Operating Costs

Vehicle operating costs (or fuel consumption) depends on several factors: Base Cost, Game Settings, and Vehicle Ageing.

Base Cost

Each train engine has a base cost, shown in depot on the vehicle purchase tab and on the info tab in the train window. Road vehicles all have the same base cost of 1 Cash Token.

Game Settings

The operating costs are disabled entirely if fuel cost is set to Disabled. The base cost is doubled if it is set to Higher, a setting that also accelerates fuel consumption (see below).

The effects of ageing (see the next section) is enabled by default, but you can set Maintenance according to age to Disabled.

Vehicle Ageing

How often you pay this base cost determines the true cost of running an engine or vehicle. In short, when a locomotive is brand new, you pay this cost every 5 game ticks (assuming the fuel cost game setting is set to Default). However, if you run the locomotive for fifty years without renovating it, you now pay this cost every game tick - a fivefold increase in fuel consumption!

See Vehicle Aging for the full explanation.

Notes

• Operating cost applies only to the engine; wagons are (at this time) maintenance free.
• The operating cost applies to each engine in a train separately and independently. There are no costs or discounts for double-heading, for instance: you just have to pay twice as much for using two locomotives.
• Engines only cost money and resources when they are running. Not when stopped, either manually or when sent to a Depot.

Fuel Cost Preset

• Disabled - Fuel cost is set to 0, trains run for free.
• Default - Base fuel cost is charged every 5 game ticks for trains and every 7 game ticks for road vehicles
• Higher - Double amount of the base fuel cost is charged every 3 game ticks for trains and every 5 game ticks for road vehicles

Age of the vehicle

The maintenance / fuel cost of a vehicle depends not only on the type of the vehicle but also on its age. Player has a choice to enable or disable the Vehicle aging feature in the main game setting before launching a new game. This setting cannot be changed for older saved game. Lets see all the details of Vehicles Aging