Turnbull China Bikeride/Turnbull China Bikeride - Disc 2.iso/STUTTGART/GAMES/RAIL28/!Rail28/HelpFile

Text File | 1996-05-24 | 17KB | 335 lines

HELPFILE for -!Rail28- 3.0, May 1996
==================================

What is !Rail28.
==============
!Rail is a combination of game and simulation, where you are an assistent in
the traffic control room of a railwaystation.
It is created in Mode 28 (and BASIC), in order to have a reasonable portion
of the display of the lay-out on screen.
Your goal is to let trains arrive on the platforms as given and direct the
trains to their correct locations or exits.
There are NO trains with terrorists who kill other people, NO guns or lasers
to destroy other trains. NO bloody passengers walking about. NO squashing of
people by trains. This is NOT a game for bloodthirsty people.
If you like to play with trains or have a good interest in them, you may
like this game. Especially when you're patient, for there may be seconds
with not much to do (just as in real life in a control room), especially
in the beginning.

Differences with reality.
=========================
In reality one doesn't see a train in the control room, but the board with
the lay-out will show bars of light when trains occupy a sector. As this
would be too boring for a sim, I've made little trains that will jump
from sector to sector (no smooth trainrunning thus).
The second difference is the speed: on the average you will have one train
per minute to deal with. You may think it's slow, but you'll soon find out
that the whole thing keeps you busy; you won't be able to run off for a minute
if the game isn't paused.

The Maps.
=========
See TheMaps-file.

Your instruments.
=================
To play the game, you need both mouse and keyboard.
The mouse does most of the things you wish to do.
Clicking on menu will show a menu in the textfield, with the keyboard-options
you can use.
Clicking on select:
-on a train: gives information about the train; number, destiny, arrival- or
             departure-time.
-on a signal: this will swith a signal from red to orange to green to red.
-on a point: this will swith the point. At 'English' points it will show
             three different positions: point left, right and crossing.
             There are three-way points as well; clicking will change to
             another position.
-on entry-points: tells the name of the destination.
-on station-platform: tells you your station-name.
-and a few more explanations.
When you click on a signal or a point when a train is on it, you get information
about the train.
Clicking on adjust:
With this button you can redirect a train to the opposite direction.
This may be useful, when you sent a train on a wrong track. But: it will only
work when the train is stopped by a red signal. At certain places this button is a must, especially for the goods trains.

The keyboard:
Once you've examined a map for the first time, you press 'S' to start.
Immediately after the first trains will be announced.
To pause the game, press 'P', 'C' thereafter to continue. Whilst pausing the
screen will display a 1/4 scaled view of the whole lay-out.
With the cursor-keys you can move and view the whole lay-out to find out where
your stations are and where the trains dis- and appear. Pressing <Ctrl> and
a left or right cursor-key will jump the lay-out two screens further.
When you wish an overview of all the different departure-times, pressing 'D'
will show all departures that are due: the time, track and destiny.
Pressing <space> will clean the lay-out from 'dirt' and tables.
All maps start with the idea that your station is a terminal, so that all trains
get a new destiny and departure-time once they've arrived. If you feel that
it has become too busy for you, press 'T'. This changes your station into a
'through'-station. Many trains will give another entry-point immediately as
destiny and will only stop for a short time at your station. Goods-trains will
not stop if all signals are green. Pressing 'T' again will make your station
into a terminal again.
Pressing 'I' will show the Interval-table and tell you how you can change the
intervals on entry.
Pressing 'Q' quits the game immediately. You are asked if you wish to save
the situation of that moment for the next time.
Some statistics about your achievements are put in a logfile within !Rail28.
There's also a highscores list, that only will appear when your achievements
are so good, that you may place yourself in the Top Ten. When you're doing
too bad, this list won't be shown.
If you dislike the idea of a highscores-list, you can avoid the confrontation
with it by renaming or deleting the 'Scores'-file within !Rail28.


What goes automatic.
====================
You're very lucky to have intelligent train-drivers. Once they've arrived at
a platform and stopped, they will themselves find out which direction to go
with the train.
When a train meets a buffer, it will automatically redirect itself. If the
buffer is not on a platform or siding, the train will start running again
after 10 seconds. (Don't redirect it manually then, for it may cause a crash
with itself, which finishes the game.)
Only redirect at RED signals!!
So, all you have to do is switching signals to green and direct the points
correctly.

