Without a layover feature, convoys outside depots would be assumed always to be requiring a full complement of staff and would charge the player accordingly. However, in reality, transport vehicles often spend time away from their depot when they are not in use, but are parked out of service; think of a lorry parked between turns, a train waiting in a siding between turns of duty or an aircraft at an airport some distance from its airline's home base waiting for its return journey whilst its pilots and cabin crew rest (or after one set of crew have ended their shifts and before the next crew start their shifts).
The layover feature is intended to simulate this. Without being able to do this, players would not be able to deal with low frequency services without incurring a time based cost much higher than would be necessary in reality, as, in reality, the vehicle would be able to be stored out of use with the staff on other duties or having time off. This would make low frequency services potentially uneconomic if costs/revenues be balanced in a realistic way.
Did you see any improvement in the balance between labor costs and the economy as I suggested in several threads? Do you have any ideas?
I don't think we got a clear answer in that thread.
What I mean is that the layover alone does not simulate the labor cost correctly.
For example, two EMUs merge at a station and turn into one convoy. In the real world, even if convoy is fused, driver will never be fused.
However, with the current specifications, it costs as if driving by two people. This is because labor costs are not independent. This means that the staff is integrated with the vehicle.
In other words, one cab always has one or more staff members attached to it.
The layover only costs nothing when the vehicle is sleeping. Vehicle maintenance costs and staff costs are not equal.
This does not simulate economic balance in the real world.
Without it, it is difficult to get the right economic balance, which is exacerbated by the coupling function of convoy.
Unlike the real world, there are few advantages to merging convoy, so you will enjoy many disadvantages.
Because in the real world, merging convoys can lead to significant cost savings, but there is no such specification.
Forcing players to waste time due to merging, convoy waits and consumes wasted time for coupling, which reduces the frequency of operation and reduces service.
In the real world, it may be possible to complete the coupling work and start the train with a waiting time of about 5 minutes, but on the simutrans time scale, it may be easy to wait for half a month to complete the coupling work.
It only has the advantage of saving line capacity. On the other hand, it may interfere with the area around the station for a long time.
If the waiting time for merging vehicles exceeds the transfer time, there is no advantage to having a direct route. It is smarter to prepare both vehicles according to the transporting demand and divide the line.