Time in Transport Fever

[Yehoodi]

Is there any way to slow down/adjust the passing of days (like in Civ. game)?. It just seems like days roll off and it takes like month or so to go from town to town.

Presently, I am just doing the missions and am enjoying them, so time is not an issue for me.

Was just curious if the passage of time in free mode would be too fast. It seems like I can only get a load or two transported in a given year when i travel any distance.

Oh yah, what is the World Format for?

Thanks

[lordvetinari]

There are two time slower mods in the workshop (Sorry, I don't know how to link it; search for "Time Progression"). However, the slowest you can get is 4 times slower than vanilla due to some hardcoded limits in the game enging that I don't understand as I'm no modder. There's also a mod that accelerates loading time that helps reducing the amount of time it takes for a vehicle to complete it's trip.

Sandbox is not any different than the missions in terms of feeling; I guess it's a matter of taste, wether you prefer a slower paced game or a faster paced one.

[cszolee79]

http://steamcommunity.com/id/FXUK/myworkshopfiles/?appid=446800&p=2

[SBGaming]

There are mods on the Workshop to slow the speed of the game down. A standard game day is 2 seconds/2000 milliseconds. You can also tweak this manually in I believe the base_config.lua file. Maximum value is 8000.

The only reason you'd necessarily want to slow the game down is because you want to spend a bit more time with each of the vehicles, rather than have the eras pass by quickly.

Since there's not really any goals or objectives in Freeplay, and you can play for as long as you like (or until performance degrades so much).

There are two timescales active in this game. There is the calendar time scale which controls when vehicles become available and expire, and when interest on loans is paid. The second time scale is the local time scale, which can be seen in the form of Frequency in the Line Manager. A line that has a 5 minute frequency has the real world equivalent of a vehicle showing up every 5 minutes. When you compare what 5 minutes local time is in Calendar time, that translates to 5 months. It's not that you get a load or two transported in a year, it's that that load or two a year represents possibly hundreds of individual loads that are not simulated or represented by the vehicles on the map.

When playing a slower time scale, income is scaled down to compensate for the fact that the vehicle can travel further within a calendar year than normal. This will overall average out, and you might find routes that might have not been profitable become profitable, in particular local services where your vehicles can pick up and drop off passengers more frequently.

Then you got the matter of map scale. Consider that a Large map is 256 square km,or 16kmx16km in size if using a square 1:1 map. New York City by comparison is around 784 square km by comparison, according to wikipedia, and that's only land area not water). Your average Large Map is one third the size of New York, yet it's supposed to represent a region with towns spread out for long distance travel.

Regarding World Format, I'm guessing that that is the aspect ratio of the map. Options are 1:1. 1:2 and 1:3. 1:1 will create a square map, whereas 1:3 will create a rectangular map that is three times longer than it is narrow. If you enable experimental map options, you also get 1:4 and 1:5 ratios.

[Yehoodi]

Thanks guys for the help.

[Yehoodi]

Originally posted by SBGaming:

There are mods on the Workshop to slow the speed of the game down. A standard game day is 2 seconds/2000 milliseconds. You can also tweak this manually in I believe the base_config.lua file. Maximum value is 8000.

The only reason you'd necessarily want to slow the game down is because you want to spend a bit more time with each of the vehicles, rather than have the eras pass by quickly.

Since there's not really any goals or objectives in Freeplay, and you can play for as long as you like (or until performance degrades so much).

There are two timescales active in this game. There is the calendar time scale which controls when vehicles become available and expire, and when interest on loans is paid. The second time scale is the local time scale, which can be seen in the form of Frequency in the Line Manager. A line that has a 5 minute frequency has the real world equivalent of a vehicle showing up every 5 minutes. When you compare what 5 minutes local time is in Calendar time, that translates to 5 months. It's not that you get a load or two transported in a year, it's that that load or two a year represents possibly hundreds of individual loads that are not simulated or represented by the vehicles on the map.

When playing a slower time scale, income is scaled down to compensate for the fact that the vehicle can travel further within a calendar year than normal. This will overall average out, and you might find routes that might have not been profitable become profitable, in particular local services where your vehicles can pick up and drop off passengers more frequently.

Then you got the matter of map scale. Consider that a Large map is 256 square km,or 16kmx16km in size if using a square 1:1 map. New York City by comparison is around 784 square km by comparison, according to wikipedia, and that's only land area not water). Your average Large Map is one third the size of New York, yet it's supposed to represent a region with towns spread out for long distance travel.

Regarding World Format, I'm guessing that that is the aspect ratio of the map. Options are 1:1. 1:2 and 1:3. 1:1 will create a square map, whereas 1:3 will create a rectangular map that is three times longer than it is narrow. If you enable experimental map options, you also get 1:4 and 1:5 ratios.

SB, thanks for your help in this and the other thread.

