Happy pax

[Shane]

so all my train passengers are green n happy, all my stations (BUT just one) are happy....

Q1. is there a way to view happiness of all stations etc
Q2. what and/or do i do to find out why the folks at the one station are unhappy

My goal is not so much use the games mechanics as they are fully intended, but to adapt them along real life routes as much as possible.

[Shane]

never mind i just seen there is timer on the stations lmao...

its the waiting times, its the station in the middle of the line, and so its waiting more than the others for a train, ive only got two running the line so i guess the solution is faster trains or more trains.

[Walkin Talkin Stephen Hawking]

Whats your secret to get happy PAX everywhere? I dont care too much about profit, I just want to see the happy faces everywhere.
What sort of train frequencies do you use?
What sort of prices do you set?

[Shane]

well the lowest i have is the white netural ive expanded lines now somewhat, but at first with 3 lines it was all green, at that time i was running trains with the following principles....

1) reallife timetables and service, so example sheffield to doncaster in real life runs 60 trains per day, and takes a 30min (60min round trip) meaning a train every 15-20mins

so i was running the line in both directions with 3 trains each way but this proved to back up with delays and trains were pushing each other along. all the trains took 60mins by altering their max speed accordingly but the stops timers were left as default so when 190pax boarded it was behind schedule and the train behind caught up

i also noted that the game unlike real life service on the same lines stopped at 11pm ish restart around 4am ish, but the game only dies of between midnight and 3am, plus along the above route mexbrough in real life will never see 192 passengers climb on board...

so... i changed it, running only two trains on the line, to account for the lack of realism in pax numbers

this meant no backups, by bringing it down from a train at each stop every 15mins to a train at each stop every 30mins or there abouts, doing this the passengers are all green (on trains based on point 2), but my stations some are now seeing with netural faces

2) dont take these figures as being the best options of profit vs happy, but...

another post i read suggested

45km route = base price 0.4
100km route = base price 1.5
180-220km route = base price 2.5

then i googled the average ticket price per KM for europe and i set that to 0.12, at this stage and i only just got the game, but at this stage this forumla is happy pax on trains, but lowering the amount of trains has moved my stations in places down to netural

PS im still testing stuff, my next move is to have additional two trains on each route during what we would called peak hours, first i need to figure out what the games peak hours are then try it

[Walkin Talkin Stephen Hawking]

Interesting... I like how you've based everything off 'real life', and adjusting for the game mechanics where required. Completely makes sense that increasing time between trains reduces satisfaction to neutral. 0.12 $/km ticket price feels very low to me, but then that would make sense as to why you would also be getting high satisfaction. PAX always arriving to destination under budget will always make them happy.

I suppose as it stands, the PAX expected pricing in game isn't necessarily representative of real life, and it would be very difficult to considering the huge differences in prices you get in train networks across Europe. UK being amongst the most expensive train travel, and if I remember correctly, Geneva in Switzerland having free public transport around the city.

Anyway, thanks for the insight into how to get high satisfaction! Much appreciated, enjoy the game!

In my game, I use price of roughly 1$/km for all lines (0 base price) and for my stations I get many light green faces, few dark green faces, half neutral white faces, and some red faces here and there. Below this price range I find it takes a long time to make money to expand the network.

[Shane]

yep i hear ya, all that might change its just based on me being new to game, and reading another post on these boards that i figured right lets follow the advice given i know nothing at all... i just needed a starting point really...

[Shane]

im seriously thinking of putting 4 trains per line, i did 6 per line and it was backing up to much, but given since taking six off and running just two im now getting netural stations, i think 4 might work nicely

im now wondering (have to monitor it) but im now thinking if you have more trains does the fact the game do really non realistic pax numbers like 192 at a real life tiny station mean more profit, in other words will it generate 192 pax based on nothing but the fact a train has arrived.

[juliejayne]

Originally posted by Shane:

im seriously thinking of putting 4 trains per line, i did 6 per line and it was backing up to much, but given since taking six off and running just two im now getting netural stations, i think 4 might work nicely

im now wondering (have to monitor it) but im now thinking if you have more trains does the fact the game do really non realistic pax numbers like 192 at a real life tiny station mean more profit, in other words will it generate 192 pax based on nothing but the fact a train has arrived.

The stations generate Pax based on the Catchment Area. But many stations will have more pax who are transferring from one line to another. If a station only has one line then the pax will be the locally generated ones only.

[Trixi]

i noticed as emptier the station is, as more pax are generated.

[Shane]

okay if your recreating real world routes this is the best option without a doubt, the games mechanics are not okay with real life routes. but if you opt to do it...

your best option is having two xpress trains between major cities. Adding in some tweaks, abandoned lines, and a few fake ones where required.

set per k/m price to 0.00, and setting the base price to what ever the pax are expecting when you hover over them in the stations window. If the travel time is a little low calculate how much the pax is willing to pay against the travel time reduce the fare/price by the amount of mins its late to compensate

I still add in the real life stations along all the routes, despite the fact im not stopping at them, because as you continue to grow there are some real life routes that are not required by your trains so i use these as service routes to feed local pax to the main cities.

Its not what i was wanting to do, but running all the local lines on this game on real life routes just doesnt work to well with long distance express trains.

In the end doing all the above results in

• a constant 25-50% green face satisifaction status at stations, with white neturals waiting at them
  
• green faces on the trains as long as the expectations are being met reasonably well, this sometimes requires addition track tweaks as city connections grow.
  
• constant decent profit flowing for interest/loan payments on max game speed if left running just a couple of routes will bring you debt free. After which is good enough to keep expanding as well

i dont think its possible to get better unless you ditch the intentions of sticking 90%+ to real world track layouts...