Editor Wish-List

[jeffryfisher]

Somebody some day will probably revise or extend RRT, hopefully combining the best of both 2 & 3. I've seen at least one wish list (probably written by someone around here), but I still want a place to accumulate additional suggestions as I think of them (usually because I am trying to do something to a map that should be possible but isn't, or is too difficult).

I searched for an editor suggested-features thread, but I didn't find one. Therefore, I am creating this. I'll reserve a couple reply slots so (if the thread gains longevity) I can accumulate the refined gleanings from later pages. We'll see if it bears fruit.

[jeffryfisher]

EVENTS -- GENERAL

* Events should be exportable, singly or in bulk, preferably to some file type (e.g. CSV) compatible with spreadsheet programs.

* Likewise, Events should be importable.

* Events should be sortable so that execution order can be fixed after testing reveals errors

* New events should be inserted rather than only appended.

* For each trigger-per criterion (companies, players, territories, and suggestions below), carefully document the list of effects that are actually that specific. For instance, if "economic level" affects the whole game even if the trigger is on one territory, then it would not be listed among territory-specific effects. On the other hand, if a locomotive can be made available to one player (who could then take that "tech" from company to company), then it would be listed as a player-specific effect.

EVENTS -- TRIGGERS

* Create a "one-time per" flag so that an event can fire one time per company or one time per territory, no just one time for the first to win a race.

* Create a personal net income function so that income tax may be levied against each player. Including cap gains might require some thinking, but it's a problem that can be solved.

* As long as we're calculating player net income from several components, create component variables for player_salary, player_dividends and player_net_cap_gain (with negative being a loss).

* Add starting and ending date (or year) boxes to the trigger dialog. Much like locomotives becoming available and then vanishing again, events would become active and then be set aside again on a schedule. This way, certain complex triggers would only soak up CPU cycles while applicable, and not all at the same time.

* Add a "Test and affect this city" check-box with mandatory city ID field.

* Add a "Test and affect this econ-region" check-box with mandatory region ID field.

* Like the viewing-player check box for statuses, there should be an owning-player check box for events involving both players and companies. I've NEVER written a trigger that involves a player with any company that he didn't own, so I cringe at the thought of how many CPU cycles are wasted checking mismatches in my most complex triggers. I want a checkbox that says "try multiple companies and bring each owner along for the ride".

* Similarly, when an event is created as "each time a company is started", there should be a checkbox that says to test only against the company being created. I shouldn't need to loop through all companies, and I shouldn't need to devise the test that enables me to single out the newbie.

EVENTS -- EFFECTS

* Create effect to increase city size (e.g When the gold rush hits, I want to boost SF from village to city overnight).

* Turn "war" on or off, which turns military demands on or off. This could enable temporary wartime economy to be integrated into an economic (rather than territory wars) scenario.

* More of the set/add effects should enable "trigger value" (when the slider is flush-left). I want to calculate additions and deductions to numbers like company cash and player cash.

* As with cities, boost/reduce econ area density.

* Increase/decrease any one industry's weight within any one econ area.

* Destroy all of any named industry, with the option to limit the destruction to a territory, city or econ region.

* Create a taxation system with several distinct rates {e.g. player-divs, player-salary, player-capgain, corp-netincome, corp-property} with effects to set each rate in each territory. If territories are organized into groups (nations, see below), then enable each nation have its own overlapping set of tax rates in addition to territorial taxes.

* Create a monetary inflation model. It may seem silly, but money in the bank changes value relative to performing assets.

TERRITORIES

* The number of territories allowed should increase to maybe 255 (more than anyone would ever use). I'd like maybe 50 states plus a few hidden disaster areas for localized events. 64 might be enough, but I am really squeezed by 31. I can't do justice to both secession fever (Civil War) and temperance (states going dry).

* There should be a simple way to delete a territory from a map in the unlikely case that I want fewer territories than the map I'm working from.

* Territories should be sortable so they can be clustered according to events that affect groups of them.

* Or, create the concept of "territory group" (nation) into which several territories can be placed so they can be operated on together with a simple trigger.

* Add a flag to hidden territories such they will be affected by their parent's events (e.g. Paris can be affected if France is affected).

* Set basic snow severity to determine length of snow season and degree of slowing trains. Treat mountains and (of course) snow terrain as a level or two higher. Each map would need an overall hemisphere flag (north/south) to center snow season around January or July.

PLAYERS

* I'd like to see players empowered to do more with their personal cash (once they have some). What if players could buy industry buildings?

* Should players "die" periodically and be succeeded by new generations? Death taxes could then be added to the tax system.

CITIES

* Create flag to hide a city at start (introduce a size less than a village). The city could then be "founded" by triggering an event that increases its size to village or larger.

PORTS

* Invent effects to change demand and supply at ports (e.g. America's exchanges in the early 1800's were very different than today)

ROBBERS

* Give each robber a territory ID (or territory group ID, if groups are invented). The robber will only hit there. Use empty or zero for unrestricted.

TRACK

* If snow is implemented for territories, then snow sheds should be an optional track improvement for mountain and/or snow terrain. Snow-plow locomotives could be fun too, not just as a capital expense but when working the track.

DEBUGGING

* Export train scheduling data as one or more CSV files (useful for playing as well as debugging). For that matter, it would be generally helpful to be able to sort and filter large numbers of trains quickly while playing the game.

* From any station display, be able to jump to a list of trains having that station in their schedules.

[jeffryfisher]

*** OTHER RELATED WISHES ***

Note: These won't all be editor features, but anything whose failure limits what one would want to use.

