Can it be considered by developers to add some GO VIA instruction into freight mainline services because they are much poorer on AP then passenger services which gain 500AP for stopping at station (depend on precize stop) and 500AP for loading passenger (depend on keeping timetable). On RSN for RB train you gain about 11000AP and about 4300AP for freight (only one third). Just an opinion of freight oriented railfan!
I agree freight services would need more AP in order to be balanced with passenger services. (Although the same could be said about high speed passenger trains). I doubt adding Go Via objectives, just for the AP, is the right way to go. Perhaps the amount of AP could be set depending on the weight of the train. I think a heavier train is more challenging to handle than a lightweight train.
GO VIA instruction is the simple thing they can do without big changes that require programing and QA testing. (At least I hope that internal timetable service builder tool is not only souce code) Freight services have only final destination stop and driving under speed limit as AP resourse. Thanks for any reply into topic, because according DTG policy more feedback makes devs more focused on such demand!
I absolutely agree! I often wondered why it was made this way, in the end the points give you some sort of confirmation that you are doing well. It is the same principle by which people would like more points when driving with safety systems active. And yes I also think the points for driving below the limit should increase for freight. You have to drive below the allowed speed sometimes as well or you are in danger of running red signals because of the long way for breaking. Thus the journey usually takes a bit longer as well, so I'd say it is fair to increase the points a little. Plus! How about increasing points for the perfect stopping spot? Alot of the freight trains are very hard to stop at the right spot, it should be rewarded to manage that.
Just increasing the points given at the end of the service would be a much simpler and better way, rather than introducing unnecessary steps to accomplish the same thing. Go Via instructions annoy me much more than low points overall for a service. If they are not needed for a specific reason in the service then I wouldn’t want them introducing for something as insignificant as a points total being 500 or 1000 higher at the end. It’s actually quite informative being able to see the complete route you are taking on the map at the start and at any point during the journey. The addition of Go Via points would take that away which would be a backwards step, so just increase the final step points and avoid that, or leave them as they are with the lower points.
One thing I like about going via is, that the journey appears shorter than it is. It is the same with the stops at passenger stations, because then the route is subdivided into "handy pieces" and personally I like that. But overall I agree, that increasing the points appears way easier to do.
