Hello everyone, having just played the Bakerloo Line for a few runs back and forth in timetable mode I couldn‘t help but notice that the line does not feel really busy. Sometimes there are 20 minutes between services. Surely this is not realistic for London, is it? Am I doing something wrong? In timetable mode I see 200 services all day. Can this be increased somehow? Or are there plans by Dovetail to increase AI services? Thanks in advance for your help.
There were plans for there to be an increase in the number of services. The problem lies with the game's AI dispatcher - at the time, it simply couldn't handle the amount of trains required. Those plans were then quietly dropped.
Yes. They were supposed to increase the service density not long after release. But looks like it's a bigger challenge than they originally thought, and they havn't talked about it in a long time. Even though improvements to the dispather would be great, as currently there sre many routes suffering from it, including Bakerloo, LIRR and other originall busy routes. Hopefully they get to it at some point. Recently they have been busy improving Simugraph and scenery auto generation tools, it looks like. So I wonder what the next "project" of the core dev team will be.
I don't think it's just the despatcher/signaller. I have a sneaky feeling the save game becomes less reliable the more services and signalling states it has to remember.
That wont effect how many services they decide to put in, BML has proven that, if that's what you're implying. Honestly you're the only person I see talking about it, so it's probably a very low priority thing and is very unlikely to be fixed anytime soon, or effect development/design of a route.
As always the devil is in the detail. It's not a save-game problem, any more than save-game is just a "problem" in all cases. Bakerloo is mostly an authoring tools issue - there are three places trains can turn around (the ends and Queens Park) and since the whole flow has to be authored ahead of time, trying to plan which trains use which roads to turn around throughout the course of the day is quite hard - and as you then try smoothing out the execution of the schedule to improve timings and ease out delays, you need to re-order how trains run - and suddnely he entire rest of the day is out of sequence now and you're starting again. It would need an epic planning session to make it work with the tools we have - or what i've requested is that some points in the path can be chosen at simulation-time, so whether it goes to turnback siding 1 or 2 just figure it out on the fly - and that would probably cure it (and make other things easier). Unfotunately that very thing is quite difficult to do. Other aspects that were needed to improve this have now been done, so the job is already easier - but needs this bit to nail it. LIRR is totally different - ive alredy got a much busier timetable ready to go, but it shines a big spotlight on some signaling weaknesses that mean on the new busy tiemtable you spend a lot of time ramming into the train in front because you only get a single signal notice of reduction "80mph, 80mph, 15mph, oops". Needs the signalling to be re-done on that route if I recall. Matt.
In the real world, as per my direct experience, in the event of out of course running "Control" would step in to sort things out, whether that be running fast, turning around short or even stepping up another arrival to go straight back as the next working of the delayed train*. Suspect that is probably beyond the scope of the AI to do so you would either need some sort of player intervention to start manipulating resources or multiplayer with someone being the Controller. It's not just train sims that have this conundrum. I'm currently heading back towards Oxford Circus from Crystal Palace on the No.3 in OMSI2 London. Running 30' late and calling at every stop no chance to make up time. The "Tour" (as the game calls a resource circuit or diagram) does not allow any form of service recovery, with only a couple of minutes at each end before the next working. * Which of course is fine until the traincrew are out of position or need a full PNB before going back.
Man, hearing the words "much busier timetable ready to go" for LIRR makes me drool, lol. It would be a total game changer for that route and maybe even give it a much needed redemption. Just out of curiosity, can you give an estimate how much busier that new timetable could be (number of services in the old and the "new" timetable, for example)? Though I suppose it's not on the priority list as of now - but are there any chances of the signalling being re-done for the route? And does it mean physically replacing signals, or reworking the signalling system logic? Sorry if too many question, but I always get enthusiastic when it comes to LIRR. It's a nice commuter route with great potential.
