Antarctica Rising discoveries

[kocisz]

By happen i found two triggers in the map Antarctica Rising.

1. Connect lake La Mancha - it gives 1m.

You only need tu put a single track in near of the lake...

2. Gem deposit at Nox - it gives 600k

Again a single track in near of Nox city

At the start you have 1,600k money. Nice.

[Marsden]

As an addenda, before you do this buy as much of your company's stock as you can afford, then buy back all of the stock until you own it all.  You might have only 3,000 shares and no starting money but then get the 1,600k and you're all set to go.  All this was done on pause, of course.  Then have fun buying up as much stock as you can from the other three companies and you should be fine. 

One time I had 3,000 shares of my railroad and with the 1,600k and any extra profits I had my stock split 30 to 1!

[Gwizz]

I might add:  The best method of controlling AIs will depend upon the map.

On the Economy map a player needs to use the track cells that the AI RRs generate.

And,  since the company and players net worth goals are both fairly high,  and since cargo values vary,  It is easier to use the AI RRs to build their own track and haul low valve supply cargo to your demand stations.  A number is small AIs are easier to manage then A large AI.

On the map I'm now playing, It has one AI that is asking 40 million to merge, and I control it. So, I can become a tycoon and spend down its' money.

Since the random generator is in the mix of cargo value, Cargo value will be harder to keep track of.

I'm still playing the game more for fun now. 

I noticed that on the no stopping crossings, that they do not always let trains cross through each other as if they were using an overpass.  I had AI trains stopping for my trains and when an AI train was on the crossing my trains stopped for it.

I thought maybe the RR that was built first, might have the right-of-way.  But that didn't seem to make a difference.  I'll have to study this further.

Maybe someone has an answer, why a crossing going over the corners of the grid line, some times acts like a normal grade crossing over the sides of the grid? 

[RSimpkinuk57]

Gwizz, I don't know why no-stop crossings sometimes work and sometimes don't. Maybe trains are never meant to pass through each other without one of them stopping, and when they do it's a glitch.

One thing I have deduced: if the three train classes are priority 3 for express, 2 for normal and 1 for slow, then on anyone else's track your priority is always 0, so you always give way to the track owner's trains. But as soon as your engine is completely across you regain your proper priority even while you still have cars blocking the way. So the owner's normal trains will then give way to your express and normal but make your slow ones give way, as per usual junction/train-in-front rules.

This can be a real headache requiring micromanagement if my busy route has to cross an AI's lightly-used spur (crossing a busy AI being out of the question, of course), because when on the AI track my expresses have lower priority than my slows behind them. If my express has low speed (just restarted, or the grade has steepened) it can be caught and overtaken. The only answer is to manually stop the slow.  ...regards, Richard

[Gwizz]

I believe what you say is mostly true.

Now when I make a crossing I use my rails for both crossing tracks on a no stop crossing and let the AI cross off its rails onto my rail when on the crossing.  I have not seen trains stop since doing this;  But, I don't have a busy no stop crossing on the map I'm now playing.  The AI tracks I cross are not busy either.  I'll play another year tonight and watch the crossings closer. 

I believe that the value of a train's cargo is part of the mix at least for my own trains, when on their own tracks. 

I also tend to give the fastest locomotives the highest priority no matter what they haul.

Normally the express trains have the higher valuable cargo;  But, on the Economy Map many cargoes have a higher value than the express trains.  With the same priority two trains, one AI and one mine, may use value of cargo to determine which one stops on a no stop crossing.  I haven't checked this out and may be wrong on this.  Whatever the reason it seems to be an AI RR train and one of my trains that will make a stop at a no stop crossing.

Since the cell a locomotive sits on is the counting cell, I think that a locomotive will pass through the cars when it crosses over the corners of a cell unless the other locomotive stopped it. 

There is a glitch in the game engine that I don't fully understand yet.   

[RSimpkinuk57]

I hadn't twigged what you mentioned (and TheDS in his strategy guide) that a no-stop crossing is one where the two tracks are never in the same map cell (grid square). Which can only be when one is NE-SW and the other NW-SE, and they meet at the centre of a 2x2 box.

So how about this:

- when two trains meet in the same map cell, one must stop

- except when passing in opposite directions on double track

  + does the game ever misrecognise this situation at junctions?

  + especially at the double-junctions of 45-degrees crossings?

- the lower class train is the one to give way

- "foreigner" is a lower class than slow

- when two foreigners meet, the classes they'd have on their own track are irrelevant

- when two trains are equal class, one waiting to restart gives way to one still moving

  + which can sometimes lead to queue-jumping, e.g. on steep hills

- otherwise the one "in front" or first to the junction has right of way

- otherwise (both engines get there at the same time) the lower-value train stops

  + this is the standard situation in a single-track meet

[Gwizz]

On double track or single track,  crossing over the sides of a cell with a train crossing the cell, any train that wants to cross at a right angle in the same cell, will stop.  On a crossing that crosses over the corners of a cell, normally acts like a bridge crossing.  No train will stop for another train crossing in that cell.

I only recently noticed that some times trains do stop on a across the corners crossing.

Apparently this happens when two different companies own the track in the same cell.

The company that first built the track in the cell has the right of way.

I'm not sure if train class or value of cargo has an affect of allowing two trains to pass through each other on the crossing.

It kind of kicks out the theory of one companies track being on a bridge and the other companies track going under the bridge on an over the corners crossing.

