There seems to be a few tasks that have been removed. Mainly taking trucks from the harbour to the quarry and vice versa. And a duplicate of taking the breakvan from the quarry to Ffarquhar.
Yes, I noticed that Percy taking the trucks from Anopha Quarry to Knapford Harbour North and vice versa is an AI only service. Is there a reason for this?
I found this out too. This is why I thought, maybe there is a gap in the timetable for a future Toby and/or Mavis to bring trucks to Ffarquhar?
I’d guess, based on how the little tankers bounce around behind James, that the trucks don’t work well with the full physics that are used when a player drives the services. I can’t think of any other reason that would explain it. A possible consequence of the game being released in an unfinished state. Perhaps they will be added back in at a later date.
I noticed that the breakvan collision physics with the buffers is very glitiched at times and can and does cause unexpected violent derailments during manual coupling and uncoupling if the collision hit boxes areas overlap.
Not sure it's only physics, although it makes sense. There's an AI only service right after Percy takes the commuter down to Knapford docks that seems to be a light loco runaround... Not sure why
Well I know why Percy's quarry services were removed. You can't finish to them. Percy isn't strong enough to make it up to the quarry with those trucks. And coming down just turns into a runaway train episode
I was thinking maybe percy is just a temporary placeholder for that train and would be pulled by a future DLC character like mavis? That would explain why *some* AI-only services exist in his timetable, but for the runaround and others i'm not sure. here's what user KaRei said on a similar thread on steam: Missing Events in Timetable Mode :: Thomas & Friends™: Wonders of Sodor General Discussions Finally finished the complete day of Percy's timetable and saw all the instances where AI taking over the control from player. There are 4 Percy's services in total that are driven only by AI, not available to players. I think that at least 3 of them should be playable. The 4th one (6:36 - Anopha -> Harbor) maybe with a warning or a hint to use the handbrakes to keep the train under control. 6:36 - Anopha Quarry -> Harbor: This is the hardest one of them with 8 loaded trucks that is getting out of control on the downhill from quarry unless using the handbrakes that I already talked about in previous post. Maybe a warning/hint message and it can be added among playable too? Definitelly at least the part from Ffarquhar to Harbor should be good for players (no handbrakes needed there). 8:35 - South Harbor: After you bring the passenger train from Ffarquhar to the Harbor, the AI for some reason takes over briefly for the runaround. I don't understand why. There doesn't seem to be any difficulty in this. Maybe it's AI-only by a mistake. 21:50 - Harbor -> Anopha Quarry: This is the return service of the morning heavy AI train with 8 trucks. The AI drives to Ffarquhar where it splits the train in 2x 4 trucks and brings the first half uphill to the quarry. The whole consist of 8 trucks from Harbor to Ffarquhar could be made playable without problems. There is no difficult hill on that path. It just takes a bit longer braking distance to stop or slow down. After the split in Ffarquhar the 4 trucks could be pulled uphill without problem even by a player (tested in Explore). Funny thing happens if you attempt to stop on the slope for any reason - the stopped train starts sliding downhill and can't be stopped without using handbrakes or applying throttle again. That's interesting - Percy has more grip with throttle than with brakes But if you don't try to stop then Percy can climb with the consist easily. 22:47 - Ffarquhar - Anopha: Here the AI takes the second half of the split train uphill. Same as the previous one - players should be able handle this.
So I have found from Explore Mode that Percy is not capable of taking 8 trucks plus a brake van from Anopha, as he can't handle the load and crashes going down the hill. That would likely explain why this has been left as an AI service. From the recent patch notes ("Removed formations larger than 5 trucks/vans + brakevan as Percy was incapable of pulling them"), I am hoping that the service from Anopha to Knapford Harbour will become derivable.
It can be done, but you need to set the handbrakes on the trucks as you descend the hill - setting between four and six of them should allow you to get down from Anopha to Ffarquhar without running out of control. Just be careful to not SPAD the signal at the bottom of the slope - it will not clear until the level crossing gates at Ffarquhar station are closed across the roadway, and this sometimes takes a moment or two.
I saw that Percy was still hauling 6 vans and 1 brakevan to/from the docks, is it only the trucks which have been reduced?
