Hello, I am posting this in case you did not know: as of December 2009, the OpenTTD developer community have completely replaced the graphics and sound, meaning the game is now completely free to use without requiring a TTD license.

I remember this game used to be run as a comp, but I never joined in since it required the game files from the original TTD.

I would be interested in a multiplayer match (does not have to be a comp).

Cheers

OpenTTD is a fantastic game. I would be honoured to join you in a game.

By the way, how did the comp work? Set time limit and the company with the most company worth wins?

I don't know how long ago you're talking about, but I don't recall there ever being a comp of it. I remember playing it casually with a few friends at one point, though.

Oh righto, I assumed as it was once run as a server that it was a comp. Bad assumption

Got another friend interested in playing too.

Cheers

I love this game! I'm so in but I have trouble setting it up sometimes as it gets a bit tricky.

Excellent, we'll see you at the lan

Some questions aimed at the server runner: what patches will be in effect on this server?

The only one I'd like to see is "Vehicles Never Expire" -- but that does not mean they will not break down or need to be replaced when they become life expired.

Also, how long should the game run?

Cheers

Whatever you like!

It's not a competition, so either you can run a server and configure it exactly the way you like, or I can change the configuration on Respawn's.

I've heard of this game... but i want to play!

Start playing now - multiplayer isn't friendly to new players.

I've played once with a friend, had no idea what I was doing. I think we were playing coop, and he just earnt money while I wasted it learning controls.

Hmm, didn't know it had co-operative multiplayer.

Since it's not a competition - sort of like in Melbourne when there was National Express and Connex - I am happy to give tips on rail construction and in particular signalling.

I nominate to run the server with the following settings:
Map size: 1024x1024
Climate: Temperate
Start Date: 1970 (Electrified Railways available)
Patches Enabled:

• Vehicles Never Expire
• Show Reserved Tracks for Path Based Signalling
• 'Realistic' Vehicle Acceleration model.

This game is awesome

Can we get it put on the timetable?

It doesn't have to be on the timetable for you to play it

I'll have a server running throughout the LAN - you're free to play on that or start your own.

This guy... does not read the whole thread

Sure, it will run to the Werribee timetable.

I'm gonna have to play this game for a bit,
but i'd be heaps interested.

'twas fun, but got kinda messy by the end of the LAN. xD

lols at some of the track laying! and definitely not beginner friendly in multiplayer. It's actully not beginner friendly at all! I say we have another server that's solely for the purpose of learning how to play.

It probably just needs to be setup with signs and instructions, and then players could log into that server and read all the signs and try it out themselves, and then move onto the larger map.

Yes indeed it was fun, in fact I'd say with the amount of attention OpenTTD grabbed, it was a success. I ended up playing it for nearly 5 hours straight! Bloody addictive game

As a tip to beginners in preparation for the next lan, the best solution is to play single player and read the OpenTTD Manual. It's a life saver.

There was one observation I must stress: "Player #2" (Purple Livery) built level crossings across two of my busiest lines without accounting for truck depot congestion, which resulted in trucks queuing across my rail lines. Unfortunately, my trains kept on smashing them. Where possible, Grade-Seperate.

Secondly, I tried running freight-only. Transporting coal is the easiest money to make, but I should have moved onto secondary industry and served towns with goods. Whether this will compete against passenger operations remains to be seen. *Edit* Note: I tend to strive for maximum performance, and the best way to achieve that is to serve as much industry as possible, as on time as possible.

Thanks to everyone for playing and hope to see you next time.

Hello

Has anyone been playing this recently? If you have not, you may wish to start now, to avoid being slammed by Terry Mulder for "bungling" and "cost blowouts".

I remember one extension cost me 300 thousand pounds for a coal mine that only produced 50 tonnes of coal per month

The moral of that story is: do not try to landscape water!

A server will be run at the upcoming lan, either by SirSquidness or myself. The same settings as the last game will apply.

If anyone is interested, I can post my savegame of my "masterpiece" game that has been going for nearly 150 years, where I have tried all my ideas on what works.

State Transport Authority.

Hey, is anyone interested in playing this at the upcoming LAN?

Sure! \o/

Another fun match at Respawn V19.

"Peter Sadler Transport" managed to take the unofficial cake with the highest level of profit, albeit by providing a service level even Connex could mock.