Yah my thought was more along the lines about being able to play for some time with certain vehicles before the next improvement comes along, so one feels like one has an attachment to the vehicles. In Civilizations, i generally, play on the longer time periods

Yes i sensed that the income was time accelerated to make up for fewer trips per time slot. I think i made like 1.5 mil on like six carloads of stone. :-).

And thanks for the info on the world ratios

[SBGaming]

The downside to a slower timescale is that it takes longer to get to the next vehicle upgrade. The upside is you can spend longer with the existing vehicle set.

Having done a number of series on Youtube, my first Freeplay was the USA series. It went 77 episodes and ran from 1850 to a bit beyond 2050. I either ran the game at x1 or x2 speed. My Truck Fever series was 42 episodes, went beyond 2050, and a majority of that was at the x3 speed. Both series were on the default time scale.

My European series with the 4x slower mod ran 53 episodes at which point I had to take a break, and only progressed from 1850 to 1923. Probably another 50 episodes just to get to the year 2000 at the rate I'm going.

I'd definitely recommend playing atleast one map on the default time scale, and then try either the x2 or x4 slower mods to see how they compare.

You will notice though that Production, Limit and Demand numbers are also scaled up. Normally a 1st level industry produces at 100 units per year at default time scale whereas at 4x slower it's production is 400 a year. An industry that normally maxes out at 1600 maxes out at 6400. You'll get 4x the amount of cargo to deliver and demand to supply, but only a quarter of the ticket price, but four times as much time to deliver such cargo and that's just how it balances out.

The industry menu though (bottom left button) shows the original production and limit values.

[Yehoodi]

Originally posted by SBGaming:

The downside to a slower timescale is that it takes longer to get to the next vehicle upgrade. The upside is you can spend longer with the existing vehicle set.

Having done a number of series on Youtube, my first Freeplay was the USA series. It went 77 episodes and ran from 1850 to a bit beyond 2050. I either ran the game at x1 or x2 speed. My Truck Fever series was 42 episodes, went beyond 2050, and a majority of that was at the x3 speed. Both series were on the default time scale.

My European series with the 4x slower mod ran 53 episodes at which point I had to take a break, and only progressed from 1850 to 1923. Probably another 50 episodes just to get to the year 2000 at the rate I'm going.

I'd definitely recommend playing atleast one map on the default time scale, and then try either the x2 or x4 slower mods to see how they compare.

You will notice though that Production, Limit and Demand numbers are also scaled up. Normally a 1st level industry produces at 100 units per year at default time scale whereas at 4x slower it's production is 400 a year. An industry that normally maxes out at 1600 maxes out at 6400. You'll get 4x the amount of cargo to deliver and demand to supply, but only a quarter of the ticket price, but four times as much time to deliver such cargo and that's just how it balances out.

The industry menu though (bottom left button) shows the original production and limit values.

Thanks, can you provide a link to your youtube videos? :-)

Oh can you buy and/or upgrade industries or are they run by the AI?

In Banished the game slows down as one has a long of things running real time late in the game and computers max out. Does this game bog down late in game?

Have noticed that this game is kind of relaxing and plays at a slower pace as takes some time for vehicles to go from one point to another. A nice little dynamic.

[cszolee79]

Originally posted by Yehoodi:

Oh can you buy and/or upgrade industries or are they run by the AI?

With this you can. And also modify the max production output for those that you build.
You may want to find some "no industry" maps, where you can build the whole supply line yourself instead of the random generator.
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=796227914&searchtext=industry

Originally posted by Yehoodi:

In Banished the game slows down as one has a long of things running real time late in the game and computers max out. Does this game bog down late in game?

You have no idea :)
Right down to 10-15fps on an (older) i7 desktop. Devs are working on a new update that will help the performance. Until then, just keep agents (cargo, citizens, vehicles, etc) to the minimum.
F.ex. I only built freight trains with double cargo mod, that runs well. As soon as I start local truck lines within cities (say 10-15 cities) to maximize the supply, well with 4-6 trucks per town it doubles my vehicles and their calculations and the game starts to stutter more and more. Also, as time progresses and cities naturally grow they will inevitably slow down your game. If it's too bad try smaller maps, and less vehicles. Eventually it WILL slow down unless you have but a handful of lines and vehicles. Better PC = it will start to slow down later.

[Yehoodi]

Originally posted by cszolee79:

Originally posted by Yehoodi:

Oh can you buy and/or upgrade industries or are they run by the AI?

With this you can. And also modify the max production output for those that you build.
You may want to find some "no industry" maps, where you can build the whole supply line yourself instead of the random generator.
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=796227914&searchtext=industry

Originally posted by Yehoodi:

In Banished the game slows down as one has a long of things running real time late in the game and computers max out. Does this game bog down late in game?

