Estimated Journey time

[dsdomestic]

Knowing roughly how long it takes a train to complete a route is essential to calculate the frequency with which to send them.

Given the fast pace nature of the game, it would be good if this info was added when viewing route planner.

[BetonToni]

Y should u bother how long they take? as long as they make money its ok in my eyes ?!?

[Doc Savage]

It's very important. Too many trains tie up money and resources, too few trains leavies money on the table I need to expland. Just because a train makes 5 dollars and 30 cents doesn't mean it's doing well. I don't need to be exact, but I do need to make sure I'm getting all I can from a line without 16 half empty trains running back and forth.

I don't mess with times or distances to measure or calculate it though. Instead I go visual and just check the trains.

It's quick and painless to click a rail and pull up the train list for that line. A quick click on the trains shows me what each is carrying. If I have 4 trains and they all have a passenger car and a couple mail cars, I'm good. If I have 4 trains loaded to the gills, I add 2 more. I've had as many as 10-12 trains on a really heavy line.

You quickly get a feel for what good and bad trains and lines look like. It won't be long until you can run through every line you've got and just know what's happening. No need for complicated maths or Al Gore's rhythm to figure out frequency; you can see it.

For reference, Baltimore to Washington would start with 2 trains, end up with 3 or 4 for that little short chute line. Baltimore to NY would start with 4 or 6 depending on whether I route around the coast (6) or run a straight shot (4). Once everything gets rocking that number will likely double.

You have to have something to do while waiting for cash early, so checking trains is a perfect activity. After awhile it's just 2nd nature. Later once the routes are set I won't have to go back to them more than a time or two just to make sure they're OK. Maybe add a couple more if the cities have grown. Of course if you're trying for a huge pop that line needs more attention, but most scenarios that's just one city.

Cheers..!

[BetonToni]

So u say its a bit to stretch the time while waiting for money? If i have more money after an hour than i began with, am i doing something wrong then?

Or i plain miss ur point what u exactly mean.

-Trains are way too cheap
-runningcost is a sidenotice
- u dont need Maintenancetowers (spares the buildingcost)
- even repairsites are useless atm

I start with 1.000.000 $ and after an hour or two iam near 100.000.000.

My Opinion: Game is too easy atm on any diff.

[dsdomestic]

My point is: early game feel prevails.

When cities reach over 500k they need a lot of resources.

With manual pause it's no problem, just something else to solve.

With traniac, I ain't got time to bleed!

[Doc Savage]

It's easy to game the game ATM, however that doesn't change the need to access information quickly. I use a simple system to track lines at a glance, but as dsdomestic says once you reach a certain point you simply have way too much to do and no time to do it.

Some players like to actually manage things; they're interested in playing the game, not beating it. They don't find enjoyment in belt notches, they rather appreciate a fine belt.

Just because the game lets you get away without a single Maintenance Shed doesn't mean you shouldn't build one. Or ten. Or in every other station. None of that changes the want or need to know what my trains are doing. Or what they want.

As always, YMMV. Cheers..!

[dsdomestic]

What about the graph that shows train speed? I'll check in a bit. But that'd be the place to hide it 🤔

[TheCollector]

Originally posted by dsdomestic:

Knowing roughly how long it takes a train to complete a route is essential to calculate the frequency with which to send them.

Given the fast pace nature of the game, it would be good if this info was added when viewing route planner.

The different eras can have a different time scale (to avoid low tech engines being displayed too slow or high tech engines being displayed too fast), so journey times from one era can differ from journey times in a different era, even if you use the same tour and the same engine on the same map.

When you set up a tour, the game cannot give you an estimate journey time as long as you have not set an engine for the tour, since journey time depends on engine speed.
If you set the engine first and then define the tour, you see the estimated journey time immediately when defining the tour.
When you have set a tour and selected an engine, you can select the Edit Tour button any time to see the estimated journey time.

Once you have completed the first tour, you can select the Manage Train Menu and see journey time for the last tour and additional information.

[Team Triss]

Isn't this shown somewhere when you're planning the route? I feel like I've seen mention of X days travel time when planning routes.

I'll take a look next time I start the game up.

EDIT: Yeah, just above Workload there's a field that says Duration, near where you select passengers or freight, etc. That's not round trip time?

[dsdomestic]

Yeah. It's total tour time. A B A.

Was using it to test how important water towers are. They are!

[chaney]

Originally posted by dsdomestic:

Yeah. It's total tour time. A B A.

Was using it to test how important water towers are. They are!

Ok, details? I have seen little degredation in train speed when they run without supplies. That's pretty disappointing to me. I didn't test much, so would love to hear your results and find out they have value!