A savegame was captured, if anyone is interested.

Cheers

I'm disappointed that I didn't get enough time to warrant opening the game. One of these days, I'm going to put an OpenTTD server up online, and then my spare time at the LAN wont matter!

Isn't Peter Sadler Transport an actual company? So handicap much

Squid reminded me this existed, I did nothing for 2 weeks but play OpenTTD! It has a highly addictive nature, although my signalling systems with trains were well... at a Melbourne trains authority level...

I take it multiplayer operates in a MOST PROFIT wins scenario?

"Peter Sadler Transport" is Prim's trading name. He chose this name originally as PST is a trucking company, and initially tried to play OpenTTD with trucks/buses only.

He promised a fleet of 2000 trucks, and has yet to deliver on that promise!

Profit is probably the best indicator - but then again Connex also made a profit. Each station of PST was at poor or very poor rating, yet his trains were generating $200,000 per trip, because of the length of his trains, and sheer distance they were travelling. Essentially, you don't have to provide a good service to generate heaps of money. However, if someone else built a competing route, they'd steal all his traffic.

I think the game actually uses Company Rating, not just profit, which has a number of factors. This gets displayed at 2050, who the game thinks won.

Next lan 2000 trucks will be a minimum, over 9000 is the goal

Also last i heard Connex was an actual company too

5000 is the max configurable limit of vehicles for a given mode of transport. I imagine it might be possible to change thais on the source code and recompile it though.

I wonder if multiplayer would handle 2000 trucks?



Connex is an actual company, but no longer the operator in Melbourne.



Jeffy, have a look here for information on signals. Get to know Path Signalling in particular.

One of the most common mistakes I see is placing two-way signals on single line track, or on bi-directional double track where there are not crossovers. You can only place signals at crossing loops, crossovers, or at station entrances, otherwise you will end up two trains entering the same section of track and getting stuck.

Having said that, it is usually always better to build double track, with each track restricted to a particular direction - much easier to signal. Build single line only if you need to get a service up quick and expect to only run 1 or 2 trains until output increases, or are strapped for cash, or you are the Victorian Government

Definitely. OpenTTD has pretty efficient netcode. Check out the likes of OpenTTD CoOp for examples of how massively insane things you can do.

I can definitely confirm that it is 'Company Rating' that decides who wins. I made some modifications to my infrastructure - particularly the construction of maglev track, which managed to bump my company rating to above PST, despite having only a quarter of the company value.

That is not to say that I win... The deadline is 2050, or when the server finishes

Naturally, having a high performance generally means high profit. It took me nearly 100 years, transporting 8 different kinds of cargo (passenger and freight), and construction of maglev before I finally topped his peformance...

That high peformance was achieved using Floss '47 locomotives, a design nearly 100 years old with a top speed of 160km/h*, and very long haul passenger routes. That ticks four of the boxes:

• 40,000 units of cargo delivered in the last year (400 points)
• 10,000 pounds minimum profit of vehicles at least two years old (100 points)
• 50,000 pounds minimum monthly revenue earned in past 3 years (50 points)
• 100,000 pounds maximum monthly revenue earned in past 3 years (100 points)

(Source: Company Rating)

That's a performance of 65% straight away.

It would seem that in OpenTTD, passenger transport is the most lucrative. This is at odds with real life, where it is usually freight that actually makes money (or loses less ), and passenger transport is subsidised.

*Having said that, in Australia we consider "High Speed" to be 160km/h! The Floss '47 is actually a real locomotive (British Rail Class 47), built in the 1960s!

Hello again

I just checked that Respawn v20 is up, so who is interested in playing this at the next lan?

Most definetely.

I'll join, planning on some massive cuttings and eventually sinking the entire map into the water. Thoughts?

I think you will be booted from the server.

That's another thing I've been reminded of.

There should be two servers: one for griefers like Prim (who delights in examining how he can be a bastard in the best/most efficient possible way), and another for the rest of us. Which might just be me.

The game is all about efficiency. I have reviewed my 2000 truck claim and will be too busy doing that to grief. Though if i succeed, my trucks will be like boats, since there will be no land left

I am looking forward to the 2000 trucks. I might try to build some really long freight trains this time.