You have no idea :)
Right down to 10-15fps on an (older) i7 desktop. Devs are working on a new update that will help the performance. Until then, just keep agents (cargo, citizens, vehicles, etc) to the minimum.
F.ex. I only built freight trains with double cargo mod, that runs well. As soon as I start local truck lines within cities (say 10-15 cities) to maximize the supply, well with 4-6 trucks per town it doubles my vehicles and their calculations and the game starts to stutter more and more. Also, as time progresses and cities naturally grow they will inevitably slow down your game. If it's too bad try smaller maps, and less vehicles. Eventually it WILL slow down unless you have but a handful of lines and vehicles. Better PC = it will start to slow down later.

thanks for tips . . . will take a look at that mod.

[SBGaming]

Originally posted by Yehoodi:

Thanks, can you provide a link to your youtube videos? :-)

Oh can you buy and/or upgrade industries or are they run by the AI?

In Banished the game slows down as one has a long of things running real time late in the game and computers max out. Does this game bog down late in game?

Have noticed that this game is kind of relaxing and plays at a slower pace as takes some time for vehicles to go from one point to another. A nice little dynamic.

http://www.youtube.com/sbgamingtv

Also linked on my steam profile.

Industries are run by the AI or more accurately respond to demand that they are connected to. A Food Processing Plant connected to a town with 100 demand will see demand for 100 units of Food over the course of a 12 month period. It then demands from input industries for resources so that it can produce, which if it can't find a path will be 0. Lines connecting industries need vehicles on them in order for a line to be considered valid. That is about the extent of the AI in this game.

Basically, you're the transport company, and you just deliver goods or passengers from Point A to Point B.

Performance begins to decline the more agents are on the map. An agent is a unit of cargo or passenger that is trying to pathfind it's way from Point A to Point B. You then have the Town Growth algorithm which determines when and how towns grow (build new streets or add new buildings) that usually create some lag or performance issues around the end of the month when that happens. You also have demand calculations being made at the end of month. The more towns on the map, the more agents that need pathfinding, and the more industries you have connected, the more performance will suffer.

Map size generally doesn't matter, you just tend to have more towns, and more potential agents roaming around. If you tweaked the map generation settings to generate more towns and industries on a smaller map, performance will likely suffer in the same way.

One of my eventual plans is to do so and record a new series I'd probably call "Tiny Town". Tiny map (16 square km) with 16 "towns" as neighborhoods, and a load of industries. Get them all interconnected, and see how it performs, but I probably couldn't see it any worse than a medium size map which has around 13 towns.

[Yehoodi]

Originally posted by SBGaming:

Originally posted by Yehoodi:

Thanks, can you provide a link to your youtube videos? :-)

Oh can you buy and/or upgrade industries or are they run by the AI?

In Banished the game slows down as one has a long of things running real time late in the game and computers max out. Does this game bog down late in game?

Have noticed that this game is kind of relaxing and plays at a slower pace as takes some time for vehicles to go from one point to another. A nice little dynamic.

http://www.youtube.com/sbgamingtv

Also linked on my steam profile.

Industries are run by the AI or more accurately respond to demand that they are connected to. A Food Processing Plant connected to a town with 100 demand will see demand for 100 units of Food over the course of a 12 month period. It then demands from input industries for resources so that it can produce, which if it can't find a path will be 0. Lines connecting industries need vehicles on them in order for a line to be considered valid. That is about the extent of the AI in this game.

Basically, you're the transport company, and you just deliver goods or passengers from Point A to Point B.

Performance begins to decline the more agents are on the map. An agent is a unit of cargo or passenger that is trying to pathfind it's way from Point A to Point B. You then have the Town Growth algorithm which determines when and how towns grow (build new streets or add new buildings) that usually create some lag or performance issues around the end of the month when that happens. You also have demand calculations being made at the end of month. The more towns on the map, the more agents that need pathfinding, and the more industries you have connected, the more performance will suffer.

Map size generally doesn't matter, you just tend to have more towns, and more potential agents roaming around. If you tweaked the map generation settings to generate more towns and industries on a smaller map, performance will likely suffer in the same way.

One of my eventual plans is to do so and record a new series I'd probably call "Tiny Town". Tiny map (16 square km) with 16 "towns" as neighborhoods, and a load of industries. Get them all interconnected, and see how it performs, but I probably couldn't see it any worse than a medium size map which has around 13 towns.

Thanks for the link, i did take a brief look at the first two, I like how you decided to add roads to the towns for future planning.

My first thought was to go with a medium map which i might do, but am thinking about going with a small map and just tool around with 3-4 cities and associated industries, to get my feet wet. Also, it might not bog down my computer once i get things going for good.

Okay so connected means a tranport line. I have noticed that the AI will place the goods at the station once the line is connected and also will allocated goods to certain lines within the stations.

[larry_roberts]

It would be great (in the vanilla game, I don't use mods) if you could freeze time, or, at least, freeze technological progress so you could keep the steam era for much longer, so that, at the end of each year it would flip back to the previous year (but the financial progress must continue)!.Then when you decide you can let time progress as now!.