Types of train simulators

[bigboy4010]

In my experience I've found two types of train simulators: driver/ route simulations and economic simulators. Trainz is part of the first group while games like Railroad Tycoon are part of the economic group. It focuses solely on the economic side. I'm curious as to why nobody has ever made a combination of the two, something like you get started on some large map with prebuilt cities and terrain and you have to build lines to different industries, hauling them for money. you can't build track or buy engines without money. And, once you've got a line built, you can take one of the engines out and go pick up what's needed and take it to it's destination earning you a sum. It seems like it would be a good idea. Difficult, I'm sure, but I bet it would pay off.

 

[dazza1980]

I love the idea of that!

It would give more satisfaction that driving the train is more than just going from point to point. That the journey is contributing to the bigger picture.

Sometimes driving a route seems a bit hollow as your only taking loads where needed without reward. If the reward was financial gain to your company, you would get a greater feeling of accomplishment.

 

[trainzamtrakfan]

what about railsimulator ? Lionel Train town is a combo of both

cheers,
andre

 

[saintjimmy]

I'm curious as to why nobody has ever made a combination of the two, something like you get started on some large map with prebuilt cities and terrain and you have to build lines to different industries, hauling them for money. you can't build track or buy engines without money. And, once you've got a line built, you can take one of the engines out and go pick up what's needed and take it to it's destination earning you a sum.

You almost exactly described one of my all-time favorite games.
It's called Chris Sawyer's Locomotion. It's based off of one of the first Roller Coaster Tycoon games and is from 2003/4 with DirectX 9.0b graphics. I personally get addicted to it every once in a while since it is so simple, yet vast in scale and depth with hundreds of add-on vehicles from sites like AMI Trains. The timeframe starts at 1900 with vehicles from the era and goes forever, with new vehicles coming and going every 15-25 years or so. I highly recommend it for people looking for a basic and fun game to play.

There are built-in scenario and map editors that are pretty basic yet you have full control of the terrain and objects. One thing though, is that everything is based on a grid system (more than Trainz) where everything must be built one grid at a time. The grids are decent in size (enough to fit a house on it), but when building long distances, they can be a pain. The maps are non-adjustable in size, but are pretty big in the first place so you will almost never run out of room.

The economic side is a little less complicated than the Railroad Tycoon series in that there are just a few things: Loans when you need it (like when first starting the game), infinite money (as long as your company makes money, you'll keep getting that money), and you rise the corporal ladder (from Platelayer to Engineer all the way up to President and then Tycoon). I could go really in depth into Locomotion, but it's better if you go and find out for yourself.

It is a very fun and addictive game that is an awesome time-passer. Highly recommended.

My thoughts.

Kyle

 

[nicky9499]

This would mean all industries and industry enabled assets need to have lots of things done to them so that they work 'financially'. A bit of an inconvenience if you ask me.

On the other hand, an excellent example of games that blend economics and driving nicely would be the 18 Wheels of Steel series and more recently, Euro Truck Simulator. That'd be a nice starting point.

Cheerio,
Nicholas.

 

[Sampug394]

I do slightly Agree with Locomotion, but Soon I'm going to get the Far more Advanced 'Transport Giant' Game this Christmas.

RRT3 is all around fun, but the REAL Gem of a Game would be the In Depth Financial/Historical/Realistic aspect of RRT3, Merged with Sid Meier's Railroads!'s Land Contouring Track-Laying...

 

[john259]

This idea appeals to me: you're given some towns and the original terrain, it's up to you to build a route to join them. Track laying costs money. Creating cuttings and embankments is more expensive. Bridges and tunnels are even more expensive. However, a flatter and straighter route will be less costly to operate. All this with a Trainz-like 3D world.

(BTW, don't forget the train dispatcher simulators.)

John

 

[Vern]

Little remembered fact...

As part of Greg Lane's and John Bank's original vision for Trainz, there was going to be an economic module - "Boss" if I remember rightly. Sadly this fell by the wayside when they left Auran.

Some sort of economic and/or career mode (optional of course) would be a great boost to the longevity of a train sim, whether applied to a single route or all the routes in your collection. Look how successful FS Passengers add-on for Flight Sim has been, really gives purpose to otherwise bland flights from A to B.

If Auran are still planning to do a TS-x then if they want to add something new and different to the Trainz experience, definitely a feature that needs to be considered.

 

[osq7]

It would be, in theory, possible with scenario script. However, as far as I can see, fewer and fewer people would be willing to do this kind of thing, due to the amount of work going into it.

 

[john259]

It would be, in theory, possible with scenario script.

The economy logic yes, but saving data between runs is tricky, maybe impossible. AFAIK a layout cannot be changed by a script.

John

 

[osq7]

a layout cannot be changed by a script.

I wasn't thinking about changing a layout, just the economy was what I was talking about.