BUGS TO BE FIXED:

BUILDINGS:

* Pre-placing a building in a town should not stop the town from generating random buildings. Note: As of v1.56, even if you place reserve cells under a pre-placed building, towns and regions can still fail to form. Whatever this bug is, it isn't just a collision in location.

* Military buildings should become functional as soon as they can appear randomly and vice-versa (not appear until functional). This should be well in time for the US Civil War (e.g. ~1850).

* Mil-buildings' demands need to be adjusted for cargo types that may not exist when they first become functional.

DESTRUCTION:

* Don't crash the game after destroying track in an event.

* Don't crash the game when posting new cars at a station where nearby track was recently deleted (and possibly rebuilt in some new shape)

NICE TO HAVE:

ROUTING:

Waypoints are useful... when one can pinpoint a segment on the minimap. Unfortunately, detangling traffic patterns can create webs of track too tight to pick out visually. The game needs a method for entering a waypoint manually as {x,y}. That way, you can zoom in on the main map, ID the exact cell you want a train to use, and then open the train's schedule to fat-finger the co-ordinates. Of course, the scheduler should check the numbers and complain if they're off track.

Station flags could allow more conditions {waypoint only (no stop), fill if needed (no sale, no stop if already full ...}

If two stops in a train route are not connected, then a red line should appear between them in the station list. If a station or waypoint can be reached only by using another company's track, then some other bright color should divide them.

There should be a separate list just for "problem trains", and the list should have a set a check-boxes for problems to include {waiting empty, rolling less than half full, x years old, broken route, foreign route, no income in 36 months...}

Foreign stations/track: The train schedule list of stops should show foreign (other companies') stops in a garish warning color. It should be  That way, if we both have stations in the same city, I know when I've slipped a pixel on releasing the mouse and accidentally picked the wrong one.

It should be possible to "buy" better priorities on foreign track by paying more per cell than the foreign company's trains stand to make by moving. It costs something just to get on as a loser, so maybe $2000, $3000 and $4000 per cell would suffice to demand effective low, medium or high priority.

[Gwizz]

I'm finding this interesting and I do have some comments; But, I'm very busy now. 

I will post later.  It might be possible to make some changes; But,

the Game engine is well locked and hard to hack. 

I've tried hacking it in the past, with PopTop's permission to develop the engine for another use. 

They couldn't give me any help since the company was changing hands.

I finally just put my work on the self.  I think one of the crew is now using the engine for another use.

I don't know how long the statue of limitations is on a copyright.

If there is a copyright ending date, it might now be possible to make some changes.

More later.

[Gwizz]

Much of what you ask for can be done now.

The number of territories, variables, etc. are locked by allowed space in the game engine.

The reason that RRT3 got a new game engine is the old engine was just overloaded.

Even the RRT3 engine can be crashed if the math overloads you CPU.

[jeffryfisher]

Added "war" switch.

Started listing bugs in post #2

[jeffryfisher]

Added doc, econ and set-to-trigger wishes

[Gwizz]

I'd like to be able to have a sliding adjustment for speed for each loco, so I can adjust the speed to the mileage on a map.

My present map has a 55 mile Railroad and it takes a year for a train to travel 55 miles.

For a loco to travel the 55 miles in a day, indicates it will be traveling well above the speed of

sound. 

I increased the loco speeds but this fouled up the difference in range of speed for different locomotives.

I tried metro time but it didn't fit. 

O'well,  Back to wishful thinking.

[jeffryfisher]

Added snow

Added train dump, sort, filter and "see what serves this station"

[jeffryfisher]

Added:

Player-income functions (both components and net)

Checkboxes for "owning-player only" and (when starting a company) "new company only"

Create a tax system plus effects to set rates per territory and per nation (group of territories suggested elsewhere)

Inflation

PLAYERS: Buy industry building from personal cash? Die and leave a (taxed) estate to an heir?

[Superchief]

Is there anyway for a human player to be anything but player #1?  If you download my East US before Conrail map you will see what I mean. 

Instead of the human player having a controlling stake in every railroad I would love to find a way to allow the player to choose whichever railroad they want and then go from there.

[Gwizz]

You can almost do that now.  A chairmen can be programed to change railroads.  And what ever chairman you become is the one what wins or loses.  I have only used that trigger, in a simple way, a couple of times.  JSS showed me how to use the "change chairman trigger" 

Events would need special programming such as using company IDs.  It would make for an interesting map.  A person might be more than one chairman during a game.  If A chairman doesn't keep the railroad profitable he would be fired and you would be come another chairman.  Or, if you were kicked out, you could move to another Railroad.  Etc, Etc.

[Superchief]

I can almost do that? :D

The way I have things set up now is, if you have five straight years of negative profits you lose the game, so moving to the next company is out.

You should give the map a try if you haven't as the only company that I have used to win all three medals is the Penn Central. I can win a medal (bronze) with only one other railroad - Erie Lakawana. The others are pretty tough as I have come close to winning bronze with two of them (Reading & Lehigh & Hudson Valley) and that is only if the conditions are right.

[jeffryfisher]

Added routing wishes to 3rd post (reply #2)

[Gwizz]

You may already know this. holding down the ctrl button when placing a routing dot gives you some fine tuning where you want the dot placed. 

FYI for anyone not knowing this. 

[jeffryfisher]

You may already know this. holding down the ctrl button when placing a routing dot gives you some fine tuning

Yes, that's helpful. However, in crowded areas, the tracks can be completely covered by stars. It would be very helpful, (and I think possible) to select a train in the small train list and enter a routing mode to see (with highlighted track) and change its route on the main map.