I am having a bit of a headache with the PZB in this scenario. As it's pouring rain, the adhesion is kinda lacking and I cannot apply the brakes fully, only till about 80% or else I start skidding. This makes meeting the PZB 85 speed restiction kind of a mess when coming in at 160 km/h. I start braking as soon as I see the signal, way before I reach it, but still get the emergency brake application because 23 seconds after the signal I am still al 87-90 km/h. Any tips? Perhaps the new Adhesion feature might need a bit of tweaking?
I've been trying to complete that scenario several times so far. I did my best so far tonight, getting a silver medal and with only 2 emergency brake applications iirc. I tend to stick around 150 rather than 160, but brake setting 7 normally gets me down in time I think. (The 2 emergency brakes were PZB, not sure why, I saw it say PZB Acknowledge on the screen; maybe you have to hold it hold for slightly longer). Its quite a fun scenario I think, I'll probably come back to it again sometime.
Training, persistence, challenging against yourself. You said you haven't time to reduce the speed from 160 to 84. My question is: Why don't reduce a bit the max speed? Or also, why don't begin to brake the train a bit in advance? If instead of 160km/h you drive at 150 and / or if as you see from far a blinking green or a yellow you begin to brake the train (avoiding the wheelsliping) I'm sure you can arrive at the station stop the same and in time (or at max 30 seconds delayed). A good tip It could be, obviously when it is possible, to be fast in the first part (run after leaving the station) and reduce a bit the speed in the second part (at about 2 km from the next station). Another good tip it could be to reach the max permitted speed and then move the throttle to Min or to 0. So, as you see a "non friendly signal" you will have an advantage to move the master controller to -7 (because you'll start from the position 0 instead of +10 / max throttle, it's a big advantage also in terms of train physics, cause you are not in acceleration). And with the experience you'll increase your limits with the rainy scenario.
I did it without too many issues. You get a flashing green on the signal before the PZB magnet, warning you of the upcoming speed change. As soon as you see that flashing signal in the distance you should be applying 50-60% braking. If you do that then by the time you pass the signal and acknowledge the PZB speed warning you’ll have approx 20-30kph to loose which is pretty straightforward.
I didn't know that Hightower, thanks for that! I tend to see flashing greens, smash the acknowledge button, think "Oh, flashing greens on their own obviously don't need acknowledging" and then reset my mind until the next signal. I see Matt talked about flashing greens in his tutorial "If the light is flashing green... you should expect the next signal to be slower than this one". (at 12:10)
A Gold is very achievable on the route. I was having difficulty at first, but I just went slower. I was a few minutes late, but the stress was significantly reduced.
Just got gold with 17427 score, arrived on time with no exceeds of speed limit. However I don't have PZB on yet. I am new to this route so following Matts advice - learn to read the signals and react to what they are telling you, then turn on PZB and you should have a better understanding as your already doing the work
Personally, my best tip is to watching videos of people who drive advanced than mine. Watching and studying their videos in the last five-six months I finally learned to use (almost?) correctly the PZB. That's my secret.
When approaching 85 from 160 there should be blinking green signal before restricted - this is the right moment to start braking and there is no need to full aplication
Coming from Köln, before Horrem there is no warning signal blinking green before the distant signal and there should be one.
I cannot refer to the actual rules in this matter, but I can imagine signaling in the game playing tricks. There are also signs informing about the current location - I am thinking about a detailed description of the German routes for my own use. It's hard to drive at times, especially without a HUD.
I had no PZB issues in this scenario. I played most of it yesterday, until I slid past the last stop before Aachen.
At the 4:th attempt I made it. I found out that if you push the speed limit to yellow when its safe and start slowing down in good time before next stop or a speed limit 80 and below you have time to slow down before the emergency brake comes on. If it still happens you wont lose so much time either. Beware of the 1000 and 500 Hz. If the brakes come on you can switch off PZB (control return) and put the throttle in 0. Wait for brakes to release and after a while switch on PZB. Ypu might have to deal with restricted spees 45, so watch the PZB warnings. This is actually a cheat, until you get the hang of it. I have some stumbling to do with this until I get the hang of it. I took the advise of Matt: "Repeat and repeat the route until you get it."
