upgrade trains

[yohanevindra]

newere faster trains are released every few years and after sometime, one would have a huge fleet..is there anyway to change the driving train of several trains together without having to change each one individually?

[Jancsika]

..is there anyway to change the driving train of several trains together without having to change each one individually

The plain answer is: NO.

You can change any individual train by editing the RRT_Trains.XML file.

<MaxSpeed>8</MaxSpeed>
<Speed0>12</Speed0>
<Power>15</Power>

The numbers can be changed in these 3 lines, but I would not do it in the games installation folder, or at least have it backed up, so when the game crashes could go back to the unedited file.
Jancsika

[yohanevindra]

i dont want to edit the properties of each train, but that means if i have a fleet of say 25 trains, then i have to go thro each of them individually and change the train?

[keotaman]

... then i have to go thro each of them individually and change the train?

Yes, exactly.

[Jancsika]

but that means if i have a fleet of say 25 trains

Let's clear this up.
If,for example you have a fleet of 25 Mikados, then all 25 of them will have the same speed and performance characteristics. If you change them, all 25 will change the same way with one modifications.
If you are looking for some high performance trains there are a few at http://www.hookedgamers.com/forums/view ... =50&t=3882 .And more will be coming. Also I would look the Train Mods thread over. I belive there are some more hidden there.
If you check out the latest new maps of Rodea and Lowell there are a lot of nice high performance trains.
Jancsika

[Burlington_Northern_3140]

i dont want to edit the properties of each train, but that means if i have a fleet of say 25 trains, then i have to go thro each of them individually and change the train?

Yes

[keotaman]

Let's clear this up.

Jan, he does not want to edit/change any properties, he just wants to change the locomotive from one model to another. He was wondering if there was a quick way to change many locos to a newer model at once. The answer is no. The way to change locos is one-at-a-time, train by train.
Sheesh!

[lrg162]

I usually use the 'Train Screen' (top left row of buttons on the game window) to see which Loco's need upgrading and which don't ... i.e Even though a train is 73 years old, if It hasn't had a hard life and it's still only costing say $1750 in maintenance (provided you won the Auction for the half price train maintenance or it's now public domain and the map your playing goes to a high enough year to offer it) so it's not really always economical to buy a whole new train or trains just because a new one has become available, also an older train may not be as fast but may have more power (check the coloured graph on the left in the round table screen) so a newer train isn't always better or more economical than your existing ones

... Remember that a train doing short quick runs from of 3>4 cars from a farm/mine to your city, won't deteriorate much, even after many years of use, and older, slower trains are sometimes better on these types of runs because most times the resource has time re-rebuild stocks and the train has a 'full' load each run (i.e. maximum profit given the number of carriages) where as a newer faster train will drain the resource too quickly and do most trips empty, unless you tick 'wait until full' however, that can be false economy because the train still costs in maintenance even when idle.

If you click the 'maint.' button in the train screen it will swap from cheapest to dearest and you can go through the list and see which ones are worth replacing and which aren't (I've actually had a 'grasshopper' in my fleet all the up to 1971, doing a short 'wheat' run)

Also use the 'Money' button (click to go from highest to lowest profit) to see which trains are simply not making money (or even losing money) and you can then either alter their route to make them more viable (and see if you maybe have a double up of a route {can happen if you take over a computer player and merge his lines with yours} or scrap them and free up valuable track space as needed

Buying a new faster train should be the last resort to improve revenue and to clear up bottlenecks, I mainly look at passenger/mail only runs, as they get better profits if you deliver faster and, as mentioned, try to plan your tracks so resource/slow trains use one or two tracks and the big dollar runs use the others (remember a 'Terminal' can have up to 4 tracks running by it)



err ... end of diatribe

[darthdroid]

Some good points there Irg, I just wanted to respond to 2 issues.

One: You really should never have "3-4 cars", it really should be very nearly almost always 8 cars, period. The only time you want less is on very complex routing where 2 or more trains share the same station entry point and one of those trains is on a very short route. In that case, you don't want 8 cars hogging up the station 75% of the time. But that is really the only place to use less than 8 cars, trust me.

Two: I don't think maintenance is related at all to the amount of loads that an engine carries. No. It is related to the AGE of the train. That being said, you really (IMO) should never have a train go past 15-20 years in age.

This does NOT mean you should upgrade always. Your points about not using the biggest engines are absolutely correct. BUT, you should indeed replace your grasshopper at say year 15 with a new grasshopper. You still do it using the upgrade option, you just don't actually upgrade it, you choose to buy another grasshopper. This essentially will take your grasshopper's age from 15 to 0 for that price.

