Difference between revisions of "Trains"

Revision as of 04:01, 5 October 2024

Screenshot TBA

Trains are the main means of transportation in Mashinky, both because that is where the game's focus lie, and because trains have far greater capacity than other means of transportation (road vehicles). Players can use Trains to transport both Passengers and cargo from various industries. Each Train consists of at least one Engine and usually one or more Wagons. Trains are automatically given a numeric name based on the order you purchase the Engines, never reusing old numbers. Each Train's Orders are tied to the Train's lead Engine. Whenever you sell this Engine, the associated Train name and orders will disappear. Trains can be renamed freely. Trains are purchased in Depots.

Train Info Window Interface

Clicking on any train on the map will open the train info window with several tabs:

• Train Information and Stats
• Train Orders
• Train Statistics (Please note: this is unfinished feature in the game at the time of this page being created.)

Multiple Units

There are many names (double-heading, push-pull, distributed power etc) for what amounts to the same thing: having more than one locomotive pull the train (at the head, at the end, or anywhere in between). As of this writing you are free to have as many engines you like in any given train with no limitations except one: every train must have an engine in the lead. In real-life, many factors limited the use of multiple units. In Mashinky however, they work together with no overhead costs or special issues.

Do keep in mind that the lead locomotive still carries the train's orders. That is, the first locomotive is more special than any others in the train. You will find that the game UI resists you if you try to use drag and drop to remove the lead engine from a train. Try this:

1. Send your train to a depot
2. Purchase a new (second) engine. It will appear on its own line, as its own train (with a new number).
3. Drag this engine into the older train right behind the lead engine using your mouse. You will find you cannot directly place it in front. The newly minted train number disappears as the new engine is now considered part of the older train.
4. Drag the existing (old) lead engine to a position further back in the train, so it is no longer the lead engine. Make sure an engine (your new engine) is the first unit (the game won't allow a wagon to lead a train). This engine now assumes the lead, and holds the train's orders.
5. If you want you can now drag this old engine out of the train entirely (or just sell it in place).

Now you have successfully retained the train's orders but with a new engine in front.

Alternatively, you can use the game's dedicated UI for Renovation and Upgrade.

Train Vehicles

• Engines

• Wagons

Operating Cost

For more details, see Operating Costs.

Each train costs tokens to operate, based on its engine(s). Wagons have no operating costs. Most early engines cost simply money tokens. Later engines require coal , diesel or energy tokens.

The relation between industry production and fuel expenditure can be illustrated with an example:

If a base Factory is well supplied with Diesel it may produce 3 Diesel Tokens per game tick (actual output may vary, and can furthermore be increased by purchasing extensions). A diesel engine such as the fourth (diesel) era V220 is listed to have an operating cost of 1 . What this means is that as long as the Factory is fully operational it enables you to run fifteen V220 engines without running out of diesel tokens.

However, assuming Vehicle Aging has not been disabled, fuel consumption increases as the engines get older. After 50 years of service without renovation, just three V220s will consume the entire production of that Factory!

What this means is that should you decide to build a fleet of steam locomotives, you need to first make sure you are well supplied with (coal tokens) and the same goes for diesel and electric engines. The engines that run on money alone (such as the 2-6-0 Porter you start with, and the 60E in the Electric era) are the easiest to work with for beginner players. They do the job just as well, so strictly speaking you don't need engines that run on coal, diesel and energy; consider Mashinky offering them for variety!

Train Aging

The maintenance / fuel cost of a train depends not only on the type of the train but also on its age. Player has a choice to enable or disable the train aging feature in the main game setting before launching a new game. This setting CANNOT be changed for older saved game. You can also enable/disable fuel costs altogether separately (and even set it to a higher baseline cost).

Lets see all the details of Vehicle Aging and Game Settings.