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Openttd Strategy

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Jorge Da Silva

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This is my strategy for an openttd multiplayer game

Ok so my plan is to have a series of hubs each with four lines going through connecting two towns each via the hub, with timetables set to full load any cargo and each train carrying 320 passengers, 49 bags of mail and 40 bags of valuables x 2. There would be at least 12 trains on each line to maintain a high frequency and good acceleration and speeds on the trains. The hubs would be connected via a high-frequency high speed railway network providing a series of non-stop/limited stop fast frequent high speed connecting services, these would be long and would run with full load any cargo.

High speed is in purple as an example of the plan


For freight i was thinking of taking the mainline idea and running with it basically launch a series of mainlines where trains would pick up a particularly cargo at a series of pick up stations located at primary industry (such as coal mines where they can pick up coal) via long 8 tile trains and then drop off at a station where a secondary industry would be located.


Any improvements or suggestions welcomed
 
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lkpridgeon

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I probably wouldn't run the passenger lines with full load cargo as you'll end up with station congestion of which isn't suitable for a high speed & frequency service. The only time I run with full load is point to point freight. Instead I run strict timetables to keep trains the trains flowing and stop them from bunching up. This also has the upside of being able to run fast trains on the same lines of slow ones if you have the time and willpower of which is good early game.

You might also need to think about termination & depot capacity.
 

Jorge Da Silva

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I probably wouldn't run the passenger lines with full load cargo as you'll end up with station congestion of which isn't suitable for a high speed & frequency service. The only time I run with full load is point to point freight. Instead I run strict timetables to keep trains the trains flowing and stop them from bunching up. This also has the upside of being able to run fast trains on the same lines of slow ones if you have the time and willpower of which is good early game.

How would you do that. Would you not have the feeder service run as a full load as it only runs between one town and the hub so having it run full and frequent maximises ratings, demand and income
 

lkpridgeon

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How would you do that. Would you not have the feeder service run as a full load as it only runs between one town and the hub so having it run full and frequent maximises ratings, demand and income
Freight yes, but passengers no. You'll end up needing a lot of platform capacity otherwise trains would end up bunching up. It partially depends on how far apart the stations are though and how many units are used to diagram it (and whether they interwork different services)
 
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Jorge Da Silva

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Any luck with your strategy?

Bit different plan.

Seem to have found how to make 52,000 per train in one journey. I have 11,500n track pieces by 1949 and plan to have 100,000 by 2000. With hope to increase yearly income together with speed increases to have most trains make 300k at least by 2000. Most of these lines will be of the highest speed possible at the time. A local rail network with a high frequency will be developed as well to link with the high speed rail

My current projection is 165,000 pieces of track and 165 trains by 2000 (it's currently 1948 at 11,500 with 8 vehicles)
 
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lkpridgeon

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Bit different plan.

Seem to have found how to make 52,000 per train in one journey. I have 11,500n track pieces by 1949 and plan to have 100,000 by 2000. With hope to increase yearly income together with speed increases to have most trains make 300k at least by 2000. Most of these lines will be of the highest speed possible at the time. A local rail network with a high frequency will be developed as well to link with the high speed rail

My current projection is 165,000 pieces of track and 165 trains by 2000 (it's currently 1948 at 11,500 with 8 vehicles)
That amount of track seems a bit excessive for what you're trying to achieve.

By the way from what I saw earlier it looks like you have the station congestion problem I said would occur. This means you have trains stuck waiting hence losing you money on both the yearly cost and payment per passenger (every 20 tiles delivered vs time). You either need to cut down on the trains or find a way to get them loading a lot more quickly if you plan to persist with full load cargo.
 

Jorge Da Silva

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That amount of track seems a bit excessive for what you're trying to achieve.

By the way from what I saw earlier it looks like you have the station congestion problem I said would occur. This means you have trains stuck waiting hence losing you money on both the yearly cost and payment per passenger (every 20 tiles delivered vs time). You either need to cut down on the trains or find a way to get them loading a lot more quickly if you plan to persist with full load cargo.

So would it pay more to remove full loading or is there another way
 

Jorge Da Silva

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You might be better off with shorter distance services and setting a timetable instead of full load

How do you run a timetable

Well at one end it can easily run full the other end is the issue

@lkpridgeon would less frequent but longer work or shorter but more frequent? Which would make more money

@lkpridgeon is it worth for the freight system doing the following:

So send all vehicles to the depot rebuild the network with double track throughout, dedicated platforms for each service (maybe 2 platforms per route and loops at each station so trains can use a ro-ro system. Then begin removing full load from all the trains and shorten them (or replace them with cheaper units that are shorter). Focus on frequency increases from there and gradual expansions connecting more raw material and finding new industry.
 
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lkpridgeon

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How do you run a timetable
Using the order menu there's a timetable tab
@lkpridgeon would less frequent but longer work or shorter but more frequent? Which would make more money
Depends on what you are trying to achieve. I try and aim for 1 train per month minimum to keep the authority in a very good/outstanding state without full load enabled. However you could timetable a train to sit at a station for a period of time and tweak the amount of trains that way so you can keep the 1 train per month but with less running trains.
@lkpridgeon is it worth for the freight system doing the following:

So send all vehicles to the depot rebuild the network with double track throughout, dedicated platforms for each service (maybe 2 platforms per route and loops at each station so trains can use a ro-ro system. Then begin removing full load from all the trains and shorten them (or replace them with cheaper units that are shorter). Focus on frequency increases from there and gradual expansions connecting more raw material and finding new industry.
You could send all trains to depot if you have the money to do so. If you're running a single track line I assume that would all be the same block, so you could build the new line to the and switch the signals when the train has cleared the clock.

Personally I don't use ro-ro so as whilst it is more efficient it doesn't look as nice or realistic in my opinion. For freight you can generally predict how long it will take to load and account for that (if using full load) however you can get pathing issues if you are going for mixed traffic lines as the freight trains are more sporadic/random. If you're after money long distance freight is your best bet, just remember payment rates diminish the longer it takes to get delivered as the rate is based on cargo delivered distance travelled (per 20 tiles) and how long it took. This is also why you don't want trains sitting around waiting for platforms for months on end whilst the previous trains are trying to full load.

Your current brute force method would work a lot better over a short/medium distance using less trains as you'll be able to do more trips in a given period of time with less trains and a higher per 20 tile payment rate. This would also help smooth the spikes in your income.

With the current way the server is setup point to point no intermediate stops is the way to go with a balance of journey length/speed to keep the payment rates up and train cost down (unless you are collecting multiple articles of cargo and dropping off on the way out of convenience).
 
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