Right now my version numbering is fine (have maybe 5 various exe files in the folder). A random bug like this would be hard to track.
I always had it in the back of my mind that there was some reason that Milo disabled price islands in 1.06. Thought about it some more and here's two cons:
>#3. Opens a new exploit
The reliable exploit is this: For virgin stations as soon as you load one at-a-loss car, the station cell price will switch to that of the destination cell for that particular cargo. (Please note what was previously mentioned by Cash on Wheels about Coal on Madagascar map
here.)
Suppose you are shipping to an area of very low price (basically the lowest price you can find, can be on top of a mountain, in an isolated valley, edge of map, etc.), in CoW's example I linked to that was a $0 demand for Coal. When you load that first car, the price at the origin station (virgin) will be set by the game to that of the destination station. This is the "island." This is exploitable by then changing the custom consist to load more cars (these will all be profit neutral, $0k). Once the train is on it's way (if done in station, normal rules: some revenue will be lost, haven't defined the percentage, not really interested), the real "cheat" comes in because you can then switch the destination. It can even be a station on the next cell. It will be as if you hauled from that very low price cell, even though you are only doing a small hop.
This is intentful re-hauling. This can of course be repeated in a cycle (as long as you load in the old cell with custom consist going towards the low-price station, then switch the destination after leaving the station). This ties in with one of the strongest haulage cheats in the game. For example, if you have to haul x loads to a territory, place one station just inside that territory, with a second outside. You can pick up the loads that are physically "inside" that territory from the station outside. This re-haul can be done many times (switch destination on trains if profitability is an issue in 1.05). This doesn't classify as back-hauling. The game doesn't care where the cargo is scooped from (within station radius), that single station cell is all that matters for price, origin etc.. You will get a total of 1,000s this way even if very little cargo is actually available.
For regular game environment stations that have many trains running through them, reliability of manipulating station cell price drops (CoW's Coal example seems to indicate it's still not that hard). With normal haulage (auto consist or Freight only) there could be an "island" (lock on price at station cell) from normal distribution. But, players tend to use Custom Consist for rare resources increasing the chance that this exploit will work. Of course, just building a new extra station will give guaranteed performance.
This is a con for sure. Debatable as to how serious it is. There are strong cheats for haulage even in 1.05 (facilitated in 1.06), this takes those concepts and makes it into a strong cheat for ill-gotten gain. It seems that at least within the forum membership there are currently not many people who play the game in the style of cheating haulage. Back when 1.06 was released there may have been more active members/testers who used/explored these haulage tricks.
I notice that map makers are not diligent about closing the door on probably the worst cheating method possible: Starting Multiple Companies (unlimited CBV and PNW), when it only takes one tick in the map conditions. For this reason, perhaps re-opening the exploit door mentioned above has a lessened impact.
>#4. Another con (related, but this one affects "honest" play), loss-making hauls have weaker negative revenues:
Whenever a price island is active a custom consist (at-a-loss) haul is likely much closer to revenue neutral. Sometimes they will be at $0k (if the price at the destination is stable), the rest of the time the negative values are likely to be less in magnitude (when destination price has fallen further since price island was established). This especially affects high volume situations when multiple trains are running the route before price island expiration.
The potential advantage depends on the base cargo price of the one in question. I will point out that the player is of course paying fuel and engine running costs for each haul so a ($0k) isn't really "free." In my experience I tend to use Custom Consist for the rare cargoes, it's not unlikely that these have a greater than average distance of haulage, putting fuel and running costs above average.
A word of explanation on Pro #4. Summary: the lock on price provided by an "island" is helpful for running industry in general.
Consider the scenario of two competing industries in nearby cities connected by active train routes. Memphis and Jackson both have Textile Mills. Natural supply is directed to the Jackson one. Assuming equal distance between the station and both mills (IRL this will be a compromise or not considered). Because the Jackson one is well-supplied the price in Jackson will never be higher than that at Memphis where price can hit maximum. It's natural for some Cotton to get hauled to Memphis. What price "islands" do is reduce the frequency at which this can happen. Each time that Cotton is shipped to Memphis, the station cell in Jackson gets locked at the same price. Only when the lock expires (approx. 1 year?) is there the opportunity for more Cotton to be shipped. Consequence: Jackson Textile Mill still has a consistent supply of cargo making it a solid industry investment.