There are two types of signals: those that will jump to green when the train
passes a second one, switching the latter one to red.
And those that will switch to red when a train passes, but won't automatically
switch to green; these are the manual signals with a little mark on them, that
you will have to switch to green yourself.
You'll notice these signals at platforms and sidings and at the spots, where
you give a train the 'green' to enter the street of points before the station.

Local Passenger-trains (LP's) should stop at any station (platform). To take
a lot of work out of your hand, they will do that by themselves, even if the
signal is green. After 30 seconds they will continue their journey.
To prevent increasing delays, their arrival time at their destiny will be
adjusted at every stationstop.

What goes wrong.
================
A traincrash finishes the game.
Sending a train to an entry-point instead of to the exitpoint will finish
the game. Beware of these!!
Passing a wrongly set point at full speed causes a derailment immediately.
The spot where the accident occurs, will remain blocked for 10 minutes. And
it will cost you a lot of your revenue. This will certainly happen...

The speed-scaler.
=================
I mention this gadget especially, to explain why it's there.
In a control-room you control miles and miles of railway-track. The lay-out
however doesn't show that, but the track is compressed on it.
So is it here. When you watch a train that just entered your area, you'll
notice it is very slow. Once it passes the rails with 's' along it, it will
speed up three times. That's where the scaling of the station begins; distances
are shorter, so the way to show this is by higher speed.
When a train passes the 's'-rail again on it's way out, it will slow down again.
Remember that when a train is announced, it may take more than a minute before
it will run into the station itself.

Other speed-controllers.
========================
There a three types of trains: InterCity (IC), Local Passenger (LP) and Goods-
trains (GD). IC is fastest, LP and GD are slower.
When an IC or LP passes a platform, it will reduce speed. Leaving a platform
goes on half speed until the next green signal.
Orange signals reduce the speed of the trains.
An orange signal will switch to red on passing, and when the train passes the
next signal, it will switch back to orange. This is handy when you have
'passive' points: running slowly over them, a train will switch the point
into its own direction automatically.
When a train runs slowly because of an orange signal, it will do that until
it meets a green signal. Then it's full speed again. By the way: red is stop.

Devious things to watch.
========================
When a train has reached its departure-time, it will try to run. This will
work fine when the signals are green or orange. If however the train is of
the type IC or LP, and it is at a platform with a red signal, a quick switch
from red to green won't help then, for it will wait another 30 seconds before
it attempts to leave again.
Another thing that will happen, is the departure of more trains at the same
time. You'll have to decide which train will go first, which will slowly
follow or wait completely.
And of course, keep an eye on the points that will have to be switched
quickly.
Watch the manual signals, they're likely to be forgotten; leading to delays
and wondering why a train hasn't arrived yet.
On your map there may be 'suburban' stationplatforms. If your station is a
'through'-station, then stopping an IC at an suburban station may result in
this train trying to go into the opposite direction. IC's expect only to be
stopped at main stations, so it sees this stop as at a main station.

The revenue.
============
To find a compensation for all those score-list-lovers, I've built in a system
that calculates the revenue each train gives when it has a smooth run through
your area and station.
Best value do you get from trains that stop the most.
A GD-train, having been at a depot for a number of minutes and left in time
again, gives best value, followed by LP and IC.
Not stopping costs you money, as does delaying by red signals, derailments and
the final crashes. Sending a train to another destiny as prescribed costs a
lot as well (but is cheaper then to keep a train waiting after a derailment).
Delaying trains by orange signals also dimishes the revenue, as does the
manual switching of directions.

The messages.
=============
On the top of the screen is a text-field, where most of the messages will
appear. These can be:
-announcement of an approaching train.
-message of an arrived train with new data for departure.
-any accidents happening.
-information after your clicking on trains etc.
-menu.
-time (all your activities start at 14:00 hours.)
At the bottom of the screen you will get the departure-table when requested
and a message of trains that have left your area, with the revenue they give.
Clicking adjust somewhere in the lay-out, clears the text-field.
On trains info will be given about them:
Before arriving info is: '03P-5'
'03' = the time in minutes of arriving (14:03)
'P-5'= the platform where it should arrive
When at station and leaving the info is: '05ECT'
'05' = the time in minutes of departure (14:05)
'ECT'= the 'code' for the destination(exit-point)
GoodsTrains(GD) will only give this type of info.
Display is on blue background; when delayed the background will be red.
The red background also means that no seconds can be wasted. If you stop a
train then at a red signal, the revenue starts to decrease fastly.
With a blue background you may stop the train without any costs. It means
it is still on time. But beware that the display doesn't refresh itself when
delaying begins. Press <space> to see any changes occuring.


