GranPa: Why mess with the best?

[AIF 1917]

So any value in using the other locomotive choices?

[ShepherdOfCats]

Well, if you take the towing bull there's some value in going slower. You can make occasional movements to keep the threat level down without blowing past too many places to visit. If your goal is to just race through the game to Vladivostok then take the Hound. Once your engineers start getting leveled up that train is stupid fast.

[Cuar]

Originally posted by ShepherdOfCats:

Well, if you take the towing bull there's some value in going slower. You can make occasional movements to keep the threat level down without blowing past too many places to visit. If your goal is to just race through the game to Vladivostok then take the Hound. Once your engineers start getting leveled up that train is stupid fast.

On top of that I believe it also gives your troops more time to rest between missions. Attrition can be quite the problem, if you aren't supplied for it.

[ShepherdOfCats]

Originally posted by Shrumuir:

On top of that I believe it also gives your troops more time to rest between missions. Attrition can be quite the problem, if you aren't supplied for it.

Good point. no medical car yet? You want your troops to have time to sleep and recover health and stamina.

[Hassohappa]

There isn't enough value in being faster or more fuel efficient to justify anything but the Towing Bull IMO. I used the Grandpa throughout my playthrough and the loss of one car felt like far more of a detriment than losing some speed and fuel efficiency.

[veevoir]

Granpa is too fast. More than that - the extra 20% speed upgrade is a trap and waste of metal. Threat mechanic makes Bull the only sensible locomotive, because you stop-start-stop to manage it - while your squads explore. So the faster the train can go - the less you can do that ;)

Fuel efficiency should not be that much of an issue *if* you upgraded your carts right - first do insulation, do heaters only if you must as those eat fuel like crazy.

[The Great White Shiekh]

Fuel never really was an issue for me except in the early part of the game, had no reason to stay with the grandpa, switched to the towing bull for the extra wagons.

[The Mighty Mulletman]

Originally posted by veevoir:

Granpa is too fast. More than that - the extra 20% speed upgrade is a trap and waste of metal. Threat mechanic makes Bull the only sensible locomotive, because you stop-start-stop to manage it - while your squads explore. So the faster the train can go - the less you can do that ;)

Fuel efficiency should not be that much of an issue *if* you upgraded your carts right - first do insulation, do heaters only if you must as those eat fuel like crazy.

Don't dismiss the Hound off-hand. Between the speed and fuel efficiency you'll be home by Christmas.

The joy of it, is it's speed and efficiency. Why stop for forage and fishing when you'll leave Moscow in the morning and be in Vladivostok by noon?
It has the largest storage too, meaning you can get by with 1 cargo car, 4 infantry cars if you mean to take the full compliment of Legionnaires and 2 car spaces left for hospital, workshop, kitchen or artillery.

[Dakar van Carstein]

if ya want to do the achievements with 20 day to Vladivostok take the Hound... outherwise it doesnt rly matter

[Hassohappa]

Originally posted by Dakar van Carstein:

if ya want to do the achievements with 20 day to Vladivostok take the Hound... outherwise it doesnt rly matter

I got to Vladivostok on day 19 using the Grandpa engine, I wasn't even trying to rush for 95% of the game. I went to every gathering POI and a chunk of the villages that were shops (mostly weapons and some flower shops for cloth, I didn't feel like I needed the consumable food/medicine shops) and cleared every roadblock without ramming it. I did take the shorter southern route for the second track split.

Around chapter 8 I realized I was pretty close to the achievement and started skipping most gathering points (I still did a few of the instant gathering ones mostly for the XP to nudge someone into rank 5 of a class they were at 24000/25000 on and things like that. Ch 9 I did a quick rush with overdrive and ramming roadblocks to get there before day 20; I wasn't sure if getting there on day 20 counted but the wording said before.

Then I reloaded the save and went through Ch9 on normal speed to get the don't use overdrive achievement as well.