Currently, ship lengths are only visible in the details window. It isn't visible in the depot, leading players to believe that it doesn't matter. It does in fact matter, since parts of the ship won't load on canal quays if the ship is too long. There is also no "convoy is too long for its next stop" warning for ships. Though I personally find that warning annoying for other modes, it's inconsistent behaviour.
I'd like to add, ships seem to stop at the exact tile set in the schedule instead of the front tile of multi tile stops.
I have also noticed the exact-tile-stop, and have often had to make canal stops three or five tiles so barges will load properly.
I agree that it would be desirable to have ship lengths visible in the depot and a convoy length warning, and that it's a newbie trap.
I think the basic rule of simutrans is that length does not apply to water vehicles.
One tile is enough, even though the sea ship is actually very large. It's strange to need tiles in a river and I think that's the cause of the confusion.
For example, a sea ship that requires 2 tiles can be properly moored in the 1 tile dock. It's a contradiction. How do you tell the player correctly? In the garage and convoy detail you will be fooling yourself into needing 2 tiles.
We need to discribe, "One tile is needed in the sea, but two tiles are needed in the river." But I think it's strange.
So I think the easiest and consistent solution for all water vehicles is to ignore the length or applying the required length to the offshore dock.
But I wonder if the latter is easy.
Quote from: wlindley on June 26, 2021, 12:27:57 PMI have also noticed the exact-tile-stop, and have often had to make canal stops three or five tiles so barges will load properly.
Quote from: Ranran on June 26, 2021, 10:04:59 PMWe need to discribe, "One tile is needed in the sea, but two tiles are needed in the river." But I think it's strange.
This was due to the same specifications as the standard. Water vehicles don't care about dock length at ocean, but canals and rivers.
The code in that part was the same as the standard but I think that there were few cases where ships were connected and straddled multiple tiles in simutrans. But has this issue been recognized for some time as far as the demo.sve of pak128.britain is concerned?
Anyway I think I have fixed it. Check the pull request #422.
Also, the convoy detail dialog has been changed to not show the tile length of the water vehicle.
Thank you - I have now incorporated this fix. Players had been caught off guard by needing a particular length of canal stop for some time, so changing this seems to add to usability.