - Simutrans Exp 102 Pak128.Britain-Ex (Linux) (Read 24318 times) previous topic - next topic

Making the game easier - Simutrans Exp 102 Pak128.Britain-Ex (Linux)

OK basically I am too lazy/stupid/greedy to make profitable games in Pak128.Britain-Ex (which I know hasn't been properly balanced yet), but I don't want to use free-play mode.

I have been trying to fiddle with the simuconf.tab options in the Pak128.Britain-Ex/Config directory; in Simutrans Standard I made everything easier by setting the p****enger factor to about 64 :P
But despite playing with these sorts of numbers (beginner mode speed-bonuses etc.) I have not been able to make the game easily profitable; I don't think my changes are happening as I expect (e.g. short rail links from producer to consumer factories are not profitable in the 1830s, I failed to get profitable buses or trains in the 1940s...).

What can I fiddle to make the game easier? What I would really like to do is cut track/road maintenance costs, which are always the thing that kills me :P

I admit fully that it is possible to be profitable, I am just too stupid/lazy (and too impatient)...

My interest is in building stuff and watching it work, not detailed economics.

Re: Making the game easier - Simutrans Exp 102 Pak128.Britain-Ex (Linux)

Reply #2 –
If you know how to manipulate shortcuts, the quick answer is to make a shortcut to simutrans.exe (****uming Windows), and add "-freeplay" to the end. Otherwise, the manual link above will help. :)
 

Re: Making the game easier - Simutrans Exp 102 Pak128.Britain-Ex (Linux)

Reply #3 –
Hi, thanks, but like I said: I don't want to play Freeplay.

Basically I want to play on a hypothetical 'easy' setting, not 'trivial'. Most commercial games have a difficulty setting for a reason; some people have more time/energy to expend getting really good at a game, and some are just too impatient or lazy (me).

Also using Linux (as mentioned in the subject line).

Re: Making the game easier - Simutrans Exp 102 Pak128.Britain-Ex (Linux)

Reply #4 –
Hey Gbm! It's wonderful that you have found Simutrans!! It's great! But I feel it a little unfair to compare it to a commercial game that has tons of cash thrown at its developement. Everything in Simutrans was done for free basically excepted for some very dedicated people who have spent countless hours on getting Simutrans to the place it is today :) . The Free mode is basically what you are asking for already, if your reason is truly of being lazy the issue. With free mode you can build what ever you want with out the cash factor. Plus you did meantion that you understand that the balance is still under developement for the game. Simutrans at its core is a Simulation. Not a game as some would call it. It is truly meant to simulate the trials and difficulties that a company would have moving and delivering products and services to the m****es, and at the same time as making money doing it. not an easy feat in real life or in Simutrans.

So basically if you look at Simutrans as Simulation as it was intended the Freemode is the closest you will get to and "easy" mode of play. In real life you don't get to pick the difficulty level. There is a learning curve. It's not easy but it can be done!!! :)

Cheers Joker
Our greatest glory is not in never falling, but in rising every time we fall.

Re: Making the game easier - Simutrans Exp 102 Pak128.Britain-Ex (Linux)

Reply #5 –
Quote from: gbm – on
Hi, thanks, but like I said: I don't want to play Freeplay.

Ok, but actually "-freeplay" is meant for exactly what you said:

Quote from: gbm – on
My interest is in building stuff and watching it work, not detailed economics.

I think I'll never understand people's unwillingness to use that parameter, while still trying all kinds of other "cheats" and modifications to make the game easier... (just recently had a similar discussion in the German forums).

Now, what else is there... What you could do with a little effort, is to just modify the goods files so that each good will generate more income, while the costs of ways, vehicles and all else remain the same. Of course that's only an "easy" option for open source paksets (but I think pak128.britain is, right?). Requires you do get the sources, edit a few text lines and then pak them again with makeobj.
But once again: I'd simply use "-freeplay" instead - it's no more "cheating" than the other things, but it's a) less work to do, and b) the way I see it, it's a little more "honest" to one self. And especially on pakset that is not even balanced yet, -freeplay makes a lot more sense than all the other options.

Of course the different paksets are created with different internal difficulty settings. From the sets for Simutrans standard, pak96.comic is probably the easiest and pak.german the hardest. So usually I'd also give the advice of trying some other, easier pakset, but for Simutrans Exp. there's not as much choice...
  
***** PAK128 Dev Team - semi-retired*****

Re: Making the game easier - Simutrans Exp 102 Pak128.Britain-Ex (Linux)

Reply #6 –
Quote from: Joker – on
Simutrans at its core is a Simulation. Not a game as some would call it. It is truly meant to simulate the trials and difficulties that a company would have moving and delivering products and services to the m****es, and at the same time as making money doing it. not an easy feat in real life or in Simutrans.

