(now released) Change Ahead: Offered contract and trial train will be different

[Mišo]

EDIT: The discussed change was released in Update 17 on 8 November.

According to feedback from here and our Discord Server we decided to do another step in contract acceptance process. I would like to discuss the changes with you:

• Once you open the offered contract, the game computes the whole schedule (all stops en route for commuter, all passed stations for IC) and displays the full schedule https://ibb.co:/GQ5RT3r
  
• There is a Reroute button on the intermediary (non-contracted) stations that can be used to avoid the station completely - e. g. the shortest route from Podbaba to Wilson is though Holešovice but one wants to reroute the train via Bubny: https://ibb.co/dgNsRqR
  
• Trial train runs according to this schedule, does not stop at other stations, does not add any other stops to the schedule. (most probably the biggest change)
  
• When trial train finishes, it indicates if it deviated from the schedule or not. It is player's responsibility to adjust the schedule according to trial train timing (or accept the delays / suboptimal reward): https://ibb.co/QkNKT59
  
• Delays at intermediary passed stations are ignored.

Benefits:

• When planning you can see & resolve conflicts on all stations en route
  
• You do not need to watch trial train on an automated map
  
• IC & Reg passing stations is in their timetables and in station timetables as well. You can see when each platform is free
  
• Routing and Departure Sensor configuration can me much simpler as it only needs to address stations in neighborhood as even ICs departing from Wilson for Radotín have Smíchov as their next station.

Open points:

• Adding of additional stops to train schedules, e. g. for routing purposes. Is it needed?
  
• Removing of stops from schedules - is it needed? Train will go there anyway.
  
• Making intermediary commuter stops non-stop - should be reflected in reward (lowered) as it can be considered a simplification & exploit

So: what do you think?

[Icy McFreezeFreeze]

Sounds promising, especially with a degree of refinement!

- Monitoring Trial Trains is still useful, especially if a map is not fully automated or if a bug in the automation config is discovered
- Alternative routes sounds like a great idea; I like the possibility of adding additional stops. Hypothetically one could run Podbaba - (Vrsovice) - Wilson and being able to schedule that rather than take the direct route may suit different infrastructure needs, especially in the absence of routable intermediate waypoints.
- Otherwise freely adding / removing stops from stations would simply greatly the operation of commuter services; going forward I could see a potential for some to run express from a central point then all stations beyond that, balanced with another shorter service that only stops all...
-- Urban Transit gives a greater reward per stations serviced; why not adapt that principal to Commuters where they need to service X number of stops during their contract?
Being able to remove stops would also help 'salvage' a test train that was sent along a wrong road and stopped at surplus places.

In short, more tools that let us work with the game instead of fight it to create layouts and timetables as creatively as we like is great by me!

--
At least that's my hot take on this post!

[TheTornado121]

100% approval - the benefits are all very much needed, especially on big automated maps.
For the open points:
I'd like to have both possibilities of adding AND removing stops. Why? Just for better flexibility and to suit different playstyles.
Skipped stations should definitely lower the reward, as the complexity of the contract declines. Although I kinda like the idea of Icy McFreezeFreeze of having a mandatory number of stations in COM contracts, I think this would again reduce the flexibility of the contracts and I'd leave this kind of design to Urban Transit.

[Mišo]

Originally posted by TheTornado121:

100% approval - the benefits are all very much needed, especially on big automated maps.
For the open points:
I'd like to have both possibilities of adding AND removing stops. Why? Just for better flexibility and to suit different playstyles.
Skipped stations should definitely lower the reward, as the complexity of the contract declines. Although I kinda like the idea of Icy McFreezeFreeze of having a mandatory number of stations in COM contracts, I think this would again reduce the flexibility of the contracts and I'd leave this kind of design to Urban Transit.

The more I think about it the more I realize there is actually no "removing" of the station. There should be

• 'Reroute' that tries to find another way
  
• 'Make' the train passing the station even if it is a stopping train

The latter should be somehow reflected in lowering the reward as it makes the contract easier. On the other hand, I would like to have the contract types distinct.

