Monorail Advice?

[cydonianmystery 96]

So even though I've owned Cities Skylines for years now, I've actually only just started really getting into it due to going for two years without a PC that could actually play it. And what I had before could only *barely* play it, at that. Now I have great framerates, and I'm enjoying the game a lot.

In the recent Paradox sale I picked up the Mass Transit DLC, and I'm really liking the monorail network, but I was wondering if people would be willing to give me some advice on how to use it most effectively. Specifically, I was wondering about the best niche for it to fill, how far I should be spacing apart stops, and how to handle making smoother curves.

Sofar, my thoughts on the monorail network have been the following:

• The Monorail/Train/Metro hub is really useful, and I want to use that to directly offload passengers from intercity trains, distributing them via monorail and metro.
• The over-avenue network strikes me as incredibly useful, as existing avenues can be upgraded directly, leaving no 'footprint' for the network

Yes, curves have been giving me a bit of an issue due to how in some instances, the tracks spaghettify (yes, I'm using Road Anarchy), and while I could just build over-avenue tracks, there are instances like the aforementioned hub has to be connected with standalone tracks. I'd generally like to avoid overly tight curves, due to how they make the trains come to a near-halt.

At least from my SimCity 4 experience, monorails are supposed to be really fast, so having trains struggling to negotiate really tight curves and slowing down is kind of a problem. But I'm starting to feel like that's kind of my problem, and not the game's... I'm more used to how SC4 worked, and this isn't the same game.

Sorry if this comes off as overly-noobish or is something people have answered a thousand times before elsewhere. I'll delete the topic if I'm being a nuisance. -_-

[cydonianmystery 96]

Since nobody ever bothered answering, I'll just post observations I made from my own playtesting.

The network honestly works best as a more space-efficient replacement for regular rail networks, as they seem to favor the same kind of distance between stops and need long, straight runs of track to reach full speed. So basically, hub-to-hub over long distances, with bus or metro feeding off of them. With over-avenue runs, this makes monorail basically space neutral and capable of being integrated into existing development.

Spaghettification of curves is avoided by ending avenues and continuing the track standalone, with curves of more than 25 x 25 desirable so trains won't slow down. That way you can continue to take advantage of the network's speed as much as possible.

Summary of observations:

• Monorail can replace regular rail in role but not metro, so it won't be your primary transport option.
• Monorail is best used in creating high-capacity transport infrastructure with zero footprint. (over-avenue tracks and stations)
• Unlike rail, monorail cannot be run underground or through tunnels so plan accordingly.
• Avoid tight curves, especially the built in curves on the over-avenue network because they kill trains' built up speed.
• Ending over-avenue stretches and continuing as standalone track is needed to avoid curves bugging out.
• Avoid putting monorail near residential, because it's really loud. (an oversight on CO's part, because monorails are very quiet IRL)
• Use of TMPE is needed to remove the network's speed limits, otherwise it's uncompetitive with standard rail. (another oversight on CO's part)

I hope this helps someone, because I actually really like the monorail network (especially paired with bsquikelhausen's Alweg trainset for additional vintage charm) and enjoy using it. It's a tempramental network with some flaws, but it can be made to work really well with enough practice and patience.

[Darth Apple 54]

I've created fairly extensive monorail networks in the past. At first, I started using them over very steep waterways where subways couldn't be built. I started building subways in the downtown areas and monorails to stretch out to the periphery. Over time, I started to come up with more detailed ways of approaching the problem. 

The number one thing I learned is that stations don't actually have to be that close together UNLESS they got too busy to handle the traffic without large numbers of waiting passengers. Sometimes, a station was simply too busy. When I saw one, I'd supplement it with other mass transit or bring a subway closer in that direction. But more often, I'd split the monorail line and create a second one that covered the other side of the neighborhood. 

The trickiest part is keeping the lines from having contention with each other. Putting two separate lines on the same track can cause problems on busy lines. Planning to have a line go across the city in a uniform manner helps tremendously with this. Monorails are generally much more tricky than Subways in this game, especially since CIMS are less likely to hop on a monorail than on a nearby Subway line (for some reason, the desireability of monorails is less than that of Subways. Not sure why.)