Chance for a break down

[Gwizz]

Playing a modified Oregon map:

 

I merged an IA company.   Checked the list of locos from the AI list. 

After I merged the AI and after two months of running on my rails I found one train had a 50.2% chance for a break down.  Never had such a high % before.

 

Checked further and found more ex-AI company locos had high percentage  break down rates:   22.0+%,  19.0+%, 17.0+%, 15.0+% with the lowest at only 2.0+%.

 

These AI trains were running on my track that had full service.  

Apparently using my service (water sand, oil) did not help the ex-AI locos that were running on my company's track.  There was no service on  the AI track.

 

I know that the AI locos normally do not need service on their rails. 

The game must save up what could have been the brake down rates and applied the rate after a merge. 

 

Strange ! ! ! ! ! ! ! 

[MaglevForever]

50.3% is sure a bit high. The others though sound normal to me. I don't know which map you are playing, but if you started with Cascadia it seems to have a higher breakdown rate.

 

I am curious to know what type of engine it is and how old it is? Is it hauling a full consist, climbing mountains, or doing a drag race? Does it have a caboose attached?

 

Was the engine breaking down when the AI had it too? Come to think of it there are scenarios I have seen multiple AI trains crash from brand new in the first 3 years of the game. Their reliability was below average, but still with full oil that shouldn't happen. Maybe it has to do with the way events are set up.

[outofmage]

Without any services, AI trains are filled up with water, sand and oil at the time of month starting or ending, even without any stations around. So if AI trains run on your track, they don't need to be served either.

Since your map is modified, there may be some train safety events applied. The ex-AI trains could simply be old, 50% can happen a lot with average reliability when they get old and running on grade. 25 year-old train double the break down odds, every 200 tons of good it's hauling double the odds too, every 2.0% grade four times the odds. That's 16 times of normal odds if a 25-year old train hauling 200 tons of goods runs on 2.0% grade tracks. 

Not only for that, a higher top speed engine can make the yearly break down odds looks bigger too. Because the game actually roll the dice when your loco goes into a new segment of a track to determine wether it's gonna break down(I know how to prove this). Thus even all the variables are the same, faster loco travels more each year, so they have higher yearly break down odds, but the actual possibility of breaking down at each segment of track is the same as slower loco has. If your map modified loco speed, this will also affect the unusual break down odds.

[Gwizz]

It is a modified Cascadia map.   I removed the dark colors so it could be seen better.  I leveled the terrain a bit.   I know the state of Oregon and where the land is hilly or level.

The cities are out of place in the central valley.  None if this takes away from the quality of the map.  Most map makers take some Liberty because of the needs of the game.

I made a few other changes to meet my personal play style.   I have not been able to win on any version yet.  

 

The DB 18 201 locomotive is the latest steam loco in the game. (1990s) One I have never used before.  It is fast and has a fairly good reputation.

 

I was near the end of the 2nd year when I paused the game and I merged the AI using that locomotive.  A few places I have higher than 4 % grades but the central valley is long and level .

The valley becomes hilly just before the railways enter Northern California.

The DBs were run by my RR for about 3 months and before that for 2 years and 9 months on the AI RR.  No  modifications were made to the DBs.  Unless I missed one.

They all hauled 6 cars mostly both ways.   I normally replace the steam locomotives when their crash rate is above 7 or 8 %. 

 

This may be just a glitch that I have never seen before.  As normal I look for bugs to exploit.  I Just can't figure out what caused this crash rate of 50%. in under 3 years.     

[MaglevForever]

It is interesting that you are trying different engines on this map as the creator modified the specifications, price, and timeline of availability for the original locos. I have used DB 18 201s before in the Remember America and Antarctica campaign maps. I have won both maps solely using them, but they require such a huge revenue stream to stay profitable on the Expert level. It is not uncommon to pay 250k per year for fuel. Your map may be winnable solely using them in an unmodified state, but I think you might increase your level of difficultly when you do this. Especially if you use them on some of the runs to the ports because of the problem with their demand level recovery. (I don't count this as a bug on this map because the creator used it to increase difficulty.)

 

I have no idea what happened with that high breakdown rate. Maybe if you have some saved games you could go back and see what it had under the AI.

 

Good luck with the map.

[Gwizz]

Thanks,  I'll have to take a better look at the events.

 

I like the  play on the original map except for the 40 years. 

 

The DB has its own starting event (at the start of the game). Most of the original events are unchanged.   Costs are high but by leveling out the terrain did allow more speed.  Consequently, the

map's difficulty is about the same.   I have tried a number of versions using this map.  Each one has something different.  ( a change in the number of ports and resizing or adding more cities, etc.)  

I have a few more to try.  Enjoying the play. 

[outofmage]

You make DB 18 201 available? That explains the high risk very well. In this map, steam loco speed is geared up, DB 18 is as fast as TGV. Giving its reliab. is above average, it's very commen to have 20% or 30% risk. I remember last time I use DBs were on Antarctica, these beasts were not reliable and cost a lot, hope you can handle them on cascadia.