[arrviasto]

Skipping a stop would be useful in cases when you need to turn around without reversing (using a loop next to the station). I'd even suggest not counting the penalty when skipping a station that is the same as neighbouring ones.

[vedymin]

I'm new to this game but this post is my first result when searching how to remove a station from the commuter schedule. I have a contract with mandatory stations A and C, but there is a station B in between, and I dont want for commuter to stop there as it's not mandatory and take unnecesary schedule time. So i agree at least with that, the rest I don't understand yet :)

[Mišo]

I understand your desire from the player's point of view but as it was stated elsewhere, contracts gamify the real scenario where some body (e. g. a municipality or some regional coordinator) offers money for providing transportation services. When asking for commuter service the mutual understanding is that the mandatory stations are just the "skeleton" of the service and the train will stop at all stations between.

I recognize and acknowledge that there is a need to omit some stops both in reality and in game but we should also gamify the real reluctance of the contract offerers to allow it. So we will come up with some solution to this, like a decrease of reward in case of making a visit 'non-stop'.

[Trancendental]

Don't the regional trains omit stops?

[Mišo]

Like IC and Fr trains, Reg trains stop only on contracted stations.

[Satan]

I would keep commuters that must stop at every station or at least take a heavy reward fine. For non stopping there are other contract types and commuters represent those trains that stop on every station. There could be an additional type of commuters without the need to stop at every station but I don't see much difference apart from that.
The game in its current state calculates reward based on theoretical max speed and shortest possible distance - a thing many players seem not aware of, according to some comments I have seen. So with a redesign there is a chance to improve UX to let the player know how the game works or wants the player to play

[Trancendental]

Originally posted by Satan:

I would keep commuters that must stop at every station or at least take a heavy reward fine. For non stopping there are other contract types and commuters represent those trains that stop on every station. There could be an additional type of commuters without the need to stop at every station but I don't see much difference apart from that.

+1

[coenvijge]

It seems to be a good step forward to me.

[Yossi]

Originally posted by Mišo:

• Adding of additional stops to train schedules, e. g. for routing purposes. Is it needed?

If you mean a dummy point on the schedule where the train doesn't actually stop (so we can use arrival sensors to route through stations), yes please!

[Mišo]

I would say there are two topics here

• Arrival sensor not working for e. g. IC trains not having the station in their timetable - the changes solves it just by the first point:

  Once you open the offered contract, the game computes the whole schedule (all stops en route for commuter, all passed stations for IC) and displays the full schedule

  IC will have all stations en route in its schedule so each arrival sensor will route it as it's "own"
  
• Adding of additional stops is for situation when there is e. g. Podbaba-Wilson-Podbaba contract routed by default via Holešovice but the player wants the train to visit Bubny or Vysočany as well. I already decided here and I am implementing adding of waypoint stations to the schedule. So Reroute will ask you to select a station and it enforces the selected station in the schedule.

[Yossi]

Originally posted by Mišo:

I would say there are two topics here

• Arrival sensor not working for e. g. IC trains not having the station in their timetable - the changes solves it just by the first point:

  Once you open the offered contract, the game computes the whole schedule (all stops en route for commuter, all passed stations for IC) and displays the full schedule

  IC will have all stations en route in its schedule so each arrival sensor will route it as it's "own"
  
• Adding of additional stops is for situation when there is e. g. Podbaba-Wilson-Podbaba contract routed by default via Holešovice but the player wants the train to visit Bubny or Vysočany as well. I already decided here and I am implementing adding of waypoint stations to the schedule. So Reroute will ask you to select a station and it enforces the selected station in the schedule.

I don't want to add stops to ICs. I like ICs precisely because they have less (or no) stops. I just want a "passing through" on the schedule so the arrival sensor can route it.

[Mišo]

Done!

IC now (in my unpublished version) has all stations en route as passing stations in its schedule. When inspecting offered contract there is an easy way how to add a waypoint station to the schedule so the train is rerouted via the waypoint (without stopping there if it is an IC).