What does a Caboose actually do?

[Didz]

I've tried to research the answer on google, RE forums, the in game tips and Hints and the Community Guides, but haven't found a clear answer.

So, what exactly does a caboose do, and to what?

It says 'Bonuses to all employee's +20%'.

But is that literally ALL employee's including those not forming part of the train crew, or is it just the crew of the train to which it is attached.

And is it +20% to all employee skills, so if I attach a caboose to an passenger train does it boost the engineers maximum speed boost skill, and boost the conductors passenger happiness bonus so the passengers pay more, or is it limited to freight related bonuses.

Just seems a bit odd to stick a caboose on an express train.

[TheWhiteFlame]

i would say this means:
boost at max those 4 poeple on the specified train.
if one guy has +10% speed he will be upgraded to 12% instead.
and if another has 20% bonus on mail income this guy will add 24% instead.
so if you trains pulls 8 wagons of cargo all the time its not always worth it, but lets say u wanna to an express train and its filled with 5 wagons usually youc an slap a food wagon and a cboose to it to increase stats for example. thats how i do it at least.

[Didz]

Yeah! having experimented a bit its pretty clear that it only affects the crew of the train to which its attached. So, its useless if the train has no crew, and then becomes more valuable as the crew fills out. Though its hard to see any impact on some skills as the train statistic's don't show bonuses earned for everything, one just has to assume its working on every skill.

I'm maninly using it on freight trains simply because I can see the bonuses to reliability which is the main skill I add to freight trains.

[TheWhiteFlame]

but is the addtional bonus worth losing 1 enire wagon? i mean the fridge car give 20% but since you lose one wagon you get 1,2*7 instead of flat 8 wich is about 5% bonus. then i cannot imagine that 20% of whatever you guy give you (5-10%) is worth losing a wagon. in other words 2% overall bonus to losing 1/8= 12,5% is a losing calculation in my books.

[Didz]

Well thats the point really, as far as i can see the train stats don't show the affect that the caboose has on the overall performance of the train. So, its hard to tell if its worth using one, or even if its working.

[TheWhiteFlame]

well since it can change each run dependant on the number of availablo cargo its not tly possible to show an "overall" bonus?! but the bonus it has on the bonus of crew is calulated into it. an engineer that gives 10% will also give a green +10% on the train stats on the left side. if you have a caboose this will be 12%. BUT and this is a kind of big BUT, since it could be worth a bugreport. it is only shown if you switch to another train and then switch back. the stat change from the caboose needs a manual refresh of the window. (in contrast to to putting a crew on the train - which is showm immediatly) hope that help.

[TheWhiteFlame]

and for the income increase... well you could observe income from last trip and see if it changes. but as i told you, since the actual income each trip my vary through the influence a lot of factors (price changes, # of wagons and so on) you have to decide if its worth it for pure income reasons. for example faster express trains make more money - which is also a factor thats not directly shown. so my conclusion is, use one if you have at least 3 personal for express trains with multiple trains on its line which then are not always full. this gets you even more speed advantage. with that you have pretty much pushed is use to the max and im sure this will net you a gain. for fright trains i would not do it.

[Didz]

Yeah! I think it just comes down to faith at the end of the day. I've recently added a caboose to the express train I'm using to try and win a $400k Express connection bonus between Grans Rapids and Toledo.

It claims to have increased the speed bonus of +15% earned from the Engineer and Stoker I assigned to the train to +18%, but despite being the only train with my new Rogers American loco on it, and reaching 60mph on several runs the bonus has still not been won.

So [shrugs] seems a pointless waste of space.

[introaether]

Now, if it were to DOUBLE staff bonusus. It might be worth a look!

[TheWhiteFlame]

i think if it would be so powerful that you slap it on every single train then its OP, i think there should be a strategic use to it... when and when not to use it. im not suree if this needs re-balancing, as explained i there are at least some sensible scenarios...

[TheWhiteFlame]

if your express train doesnt get the classification there are also other factors that are important.
-other players must not have faster locomotives
-should be your fastest tpye you can buy atm (this means it should not only be the faastest that exists there should also be no reasearch donne of any faster)
-GOOD TRACK!!! means most directly as possible, the less steep the better... no waiting at signals, maintanance OR at the station for other trains, this all counts as delay!
-if its not enough limit train cars for even moar speed.

[Didz]

Well it only works if a train has crew, so you can't simply slap it on everything.

The real issue is whether the benefits gained outweight the loss of one cars revenue, and thats actually hard to say..

[TheWhiteFlame]

partially agree. if you relieve your lines, so that you have 3-5 trains serving the same line so they all are not maxed out and they have more capacity then the station, then its a sure YES, otherwise i agree with you. and for getting an express bonus maybe.

[introaether]

I can see a case for it when you have 4 green employees.

Icing on the cake

[Didz]

Well thats obviously the ideal scenario. but even then I'm not sure how I would check and confirm that the benefits outweight the loss of revenue from a full 8 car train.

[Doc Savage]

Early game I don't see a caboose doing much except costing you money. (the lone exception being speed bonii for express runs on lines with less than full trains, which may or may not give express status anyway)

Later game when employees are higher level the bonii increase much more...however at that point you don't need the bonuses anymore. Or the caboose for that matter.

This strikes me as one of those ideas that looks good on paper but in reality does all the wrong things at the wrong time rendering it basically useless. I could be wrong...

YcabooseMMV.

Cheers..!