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Keyboard shortcuts and stuff...

Posted: Fri Nov 19, 2010 8:38 pm
by joeflint82
I have recently learnt through 'having a play' that pressing + and - allows you to change the height of the track you are building. I have been playing the game for many months now, and have only just discovered this gem that will help me considerably.

I was wondering what other titbits I have been missing out on all these months. Something to determine which track a train will be placed on when there is more than one option between the 2 stations. I usually wait until a train is on the over line, but this is not always possible when their are more than 2 tracks available linking the stations.

Anything else anyone can think of would be lovely, adding more angle to a track would be useful too.

Re: Keyboard shortcuts and stuff...

Posted: Wed Dec 22, 2010 4:34 pm
by darthdroid
joeflint82 wrote:I have recently learnt through 'having a play' that pressing + and - allows you to change the height of the track you are building. I have been playing the game for many months now, and have only just discovered this gem that will help me considerably.

I was wondering what other titbits I have been missing out on all these months. Something to determine which track a train will be placed on when there is more than one option between the 2 stations. I usually wait until a train is on the over line, but this is not always possible when their are more than 2 tracks available linking the stations.

Anything else anyone can think of would be lovely, adding more angle to a track would be useful too.

There are other ways to use the + and - keys and they talk about those keys in the manual-but I agree-most players don't know about them while they are extremely useful.

On your second inquiry, you cannot choose which track a train goes on with a keyboard or mouse. You can however do it by outsmarting the computer. You can run 4 trains on the same route on parallel tracks with no problems, no trains showing up on the same track. With 2 to 3 trains/tracks you simply place the trains when the first or the 1st and 2nd trains are at station X. The start train 3 at station x and it will choose the empty track. For 4 trains, you really need to lay the 4 tracks first and then place all 4 trains really quickly. Once you get that down, it's always easy, otherwise you have to be good at timing and lay it at just the right moment (while other train/trains) are at station-which takes too much time with 4 tracks.

As far as other things, spacebar makes everything disappear as far as cities, trees, and more I think. This can be useful when building to just look at tracks. Tab allows you to see who owns what (it shows all the tracks as colors of their owners). Can't think of any others off the top of my head but I do know that my game was set up with my own hot keys.... delete is possibly the most important one :)

Re: Keyboard shortcuts and stuff...

Posted: Thu Dec 23, 2010 9:23 am
by karsten
Excellent stuff! :D

When I place trains in single player, I pause the game, then I place the engine. If it fills a station track I don't want, I place a second engine, a third, a fourth ... as long as the route is physically possible, the tracks will fill up with engines sequentially. Then I delete the unwanted engines.

Bit of a hassle, I agree, but doing it in paused costs no money or loads, and you can force SMR to place the engine where it needs to go without having to wait for the other tracks to fill up. :lol: