Ability to mark a station as mandatory in a schedule

Chao · Post by **Chao** » Sat Apr 20, 2019 9:24 am

TL;DR

If the next station in a schedule is marked as mandatory and no such station is available then the train will not leave its current station.

What ?

Currently if I have a schedule that is A -> B -> C, if there is no available station B then the train will just alternate between A and C, but if B is required for the rest of the journey to make sense the train is just wasting fuel.

Why ?

This enables having long term train storage yards. I might have routes that I rarely want running, or long routes that require an initial supply stop to be ready. I might have set ups that work when throughput is constant but if I'm in a period of expansion my needs for ore might be higher than my supply, if all my mining outposts are off but my smelting areas are on the only set up that works is that my fueling is part of my smelting area and trains wait in unloading stations, rather than being able to have holding and refuelling areas as an option.

FuryoftheStars · Post by **FuryoftheStars** » Sat Apr 20, 2019 1:01 pm

This would be nice to have!

robot256 · Post by **robot256** » Sat Apr 20, 2019 1:45 pm

Currently, you can implement this in vanilla by using a dummy stop of the same name. Put it just outside the stacker and behind a dozen circuit-closed rail signals. Make sure only chain signals are between the stacker track and the first closed dummy signal.

When a train has no other option, it will route to the dummy, but won't be able to leave the chain signal at the exit to its stacker track. As soon as another station enables, the train will repath to the new one, because the dozen closed signals add a huge path penalty and the new stop will seem closed.

Tekky · Post by **Tekky** » Sun Apr 21, 2019 1:42 pm

Introducing the suggested feature would only solve the specific problem that OP describes. I think it would be better if a more flexible dynamic train schedule were introduced, which would solve a much larger variety of problems. This has been discussed in the following thread:

viewtopic.php?f=6&t=64362 Dynamic train schedule

FuryoftheStars · Post by **FuryoftheStars** » Sun Apr 21, 2019 9:43 pm

Tekky wrote: ↑
Sun Apr 21, 2019 1:42 pm
Introducing the suggested feature would only solve the specific problem that OP describes. I think it would be better if a more flexible dynamic train schedule were introduced, which would solve a much larger variety of problems. This has been discussed in the following thread:

viewtopic.php?f=6&t=64362 Dynamic train schedule

I think both are slighty different requests, but I would love to see both put in.

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