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Topic: Help with some tricky topics (Read 17461 times) previous topic - next topic

Help with some tricky topics

Hi...
I started playing Simutrans a week ago and I'm hopelessly addicted. I'm new to the forum and this is my first post, so please forgive any gaffes. I have the following questions:

1. I found that by changing "bits_per_month" to a larger value caused the duration of a month to increase but without changing overall rate of p****age of time. As a result, i can now make more trips per (longer) month and make more profit while paying the same monthly maintenance charges. As a result it should become more and more profitable to play with longer months. Is this intended? And will the monthly production values of factories serve to effectively limit this?

2. I have a station which is connected to an Iron ore mine. There is a bulk truck line running between this mine and an Iron Foundry which also requires coal. So i set up a train between a coal mine and this (iron ore station). The trouble now is that the Iron mine produces ore at full speed, whereas the coal coming in by train comes in only at a limited speed. At any given instant, therefore, there is more ore waiting than coal. As a result the trucks transport more ore than coal, causing the foundry to wait on arrival of loads of coal. The problem is compounded by the fact that the same station is used for transporting the steel out from the foundry to the Materials wholesaler. As a result a steel train keeps waiting at the station because there is no steel coming in.

CoalMine                 IronOreMine                        Mat.Wholesaler
+++++++++================+++++++++++++=======================++++++++
                          X
           |
           |
           |
           |
           |---------------------------X [SteelPlant/Foundry]
         
+ is station
X is goods depot for trucks
= is rail line
- and | are road


3. In my last game i manages to set up an entire industry chain with the last factory being a car factory. The finished casr were transported by road to a car dealership (the only one on the map). Everything was going on smoothly till 'one fine day' the demand for cars went to zero. That caused a domino effect that caused the entire chain to go for a toss. I figured that maybe i had vastly overshot the monthly demand. So i 'cheated' by changing into Public service and started another car dealership - but no avail. Demand here stayed at zero as well. Any explanations?

Re: Help with some tricky topics

Reply #1 –
2. I have tried this kind of setup too. It's difficult - if not down right impossible - to work with only one bulk station taking ore straight from the mine and coal from a line and then sending out that bulk to the foundry. Now, I ****ume your settings allows overloading of stations.
Quote from: simuconfig.tab
# things to overcrowded destinations won't load if active (default off)
avoid_overcrowding = 0
One needs more control over the material flows. You could consider two separate lines and two separate stations: set up a new loading bay for trucks that is not connected to the coal transfer station but accepts ore from the mine. Now you can maximize the steel production by putting one coal truck for every four ore trucks (at least in pak64). If this isn't enough to alleviate your problem, I would consider expanding the transfer station with a separate platform for the steel train.

3. Yes, you had. :) It is due to this:
Quote from: simuconf.tab
# with this switch on (default), overcrowded factories will not recieve goods any more
just_in_time = 1
The contracts between factories are by default capped to a set amount of units per month. The dealership will deal out the cars at a steady speed given in the factory information screen. Effects of overfeeding the car dealership is only temporary and in time, the car stock in that dealership would go down enough and enable a new batch of cars getting sent/manufactured.

Anyway, when you make your Public Service create factories, you also need to link them i.e. forge the contracts.

Re: Help with some tricky topics

Reply #2 –
Wow... that was quick... thanks.

But theres more-

1. I already have an extra platform so my steel train doesn't block other traffic on the line.
2. The station overcrowding setting was on AFAIK. (as in i'm fairly sure the station wasn't overcrowded)
3. The problem is that i cant set up a separate loading area just for the station because of the way i have already constructed the entire station and current loading areas. (it's not impossible but it'll involve having to build a new road that crosses that track so there'll be a jam when the train crosses)
4. Which brings me to the question of what exactly the end of platform choice sign does - in cases when a train does not stop at the station that has such a sign.
Anyway i think i'm not making too much sense. I'll post a screenshot or a savegame if that'll help.

Re: Help with some tricky topics

Reply #3 –
kabhijit, welcome to the forum. ;D

Firstly, I'd like to ask you something:

Quote from: kabhijit – on
But theres more-

1) Please, post a topic per issue. If you have more than one problem/question, don't be afraid creating more topics, one per issue.

2) Use meaningful topic titles that help people to find this topic later

3) Follow our guidelines: http://forum.simutrans.com/index.php?topic=4530.0 and http://forum.simutrans.com/index.php?topic=57.0.

Thank you. :)

Re: Help with some tricky topics

Reply #4 –
Thanks. Will do!

Re: Help with some tricky topics

Reply #5 –
Since nobody has answered about the bits_per_month:
The maintenance costs are related to the length of month. The longer the more expensive. Thus you cannot gain anything by longer month.