Auto signals work great!

[Hooch]

I was very suspect of the new auto system, thinking it would be very limited as I like to create my own system of signal switches myself. But the way its done in RE2 works very well. You can STILL edit the hell out of a switch system, it's just way more efficient to do so.

Here are a couple screenshots that explain briefly what I mean.

New Switch system works great. Select option for parallel track, place it and run track to the end point. It creates a switch at both points automatically. Then click each track to tell it what direction the train is supposed to run in. The switches will then automatically show which direction (red flag over track that train can't go in direction in).

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2980537557

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2980537564

I don't see any limitation here whatsoever. The switch is just auto-placed when creating a parallel track. You still decide how to setup the tracks.

Adding additional tracks (3+) isn't an issue either. Just select the track itself and tell it which direction the train is supposed to run in.

In short, you are focusing on the track itself to decide which way it runs instead of fiddling with an extra component (the signal). It's a huge time saver and you do not lose any creative editing.

[coenvijge]

Thanks for the info. I like to place signals manually but, especially with long lines, a good auto system can make the overall gameplay better.

PS (after circa 5 hours of playing RE2): Works fine and until now I don't miss the manual placement of signals at all.

[Jack Greedy]

Thank You for a lot of information, im gonna buy this game maybe but im little put off by lot of negative reviews, game is not cheap so maybe You could tell some more about how do You like it?

[Patches]

Originally posted by Jack Greedy:

Thank You for a lot of information, im gonna buy this game maybe but im little put off by lot of negative reviews, game is not cheap so maybe You could tell some more about how do You like it?

Most of the bad reviews are because of the easy signalling. So, you can just discount most of them. I haven't even played yet and like the OP see ways around to do what you want.

g

[Empty1958]

Not being able to manually place a signal creates some problem. When bringing 2 single tracks together without any signals means one of the trains has to wait at a station regardless of the distance. I've already had a near 600mi wait. As far as I can tell I'm forced to create a section of double track just to be able to get the train to the intersection. And when space is tight and you are stuck with a short piece of track leading to a resource site I've placed 4 signals in a single block so empty trains could que to get loaded and not block an intersection.
While I don't see these as earth shattering issues, they are a step backwards from RE1.

[Hooch]

Originally posted by Jack Greedy:

Thank You for a lot of information, im gonna buy this game maybe but im little put off by lot of negative reviews, game is not cheap so maybe You could tell some more about how do You like it?

Game to me, is the best train sim right now. I play a lot of train sims, always thought RE (original) was good but not great. RE2, however, seems to take things to a new level.

Not only are the little things thought of (being able to see flow of transport of goods from all over the area quickly, ease of using signals/switches, zooming all the way out shows a great overview of your layout and trains with a lot of info/icons and also speeds the game up, etc.), but an extra layer of complexity exists in RE2 that didn't in RE, which I enjoy. In short, you have more things to do, especially re: optimization, but the way you do it with the features make it easier. That is, you focus more on the management aspect of it instead of the "How do I technically do that? Which buttons do I use?" It's much more intuitive.

Also, the graphics are a huge update. I didn't think that would be a big deal to me at first as I don't need great graphics in a train sim. But they stand out here, very well.

To me personally, I'm having more fun that I have in years with a train sim. And I feel like I've only scratched the surface. There really is a lot going on in this game.

[Jack Greedy]

These reviews looks bad, i wonder if they are just hating for a sake of it.

Thank You very much for warm words about the game, im glad You like it Aionion. I will invest into it and play a hell lot of it then, thanks to Your review.
If game is good then i hope soon good reviews will be posted too, i think people are just too critical these times.

[Ellye]

Oh, still being able to choose the track directions does alleviate many of my worries, thanks.

Will try it myself when I can.

[Hooch]

Originally posted by Jack Greedy:

These reviews looks bad, i wonder if they are just hating for a sake of it.

Thank You very much for warm words about the game, im glad You like it Aionion. I will invest into it and play a hell lot of it then, thanks to Your review.
If game is good then i hope soon good reviews will be posted too, i think people are just too critical these times.

People were up in arms when it was announced way back that the signals would be auto placed. People mistakenly thought that meant there would be no control over the directions of tracks. That's not true at all, of course, but people can follow herd mentality sometimes. I think that's what happened in this instance. People didn't want to do any due diligence and just believed the rumors, and Kalypso is too big of a company to realize they should have gotten ahead of it and explain it better.

I'm loving the game though. Well worth the price imo.

