Idea - fabrication of transportation-vehicles through industry

[maister]

Idea - fabrication of transportation-vehicles through industry

Condition:
- new factories for train and aircraft (cars factories existing already)
- every vehicles has a needed steel / plastic indication
- depots making contracts with this factories.

If you now would purchase a new train, you will see the summary of needed material in the depot-purchase-menu and how much is available at the factory. (the player must deliver the needed material to the factory)

Normal configuration:
It is the material not available you can`t purchase the new vehicles.
It is the material available you can purchase the vehicle and the material-stock at the factory will be reduce.

Realistic configuration:
The factories has also depots and you can only purchase the vehicles there....
(sure you must build a connection to your transport network and the aircraft manufacturer has his own airstrip)


At the start of a new game:
The vehicles factories has enough material available that the player can build a sufficiently transport network before he must deliver new material to the vehicles-factories.
(only for example; Material is available for overall 20 Trains, 50 Trucks, 2 Aircrafts)

This idea has consequently a effect on the later gameplay and make the game more interesting.

[Combuijs]

I've thought about this idea several times before, but decided that I don't like it. First of all Simutrans is a transportation game, not a resource manager (like Settlers) game. The main goal of the game is building efficient transportation networks and that's challenging enough as it is.

Vehicle production should not be in the game in my opinion, it only distracts from the transportation aspects. Apart from that, you might have a serious deadlock problem when you don't develop for example the steel industry in time. You can't do it later in the game, because you can't get any vehicles anymore.

I don't like campaigns for getting enough staff to work on the vehicles (with insufficient staff you can't ride a vehicle), don't want strikes bothering me, don't want natural disasters, no war between 1939 and 1945, no campaigns for getting passengers and mail on the trains, no football games in the stadiums (in spite of having a Simutrans soccer league  ), no elections for government, no bothering about oil price fluctuation and no risings of sea level.

Apart from that it's okay to have a train and plane industry, just as we have a car industry in the game. But not as a condition for getting vehicles.

[maister]

Hi Combuijus

I understand the Settlers argumentation. I`m agree there should not to be to much irreproducible factors.

The question is; how we can raise the quality of the game?
Through enlargement of the factors around the transportation business.
I mean why has the game passengers and why are not the Trains everytime full loaded? Why use this game money? Why use the trains electrical power (overhead contact wire)? Because the enrichment of the gameplay.

I mean, you need electrical power to operate a electrical train. But you need also the manufacturing of the train to can operate one.

Maybe you are right, this idea alienate the basic version of this game! But a Settlers-SimuTrans-Pak would be very very nice!!! Or better; the option in the game to engage the settler mode No one which one would programming it?

Acc. deadlock problem; You have already a deadlock problem if you have not enough money. But money is not the only resource in the world  We from the airline business, has also much of problems if we not get the aircraft from the manufacturer or a Component for repair the Aircraft. No Component = No Transportation, No Money = No Transportation

PS: I love also the electrical tower lines to increase the productivity. For me is that a very nice enrichment for the game.

[vilvoh]

I think what Combuijus means is that you should not compromise the main goal of Simutrans, which is transportation, to others as that would make them become main aspects, too. I'll explain it.

Simutrans main goal is to build a transport network. I think that's clear for all. Exist other secondary aspects like factory contracts and electricity supply, but they do not hurts the transportation. They power it, allowing you to earn more money just stimulating the production.

Your idea is good but it hurts the rest of gameplay. You can get to a situation where you need certain vehicle to transport something but that something is what you need to build the vehicle (It's an extreme situation, I know) Again, I'm not saying that is a bad idea, but I'm afraid It can't be implemented to fit in Simutrans rules. It's a very "radical" approach to make it fit in the current implementation.

Other approachs: We may create train and aircraft industrial chains, and that stimulates people from cities to travel to another cities in the map, or we can classify the chains in several tech levels. The areas with primary industries (coal, sand, etc..) may be considered as rural areas with a lower development factor and areas with secondary industries (chemical, steel) would have a higher development factor, which means more people to transport and more money to earn. Those are just examples, not requests...

As you can see in the examples above, all are based on secondary objects that power the transportation, but they don't conditionate it. You still transport stuff and if you do some extra things you can earn more money, but they are not imperative to play, in any sense. Sometimes, realism is against playability... :-\

On the other hand, I must confess I had a similar idea sometime ago. It was a heavy machinery industry chain, that would build stuff for wholesales but that project is still frozen..

[maister]

Ok i understand! Thats a good idea-finding basis:
Something that not hurts the transportation but enrich. Right?
I would consider that for the next idea 

Thank you for clarification

[Spike]

This idea was first discussed about the time when the original "car factory" was made for Simutrans. We decided against it that time, since it seemed to be quite difficult to make it playable.

It's also a slight shift from transport game to resource management game ... which may or may not be a bad thing.