Post
by darthdroid » Thu Jan 10, 2013 1:41 pm
There are two answers here. But they each answer a more specific question: Are you trying to just have fun, and have 2 stations (or 8 tracks) for fun? Or are you trying to maximize profit?
If you are trying to maximize profit, you wouldn't want more than 3 or 4 tracks in a station-as you'd be competing with yourself with the 2nd station.
If you look through the forums, I show how you can indeed route DOZENS of trains into one station, with minimal waiting. Ideally you want 2 or 3 outbound trains (ie moving passengers and finished/intermediate goods to and from the station). And as many inbound (raw materials) trains as you need to reach efficiency in your station. THESE are the trains that should share tracks. So for example, you'd have say 3 tracks going from Station A to Station B. Track 4 (upon upgrading the depot to station) would be used to bring in the cheap stuff-raw materials. These are lower profit trains, and thus why you should have them share, not the high profit trains.
Passenger/mail/finished/intermediate goods trains can bring as much as $2,000,000 per year. A raw materials train will struggle to create $100,000 per year. Thus why only the latter should do any waiting.
So, that said-the only remaining question is, how do trains that share tracks avoid stalling (coming face to face)? Don't allow them that option is the answer. All trains on a shared track should enter the station from the same direction, meaning engines could never come face to face. This means such a track is shaped like a "Y" or with more arms instead of 2 if you require such.
Usually however, you wish to utilize whatever city is CLOSEST to a raw resource. If you don't, a smart competitor will-making your train with a longer route go negative. This game is about city building. I'll take the village that is closer to the resource any day over the metro further away. I'll have the metro soon enough and perhaps shrink the previous metro to a city and then town if given the time with my more efficient system (shorter lines).
And answer 2 is: First, you can have 2 of your own stations in the same town-WITHOUT BUYING OUT A COMPETITOR, but only via one of the cheats (station moving). That is, you can move a station from another town into the town you want to have 2 stations. Due to the cheat, this will create a ridiculous amount of profit due to the passenger algorithm, moreso depending on how far the station was moved. Don't do that in a multiplayer game please. A good player can trump that cheat with an even nastier one (trains that make $15-$20 Million/year).
So, the legal answer to version 2 (just for fun) is yes, to buy out the competitor who has a station in the same city. That said, clearly you could own 4 stations in one city right? But that's dumb, as again, you can route even 16 trains into ONE station, and you'll make way more $ than routing 16 trains into 4 stations, trust me.
Play for blood.
-Bob the Lunatic