Open Transport Tycoon Deluxe Options

[That Commander]

Hello, I am posting this in case you did not know: as of December 2009, the OpenTTD developer community have completely replaced the graphics and sound, meaning the game is now completely free to use without requiring a TTD license.

I remember this game used to be run as a comp, but I never joined in since it required the game files from the original TTD.

I would be interested in a multiplayer match (does not have to be a comp).

Cheers

[That Commander]

Hello

I have found out recently that I will probably not be attending Respawn due to another higher priority event occurring on the same day.

Thought I'd post some pictures of what I was thinking of attempting at this Respawn: Superfreighters, otherwise known as Mammoth Trains in OpenTTD. I was thinking of some sort of Intermodal Freight Terminal setup, with trucks and small trains transferring cargo to a giant, fast train (speed greater than 160KM/h). Instead I took a different less complicated approach.

I suppose I should get to the point (note: images will take ages as my upload is slow):


What you are looking at: several farms are surrounding a factory which accepts livestock and grain, and produces goods. Goods is the final unit of cargo that can be transported directly to towns. This is "sort of" intermodal in the sense lots of smaller trains are inolved. The station there is 40 tiles long, and the trains are comprised of 70 carriages and 10 locomotives. Each train is capable of holding 1750 units of cargo, which translates to 2310 tonnes (not including locomotive mass).

Here are the delivery stations, also 40 tiles long.


I chose 10 locomotives in order for the train acceleration and top speed to be acceptable. The OpenTTD Manual provides a page on calculating how Tractive Effort and Power is required to move a given amount of mass, but it is actually a fairly complicated affair to calculate. Tractive Effort (TE, in KiloNewtons) affects ability to move a mass, while power affects the speed at which it can move said mass. The practical reality is, if you try to move too much mass, the train will both accelerate slower and will never reach it's top speed, and could be even worse at hill climbing. The page shows you how to calculate how much power you'll need for a given speed for a given mass, but the problem with starting with the mass is that locomotives also end up making a significant portion of the total mass, which affects your calculations. So the answer I suppose is: keep adding locomotives until the acceleration is acceptable. You might have to make your stations bigger though!

Two of the of Superfreighters use the SH'40 Locomotive which is probably one of the best locos for Freight. It has a TE of 243KN and a Power of 5000HP which is better than the next two Electric Locomotives (the T.I.M and AsiaStar), even if it's Max TE is less. It means it has more power on tap to acheive its top speed.

So what is the performance like? As said, the SH'40 trains accelerate and reach their top speed as if they were only hauling 5 carriages. There's a good chance I've specified too many locomotives for the task. I've read people complaining Mammoth train performance is bad. The only reason is lack of power. The third train uses TIM locomotives, which serves the longer distance station in the second picture. While it does eventually reach its top speed, it certainly "feels" like it could use another pair of locomotives. This is because overall, each locomotive only has 3,500HP.

So, what can I conclude about the applicability of Mammoth Trains?

Operationally, Mammoth trains are a nightmare. Entering and exiting depots can take days. If you don't design the depot properly, you'll find your trains blocking the path of exiting trains unnecessarily long. Finding the room for a 40 tile long station is problematic; the land has to be made flat to accomodate it, and that often means destroying trees, which angers the various local authorities, and if you look, you'll see one of the station passes through three of them!

The second issue is the shear amount of time needed to fill them, thus why I chose a factory which I could connect several farms to feed it. At peak I've seen the factory produce nearly 2000 goods per month, but on average around 600-800. But this still isn't quick enough. That means it takes one about 2 to 3 months to fill. As there are 2 other train involved, that means each train runs about 3 times per year. Waiting for up to 4 months means their reliability is shot on departure, meaning they'll often breakdown before they get to their destination. This can be mitigated, but it had to be mentioned.

Having said all that, Mammoth trains certainly look cool. The two shorter distance trains generate $350,000 per trip, with a profit of around a 1,000,000 per year. The TIM powered longer distance train generates $650,000 per trip. But to put that into perspective, one of my 8 passenger and 2 mail carriage trains powered by the SH'125 200km/h diesel locomotive generates $100,000 per long distance trip, for an annual profit of around $500,000, at a 10th of the operating cost. All that means is I need to ramp up Goods production to make these trains worthwhile.