Re: Request: Max number of trains for stations
Posted: Wed Jan 29, 2020 9:18 am
Let me lay out a typical sceneria where it's used: 4 provider stations and 1 requester station.
Each provider station sets maxTrain to 2. There's a bit of rail in front of each provider station for the second train to sit and wait.
Put 8 trains on the network.
Each provider station accepts it's train capacity. 4 will be loaded and ready to go. 4 will be waiting to enter their stations once the train in the station departs.
Achieving just this on same-name stations is extremely convoluted right now. Trivial with max trains.
Now the big difference with the requester station (unloading station):
With maxTrains: possibility to set amount of maxTrains depending on ressources on site. Set maxTrains to storageSpace/trainCargoCapacity. Will dispatch exact amount of trains necessary. Say you need 1 train to fill up storage, exactly 1 train is dispatched.
Without maxTrains: possibility to open station if storageSpace > trainCargoCapacity. Enough space for 1 load worth of trains available. Station opens. 4 trains depart. 1 arrives, unloads, storage fills and station closes. 3 remaining trains are now stranded and will repath back to loading stations.
The goal is addressing this very behavior.
Imagine if you have 2 unloading stations, at different locations (say opposite sides). Both open around the same time. The first one to open gets 4 trains going to it. The second one gets 0. They will arrive at the first station, see it close, and repath. After the first train arrives at the second station, it closes after 1 train unloaded. Remaining 2 trains have no more station to unload and will repath to loading station. But most likely the other 4 trains at the loading station (there's 8 remember) will also have departed by now. You get 8 trains moving on your network, 2 doing an unload and 6 doing nothing, just driving back and forth.
Addressing this in a semi reliable way currently is outside the scope of regular play and probably beyond the capabilities of most of the player base.
Of course there's other setups possible involving stackers, be it input our output stacker, or a "station" that holds surplus trains if the player put too many on the rails. Those are all options for the player to explore and exploit to improve their personal setup.
Fundamentally, maxTrains works with 1-1, 1-N, N-1 just fine. There may be different design consideration for each use. It may be more or less efficient in certain uses compared to using no limit. And possibly less efficient than using different station names with dedicated trains in many cases (trade-off).
The current system works just fine with 1-1 and 1-N, but totally breaks on N-1. It has all together difficulties and challenges when using same-name stations. Those difficulties are much worse currently than they'd be with a maxTrain option.
Each provider station sets maxTrain to 2. There's a bit of rail in front of each provider station for the second train to sit and wait.
Put 8 trains on the network.
Each provider station accepts it's train capacity. 4 will be loaded and ready to go. 4 will be waiting to enter their stations once the train in the station departs.
Achieving just this on same-name stations is extremely convoluted right now. Trivial with max trains.
Now the big difference with the requester station (unloading station):
With maxTrains: possibility to set amount of maxTrains depending on ressources on site. Set maxTrains to storageSpace/trainCargoCapacity. Will dispatch exact amount of trains necessary. Say you need 1 train to fill up storage, exactly 1 train is dispatched.
Without maxTrains: possibility to open station if storageSpace > trainCargoCapacity. Enough space for 1 load worth of trains available. Station opens. 4 trains depart. 1 arrives, unloads, storage fills and station closes. 3 remaining trains are now stranded and will repath back to loading stations.
The goal is addressing this very behavior.
Imagine if you have 2 unloading stations, at different locations (say opposite sides). Both open around the same time. The first one to open gets 4 trains going to it. The second one gets 0. They will arrive at the first station, see it close, and repath. After the first train arrives at the second station, it closes after 1 train unloaded. Remaining 2 trains have no more station to unload and will repath to loading station. But most likely the other 4 trains at the loading station (there's 8 remember) will also have departed by now. You get 8 trains moving on your network, 2 doing an unload and 6 doing nothing, just driving back and forth.
Addressing this in a semi reliable way currently is outside the scope of regular play and probably beyond the capabilities of most of the player base.
Of course there's other setups possible involving stackers, be it input our output stacker, or a "station" that holds surplus trains if the player put too many on the rails. Those are all options for the player to explore and exploit to improve their personal setup.
Fundamentally, maxTrains works with 1-1, 1-N, N-1 just fine. There may be different design consideration for each use. It may be more or less efficient in certain uses compared to using no limit. And possibly less efficient than using different station names with dedicated trains in many cases (trade-off).
The current system works just fine with 1-1 and 1-N, but totally breaks on N-1. It has all together difficulties and challenges when using same-name stations. Those difficulties are much worse currently than they'd be with a maxTrain option.