Topic: Horse cart throughout the times?

[1993matias]

First of all, thanks for a nice pakset!Just a small, but annoying, issue here. The horse cart just keeps spawning all the time, jamming all the traffic everywhere with its (by modern standards) ridiculously low top speed... Cars don't seem to be able to overtake it as they just get jammed alongside it. It's quite disruptive to my bus services when they get trapped behind such a snail ...

Is it some specific building that keeps spawning them? Is it an income class? Or is it defined by something else?
The year is now 1953, I imagine they shouldn't spawn at all any more?

Screenshot of one of the many horse carts:

[Spenk009]

The retire dates for the three types of citycar horse carts are:

• HorseCart(Brown), 1935/3
• HorseCart(Grey) 1922/12
• HorseCart(Turquoise) 1954/5

I too have noticed these creating serious traffic jams. These dates look specifically chosen, so it's a question of gameplay. I reckon that especially in the times after the war, it would not be impossible to see someone using the horse cart to get into town after they've exhausted their fuel reserves.

[Matthew]

I have also noticed this and I agree that it is frustrating. I have seen a single horse and cart create a traffic jam that stretched through several cities.

But I think the timeline is roughly right, maybe even abolishing them a little early. I remember an episode of Hancock's Half Hour (1954-61) that featured a car stuck behind a horse and cart as a plot point. And Steptoe and Son (1962-74) had a working horse until the end of the run.

IMHO the underlying problem is that motor cars (autos) do not often overtake the horses and carts. When I was testing the private-car-routing branches, I often saw cars try and fail to overtake to the cars. I seem to remember reading in this forum that the overtaking code is elderly and far from an ideal solution, though I am glad we have it! I wonder whether the easiest workaround might actually be to reduce the maximum speed of horses and carts in the late 1940s and 1950s, in order to give motor cars a better chance of overtaking them.

[1993matias]

Thanks for your replies. The year is now 1955, so no more horse carts spawning (thankfully).

I recognize it being a conscious decision by the developers, so instead of trying to change that... How can I make them not spawn? Is there a local file I can easily edit?

[Vladki]

Probably removing the corresponding pak files, or editing the sources and making them retire earlier in timeline.
But the best would be if overtaking algorithms are improved, to allow for more overtaking. Similar problem is with mail bikes...

[jamespetts]

The horse cart timeline is indeed intentional, and, as has been observed, realistic. The overtaking code does need improving, but that would be a very large undertaking indeed.

If anyone would like to volunteer, that would be very helpful.