Station List and $ Signs

[OilCan]

Another couple of questions for the experienced RT3ers.

What information does the station list tell me besides which station has the most cargo waiting at it? Is there something else I need to pay attention to on the station list? Is there something I need to do with this information?

And...about those green dollar signs which float in front of a station. Is there a special message in them besides that there is a lot of 'wealth' of cargo at the station? Do I need to be do something different with my train schedules if there are a lot of dollar signs, or not?

The more I play this game, the more I get absorbed into it. And I'm still trying to figure out the fine points.

[proudcanadian]

I think the station list also shows the highest amounts of demand for specific cargoes at other stations. As for the dollar signs, I believe that they are just showing a lot of money is being made at the station, as they also appear when trains deliver cargo.

[Hawk]

As for the dollar signs, I believe that they are just showing a lot of money is being made at the station, as they also appear when trains deliver cargo.

Isn't that the only time they appear, when a train delivers its cargo?

[nedfumpkin]

I'm pretty sure that the green dollar signs are from the delivery of cargo.

I use the station list for quickly jumping from station to station and looking at their detail. If you double click a station in the list is pops you there.(I think it's double click.)

[proudcanadian]

Isn't that the only time they appear, when a train delivers its cargo?

I thought that too, but they sometimes appear when I jump to a station by clicking on its location on the map, even when there's no train nearby.

[Hawk]

I never noticed that. 'Course that might be because I never paid any attention to it.

[j484fan]

I realize this is a year old post, but I found it interesting and tried something that seems to help. I especially found it useful on the Germany map. I wanted to find out what actual railroads there were in Germany and upon researching this, found that Hamburg is one of if not the biggest terminal in Germany. I remember my share of war movies where trains played a part, and several trains were dispatched from Hamburg to Berlin.
However, when I first played this map, it didn't take long for Hamburg to become seriously congested as I was easily running twenty plus trains to/from that terminal. So I decided to try two stations, Hamburg West Terminal and Hamburg East. I have found that this relieved congestion enough, that I could have even more trains running one city than with a single station. Only problem now is trying to find out what other cities may have played and still do play such an important factor. I am currently running 75+ trains on that map and over 158 on another with no lag in game play. The other one is the player adjusted map of East of the Mississippi.
And as someone else on here I believe stated, if a station is making a ton, the dollar signs are always present. If you look that station up in the list, it should be one of the highest in both freight and express quantity's as well.


P.S. anyone know where to find a free file manager for handling TGA images? I would post some screenshots of my idea if I could.

[Hawk]

P.S. anyone know where to find a free file manager for handling TGA images? I would post some screenshots of my idea if I could.

Try Irfanview.

[j484fan]

hmmm I am able to now view the screensaver images, but it wont let me save as a Plugin for the Web I get this message:
Can't load PlugIn: "RIOT.DLL"!
Please install or update plugins from Irfanview homepage.

Not sure which files to look for or where to put them, any suggestions?

[Hawk]

On the main Irfanview page click on the link on the left that says 'PlugIns'. Then click on the link that says 'irfanview_plugins_427.zip'.
Download, unzip, and run the exe, pointing it to the right installation directory.

[j484fan]

These are the shots from my Germany map I have been playing with (not that I created, I don't know enough about computers for that). Now to come up with some sort of an easy timetable to keep track of my trains. As I said though, having two terminals in a city you plan on developing into one of the major cities does seem to help a great deal. Now if there was a good map where one could put this into practice running the crack passenger trains and hot intermodals along the Water Level Route and into Chicago as it would have been in its heyday

[Hawk]

See if this link helps. viewtopic.php?f=49&t=958

[j484fan]

If you see above, finally got those pics posted. I knew it was more simple than I was making it, just couldn't see where to do it. Thanks for the link Hawk

[Hawk]

Glad it helped.

[Moggie]

There are only two scenarios in which I've used two stations in the same city. In Eastern China, when Beijing is spread in such a way that one station cannot cover it, I've had Beijing North and Beijing South. In Chunnel I've had London and London International and Brussels and Brussels International...

[Hawk]

I've used two stations in quite a few maps. There's even been a couple where I've placed 3 stations in a city.

Please don't ask me which scenarios I did that in though.

[j484fan]

There are only two scenarios in which I've used two stations in the same city. In Eastern China, when Beijing is spread in such a way that one station cannot cover it, I've had Beijing North and Beijing South. In Chunnel I've had London and London International and Brussels and Brussels International...

I hear what you're saying Moggie, but what I was running into was losing money on even high priority trains due to so many being in the station at one time. That was my reason for trying two stations in the one city I knew would have several inbound/outbound from both directions. So far it seems to have worked great in allowing me to increase the number of trains I have running.
Also take for example on the East of Mississippi map, I run 4 trains each from Blue Field and Roanoke to Norfolk Virginia. I also setup the Northeast Corridor run on that map and have as many as 15 trains just running express in various setups between NYC and Was DC. That doesn't count all my freights running the corridor plus the smaller locals to the small towns and from towns that in Norfolk Southern time period run onto that area from Allentown and Harrisburg Yards. Of course being a game I run extras as well, even a few from Altoona. I have 158 trains and growing on that map, and may even do some complete restructuring of tracks and stations in some areas since certain cities have grown from when I originally started.

[Moggie]

Yup, on that sort of traffic I completely understand that you want two stations. I double-track a station at about 3-4 trains but I usually don't get into a situation where I have to go two stations.

[EPH]

In 'British Miracle' it helps to put two stations in Birmingham to handle the huge volume of traffic. Likewise more than one station is probably necessary for St Louis in 'North-South Corridor'.