Im keen to play if someone can teach me how to

I am thinking of setting up a Server for testing/training purposes. Will make Primoz happy at least... He needs to practice managing 2000 trucks.

Most of the resources you will need to learn how to play have been mentioned in this thread already, but I am happy to answer any questions. Signalling is one of the harder areas to get right.


Something I must try is single line with the ability for trains to follow.

Key: > Path Signal Type, '>' indicates direction of Front of Signal Face - Train can wait in front of signals, they cannot wait behind them




Note: Signals 5 and 6 face each other, they are not the block signals that face opposite of each other.

Lets say you have two trains moving from left to right, both in the loop on the left waiting at Signal 3 and 4. Furthermore, there is a train heading right to left waiting at Signal 7. As the first train leaves the loop, it will reserve a path from Signal 4 to 10. As it moves past Signal 6, the path comes clear for the train sitting at Signal 3. This allows it to follow the first train on a single line section.

In other words, you can build long single line sections like this:


And you can be sure that two trains will never enter that same single-line section from both ends and end up facing each. Further more, it allows multiple trains to move in the same direction. Essentially priority is given to the direction that is most busy, but it also means trains trying to go in the opposite direction will wait for a while.

Crikey, typed more than I thought I was going to.

You've lost me on that - will have to read properly next time

In general guni, if you want to make your life easier, build one track for each direction. Trying to make two trains pass each other on a single line is complex. Use one way signals to determine direction and space them evenly apart (around train length apart) to ensure multiple trains run through fast enough. Where possible try to make the train continue through the station, and not reverse as that will add complications.

Once you get the hang of that you can try the reversing and other stuff for optimizations

Nothing beats single-direction double track for simplicity and capacity. However, naturally it is twice as expensive and takes twice as long as setting up a single line. Single line is good for quickly establishing routes, especially when you will only have a few trains initially to service said industries. Put in a few crossing loops and that will work well enough for many years. As the demand on that route grows, convert it into a double track. Just remember to leave enough room for expansion, otherwise you'll spend massive dollars trying to squeeze in an extra track, or worse, have to move your alignment around someone else's infrastructure.

This does look interesting. I take it being an open source game Respawn can copy it to people? I might have to have a play of this one next Respawn.

Squid: Does it take many resources to run a server of this? If we get a server for minecraft we could possibly put this one on there too. Do the same sort of setup i was hoping for on the MC one with it running in a vm so we can just take it to respawn and run it there for everyone who uses it. Then put it back when the lan is over.
Or if the net code is truley efficiant we could just open the ports to run directly off the online server?

Hey orbit,

we would probably run it on lan only, and the server doesnt take many resources - effectively on most computers it wont even affect what you can run simultaneously with it.

anyone who joins the game can actually save the game and host the game from that point on after the lan. unfortionately in most cases the duration of the lan is sufficient for the entire lifespan of the game, after which point it's probably better to start a new server.

hopefully this helps ya a bit

Ah ok so you cant have massive games with levels that took people hundreds of hours to make? Fair enough then. it wouldnt be worth setting up the way i was talking about anyway then

Actually, map sizes can be 2048x2048 tiles. Not psuedo-infinite like Minecraft, but big enough to host 20 or more players. Each tile is around 32 pixels I think, so that makes a map around 65536 pixels, which is about 34 times wider than my 1920x1080 monitor, or can fit 2071 of my monitor in surface area... Big enough

It is being proposed that Respawn run an OpenTTD server outside of Respawn Lan.

Hello

I have found out recently that I will probably not be attending Respawn due to another higher priority event occurring on the same day.

Thought I'd post some pictures of what I was thinking of attempting at this Respawn: Superfreighters, otherwise known as Mammoth Trains in OpenTTD. I was thinking of some sort of Intermodal Freight Terminal setup, with trucks and small trains transferring cargo to a giant, fast train (speed greater than 160KM/h). Instead I took a different less complicated approach.

I suppose I should get to the point (note: images will take ages as my upload is slow):


What you are looking at: several farms are surrounding a factory which accepts livestock and grain, and produces goods. Goods is the final unit of cargo that can be transported directly to towns. This is "sort of" intermodal in the sense lots of smaller trains are inolved. The station there is 40 tiles long, and the trains are comprised of 70 carriages and 10 locomotives. Each train is capable of holding 1750 units of cargo, which translates to 2310 tonnes (not including locomotive mass).

