Assign Trains to Schedules (Train Routes)

[varundevan]

The fact that this same suggestion has come up for literally years would indicate to me, at any rate, that it's a good idea.


Also, I think it's a good idea. It'd not be any more hassle in the worst case -- one train on each route -- and in any situation where you have more than one train on a route, it's a useability improvement.

usability... game needs many of such improvements IMO...

[ssilk]

Technically this is a perfect showcase for a mod. Nothing complicated to calculate, just going through all trains, read their schedule and make a list like in CrashDrive’s post viewtopic.php?p=493820#p493820



In this manner:
- same schedule means same route. (We need a hash function to calculate if two schedules are similar)
- we need some kind of virtual train (invisible trains), that can be used to create and store unassigned routes/schedules. New route places down invisible locomotive and opens schedule editor.
- assignment of routes just copies the schedule from train A to train B.

The rest is just hard work.

[sparr]

Although it also optionally does more than the requested feature here, https://mods.factorio.com/mod/SmartTrains implements this feature. If you ignore all the stuff about dynamic schedules and signals and rules, just use the Trainlines feature, it's pretty much exactly what folks here want.

[Koub]

Although it also optionally does more than the requested feature here, https://mods.factorio.com/mod/SmartTrains implements this feature. If you ignore all the stuff about dynamic schedules and signals and rules, just use the Trainlines feature, it's pretty much exactly what folks here want.

Indeed, thanks for the link. I think I'll be using this mod as soon as I have no more achievements to do. However, I still am convinced vanilla needs this to make the game better natively.

[Balthazar]

Just wanted to add that assigning trains to routes and not the other way solves a few other problems:

• if the train is attacked and destroyed the route is currently lost.
• If you want to change a route you need to hunt down all the trains (Not usually too hard since they're listed in the same stations so unless lots of trains in one station that's not too bad).
• The amount of work added by having to create the route is miniscule and applies only to the fringe case where a route only has one train, overall you save on it

Been playing satisfactory and its incredibly frustrating doing vehicle routes there because they dont have this; it's not AS big a deal here because factorio is so much more polished, but it really is just a universally better way of doing it; it's really obvious why in games that aren't factorio and dont have as good tools for dealing with it. It might not really be necessary right now, but i think there's a good case that it could enable more options in the future, like combat trains or circuit checks for how many trains are on a route. Cleaner definitions like these just open more opportunities.

[NotRexButCaesar]

I don't think this will be added so late in the game. We'll just have to hope for factorio 2 in a decade or so.

[ssilk]

Yes, especially this one is one of the must haves in vanilla, because it has such a high gameplay value. And it has really not much side effects, it looks like a relatively straight forward implementation (no matter if implemented with defining routes from schedules (see former thread page) or from trains as above).

@boskid: are there any plans to implement this?

But as always I think it is a good idea to have a mod first to see/fix implementation details that we are currently not thinking about. And not need to wait so long for that.

And I move this one now to frequently requested.

[ssilk]

What I need to add:

viewtopic.php?f=6&t=93424 Make train/wagon settings blueprints usable before robots

This suggests to use blueprints for changing trains. What I like with that idea is, that a train route could be more than just assigning the schedule. It could change the wagon filters, setup modules and slots (if available per mod).

... technically train routes could be some kind of “special blueprint” that are pasted over trains, when the blueprint changes.

Unlike blueprints, a route is not bound to the form, you can paste it over a train in a curve for example. And when the train is in an area with robots, they would add/remove wagons or add/remove items to the train slots, or (re-)move items from wagons which are not on the right filter stack.

[Ashtoruin]

I've been playing without LTN a lot since 1.1 dropped and I love it. A lot. But the issue I keep coming back to is when I decide that I don't quite like a train schedule and I want to change one of my lines that has 50+ trains ensuring they've all been updated is a huuuuuuuuuge pain.

Instead of each train having a Schedule and having to manually edit (or copy paste each one) I'd prefer to define a list of schedules and then assign trains to that schedule so if I ever want to change a schedule I only have to do it once, instead of also having to track down every train on it.

[Amarula]

Having a schedule separate from the train running it would be great... but is a pretty big change.
At least with the new train GUI you can see that these 49 trains have the updated schedule, and this last one still has the old...
Hmm thinking about that, wouldn't it be great if you could fix one train, go into the GUI, copy the new schedule there and paste it onto the 49 with one click? And maybe that wouldn't require such a major change?

[Ashtoruin]

Hmm thinking about that, wouldn't it be great if you could fix one train, go into the GUI, copy the new schedule there and paste it onto the 49 with one click? And maybe that wouldn't require such a major change?

This would be fabulous. I'd still prefer Schedules and assigning trains to them if a longer term rework of trains was to be done but anything that makes redoing schedules for hundreds of trains easier would be awesome.

[ssilk]

merged with existing topic — ssilk

See viewtopic.php?p=508637#p508637 above: smart train mod has this feature.

[Ashtoruin]

merged with existing topic — ssilk

See viewtopic.php?p=508637#p508637 above: smart train mod has this feature.

It does, but this really should be part of the base game and it wouldn't be terribly hard to implement

Also Smarter trains doesn't play super nice with Train Control Signals which I prefer for Depot mangement since I can have depots but trains aren't required to go to them if there's an open requester

[ssilk]

merged with existing topic — ssilk

See viewtopic.php?p=508637#p508637 above: smart train mod has this feature.

It does, but this really should be part of the base game and it wouldn't be terribly hard to implement

Please see viewtopic.php?f=6&t=30240 I want to make suggestions, but I got links to mods!!

Also Smarter trains doesn't play super nice with Train Control Signals which I prefer for Depot mangement since I can have depots but trains aren't required to go to them if there's an open requester

It’s a mod. You can ask the authors to change it.

[aperkins1989]

TL;DR

A revamp of the train scheduling system to be that players create "routes" and then assign trains to that route. Then if a route needs to be changed, it will affect all trains assigned to it automatically.

What ?

"Route" = train scheduling as it currently exists, but controlled similar to the upcoming logistics groups. Routes can be added to a train with a simple drop down.
"Schedule" = the train interface where players add routes or logistics conditions to a specific train.
Add "train stations active" as a logistics condition to scheduling. This will allow a train to be assigned multiple routes and it will pick whichever is the 'best choice' once it has completed a route.
Routes can even have other routes as part of them.

E.g. A factory is currently using 1-4 trains for iron, copper and stone. The player creates a route each for iron, copper and stone with a pickup location with required wait conditions and a drop off location with it's wait conditions. Then, on the train interface, the player can add a route to the train in the same way they would add a station, creating a dedicated train for that route, or add multiple routes with OR conditions based on which has the most drop off train stations active.

Why ?

This would dramatically reduce the number of trains on the network as trains would serve multiple routes automatically, rather than having dedicated trains serving only one route, and potentially being idle when that route is not needed.

[Koub]

[Koub] Merged into older thread with same suggestion.

[Illiander42]

Given that we now have this for both combinators and logistic requests, can we get it for trains too?

[steinio]

Given that we now have this for both combinators and logistic requests, can we get it for trains too?

i bet it is already in 2.0.
We will get a FFF about train controls as far as i remember.