Engine Age and Replacement

[Gwizz]

I have been reading more with a little posting.  I wish I could spend less time with my doctors and more time posting. 

I know there is a lot of talent that read this forum.  I hope they continue to post.    

[RobS]

On 4/25/2016 at 4:27 PM, jeffryfisher said:

Saying that maint is the only consideration is incorrect. Reliability is a valid reason to replace engines even if no better engine has appeared and even if maintenance remained constant. I think that reliability is an under-appreciated aspect of the game since its effects are so hard to quantify (how much money did I lose because a train was delayed, and all trains behind it were blocked, and a traffic jam ensued...?). You can only ignore reliability if you play with accidents turned off.

Increased maintenance costs and decreased reliability go hand in hand, as far as I'm concerned. I should have said that locomotive aging, and its associated effects, is really the only reason to replace them.

[MaglevForever]

Fuel cost increases slightly with age as well. Not as much as maintenance does, of courses. Something else to swing the balance toward shorter loco life. In one case, by the time that maintenace had doubled, fuel cost was up by around 30%. That may not matter for most engines, but, for some of the 20th century steam on Expert mode, fuel costs can be high enough that this might be strategic to consider.

 

@Gwizz, Good to see you stopping by, hope you stay strong. In exploring Styria 1840, I came across one of your China saves where you had 1307 locos. It's the last one on this page: http://doconnor.homeip.net/rt2/. The link to your description is now dead. If you feel up to it, would you mind reviewing how long it took you to make, and what your main goal was, or where you just trying to build as much as you could on the map?

[Gwizz]

I don't remember.  That is a big map.  I've made so many maps. I still have many I never finished.  I was always looking for something different and difficult.

Thanks for the question.  I will look for that china map.   I'm feeling better now.

 Stay clear of Kidney Stones.  They are beyond painful.  I have too many other medical problems.  So I didn't need stones.

 

 

 

[Gwizz]

I thought about that map today.  If I'm remembering correctly, I had a bunch of AIs running.  When I  merged an AI, that AI started another company with the extra cash the AI earned when I bought him out.  That is how the map got so large.  It wasn't planned.  I finally figured out that I needed a lot of cash to control each AI. 

The way I won the game was being able to make enough money to buy out every AI at the same time and remove his ability to earn more cash to start another company.

 

TO stay on topic.  I seldom updated locos.  I ran them until they died.  I did slow an old loco down.  Kind of like me, I slowed down a lot as I got older. 

Chow ------- Gwizz