Here are the delivery stations, also 40 tiles long.


I chose 10 locomotives in order for the train acceleration and top speed to be acceptable. The OpenTTD Manual provides a page on calculating how Tractive Effort and Power is required to move a given amount of mass, but it is actually a fairly complicated affair to calculate. Tractive Effort (TE, in KiloNewtons) affects ability to move a mass, while power affects the speed at which it can move said mass. The practical reality is, if you try to move too much mass, the train will both accelerate slower and will never reach it's top speed, and could be even worse at hill climbing. The page shows you how to calculate how much power you'll need for a given speed for a given mass, but the problem with starting with the mass is that locomotives also end up making a significant portion of the total mass, which affects your calculations. So the answer I suppose is: keep adding locomotives until the acceleration is acceptable. You might have to make your stations bigger though!

Two of the of Superfreighters use the SH'40 Locomotive which is probably one of the best locos for Freight. It has a TE of 243KN and a Power of 5000HP which is better than the next two Electric Locomotives (the T.I.M and AsiaStar), even if it's Max TE is less. It means it has more power on tap to acheive its top speed.

So what is the performance like? As said, the SH'40 trains accelerate and reach their top speed as if they were only hauling 5 carriages. There's a good chance I've specified too many locomotives for the task. I've read people complaining Mammoth train performance is bad. The only reason is lack of power. The third train uses TIM locomotives, which serves the longer distance station in the second picture. While it does eventually reach its top speed, it certainly "feels" like it could use another pair of locomotives. This is because overall, each locomotive only has 3,500HP.

So, what can I conclude about the applicability of Mammoth Trains?

Operationally, Mammoth trains are a nightmare. Entering and exiting depots can take days. If you don't design the depot properly, you'll find your trains blocking the path of exiting trains unnecessarily long. Finding the room for a 40 tile long station is problematic; the land has to be made flat to accomodate it, and that often means destroying trees, which angers the various local authorities, and if you look, you'll see one of the station passes through three of them!

The second issue is the shear amount of time needed to fill them, thus why I chose a factory which I could connect several farms to feed it. At peak I've seen the factory produce nearly 2000 goods per month, but on average around 600-800. But this still isn't quick enough. That means it takes one about 2 to 3 months to fill. As there are 2 other train involved, that means each train runs about 3 times per year. Waiting for up to 4 months means their reliability is shot on departure, meaning they'll often breakdown before they get to their destination. This can be mitigated, but it had to be mentioned.

Having said all that, Mammoth trains certainly look cool. The two shorter distance trains generate $350,000 per trip, with a profit of around a 1,000,000 per year. The TIM powered longer distance train generates $650,000 per trip. But to put that into perspective, one of my 8 passenger and 2 mail carriage trains powered by the SH'125 200km/h diesel locomotive generates $100,000 per long distance trip, for an annual profit of around $500,000, at a 10th of the operating cost. All that means is I need to ramp up Goods production to make these trains worthwhile.

If your factory is only producing 2k goods/month max then you've still got a lot of work to do ;D

Not to worry im still willing to host the game if there will b people playing

Hello again, that time of the year, anyone interested in playing?

I wasn't at the last respawn so I hear it wasn't played at all.

The Victorian Government is taking action* so you spend less time playing other games and more time playing OpenTTD.

*I love Government catch phrases: http://www.google.com.au/search?hl=en&...mp;aql=&oq= but with quotes around the search term, since this forum annoyingly changes " to "

"Peter Sadler Transport" manages to win again using nothing but trucks, but did fail to meet the challenge of "2000 trucks". He had 255 of them, generating 2 million profit a year and a performance of 55%, a result that surprised both of us.

The State Transport Authority did build a very long haul railway that spanned nearly the entire 512x512 map, and cost $100 thousand per track, but still had a low performance of 41%. I suspect that is due to the "Inter-Urban" trains I had running to towns of population of 500.

Unfortunately the server only ran for a few hours before it was shut down so we didn't really get to do any longer term plans.

Also, the BR Class 47 Locomotive aka "Floss 47" had a reliability of 100% Awesome.

Everything has a 100% reliability when you turn off breakdowns ;D