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03/18, 2011 02:20PM calimero 21 posts
Another original tactical sheme: to transport multiple cargos in one train. Usually people use one train per cargo type: the goods or food or any secondary industrial product is transported by dedicated trains from a dedicated pickup station. This maintains the station ratings and keep the payments high.

An alternative approach is to bring back the goods with the same train, and transfert them to other vehicules who will deliver them to the final destination. In the example above we have a city in station A, a farm in station B and a food factory in station C. The trains go from B to C carrying grain and livestock. They also have some food wagons (about 40% of the train). When they arrive to the factory they bring back the food at B and unload it without making money. From there road vehicules deliver to A.

Why to do that? What is the interest?
- To keep the min profit high, even using road vehicules: they get all the payements for the goods and make a good profit (14000 minimum per rv in the example).
- To keep min revenue stable: less wagons to load so the trains moves fast and the payements are not too spaced and the revenue curve is not going up and down. The station ratings are kept high with the frequency of the trains entering in. To space the trains and optimize the ratings timetables can be used.

You can't start with that unless you already have enough for a big investment. To make money in the first times I start with a classical line to deliver primary products. When I have enough trains on this line I make the delivery junction and the road/track to the final delivery destination. Then I buy another train and start to add goods wagons and change the orders to feed the junction. A roundloop line is also possible: in this the trains directly deliver the goods to the final destination and come back to load. This is just efficient when the final delivery destination is not far from the primary industry, or when it is along the line from primary industry to factory.

This is quite fun to play because you need to make your network evolve until all is well balanced. If you are tired of boring single lines, give a try to this original kung-fu style.
multiple_cargo.sav, 62 downloads.