How to play it all.
===================
First you get the announcement of a train approaching.
This announcement tells you the type of train, it's destiny, its arrival-time
and on which platform it has to arrive.
If the platform is free, switch the platformsignal to green, so that you
remember where the train has to be.
Then follow from the main track the route the train will have to go through
the street of points and switch all points, so that a 'flow' of cyan runs to
the platform, not being blocked by any point. Don't panic.
When you've prepared the route, switch the manual signal on the main line to
green, so that the train can continue to run until its arrival.
Most of the trains arrive early, so corrections are always possible. If
suddenly you see blocked points, try to stop the train at a red light. You
can switch all the signals with the mouse-button.

At least fifteen seconds before a train leaves, you will have to prepare
the points the same for its departure. There's no manual signal for the
way out on the main line, obviously. If a train derails, you'll only be
able to see the cause after ten minutes. Keep on playing and try to have trains
run avoiding that spot. It's then better to send a train to another destiny,
if that main line is blocked, than to keep them waiting. (Revenue.)

The platforms are not always fully numbered. You may decide to go from top
to bottom, but then, be consequent. The game calculates if platforms are
free or will be free when the next train is sent in.

When you play Map 'AcornCity', be aware of the single line.
For the GD-trains that have to go to the depot: let them arrive below
platform 1. At the end they will run the opposite direction after 10 seconds,
in which time you'll have had the ability to switch the points and signals.
The same switch-buffer is at the depot itself for more GD's if necessary.

IC's and LP's will only give notice of an arrival when they're at the grey
platforms of their destiny, stopped by either a red light or a red buffer. Also
when they've arrived at their maintenance siding.
GD's will only do so on their special siding-tracks (noticeble).
Stopped anywhere else, they'll think they haven't arrived yet.

For the rest it's a matter of experimenting and finding out how things work.
When the game starts, it appears all rather slow. But as said, within fifteen
minutes you may get the first signs of stress..;-)


An Overview
===========
Rails:
------
plain rails: where trains run.
rails with black line under: at this point the train will display some info
                             about itself (-arr.time -platform -dest.)
rails with grey platforms: IC's will slow down. When stopped they'll see it
                           as an arrival at a station.
                           LP's will slow down and always stop if there's a
                           signal at the end of the platform.
rails with blueish platform: Maintenance siding for IC's and LP's. When sent
                             here, they'll wait for ten minutes, after
                             which they have to go to a platform at the
                             main station. There they'll get a new destiny.
rails with black extension: Depot-siding for GD's. They'll get a new destiny
                            here and Dep.time. As goods take more time to
                            exchange, waiting can be up to 15 minutes.

Signals:
--------
automatic signals: Change to red when a train passes, back to the previous
                   colour when the train passes the next signal. Usually this
                   will be green. If manually set to orange, it will return to
                   orange. If there's a row of orange signals, only the
                   last one will return to orange, the others to green.
                   Note: orange signals decrease the revenue.
manual signals: Change to red when a train passes, but won't return to a
                previous colour. You'll have to change it to green yourself
                with mouse-clicks.

Points:
-------
normal points: Click on them to change. If set to a wrong position, a train
               will derail, unless the signal before the point was switched
               to orange. Because of the slow speed, the wheels of the train
               will direct the point then to the correct position.
English points: These are the switchable crossings. These are not derail-
                protected by orange signals!.
three-way points: Click to set them in the wanted position. As English points.

Buffers:
--------
At dead ends there are buffers. If these are not next to platforms, the train
will reverse automatically within 10 seconds (driver has to run to the other
side). In several maps you'll find these bits of rails with buffer. Use these
as much as possible to switch directions, as manual switching at other red
signals will cost you some of the revenue.

Next.
=====
Next I'll try to make an editor, so that you may design and create your
own lay-outs.

In the meantime I hope that you'll enjoy it.
Any remarks, suggestions and even lay-outs of real stations etc. are welcome
at my Arcade-address: #1229
or at AcornBBS, NL  : #234

Jos Keijzers,
Boogjes 193,
3311 VC Dordrecht
Netherlands.


This program is freeware and only for purpose of enjoyment.
If you wish to distribute it, don't hesitate, it's allright by me.
Any suggestions for improvement are welcomed by me.


Built-in limitations:
=====================
max. 20 trains at one time;
max. 20 stations or depots;
max. 30 platforms or siding tracks;
max.  8 entry/exitpoints.