Maximum Load Option

[Toilet Maker]

Hello everyone!
My idea is a maximum load option kind of like the current minimum load but for maximum. I dont know much (dont know anything really) about the code and don't know if this is possible but seeing that theres a minimum load option I recon it could be done. The only problem I see is having a maximum load lower than the minimum load.

Say for example you have:

+++C+++++++++I++++++++++F+++
C = Coal Mine
I = Iron Mine
F = Iron Foundry/Steel Mill
+ = Railway Track
IIRC the Iron Foundry/Steel mill requires 50% Coal and 200% Iron. That's a Coal:Iron ratio of 1:4. There are many different ways of delivering the optimum amount of goods to F such as a train running from C to F to I and back to F again with a minimum load of 100% for both mines but sooner or later F will stop accepting coal and the train will be stuck at C. You could have a loop line with more than 1 train running on it but that would be costly at the start of the start of the game. You could make I a hub station with a train delivering coal to it and a bigger train picking up iron and the coal but depending on which is longer; C to I or I to F the trains will soon clog up, also, trains tend to get stuck at the hub station unless there is more than 1 platform or both trains enter the platform the same way and exit the opposite side which is costly to loop the tracks around again.

Thats where the maximum load comes in. Say for example you have a train with a max capacity of 100 units. You could make a maximum and minimum load of 20% (20 units) for C and 80% (80 units) for I then return to F. That way the iron foundry/steel mill will be working at optimum speed with no leftover materials and therefore no waiting at stations for the steel mill to use up the coal. This could be used for any industry really. Such as passenger transport where theres an express line and a normal line. The normal line stops at every stop but the express only stops at the main stops. If the normal line comes first then it will pick up every passenger and leave some over then the express arrives and the passengers left over dont go to the main stops that the express stops on and therefore will stay or go to the next main stop and catch the normal line from there thus causing more congestion. The normal line then goes along to the next stop and cant pick anyone up coz its already full with passengers going to the stop 5 stations down. So if the max load for the main stations on the normal line were made to be 25% then it could still pick up passengers from the minor stations between the main stations.

Here are some pros I can think of:
-Cheap: No extra tracks (loop lines/waiting bays)/1 train can deliver both suppliers to the consumer so that there is minimal/no leftover materials thus no waiting in stations
-No need for complex stations
-No need for signals
-No need for hub stations
-Trains wont get stuck
-Allows more complex routes thus more profit if done correctly

Hope you all understood that!

[isidoro]

Technically it is easy and perfectly possible.  You're not the first to ask:
http://forum.simutrans.com/index.php?topic=1260.0

[whoami]

For certain situations (trains loading goods), the solution is easy: the maximum load is limited by the number of train wagons that fit into the station. Therefore, just make the station platforms shorter than the train (but be sure that nothing needs to be unloaded at the same station, because that will not happen for the excess wagons).

[VS]

And remember 100% load will not work since not 100% of convoy is in station.

[The Hood]

From a profit point of view, it would be more profitable to have two separate trains for iron and coal, both with full loads (one train C-F and one I-F).  That way empty wagons are not dragged around the network unnecessarily (your suggestion would mean dragging the iron ore wagons empty, at cost, between C and I, hence higher costs and lower profitability).

[VS]

That, or move coal to the station at iron mines and from there another train.