Gameplay suggestion

[Pazzie]

Hi all.. im new here, and i was thinking about mts 2 and 1..

What i really miss in part 1 is a sort of career mode or company mode, that you can drive for a company, not the same route over and over again, but sometimes route a then b.. then a route and turn around and back again.. enroute you can experience problems.. weather related, people related, mechanical failures etc. Or you sign up at a company and work your way to the better and bigger trains..

Sounds oke? Or am i the only one with this thought?

[BNSF4723]

Seeing how this version of Train Simulator includes the "World of Rails" system, what you hope to see should be very easy to achieve, at least in the way of "driving wherever you want" and not being limited to certain routes.

[Driverman2008]

I like the idea of a career mode in a train simulation game.:cool: I would consider it.:) However, I think it's going to be like in MSTS 1 and Rail Simulator where you "Pick 'n' Choose" at any time you want, any where you want, and no "Leveling Up".

[Pazzie]

Well still i hope so.. maybe like in FS9 with fspassengers, in were you can simulate a pilot and make money in order to grow bigger.. In fsx there also will be a fspassengers x.. MSTS 2 is based upon that engine.. Lets hope so, cause with msts 1 the addons made me play it again.. without addons i doubt that..

Btw when are the 2009 holidays? Cause on a Dutch site, a store which is a official microsoft supplier has the release date set on 31 of december.. or offcourse later then that..

[Driverman2008]

Well still i hope so.. maybe like in FS9 with fspassengers, in were you can simulate a pilot and make money in order to grow bigger.. In fsx there also will be a fspassengers x.. MSTS 2 is based upon that engine.. Lets hope so, cause with msts 1 the addons made me play it again.. without addons i doubt that..

Btw when are the 2009 holidays? Cause on a Dutch site, a store which is a official microsoft supplier has the release date set on 31 of december.. or offcourse later then that..
I thought that in the gaming industry, "Holiday" means December (the month of Christmas, Kwanza, and Hanukkah). And "New Years" means January (the month of New Year's Day).

[eaglefan9727]

"Holidays" pretty much means anything between the week of Thanksgiving to the 24th of December.

[rdamurphy]

I'd just like a "random scenario" generator, you climb in the locomotive, drive by the signals, and watch trains come and go at the sidings, with random failures ("hot boxes", broken knuckles, etc.)

Robert

[coreynolds]

I agree. Knowing that a failure will take place, and where and when it will take place ruins the fun. Especially if all the failure is is an error message that tells you that there is one, and nothing really happens. Not to mention in many cases (ex. MSTS1 Default Activity: Murder on Board), the game has no idea whether or not you actually follow the instructions. Activities that are just plain with no excitement at all (just like real life), with the chance of failures, accidents, misshaps, etc. that could happen any time, would be much more realistic, and certainly add to the fun.

[longiron]

I wonder if these types of options will be included in TS2?

Copied from MSDN website covering the Mission SDK for FSX.

Failure Action
A failure action is used to change the behavior of one of the aircraft's systems. It is possible also to change a failing system's status back to fully functional, by changing its HealthPercent value to 100. Failures only apply to the user aircraft, unless the TargetPlayer property specifies otherwise.

Property Description
Generic Action Properties See description above.
System
One of:
(Engines and systems)
Engine, EngineFire, Coolant, OilSystem, OilLeak, VacuumSystem, Pitot, Static, ElectricalSystem, Generator, FuelPump, FuelLeak, APU, APUFire, TurbineIgnition, HydraulicPump, HydraulicLeak, LeftMagneto, RightMagneto

(Control surfaces and structural)
Elevator, LeftAileron, RightAileron, Rudder, RearTail, LeftFlap, RightFlap, LeftWing, LeftWingTip, RightWing, RightWingTip

(Landing gear)
CenterGear, RightGear, LeftGear, AuxGear, LeftBrake, RightBrake, BrakeSystemHydraulicSource

(Instruments)
AltitudeIndicator, AirspeedIndicator, Altimeter, DirectionalGyro, Compass, TurnCoordinator, VSI

(Radios)
ComRadios, NavRadios, ADFRadios, Transponder

SystemIndex
If an aircraft has multiple systems (usually applies to engines or instruments), enter the index of the system that the failure should apply to.
Behavior Not implemented, use the HealthPercent property.
HealthPercent Enter a value of between 0 (complete failure) and 100 (fully functional). For System entries such as OilLeak or FuelLeak the lower the HealthPercent the greater the leak. For control surfaces such as LeftWingTip the HealthPercent determines the lift. For instruments and radios no partial or intermittent behavior is implemented, so set the HealthPercent to 0 for not operational, or 100 for fully operational.
TargetPlayer The players who should experience the failure. One of: Local Player, All Players, Triggering Player, All but Triggering Player.

While not random, it certainly could spice up activities!

[SurvivorSean]

It all depends on what SimConnect will open up with MSTS-X. If it opens up massive amounts of variables then it's going to happen eventually. But on the other hand if your limited to the amount of data then it won't be possible at least with the version on release.

I'm no engine mod expert, but say the Max Velocity is a variable in the engines (I believe it is with MSTS 1). If SimConnect allows access to that variable within gameplay to alter the max horsepower rating to a lower number (to simulate an engine cut out) then we are home free. If however it's not available to SimConnect then no add on program (no matter how good the program) will be able to change it.

As mentioned in another thread I think it's safe to assume better dispatching, allowing for programs like Activity Changer (MSTS-1) can be a basis for a new add-on that would allow altering of start times. If the dispatching system has been improved, then this alone will improve MSTS-X activities.

It's kind of sad that a program prior to MSTS called RailSim did a pretty good job with random trains and signals. The signals could be seen well in the distance, and each time you ran you never knew what to expect, or where you would be held. This was with no priorities or paths however, so you still ran from a to b.

Thanks

Sean