Train Managing Text Quest?

[GhostLord]

I generally haven't had too many problems with the text quests, but I'm attempting the trains quest where you are managing a train station and must juggle the four different lines that can only handle 20 cars before overloading and shutting down. I'm not understanding how this quest is possible. I realized that its primarily luck however, I have attempted it about 8 times now and have not even come close. Does anyone have any tips for this particular text quest?

[rolypoly]

I don't have any tips, having not encountered that quest myself, but this guide supposedly has walkthroughs for all the quests:

http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=253596035

[freezit4]

So this might be one of the more poorly described quests, and with no clear indication if you're doing well or not. I can't even say I have a nice strategy, but I did manage to solve it three times out of ten, so it's not the worst odds (I've had way worse rates in more straightforward quests like the foncer race). The puzzle is a bit too luck-based to bother, as far as I understand it. For tl;dr version, just follow the numbered bullet points to see how i prioritized.

What you want to do is be able to survive 30 rounds of those different-sized train segments they throw at you. I think the trains range from 2 cars to 10 cars in size. If possible, try to combine exactly 20 cars in one train to clear up a track (as the briefing suggests you to).
Now, we know that to avoid fines, you must combine only cars of the same type, and not exceed more than 20 cars per track. But you're given 3 chances to mess up, so it's not the end of the world. I find filling exactly 20 cars in a track using 2 different types is worth the fine, because then the track is cleared for you. But I don't think there's any benefit to overloading a track, but there sure is a serious penalty (you get a fine, and you close down a track. You get a second fine if you also mixed two types in the train).
So I suppose you should prioritize your choices as follows (divided into sections):

At any time:
1. Always send locotractors (the ones that they randomly send to you) to the longest train.

When you still have 2 or more empty tracks:
1. Send the cars according to their types.
2. If that option leads to an overly long train, then send the cars to an empty track.

When you have 1 empty track left:
1. If available, send the cars to a track which will give you a 20-car train (even if it means getting a fine for mixing types).
2. If that option is not available because you already have 3 fines, then send the cars to their types.

When all 4 tracks are filled:
1. Use optional locotractors so that at least one train is size 10.
2. When you have trains that are equal in size (bigger than 10), send locotractors to make them different-sized. (explained below)
3. Keep trying to form 20-car trains.
4. If all your trains are bigger than 10 cars, and you can't avoid overloading, make sure to overload the car of a same type so that you'll only receive one fine aside from the track closing. Once this happens though, I can't really tell you a decent strategy because you'll keep receiving 4 types of cars to fill 3 tracks.

Now even if you try to follow this strategy, you'll still end up in ♥♥♥♥♥♥ situations like getting a 9-soldier segment when you have 14 soldiers, 7 fuel, 12 weapons, and 14 machinery. Any choice you make will result in a fine, and you want to avoid overloading especially at an early stage (when you still have a sub-10 train).
To avoid that situation, use your optional locotractors. There's several kinds given to you, with each kind removing a different number of cars from the selected track. I can't claim to really know the best way to use them, but consider the situation where all 4 of your tracks are filled with size 11+ trains. Then the RNG (if they really use it in the quest) can screw you over by sending a size 10 segment any time—it'd force you to get a fine and close down a track. So we want to avoid that from happening.

The obvious lesson from this is that you want to send locotractors such that there's at least one train with 10 cars. There's two benefits to this; any 10-car segment sent to you will hit you with one fine at most, and you also get to clear a track. As such, you can start using locotractors to reduce one (only one) train to size 10 even when you still have other trains that are shorter than 10 cars (like the ♥♥♥♥♥♥ situation above; maybe send a Sanleo [-4 cars] to the soldier train).
Another thing you might want to do when you have a bunch of size 11+ trains is send your optional locotractors so that you have trains of different sizes. This increases your chance of forming a size-20 train. (e.g. having 11 cars 14 soldiers 16 fuel might be better than 11 cars 11 soldiers 11 fuel, because you can form a 20 using a 9-car, 6-car or 4-car segment).


After receiving 30 trains successfully (without collecting more than 3 fines), and after spending so much time, blood, sweat, tears, and a buncha locotractors, you'll finish the quest. However, you'll soon realize you shouldn't have used up all your locotractors because there is a bonus mission.

Fortunately, this part isn't as difficult, although still luck-based. You're no longer getting fined for mixing different types, so you can just focus on making one train as long as possible until it can't fit the track. You still don't want to overload because it'll still cause the track to close down, but at least they won't fine you for it. As before, focus on making a 20-car train, enjoying the occasional locotractor. Use your own locotractor to produce size-10 trains and to prevent similar-sized trains as before.