Transit transfer?

[local_authority01 3]

I got 2 quick questions about transportation:

1.)  How gradual do my curves need to be on any of my rail networks?  I can only do 45 degrees but how many tiles do I have to cross for a train to turn? (I dont care about UDI, but I have completed it in the past with only 1 tile turn if I slow the train down enough.  I dont think the game will slow trains down enough to make these tight turns though.)  How many tiles do they need?

2.)  If getting trains to turn takes up to much space, I'll have to use a differant transit strategy.  I am wondering if my tracks go staright North-South will a sim walk/drive to a East-West bus to the North-South train and then get on another East-West bus to get to work?  I know there is a transit transfer penelty but is there a limit on the amount of transit transfers a sim will do to commute? 

[astronelson 339]

Welcome to the forums!

Trains won't turn 90 degrees straight away. You will need a small stretch of 45 degree track - if you drag your tracks one tile short of where they would meet at 90 degrees, and then drag track from one end to the other, you will end up with a proper turn.

There are also curves in the NAM (network addon mod).

I'm not sure about the transfer penalty, sorry.

[SC4BOY 20]

1. As long as you have continuous track visually, the trains will work fine and with no penalty. In fact the game only recognises north-south and east-west. All those nice little curves and angles you see (even 45 degree roads) are actually made up of little stairsteps of right angles.. there IS NO DIAGONAL in the game.. they are only "eye candy" for looks. If you doubt that a turn you have made works, check it with the traffic query tool (alt-/)

2. As best I recall the "transfer penalty" only occurs for the FIRST transfer and none for any other transfer. I have seen sims take many transfers in the game just fine. The problem is that the pathfinding algorithm does rather poorly finding a route that STARTS in the "wrong" direction.. for examply going south to get on a train that then goes north for his commute.. unless those paths are quite restrictive, the game's "smarts" just doesn't do very well.

[local_authority01 3]

Thanks for the replies!!!  What I used to do when I played this game was to have my rails cross like a t and then add a two tile diagonal conection to the tracks to make an o around my t (wish I had screenie)  Alot of sims used my rails, however this was before I found out that rails needed to be connected gradually, so I dont know if any trains crossed from an East-West track to a North -South one.  They might have just followed a North-South and then used busses to get to their jobs.

I will set up my buses and rails in a similar fashion this time but I will test it to see if my trains are turning or if my sims are just taking buses from the trains to get to their jobs.  I'll post back the results in this thread.

I got a few more qusetions:

1.) Another thing I was wondering about was station placement.  I think the stations for passenger rail are 2x3 and freight rail stations are 3x2.  Can these stations still function if I rotate them in a differant direction?

2.)  I read in the strategy guide that a tile of street or road needs to be placed between transit stations to allow transfers.  Does this still apply with NAM?

[Vahr 341]

1. The maxis stations can be placed in any rotation

2. Yes, there needs to be at least tile of something between them, or side by side along a network. Unless the station is modded to do all possible switching internally.

[SC4BOY 20]

Originally posted by: local_authority01

What I used to do when I played this game was to have my rails cross like a t and then add a two tile diagonal conection to the tracks to make an o around my t (wish I had screenie)  Alot of sims used my rails, however this was before I found out that rails needed to be connected gradually, so I dont know if any trains crossed from an East-West track to a North -South one.  They might have just followed a North-South and then used busses to get to their jobs.

quote>

This part suggests you might think it didn't work to "T" the tracks with the little "dipsy-do" at the junction. It works FINE. It may not look "realistic" but is actually perfectly functional from the game's standpoint.

I'm not sure from your comment if you understood my "north-south/east-west" comment. All I meant is that a sim NEVER TAKES A 45 degree (or any other angle other than 90) movement.. it is all made of stairsteps, independent of what you "see" when you look at your network tiles.

[Vahr 341]

Well technically...

The game treats diagonals in terms of pathfinding as stairsteps. However, to the tile engine, it is a true diagonal. Why? If the tile engine did not recognize diagonals, there would be no 01, 03, or related flags in the Individual Network RULs, IntersectionSolutions RUL, and IntersectionOrdering RUL.

[SC4BOY 20]

How can there be a "true diagonal" when the game is squares and interfaces only at the edges? You've puzzled me with that statement.. Afraid I don't know what "01,03" etc is all about, but you'd have to do some "splaining" to convince me it has diagonals.

[local_authority01 3]

I am desperatley praying that Sim City 5 will allow for diagnal buildings, roads, etc. so that cities will look more realistic.  I get bored of always using similar grid patterns for my cities.  How Maxis does this though is beyond me, maybe hexes would work?  I think that the only way the player will be able to build a realistic city with Sim City 5 would be if maxis allows the player to draw his/her own lot parcels, similar to drag and drop zonning, but with a pen that marked lot lines.  It would be kind of like CAD, but more user friendly with a better UI. 

Anyway......back to topic:  My North-South rails were able to turn onto my East-West networks.  I had regular t intersections, and then I made diagnal connections that had a length of 2 and connected 1 tile away from the t intersection.  I queried the diagonal track and my trains are actually using these "stairsteps" to turn onto another track.

Using rails and crossing them takes up a lot of room in my city.  I am not even using them for freight trips anymore.  Does anyone have any ideas on how to make a good passenger rail network that doesnt take up too much space?  How do you use rail networks in your cities?  Thanks