Now when I build both crossing tracks with one company, the trains passed through each other or so it seems. 

I have had no crossing congestion since I started doing this;  Nor have I seen a train stopped at a single owner crossing.

I'm assuming, one company will still have to pay for using the crossing tracks belonging to another company.

[jeffryfisher]

I only recently noticed that some times trains do stop on an across the corners crossing.

Apparently this happens when two different companies own the track in the same cell.

If two companies' tracks cross at a corner point, then what do you mean by their tracks sharing a cell? I thought the whole idea was to prevent sharing the same cell, thus avoiding stoppages.

I've crossed many AI tracks on diagonals. Even with high traffic, my only stoppages were from my own congestion.

[Gwizz]

The tracks enter over the corners of a cell and crosses at the center of the Cell.  A diagonal does describe this crossing better.

Sorry for the confusion.

Were you crossing the tracks of two companies?  (One track belonging to an AI company and the other belonging to your company) 

[jeffryfisher]

The tracks enter over the corners of a cell and crosses at the center of the Cell.  A diagonal does describe this crossing better.

Sorry for the confusion.

Were you crossing the tracks of two companies?  (One track belonging to an AI company and the other belonging to your company)

Aha, if the diagonals share a whole cell rather than a point, then you don't have a collision-free crossing at all. The whole trick was to cross at a point and a point only.

Arranging for many lines to cross each other this way leads one to start thinking of alignment "parity" from the beginning, as if all NE-SW tracks in a region are white bishops and all NW-SE tracks are black bishops. Such parity awareness cuts down on the number of little zig-zags needed to hit working crossing points.

And yes, I regularly cross AI companies' tracks with my own. As long as I use one-point diagonals, I have no problems.

[Gwizz]

I have been playing for a long time and I have never noticed a train stopping for another on a diagonal crossing until I found it happening on my last map.  I am still not sure why it is happening.   

Are you saying you have found a way to cross on the diagonal over a point and not over a whole cell?

RRT2 once had 3d like cells.  (6 sided)  In  TSC those cells were removed.  I have long suspected that a few were missed and still exist, as the game does have touchy spots.

 

 

[jeffryfisher]

I have been playing for a long time and I have never noticed a train stopping for another on a diagonal crossing until I found it happening on my last map.  I am still not sure why it is happening.   

Are you saying you have found a way to cross on the diagonal over a point and not over a whole cell?

Trains stop when they try to occupy the same track in the same cell either crossing or in the same direction. It's that simple. I've never seen trains cross through a cell without one stopping. The *only* way I've seen trains cross without stopping is when the diagonals meet at a point (sharing no cell).

Of course I have found a way to cross tracks at a point. It's as simple as the white-square & black-square bishops I described above. Trains go through one another as easily as a black-square bishop can move through a diagonal line of pawns on white squares on a chessboard.

Do you play with the grid visible? I hate the bright grid lines, so I play with the graphics dialed down to zero so I can tell where the squares are even with the grid turned off. The people who spent long hours perfecting their slick graphics probably hate me, but it helps me to do my "job".

[Gwizz]

OK I understand what you mean now.

When the crossing tracks enters through the side of the cell, the trains will stop and refuse to cross through each other.

(a regular ground level crossing)

When the crossing tracks enters through the corners of the cells the trains pass through each other not stopping: except.....

on my last map on a corner to corner crossing some trains will stop for another and some will pass through other trains again only on a corner to corner crossing. (I would call this a diagonal simulated bridge crossing)

I think it has something to do with two company track ownership and the class of the trains. 

[RSimpkinuk57]

Hi Jeffry, Gwizz,

when I read "diagonal crossing" it makes me think of lines at 45 degrees, e.g. NE-SW crossing N-S, which isn't always what you mean. This is the double junction e.g. a train coming from the NE can turn left to head S, across the path of a train going from SW to N. This should - I haven't tested it, but don't remember any anomalies - be recognised as a conflict (both trains turning left), whereas on double track S-NE and N-SW (both turning right) is a non-conflicting parallel movement.

I've never sat down to explore all the combinations of what actually happens, if one or both trains make 135-degree turns, e.g. one train NE-N and another S-SW. You might get them to pass through each other when it looks like they shouldn't.  Usually I've laid extra loops to fill in the third sides of the triangles.

When two lines are at right angles to each other, but diagonal to the grid (and compass, which confusingly means square to the camera) there are two situations, which you need the grid on to distinguish. What I meant by a 2x2 square is (using example x,y numbers, which you see by right clicking on a cell) one line going 27,38 and the other 28,37. They meet at a corner. The other possibility is one line 27,38,49 and the other 29,38,47, meeting in square 38. I'm taking peoples' word, because it sounds plausible, that the former acts as an overbridge but the latter doesn't.

I don''t see how track ownership, priority class or cargo value should make any difference to whether trains can pass through each other: they merely decide which of the two is the one to give way if there is a conflict.

Jeffry, why don't you play with the grid off, except when laying track? (toggle it with shift-G). ..Richard

[RSimpkinuk57]

PS hope I've not confused anyone by too-simple numbers in my examples. By 27,38 I meant

  (x:2,y:7) (x:3,y:8)

and so on ... Richard

[jeffryfisher]

Jeffry, why don't you play with the grid off, except when laying track? (toggle it with shift-G)

I always play with the grid off. I achieve something grid-like by dialing back the graphics quality until the ground has visible seams and cells. That gives me the info I need, but it's *much* easier on the eyes.