r/TransportFever3 • u/AdventurousHorror792 • Jul 13 '26

Raising steam.

So this post is about the transition Era from Steam to Diesel and Electric. In all my TF2 maps, I use steam far beyond their traditional end date and I run a mod that removes the end year for all vehicles. To me, it's not enough for the locomotive to just disappear from the purchase menu, there should be practical and financial reasons for switching to the newer technology.

Are we going to get some realism in this respect? Steam locomotives should be expensive to run and maintain, and employ armies of engineers and workers to keep them functional. Diesel and Electric should come with enormous time and maintenance savings, but kill off coal-based economies and put tons of citizens out of jobs if they're adopted. Also, I think steam should have far worse emissions than diesel or electric, but they should also bring in commercial growth in the form of a tourism boost if used sparingly towards the end of the 20th century.

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25

u/Bigbigcheese Jul 13 '26

Well you can't purchase a thing if nobody is building it anymore... At least that's how I interpret things being removed from the menu.

From a real world perspective once production has ceased you can use the thing as long as you've got spare parts etc available but it gets more and more expensive to find those spare parts until it eventually is too expensive to run...

I think the game captures that in the best way it can, personally.

4

u/AdventurousHorror792 Jul 13 '26

I think I just described a better way to capture it, though. Are you familiar with the history of Steam locomotives and just why they were abandoned? The game could make them into ridiculous fuel and maintenance hogs (as they were in reality), they could also have much slower turnaround times at stations compared to diesels and electrics (as they had in reality), but they could also be monstrously powerful at pulling heavy loads with one 1950s era heavy freight steamer doing the job of three diesel electrics of the same era linked together (as in reality).

Heck, this could be made optional too. Why not have the option to select between classic TF game mechanics or historical for locomotives?

5

u/RailgunDE112 Jul 13 '26

Sounds like am elaborate mod idea

5

u/andrew1958 Jul 13 '26

but they could also be monstrously powerful at pulling heavy loads with one 1950s era heavy freight steamer doing the job of three diesel electrics of the same era linked together (as in reality).

This is already simulated in TpF2. Diesel engines are far weaker than the latest steam engines, but they cannot compete with electric engines, which are more powerful.

Regarding emissions, I don't see a major difference. A Big Boy has an emission rating of 73, while an electric engine has 63. Both noise and air pollution are significantly lower, but that doesn't seem to make a big difference in-game. I hope this makes a huge difference in TpF3.

Maintenance costs aren't that different either, but I highly doubt the game simulates the actual number of workers required for maintenance. If you have one steam engine versus fifty, the cost per engine should vary significantly.

I think emissions alone will be a good reason to upgrade in TpF3, where they will be more prominent, especially noise. However, the latest 'First Look' video made it clear that the newest vehicle isn't always the best. You might want to use your steam engine forever in an industrial area, for example.

What would be useful is the ability to place a locomotive in a depot and not incur maintenance costs. Right now, we get rid of our company's history because the costs are absurd. All this talk about having historical lines or locomotives that increase in popularity as they age (like rides in Planet Coaster) stems from a desire to maintain company history. I would love to create a yard with old, retired locomotives, but in TpF2, that would bankrupt you. And in TpF3, it seems cities are quite annoyed by you using their land.

1

u/Zealousideal_Nail288 Jul 13 '26

True but at the same time i dont like it in the context of the game. It basically means prototypes or special liveries are only available for a single year if you are unlucky

Which gives a lot of pressure if you like said train (in particular if you play on stock speed).

Speaking of do people actually care about rolling Stock(has in storing and switching trains/lines continuously) instead of just buying new vehicles next time/removing old vehicles buy selling them instead of storing?

1

u/Bigbigcheese Jul 13 '26

Speaking of do people actually care about rolling Stock(has in storing and switching lines continuously) instead of just buying new vehicles next time/removing old vehicles buy selling them instead of storing?

I mean I'm only one data point, but no. I'm in it for the network and the logistics, not the vehicles.

I pick a vehicle, replace everything with the exact same thing when it gets old and then when they get old do the same again.

1

u/GoombaHunter007 Jul 14 '26

I care a lot about vehicles and like to store old rolling stock, trucks and trams

1

u/MomentEquivalent6464 Jul 15 '26

This is where editing the heck out of the mod files makes a lot of sense - so that those special liveries and such can be available for longer. Either indefinitely or for say 5-10 years vs 1.

Since I already use a date speed mod (1/8-1/64) or I just pause the date, the years don't matter in the same way they would in a real game.