Modern year 2000 boxcar loads less per train then the 1950 version

[Doxs Roxs]

This is no upgrade, the old boxcar loads 18 units and is rather short.
The new model from 2000 is almost twice as long but only loads 20.
On a 520 meter train the old cars could load 540, and the new cars only 400.

This cannot be the way it was intended.

[Doxs Roxs]

Originally posted by uzurpatorex:

Originally posted by Doxs Roxs:

Is that not the point when it comes to new cars in the game, to increase profits?

To add content, so customers will buy :)

Im also surprised to hear tractive effort is not a factor, I was under the assumption that I needed it for low end accelleration and to even get larger trains started.

It is, but physics works in a way, that what is listed in the stat sheet is _maximum_ tractive effort, which drops quickly with speed and above 10-ish km/h only power matters.

I just tested this with two 520 meter trains and the new gondolas. I made two roughly 520 meter trains, 740 capacity and tested with diesel vs electric. Electrics have much lower tractive effort and the diesels have lower power. It turns out the electrics are better on all fronts, so I guess power is the only relevant factor

Not really. What you are intrested is the ratio of power to train weight. To equalize this it just add another locomotive. Sure - it adds "dead" weight and shortens maximum train length, but it works from financial POV - in TpF locomotive running costs are almost proportional to power.

I get the feeling they have dumbed down this game to the point where its simplicity makes it boring.
I also noted they dont seem to differentiate loaded and unloaded trains in terms of weight etc.

Actually - on release in TpF cargo was weightless, which made freight trains become lighter then passanger ones. They added freight weight later. But. An unit of cargo weighs just 1200kg, so train weights are still unrealistic.

I fixed it in my mod for TpF ( extended gameplay and immersion ) where freight trains could weigh as much as 2000tons on the regular.

This is really interesting, do you have this mod for this game too or is it only for the old games?

[Doxs Roxs]

Originally posted by SlimNasty™:

Originally posted by Doxs Roxs:

You dont know what you are talking about. My mainline is almost 27 km long, its impossible to make it longer with the current map sizes. In some places I have 6 tracks to keep up with the traffic.

Im talking about simple math, odds are that trains will have to slow down sometimes, especially on a busy network. Thus a speed increase of 25% will not compensate for a decrease in capacity by 25%. Real throughput is thus lower.
On top of this your trains need longer to accellerate to maximum speed each time, including when leaving the station. Thus you need much more power or you get lower throughput.

This is also compounded by the fact that I have to leave diesels and go to electrics since so few locomotives are available, in game year 2004 my best diesel locomotive is from 1989 with a top speed of 105km/h. The electrics have much lower tractive effort, further lowering average speed or forcing me to increase the number of locomotives/reduce load capacity even further.

Basically, you have a number of factors compounding the issue.

Not to mention that I find it rediculous that a boxcar with a 50 year newer design only increase loading capacity with just over 10% even though it is almost 50% larger. Its not realistic, it does not make sense gameplay wise.

You can get up to 52 km maps if you change the ratio with experimental map sizes.

Shameless Plug: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QzEsygQoFgs&t=253s

Thanks, Ill look into that, 52km maps sounds really interesting!

[Autocoach]

Two things to note for TpF2 (not talking about real world etc)

Tractive Effort helps in two ways in the old game (probs here to) , get the train to 20kph faster and to help maintain a higher speed on hills (or any speed on hills)

The wagons in TpF1 were unrealistically fast and TpF2 is much more realistic for wagon speeds . In the original game I rarely used any wagon over 75mph capable and relied on mods to run late game trains . The speeds are much more realistic here but I think for the casual player very fast capable wagons are fine in late game to stop the moans about having fast locos that cannot go fast regardless of realism.

[uzurpatorex]

Originally posted by Saint Landwalker:

On flat surfaces, it seems to have no effect, regardless of train length or weight. However, on inclined surfaces and with heavy loads, tractive effort has a significant impact on a train's ability to reach top speed (or even just maintain a steady sub-maximum speed). Basically, it's useful for routes that go over significantly sloped terrain, especially if that terrain is encountered shortly after leaving the station and before the train has built up a lot of inertia.

In reality tho, it matters only if your speeds are in single digit territory. I literally run trains weighing 1600 tons each with locomotives with about 1200kW of power and on medium slope they always crawled to ~20km/h. One locomotive was an express steamer, the other was a freight hauler. 80 vs 180kN of TE.