My one biggest gripe

[Pat in the desert]

My one biggest gripe about RRT3 while playing it. When building track. When trying to branch off an existing line, the tool that tries to help lay it out is WAY too sticky or 'snappy'. So if I'm trying to take a new line off at like a 30 degree angle, I drag away from the old line to the direction I want to go. And nothing happens. So I move further away from the old line. Finally, suddenly, it "snaps" and displays a lovely arcing curve of track leading off at like a 90 degree angle. Lovely but nothing like what I wanted. At times I've had to accept what it keeps giving me and then bulldoze it back to where it heads in the right direction.

One work around that I've done is to lay the new line on the intended approach, but STOP before it gets close enough to SNAP to the existing line. Then once that track is down, drag the connection piece from where it stopped to the old line. Usually works pretty good. BUT if the scenario has the 'all track must be connected' rule, you can't even do that!

It does not ruin the game, not THAT bad. But it does cause this operator to mutter some choice language at the screen when wrestling with it, turning the air a slight tint of blue.
Thanks for letting me vent on this....

[Hawk]

While maybe not my biggest gripe, I do agree with you on this. It is a bit of an annoyance.

[Wolverine@MSU]

I suggest going into the Editor and removing the "No unconnected track" provision and being honest about not defeating the intent of the limitation. I agree that it is sometimes a PITA to try and build with the rule in place, but I see nothing wrong with turning it off and not abusing the fact that it's off.

[OilCan]

I suggest going into the Editor and removing the "No unconnected track" provision...

And, while you are at the 'special conditions' list in the game editor, check ON the condition for disabling train crashes or breakdowns, or at least disable train crashes.

[KevinL]

OilCan, why would you do that? Crashes and breakdowns are part of the game. Not even today's super trains are immune from problems. Disabling train crashes would be cheating in my opinion.

My biggest gripe about "no unconnected track" is trying to place a station in just the right place. In an "unconnected track" scenerio, I can place a station where ever I want to "capture" the most buildings within the green square. But the other way, I have to build the track first and then hope I have it right when I place the station.

[Wolverine@MSU]

One way I've found to help in placing stations under that situation is to "place" the station before building the track, getting it in the right place, and then putting my finger on the screen where the track will be. I then activate the track building tool and extend the track to that point (or a bit beyond). It works almost all the time. I also make sure I've saved the game before doing so, so that if it doesn't quite work, I can go back and try it again. I use the same "finger pointing" technique when placing industries in the cargo stream. I go to the cargo overlay, see where the cargo is on the map, plunk my finger on a good cell, then go to the buiilding menu, select the industry I want, and place it under my finger. On generally level terrain it works like a charm, but can be somewhat problematic in hilly terrain, or in cities, where buildings may block the placement I want. In that case, I go back to the cargo screen and select another cell.

Every few weeks, I get out the Windex and clean the smudges off my monitor

[OilCan]

OilCan, why would you do that? Crashes and breakdowns are part of the game.

True. And maybe I should have not been so hasty in suggesting that they be turned off. But as you know, late in a game when you have a map full of trains running around, those message boxes about replacing a crashed train become annoying. Upgrading older trains helps, but with so many trains, crashes seem to be happening all the time.

I've noticed that Arop has turned off crashes and breakdowns on just about all his maps. And I like that.

[OilCan]

.. and then putting my finger on the screen where the track will be.

I do the same thing - except I ususally forget to save the game before hand and then wish I had.

And...it is just me or do others notice that the game is most always in the night cycle when you have to lay the trickiest track?

[WPandP]

The major reason I prefer to disable train crashes is that there is no allowance to go into debt to replace a crashed train (an emergency scenario for which debt would be entirely reasonable), and your option to copy the crashed train's route expires as soon as you dismiss the dialog box. So, if you need to scrape together a few dimes to handle the situation, tough luck, you're gonna have to pause and re-create the whole route manually. That's unnecessarily annoying.

[nedfumpkin]

Actually, if the train is still burning on the track you can still copy its route, so the option of replacing the train isn't completly gone if you have no cash when you cancel to dialogue, you've got about a month to get the cash for this to work.

[WPandP]

Actually, if the train is still burning on the track you can still copy its route, so the option of replacing the train isn't completly gone if you have no cash when you cancel to dialogue, you've got about a month to get the cash for this to work.

Really? How do you do this? All I've ever known was that you're presented with a dialogue when the crash happens, with one button being the option to replicate the train. How do you get back to that replicate dialogue after you've dismissed it... or to some similar dialogue? I always figured that the burning train just sits there long enough so that you can see what its route was, but you still had to manually configure the new train to match.

[nedfumpkin]

Double click on the train and clone it. Wow...I figured this out way back when it first happened to me, I just figured everyone was doing the same thing. It also lets me see its route in case the train disappears and then I can replicate it. I think the difference is that it doesn't replace the locomotive, but adds it as a new, so the train number changes.

[WPandP]

... Learn something new every day! This game is HOW OLD? How can I not have learned this by now?

Thanks Ned!


(I only wish I didn't have to learn it from a chimpanzee...)

[nedfumpkin]

It's the tie...isn't it? You see it as a symbol of authority and your inner architect rejects the restrictions of authority and all it symbolizes...isn't it?

[Gandar]

Next time I'm in Hamilton I will be able to pick you out from your peers Ned, you will be the one in the classy blue Tie.

[nedfumpkin]

Unless of course I'm wearing my hat, then I am in an inpenetrable disguise. :)

[Gandar]

I don't know ned, lets see touque, tie, and sunglasses I think I may still spot you. ( embarrassing I know but its the ears, just a little bit sticky outy )

[Sugus]

Ned, it seems that it's too hard for you to stay in the States. Jump into the sea and swim to Europe! We're impatiently expecting you on the "good" side of the ocean, especially because you keep our loved game RT3 by means of TM alive!

[nedfumpkin]

Gandar...as you know, the temperature dropped today, so my ears are covered with ear muffs...:)

Sugus....but but I am in Canada, not the States...and well....okay...some friends of mine are going to ski the Alps in February, I will tag along. :)