[Silverbird]

Can you elaborate on how you setup a station with 1 platform where multiple lines are inbound? I haven't figured out yet how to do that properly. One of the trains is incoming, but the others are waiting in station literally 1000km away because I cannot place manual signals.

[jhughes]

Originally posted by Silverbird:

Can you elaborate on how you setup a station with 1 platform where multiple lines are inbound? I haven't figured out yet how to do that properly. One of the trains is incoming, but the others are waiting in station literally 1000km away because I cannot place manual signals.

well .. you need 2 lines to be able to do it as I don't see a way to place signals on single track lines. But then again, I hardly build single track lines.

No manual signals does mean less options for connecting tracks, etc. Especially with multiple connections. You can usually work around it. The whole 'gridirons' things is not very flexible either. That is an opinion, of course.

[Silverbird]

thanks, actually just figured it out. Just do 2 platforms on the city and for every track you want to be single, just build 2 tracks far enough so you can place a Station Gridiron there and merge the 2 tracks into the single one. I guess thats probably more a workaround and I still think the should bring back manual signals, at least as option to enable for a game.

[Wilhelm]

Originally posted by Aionion:

Originally posted by Jack Greedy:

These reviews looks bad, i wonder if they are just hating for a sake of it.

Thank You very much for warm words about the game, im glad You like it Aionion. I will invest into it and play a hell lot of it then, thanks to Your review.
If game is good then i hope soon good reviews will be posted too, i think people are just too critical these times.

People were up in arms when it was announced way back that the signals would be auto placed. People mistakenly thought that meant there would be no control over the directions of tracks. That's not true at all, of course, but people can follow herd mentality sometimes. I think that's what happened in this instance. People didn't want to do any due diligence and just believed the rumors, and Kalypso is too big of a company to realize they should have gotten ahead of it and explain it better.

I'm loving the game though. Well worth the price imo.

train sims tend to attract train sim fans. train sim fans usually want to place their signals and optimize signaling.
this is more like a mobile train game + light economy sim hence the bad reviews by train nerds and normies defending it.

[Silverbird]

Yes, this has nothing to do with herd mentality. If they only added the 4 track support, the better analytics screens and all the other good stuff they did here, it would still be pretty much the same game, but would have been at least 20$ worth for me, because I love RE1. I have never heard of some ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ about the removal of manual signals, but I just joyfully started the game because I was actually looking forward to play. I was trying to figure out how to place signals for about 30min until I saw the discussions here. I tried to play with the new system but it's no fun to play. They literally removed the very core of the game, where you were fiddling hours, just to do the tracks and signals for 1 huge station with lots of connections and constantly optimizing and rebuilding old parts of your network. Just refunded it and will buy instantly if they fix these problems.

[» eNj]

Originally posted by Silverbird:

Yes, this has nothing to do with herd mentality. If they only added the 4 track support, the better analytics screens and all the other good stuff they did here, it would still be pretty much the same game, but would have been at least 20$ worth for me, because I love RE1. I have never heard of some ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ about the removal of manual signals, but I just joyfully started the game because I was actually looking forward to play. I was trying to figure out how to place signals for about 30min until I saw the discussions here. I tried to play with the new system but it's no fun to play. They literally removed the very core of the game, where you were fiddling hours, just to do the tracks and signals for 1 huge station with lots of connections and constantly optimizing and rebuilding old parts of your network. Just refunded it and will buy instantly if they fix these problems.

And that's the reason why devs dummed the game down... finddling hours with complex station. I'm afraid that they're targeting different group.

[El Presidente]

Originally posted by Aionion:

I was very suspect of the new auto system, thinking it would be very limited as I like to create my own system of signal switches myself. But the way its done in RE2 works very well. You can STILL edit the hell out of a switch system, it's just way more efficient to do so.

Here are a couple screenshots that explain briefly what I mean.

New Switch system works great. Select option for parallel track, place it and run track to the end point. It creates a switch at both points automatically. Then click each track to tell it what direction the train is supposed to run in. The switches will then automatically show which direction (red flag over track that train can't go in direction in).

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2980537557

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2980537564

I don't see any limitation here whatsoever. The switch is just auto-placed when creating a parallel track. You still decide how to setup the tracks.

Adding additional tracks (3+) isn't an issue either. Just select the track itself and tell it which direction the train is supposed to run in.

In short, you are focusing on the track itself to decide which way it runs instead of fiddling with an extra component (the signal). It's a huge time saver and you do not lose any creative editing.

Dont Lie. Build a track that crosses another track ... and realise the shallowness of the system