Simutrans isn't strictly a simulation of reality though, but uses various shortcuts and simplifications. Neither time, nor distance/size scales are strictly realistic - it's just made so that it works together in a sensible fashion, and gives a fairly realistic impression of transport and traffic.

I'd call it a game to a good extend.

Edit: And really, -freeplay was there for those who are more interested in construction, and traffic shaping than the economic side. On Linux, where Simutrans was born, such command line parameters were abundant for all kind of programs. To run Simutrans you had to type ./simutrans into a console window anyways - typing ./simutrans -freeplay was just invoking a new mode of the game. It was not even considered a cheat, just a different way to enjoy Simutrans, without financial woes (while I know many find joy in just battling those woes and want even more of them. But that is another problem).

Re: Making the game easier - Simutrans Exp 102 Pak128.Britain-Ex (Linux)

Reply #7 –
You make a good point Hajo. Never quite looked at in that fasion. The way you have explained makes more sense too. :)

Cheers Joker
Our greatest glory is not in never falling, but in rising every time we fall.

Re: Making the game easier - Simutrans Exp 102 Pak128.Britain-Ex (Linux)

Reply #8 –
There is also beginner mode...

My projects... Tools for messing with Simutrans graphics. Graphic archive - templates and some other stuff for painters. Development logs for most recent information on what is going on. And of course pak128!

Re: Making the game easier - Simutrans Exp 102 Pak128.Britain-Ex (Linux)

Reply #9 –
Quote from: Hajo – on
It was not even considered a cheat, just a different way to enjoy Simutrans, without financial woes (while I know many find joy in just battling those woes and want even more of them. But that is another problem).

I don't really consider it a cheat as well - that's why it put the word cheat in "" up there.  ;)
  
***** PAK128 Dev Team - semi-retired*****

Re: Making the game easier - Simutrans Exp 102 Pak128.Britain-Ex (Linux)

Reply #10 –
OK thanks for the replies, I think I should have been somewhat more specific in my request :)

In Simutrans Standard, I can turn up to p****enger factor dramatically in simuconf.tab, and this makes routes much easier to make profitable (which I do want to do, possibly just because I am stubborn for which I apologise :P ). I can also turn up the beginner goods factor e.t.c., and when I did this it made a dramatic difference and made games much easier to play. I could not replicate such a dramatic difference in Simutrans-Exp (it may have just be my increased ineptness).

Simutrans Experimental has that dialog box letting you set options when you start, which does not let you set the p****enger factor above 16 :( I think even if I set this higher in the simuconf.tab it is ignored. I even turned up the beginner-mode to the maximum 25000 and still failed to get profitable goods networks (with the admittedly hideously expensive Pak128.Britain locos for rail in the 1830s, about $1- per km to move no more than 15t bulk goods at 25 km/hr), which seemed strange...

It would just be nice if there was one setting I could tweak up/down (p****enger factor, p****enger revenue, speed bonus?, goods bonus) that would either rapidly increase income or dramatically decrease outgoings (perhaps this is even a feature request). It is easy to boost starting capital but it is all really about the cash flow... and making all of my network public definitely seems like cheating :P

I have actually been playing with Simutrans on and off for some time; I find it both very addictive and incredibly frustrating at times :P
I repeatedly got Pak128 maps in Standard profitable with m****ive unwieldy bus networks, and even tram networks in dense cities (with cross-connecting lines), but as soon as I tried to build a rail network it all went poot due to the maintenance costs... :(
All my own fault of course.

PS many thanks to all developers, it is indeed one of the best games available (commercial games be **** :P ) just sooo hard!

PPS I think I would probably have more luck on some other pak-sets, but I like the Simutrans-Exp features, and Pak128.Britain is really good now (and I am British :) )

PPPS I don't consider -freeplay a cheat either, but I appreciate Simutrans as a game rather than a simulation (I am a computational star-formation theorist and I play with simulations all day already! :) )

Re: Making the game easier - Simutrans Exp 102 Pak128.Britain-Ex (Linux)

Reply #11 –
Experimental is for experienced users, imho. I think you should start with normal pak128.britain with simutrans standard before attempting even more challenging games.

Re: Making the game easier - Simutrans Exp 102 Pak128.Britain-Ex (Linux)

Reply #12 –
Also worth noting the following:
- simutrans-experimental is still in development/testing
- pak128.Britain for standard is still not balanced properly
- therefore pak128.Britain-experimental is doubly unbalanced!

One of the disadvantages of "amateur" games is that they are constantly in development and releases aren't often very polished, mainly so that people can test and enjoy new features as they come out.  The advantage of course is generally better, more customisable games. 

Anyway, specific feedback on pak128.Britain is always welcome (for standard, I'm the right person), and I'm sure jamespetts would be interested in any feedback on experimental.