This was all researched pretty thoroughly by red knight who showed this maintenance break even point to be true. That point is different for different engines, but again I recommend the 15-20 year benchmark to cover all those engines and keep your profits high.

[darthdroid]

I would mention to the OP that the simplest way to do this is on the train screen.... it's pretty quick and easy there. You have a list of all your trains, you highlight each one, click upgrade, choose the model, go to the next train.

I say this as I have seen folks who didn't know this and instead they ran around the map clicking on each train to do the same thing and that way is a bit more inefficient.

I would also argue that you would NEVER want to upgrade all your trains to the same engine... it's just bad business. Even when I only have 3 trains on the map, the odds of them all being the same engine are slim to none. You want different engines for different tasks. I would not want to use a Mogul to haul coal 2 miles from a small coal mine. I would say I'd want a norris or something like that.
I also don't want to use a Mogul to haul passengers and mail... the Mogul is a freight train, it's for freight. I'd use an American or another type of passenger train. And likewise, I don't want to use an American to haul gold or food, I want the mogul or another freight engine.

So again, it would just not be logical to even have this option as it could only hurt you. Upgrading all those engines to the biggest engine could very well make you go bankrupt. The only exception to this would be a scenario like this: Northwest map on Robber Baron: I indeed think I want EVERY engine to begin as a norris or something similar to avoid huge maintenance costs on such a slow starting map. But by the time I have say 6 engines (where your "upgrade all" option would begin to become useful) once again I'd be at the point where I would not want all those 6 engines to be the same.... so even here it's not an exception.

Ultimate Analysis: You'd never WANT to be able to "upgrade all" or whatever once you understood the costs and benefits of profits and maintenance costs in the game.

[lrg162]

Not wanting to start an argument with another forum member, but I will simply say in response to darthdroid's comments: My 73 year old 'Grasshopper' was only costing me $1250 maintenance and the 'speed of delivery and return' meant that 4 carriages was the 'sweet spot' for 'cost vs. profit vs. material availability' for me ...

However this may not be true for ALL players on ALL maps, so with the information provided here so far, the OP should be able to work out a strategy that suits them and DOES NOT include replacing trains as often or replacing ALL trains at once ... Their IS NOT now and NEVER will be a 'Guaranteed' or "This one beats all and should be used by all players and you're a speed bump in the road of life if you don't" strategy for every player ... not for this game or any other ...


err ... End of rant

[darthdroid]

Not wanting to start an argument with another forum member, but I will simply say in response to darthdroid's comments: My 73 year old 'Grasshopper' was only costing me $1250 maintenance and the 'speed of delivery and return' meant that 4 carriages was the 'sweet spot' for 'cost vs. profit vs. material availability' for me ...

However this may not be true for ALL players on ALL maps, so with the information provided here so far, the OP should be able to work out a strategy that suits them and DOES NOT include replacing trains as often or replacing ALL trains at once ... Their IS NOT now and NEVER will be a 'Guaranteed' or "This one beats all and should be used by all players and you're a speed bump in the road of life if you don't" strategy for every player ... not for this game or any other ...


err ... End of rant

I can appreciate that, but you might consider looking at red knight's research before you stand on your rock with your arms folded I believe it is in the wiki.

Also, as I always say: There is no need for arguments, there is a simple way to solve all disputes regarding this game. That of course is to play the game. You are clearly a player so you should appreciate that. Why don't we play sometime and you can show me the value of using 4 cars and we can test your theory about "there is no this one beats all strategy"? Let me know and we can schedule a time to learn together.

"two men enter, one man leaves"
- Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome

[darthdroid]

Not wanting to start an argument with another forum member, but I will simply say in response to darthdroid's comments: My 73 year old 'Grasshopper' was only costing me $1250 maintenance and the 'speed of delivery and return' meant that 4 carriages was the 'sweet spot' for 'cost vs. profit vs. material availability' for me ...

Also, you do realize that the cars without a payload have ZERO weight, yes? This would indicate that 4 cars full vs. 4 cars full with 4 more empty would have the exact same speed. This part indicates already that taking away cars cannot ever help except in the exception I provided above, but never due to speed as there is no speed change based on additional or less empty cars.

The cars are weightless, do some tests, you'll see.

[Jancsika]

I can appreciate that, but you might consider looking at red knight's research before you stand on your rock with your arms folded I believe it is in the wiki

You mean in the FAQ. I wonder if anybody bothers with reading them before starting an argument.
http://www.hookedgamers.com/forums/view ... =34&t=3803
Jancsika