Rail yard speed limits

[ssilk]

I've a spontaneous idea:
- With 0.12 we should have sensors, that can detect a character in range.
- With 0.12 we will have new railway-signal types (chain signals); that means, they touch the whole railway-signal code and can easily implement more functions into them.

Idea: Add the possibility to signal the train a new "state": Slow down. It will be displayed as red and yellow lights. Inside the block the railway-signal is watching, the train slows down to an about a useful speed.

So what I have to do as player is to connect the character-sensor with all the railway-signals around, that I want to have this slow-down and program the railway-signals so, that they use the "character in range"-signal from the character-sensor to turn on the slow-down-mode.

Sorry, the word "signal" has here two meanings, as a "signal-type" from the character sensor as information and as the railway-signal as entity. I tried to make this really clear.

[bobingabout]

Or just implement the abillity to link the player sensor to the rail signal to turn red if the player is within range, to implement a crossing.

[ssilk]

I dunno, if I want that always.

[bobingabout]

I didn't say "always". My word "Link" would sugest you choose what signals it effects. And although I did say stop, slow down could be used as you sugest.

[MeduSalem]

I've a spontaneous idea:
- With 0.12 we should have sensors, that can detect a character in range.
- With 0.12 we will have new railway-signal types (chain signals); that means, they touch the whole railway-signal code and can easily implement more functions into them.

Idea: Add the possibility to signal the train a new "state": Slow down. It will be displayed as red and yellow lights. Inside the block the railway-signal is watching, the train slows down to an about a useful speed.

So what I have to do as player is to connect the character-sensor with all the railway-signals around, that I want to have this slow-down and program the railway-signals so, that they use the "character in range"-signal from the character-sensor to turn on the slow-down-mode.

I would think that a sensor to detect the player (if per foot or in car/tank doesn't matter) in range would be a nice way to go about it.

But since it is planned that the train stations are able to work on a circuit network signal to make the train leave/halt anyways so I'd say that Block Signals and the upcoming chain signals could work pretty much the same way.

So the setup could be following: Place the character sensor near the train track (it sends "True"-signals when player is close). Connect it with the Block/Chain signal you want to manipulate and set the Block/Chain Signal to something like a "Halt train if circuit network input is true" or something like it.

That would offer quite a lot of other applications other than creating safe railway crossings as well.

Also an option to set a speed limit in each indivual Block/Chain Signal would also be nice.

[alex8d]

I second the speed limit idea. +1 by me, it could really be useful in space-constrained bases where all trains are high-speed passing

[hitzu]

So what I have to do as player is to connect the character-sensor with all the railway-signals around, that I want to have this slow-down and program the railway-signals so, that they use the "character in range"-signal from the character-sensor to turn on the slow-down-mode.

Then the forum will be full of whining about "how the trains are slow I don't want to wait so long until they leave the crossing so I can move on".

[alex8d]

Anyway speed limit in base is completely fine. Trains in real life already do that. Giving the user a chance to customize the speed limit approaching a train stop or via train signals will make sense.

If you worked late at night, you're tired and you've been setting up a huge railway-based path (and perhaps your base is full of incoming trains in a space-constrained area due to biters around you), you can be watchful as much as you want.. there's a big chance trains will crush you and you will lose that shiny MK2 armor, artifacts, materials, other trains, tanks and whatever you had in your inventory.

[Marconos]

Please nothing else added to the game that slows trains down more. They already randomly stop in the middle of nowhere, put through lanes etc. Just give me a way to mark a section as "yard area" to the main line trains don't use those runs.

[ssilk]

If you worked late at night, you're tired and you've been setting up a huge railway-based path (and perhaps your base is full of incoming trains in a space-constrained area due to biters around you), you can be watchful as much as you want.. there's a big chance trains will crush you and you will lose that shiny MK2 armor, artifacts, materials, other trains, tanks and whatever you had in your inventory.

I really cannot understand that. All you need to do is to zoom out. Or to watch the signal state. Or use the map if your zoom is not big enough. I always run into trains, when I don't watch. In every other case I keep away from the tracks. This is easy.
Adding speed limits will not change, that the players are running on the tracks and if you are on the tracks, then even a slow train is fast enough to kill you and you will not have time to jump off the tracks fast enough.

In other words: you need to slow down the train to about 1/4 or less, to reduce the risk to be hit by train good enough. But who will like that? That will effectively reduce the throughput.

In other words: this feature would be relatively easy to implement, but I doubt that it will be used a lot, cause you need to reduce the speed a lot, to make it effectively safe.

If it will be implemented, then only for those players, who believe, that driving 50 km/h in the 30 km/h zone is not nearly doubling the danger.

[hitzu]

4-6 wagon trains are already slow enough. It is easy to avoid them just being careful.

[ssilk]

Most players play with less wagons.
Even then there are players, which will find them too fast (I play it like so and I like it/it works for me is not a good argument).

[hitzu]

Anyway I think an alarm sound would work better than reducing the capacity of trains.

[ssilk]

Alarm-sound: That was the result of the last survey about this.

My idea to this is, that it is possible (and already must be done) that the train looks up the rails/signals before the train. That can already be seen, that with the speed of the train the train gets virtually "longer and longer".
Now we combine, that the game engine simulates, as if there is a gate.
Like if 100 tiles before the train comes a gate is built on the rails (you cannot see it).

Now the easiest part: If this gate will open for the player (car, tank, whatever), the train will honk.

[hitzu]

Isn't this too complicated? Devs just can make every rail being the sound emitter and the intence of the sound should depend on the distance of the player and the distance of the train.

[icedevml]

Solution: Create a way to set a train speed limit for certain sections of track. It would probably be tied to the signals system so that it can be implemented on a per-block basis. Just add a pop-up when you click on a signal and give it a some radio buttons for various speeds. This gives the player some control options.

I would like to highlight my mod here:

https://mods.factorio.com/mods/icedevml/TrainSpeedLimit

It does almost exactly what was requested in the first post, and thus the topic author's request was solved 1.5 year later

[bobucles]

I think players really just want a little warning light with dinging bells like at a real rail road track. Railway blocks already know when a train is requesting them, and chain signals can access nearby blocks, so it's not that difficult to make a warning light/bell do its thing.

[icedevml]

This is already possible using lamps and circuit network, AFAIK without mods.

IMHO in some cases it's more handy to have speed limits, for instance on cargo stations where players are needed from time to time in order to so some maintenance tasks. A train going with 200 km/h needs quite long block in order to warn player just few seconds before. Then if the same track is used by other, slower train then the warning will be too early before the train and so on.