Value confusion in the editor

[arop]

Working in the editor I sometimes wonder how to set, for instance engine reability, fuel costs etc. when breakdowns or fuel costs are not in - + % (understandable), but in grades (confusing). Can anyone help me to figure out.

[OilCan]

Arop:
I had the same question about the levels as well until I decided to test what a one level at a time change would do to reliability, acceleration and fuel cost. I also used low_grade's loco spreadsheet to find the possible range of quality levels for each one. I test several different train engines, including electric engines, to see what an incremental one level change would do. I even tested it going backwards by reducing one level at a time to see if the effect was constant.

Here's what I found: changing reliability, acceleration &/or fuel costs +/- 'X' level changes its quality by +/- 'X' level.

For Fuel Economy, there are 10 possible quality levels:
Atrocious
Extremely Poor
Very Poor
Poor
Below Average
Average
Above Average
Good
Very Good
Outstanding.
<> Changing fuel cost by subtracting one level, which improves fuel economy, moves the fuel economy condition up to the next quality level. For example, if the condition is Very Poor, subtracting one level moves fuel condition up to Poor. Subtracting two levels moves fuel economy up two quality levels, up to Below Average, Subtracting 3 levels moves it up to Average and so on.


For acceleration, there are also 10 possible quality levels:
Very Poor
Poor
Below Average
Average
Above Average
Fast (different than fuel econ & reliability)
Very Fast
Ultra Fast
Virtually Instant
Instant
<> Changing acceleration by adding one level, improves acceleration by one qualifier level: from Very Poor to Poor for example. Adding 2 levels improves acceleration by two qualifier levels: Very Poor to Below Average. And so on.

For reliability, there are only 9 possible quality levels:
Very Poor
Poor
Below Average
Average
Above Average
Good
Very Good
Outstanding
Near Perfect
<> Same story...changing reliability by adding one level,improves reliability by one qualifier level, adding 2 levels improves it two qualifier levels and so on.

This means, that changing fuel economy, acceleration or reliability by ONE level is about the same as a 10% change, TWO levels are 20% change and such.

You can REDUCE reliability, acceleration and reliability using the same one-to-one relationship.

[arop]

very much! Your information can be useful for future maps. Until now I have avoided to use some of these values in my mapmaking, not finding them very logical when for instance: if a want to make an event concerning the superheater that reduces all engine's coal consumption by 10% if chosen.

[OilCan]

A follow-up thought on this...

There is a huge range of reliability, acceleration and fuel economy conditions between engines although there is a trend of improvement as the years progress. As a general, personal rule, I often add two levels of reliability to train engines in the 1800s and one level for 1900s diesel and steam trains at the start-up of a game which I make. I don't like lots of train breakdowns because the message becomes annoying and I think this helps keep the number of breakdowns to a reasonable amount. I don't tamper with acceleration and fuel economy, usually letting the player decide if they want to pay for those improvements.

[nedfumpkin]

Here are the numerical values for what oilcan posted...


fuel economy
-------------
1.0 outstanding
2.0 very good
3.0 good
4.0 above average
5.0 average
6.0 below average
7.0 poor
8.0 very poor
9.0 extremely poor
10.0 atrocious

fuel type
------------
0 steam
1 diesel
2 electric


reliability
-------------
2 very poor
3 poor
4 below average
5 average
6 above average
7 good
8 very good
9 outstanding
10 near perfect


acceleration
-------------
1 extremely poor
2 very poor
3 poor
4 below average
5 average
6 above average
7 fast
8 very fast
10 virtually instant
11 instant


passenger appeal
----------------
0 ugly
1 acceptable
2 looks sharp
3 ultra cool

[Llewelyn]

related to this, the economic status effect seems only to allow setting a value, not a +/-. anyone recall how many values there are?

[nedfumpkin]

Depends on whter you are 1.06/TM or 1.05...from the 1.06 docs:

Adds the ability to disable random economic changes. The 'set Economic State' effect
now accepts these values:
0 depression - 8 permanent depression
1 recession - 9 permanent recession
2 normal -10 permanent normal
3 prosperity - 11 permanent prosperity
4 boom - 12 permanent boom

Note that the economic state condition will still report the corresponding
0-4 value even if the effect has been set to be permanent.