Few question about different LOCOS

[Overlord]

DE 6
In the past I think it was possible to use remote control - now I cant connect it so I guess it is now allowed. So I would like to know what do you do to help yourself when you need to reverse drop last cars of the long train. I have to say it is pretty annoying to drive long train for example City west. Lets imagine 600m train which is not that long in terms of this game.
Driving at least 600m forward in front of the last switch. Keeping the train running at some reasonable speed like 20. When I see last 2 cars getting closer to the switch. I have to teleport 600m forward to get into loco and stop it. Then I teleport back to see if I'm really in front of the switch. Then I teleport back put it reverse and start going backward. Watching my set of cars as they are approaching other parked cars I have to teleport back to the loco start braking they I have to teleport back to the end of the train to see if it it ok and if not adjust it again by teleport to loco in one word = ANNOYING.
So how to overcome this challenge? I was thinking two ways. 1) Put behind DE6 DH4 or DE2 and use remote control? 2) Use the device which is going to beep at me at the desired train length so I know I'm already in front of the switch and I can reverse? Saving some teleporting trips?

Utility train and car -
Is it already treated as my loco which wont despawn? I have it in harbor with two parts and I would like to drive elsewhere and not carrying it with me, but I'm afraid it will despawn with the parts in it if I leave harbor area.

Slug DE6
Do I need the multiple train license? Do I have to spawn it for money each time I want to use it? I remember finding it in the garage near harbor and bringing it back to harbor at leaving it here because I did not need it and drove DM and DH and of course it despawned and it is not present in the garage.

Thanks

[ReverendTed]

Yes, I think the best option is to use the multi-unit DE2 (or DH4) to DE6 and use the remote in the DE2. You might even be able to leave the DE2 off with just the electrics on, if you want to save on maintenance costs? I guess the idea is that the DE6 isn't a shunter, so it doesn't make sense for it to have remote capability?

Owned trains (microshunter, Utility Rail Car, Caboose) should not despawn and remain where they are left.

Similarly, the Slug should not despawn and should remain where it is left. You should be able to see where it is on the map. I've had mine parked at the Machine Factory roundhouse for hours and multiple trips back and forth across the map.

To be clear, I'm not 100% certain on the details. I've never left one of my owned vehicles on a random track - only parked in roundhouses or in the sheds where they were found, but they've all remained where I left them.

[numbat]

There is a mod available to enable the remote control for the DE6. I use it and it seems to work well. Mind you, I'm currently running my rebuilt demonstrator DH4 and DE6 back to back so just keep the remote linked to the DH4.

Cheers,
Chris.

[ling.speed]

On how to run long train.
There are plenty ways of doing this. But dispatcher license added recently was probably done for that. you dont need to teleport anywhere, just go past the switch - there is distance counting gizmo, but you also can just spam the switch on the map as the train is going by it, as soon as the switch is not flipping back it means last bogey of the train is past it. Then you stop and back it up.

Originally posted by ReverendTed:

Owned trains (microshunter, Utility Rail Car, Caboose) should not despawn and remain where they are left.

Similarly, the Slug should not despawn and should remain where it is left. You should be able to see where it is on the map. I've had mine parked at the Machine Factory roundhouse for hours and multiple trips back and forth across the map.

Owned demonstrators dont despawn but owned vehicles found in garages will return to their garage afer a while (not sure about the mechanics) but for "free" trains its 2hours (real time) of not interacting with them. It might be enough to get into their vicinity to reset the timer. Garage trains should be on similar timer.

Ive not had a chance to have utility car despawn with cargo, but its likely gonna return to MF for another pickup after utility car comes back to its garage.

[Overlord]

Originally posted by numbat:

There is a mod available to enable the remote control for the DE6. I use it and it seems to work well. Mind you, I'm currently running my rebuilt demonstrator DH4 and DE6 back to back so just keep the remote linked to the DH4.

Cheers,
Chris.

I'm in the very beginning of own locos :) I already found them all except DE6 of course. I have them in museum, but so far I did not deliver any parts. I think it is the best solution to have 2 best diesel-electric/mechanic locos together, because it will give me the option to use remote and also it will do the heavy shunt jobs on its own and when I will need extra boost I can use the DE6 and help little bit with the momentum.
I will try to explore the possibility of the "beeping" device I hope it gives me at least the benefit of reversing train back without need to leave it fo start the reverse drop thus saving some teleporting trips between loco and end of the train. Of course I will have to go back at least once to stop throttle and start breaking to avoid damaging already parked cars on delivery track.
Thanks for the mod suggestion, but I dont want to use it although I hate the fact I cant use the remote control at least for the shunting/under speed limit X.

