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Flemmbrav / Pak192.Comic

Pakset and Theme for Simutrans
https://forum.simutrans.com/index.php/board,120.0.html
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Police Volkswagen T2 can only be built in a convoy #92

Open MatthewForrester opened 2 years ago

MatthewForrester commented 2 years ago

Steps to reproduce

  1. Start an Extended game in 1975.
  2. Build a road depot.
  3. Open Trucks tab.
  4. Police Volkswagen T2 does not appear due to an unrelated bug in Extended, so click Show all.

Expected results

Police Volkswagen T2 appears; it can be built and started.

Actual results

Police Volkswagen T2 still does not appear. Change to Insert mode and it appears. It can be built only in a convoy with a Volkswagen Beetle.

image

Comments

Maybe this was intended as an imitation of police prison convoys, but if so it was not intuitive to me as a newbie to the pakset.

This was observed in the 0.6 RC release; I have not tested the latest GitHub commit.

Leartin commented 2 years ago

It's intended. It's not intuitive to you because it's not something typically seen in Simutrans, but it's not weird either. Basically, it's like a tender. At least in Standard, you only have a tender in your convoy because constraints don't allow you to build a train without. You accept that because... well, that's how you know the game. Did you start at that time period? In earlier times with the horses and carriages, it makes a bit more sense when you see it, especially since the horseback police don't have capacity. Perhaps a police motorbike to fulfill a similar role? For Extended, there ought to be a security requirement for convois such that these escorts really make sense.

MatthewForrester commented 2 years ago

Leartin, thank you for the quick reply.

You are right that this vehicle doesn't feel intuitive because it's unlike other behaviour in Simutrans. It might actually be more obvious to a total newcomer to Simutrans. After all, we call this a convoy. The dictionary definition of a convoy is "a group of vehicles or ships travelling together, especially when soldiers or other vehicles travel with them for protection" (Oxford Advanced Learners Dictionary), so this items is more like a convoy than anything else in Simutrans! However, all other convoys I have encountered in Simutrans are trains, " a number of connected coaches or trucks, pulled by an engine or powered by a motor in each one, taking people and goods from one place to another", so that is what I expected.

I started my first game in 1975, as per the default. I have now started a 1930 game and seen the horseback police, but I still haven't figured out what to do with it....

Once you explain it, it does make sense and is line with the Extended philosophy. But it does need that explanation. Would it be helpful to have a pak192.comic equivalent of the Extended feature overview. Any thoughts about the the best place for that? The Extended tips page, the TikiWiki, a new page in the pak192.comic subforum, a file in this repo.....?