New player question - wait for full load

[donpost]

Hi all - just picked this up on steam. I'm new to RRT2 but not to the series. Just a quick couple of questions about waiting for a full load:

 

Say I have a passenger train with two carriages set to always wait for a full load. It arrives at a station which has one load of passengers waiting which is picks up then waits around for more passengers to fill the second carriage. Is the revenue for the first load of passengers degrading while the train waits or does that only start once the train has left the station?

 

If the revenue isn't degrading, why would you ever have a train NOT set to wait for full load?

 

[jeffryfisher]

Revenue begins to degrade as soon as you pick up. Storing a load at another station will not reset its timer.

[donpost]

Thanks for the reply. I will leave my passenger trains on half load then :)

[envelope]

Well Donpost,

You have some what of the correct idea with using an indicator of 1/2 load, but that is only in the cases of that depot having an amount of passengers.   Lets say 4+.    However,  with less than 4, I would set the indicator to  "whatever" is available.  Just a thought. 

[jeffryfisher]

The most profitable setting depends on era (length of trains) and city size and sometimes other tactical factors.

If you're in the early period with 2-car trains for your fast passengers and mail, then half-full means one load. In that situation, never set to "whatever" unless you have backup. The difference between half and whatever can only mean going completely empty.

When serving a big city, you can usually count on a steady trickle of loads, so it makes sense to wait until full. This is especially true when you've slightly under-bought locomotives during the last boom so that you avoid over-capacity during the ensuing recession.

The best use of half loads is when you have a very long line to a sparsely populated region (Aussie Outback or early American West). This is where you can leave your terminal city (e.g. San Francisco) only half full and then troll through a series of 1-3 house villages (e.g. Reno, Winnamucca & Elko) to fill up. Just keep an eye on those "villages" and make sure you fix your trains before they deliver short to a newly promoted town.

If you find yourself with lots of idle capacity, then you either built too much, or you're in a depression, or else you've hit the decline of passenger demand that exists in some scenarios. Depressions can be survived running half-full, but the other two conditions require a change of plan (shifting passenger trains over to freight).

[Gwizz]

A lot can affect the costs and profits of passenger or cargo.

 

I tend to read the size of a town & how many house are covered by a station. 

4 or more  houses will except passengers and/or cargo and pay more if the station asks for more passengers or cargo then I deliver.

8 or more houses I will have the train wait for a full load.   Full, depends upon the type of locomotive pulling the load, it's speed, etc.

 

I believe the rot rate of passengers and cargo happens fastest when the passengers and cargo are waiting in the station.

If the passengers & cargo wait on the train, rot is slower.  When riding a moving train. rot is the slowest, down to 50% of value.

[jeffryfisher]

I believe the rot rate of passengers and cargo happens fastest when the passengers and cargo are waiting in the station.

There are two different effects on aging cargo; be careful that you don't confuse them. At origination, cargo sits in the building that produces it, and you can see that cargo via any and all stations covering that building. While waiting for pickup, each load has an expiration date. If not picked up by that date, then the whole load vanishes.

However, if picked up on time, the expiration effect is cancelled. I believe that the load starts with its full base value at the moment of pickup regardless of how long it has been waiting. From that moment on, the load gains value over distance and loses value over time.

These gains and losses are non-linear and vary depending on cargo type, era, scenario effects, difficulty setting etc. In general, express loads (pax & mail) will gain value faster than locomotives can spend money hauling them (at least on any sane grade), so you want to haul these as far as possible.

Long-haul freight is closer to break-even, and may turn positive for good locomotives and/or generous scenario effects. These should be hauled as far as surplus capital supports (surplus capital being that pile of cash left over after building all of the track and engines needed for long distance pax & mail service). Short-line freight should always be delivered as conveniently short as possible, and much slow freight is not even worth touching.

There's a data table (in the manual or an appendix) that lists the distance factors for the various cargo types. The 2-point cargoes are long, and the 1-point cargoes are short.