[ReverendTed]

Originally posted by ling.speed:

Owned demonstrators dont despawn but owned vehicles found in garages will return to their garage afer a while (not sure about the mechanics) but for "free" trains its 2hours (real time) of not interacting with them. It might be enough to get into their vicinity to reset the timer. Garage trains should be on similar timer.

I'll need to pay close attention the next time I go in. I'm pretty sure I left my slug for more than two real-time hours and it was still in the MF roundhouse where I left it the next time I returned.
I'd say I hope it doesn't respawn to the garage on the hill south of Harbor, because that trip was a slog, but I honestly haven't found the slug to be useful enough to justify dragging it along, which is why it was parked in the MF roundhouse.

[Overlord]

Originally posted by ling.speed:

Owned demonstrators dont despawn but owned vehicles found in garages will return to their garage afer a while (not sure about the mechanics) but for "free" trains its 2hours (real time) of not interacting with them. It might be enough to get into their vicinity to reset the timer. Garage trains should be on similar timer.

Well I just tried it and it seems this is not true. I left DE6 at Harbor area and took de2 small set of cars to city south. I dropped parts here, repaired DM4, shunted it to the painting and then I drove straight back to the Harbor. I was away like hour at max and the DE6 is gone and In my shed there are two gadgets I used - digital speedometer and the incline/decline thingy of course no manual service of disappread loco so everything in repair bill x2. This is really bothering me the way how the game handles active locos which are abandoned for few minutes/hours. I think there should be limit of 3-5 locos (borrowed locos) which wont despawn and stay exactly where you left them.

[ling.speed]

Thats interesting, other people here have corrected me earlier its not 1h but 2h, but now im at a loss which is the correct time. It might depend on memory usage or exact spot it was left (whether something can spawn there or not).

Originally posted by ReverendTed:

I'd say I hope it doesn't respawn to the garage on the hill south of Harbor, because that trip was a slog, but I honestly haven't found the slug to be useful enough to justify dragging it along, which is why it was parked in the MF roundhouse.

They are moved to garage but are callable from the radio for s small ish fee. Parking in the roundhouse seems to be safe.

[ReverendTed]

Originally posted by Overlord:

I was away like hour at max and the DE6 is gone and In my shed there are two gadgets I used

Interesting, because the devs have previously stated the "untouched despawn limit" is two hours.

I am curious if where you leave it matters - like, if you've left it on a track where jobs might spawn vs in a roundhouse.

[Overlord]

Originally posted by ReverendTed:

Originally posted by Overlord:

I was away like hour at max and the DE6 is gone and In my shed there are two gadgets I used

Interesting, because the devs have previously stated the "untouched despawn limit" is two hours.

I am curious if where you leave it matters - like, if you've left it on a track where jobs might spawn vs in a roundhouse.

Well that is up to further testing I guess. I left it at Harbor at D railyard (pax station) = no cars whatsoever, because it is convenient place between railyard G and E and at the same time it wont block other tracks I use when I'm at harbor. Next time I can try to leave it in the roundhouse.

[JuniorToo]

i like the long trains. in years past, decided on 3x de6s' primary drivers up front. because of the brake 'upgrade' they are now brake isolated from the rest of the train. however, the dynamic braking seems to have been improved. in the rear is a dh4-de6-slug-caboose. this rear group is now used for shunting, hill help and train braking.

i tried an experiment where i left primary drivers and train east of city west; [why can't they give real names to these cities?] . then ran a job to the saw mill. i have recently tried doing this running a job to forest south(?), while primary was parked in the valley, heading for CMS... my assumption, at the time, was that with de6s' connect to jobs', they didn't despawn. (now, i guess, didn't take 2 hours)?

[TheLostPenguin]

I've found relatively few scenarios (at least once you have choice of locos) where having a DE6 running is remotely worthwhile whilst shunting. Heavy movements places like MF or SM where you have notable gradients just outside the yards can sometimes be tricky, but the great majority of the time DH4 can handle all shunting work on its own just fine. If you don't have DH4 yet I do see the utility in combining DE2+6 as a remote unit though, if you have those locos available.
Accordingly I keep my DH4 at the rear of the train and use that to do 99% of yard work, the only times the DE6/slug head power combo gets used for shunting is when it makes much more sense to use them to split the train to insert new jobs closer to the front, or taking them off to insert a whole new block of jobs right at the front.