As Real As It Gets
Jul 10, 2018 22:14:11 GMT -6
Post by survivorsean on Jul 10, 2018 22:14:11 GMT -6
This is a post that got me thinking a bit on the balance between dispatched sessions and the work needed by humans both in and between sessions. It's a direct response to the session being canceled tonight, and the tightrope I'm amazed Mike and the guys continue to make happen in California.
For me personally I love to dispatch, but obviously not everyone is going to get their optimal time. Also you can't have too many session hours run or else the work piles up in such a huge territory like CA is now. We are already running slightly less than full 100% number of trains. Honestly I miss the 100% from a dispatcher point of view, but not if it hurts the overall flow and numbers are not available.
I personally like to look at virtual railroading as I do a model railroad club. So once a month or so, you head out to the club and even if it's for 3 hours you know your going to meet with a bunch of people and run trains. Of course the scale here is not 1:1 and not everyone can make it on the same time every month as well.
But what I like about when I could make it (which was often) was that I liked dispatching, yardmaster, yard switcher, operator in Romford (which is basically a staging yard with a junction). We actually ran a 6 hour event session with 1 hour off in between for supper at the 1200 mark of the 4:1 fast clock. I would often DS for 1 half, and run Romford the other half for example. But even if I didn't get to bid on those jobs I had other favorites and knew what to expect based on the schedule of trains for the area. In other words I had plenty of choices for things I liked.
When Ski gifted me LA it reignited all the possibilities I was missing running on my own with a limited server. Suddenly I seen all these potential jobs, etc. But there is one issue with that. The bigger the territory gets the more work that needs to be done. Some of that work includes stuff that is not always the most enjoyable job. For example when it comes to hostling power I often use AI to move power around simply because it's really boring but needs to be done. When power is not set up with a facing and trailing engine pointing both directions I try and combine them with something that will allow me to AI the whole thing back to the shed.
So on Sunday I had a quick look around, and seen some jobs. Of course some jobs are more appealing than others. So too is some jobs at certain times of day. But I didn't feel anything on the menu was appealing to me so I caught up on YouTube. By the time Monday came around I lost my appetite, and well Tuesday is just another day for me.
Tonight I made a video for July 10th both on the current development of both my work in RTS, and how I feel about Run8. I think most of here would probably agree Run8 is the best train simulator on the planet, unlike when I made that claim on Train-Sim to mixed reviews. But I made that statement because Run8 was lacking competition. It is closed for development by real 3rd parties. Heck they can't even get their chosen one external dispatcher up and running. Could of made not only an external dispatcher by now but AI dispatching that would of solved many issues.
But I did give 1 possible idea that may work in this environment. I don't know how it works for CA, and I'm not sure if it would work on any other section of Run8 and I'll certainly take a look and see. But the concept is very simple and I mentioned it in my video tonight. Lets say the majority of people are in the eastern time zone of North America (over 50 percent) with others west of here, and a smaller percentage overseas both across the Pacific to the west and Atlantic to the east. Let's say for the typical player who works a day job or part time job in the day, he is available from 4pm to 4am. Let's then think of how most railroads run and say MOST switching jobs might take place on a smaller division between the hours of 9am to 9pm. If a server was to run 24/7 and was scaled down to the demand let's go out on a limb here and say crews are often only available for those 12 hours to run through traffic as well. Then you run into crew shortages in what is the overnight lull. So a sim clock is actually set 7 hours back from EDT. As it just turned midnight here it would be 5pm in the sim clock. Plenty of people like me still up (though it's past my bedtime).
Now again simulating the west coasts traffic patterns may not work well for this. This is why I've always stressed a smaller Run8 territory is needed. My area for example has a mainline run of about 1 to 2 hours across 2 counties (1 region) but carries 2 class 1 railroads as well as a short line. We would be lucky to run 20 trains a day, but most trains do run in that 12 hour window for the most part.
So how would this play into Run8 and believe me I thought of this months ago. A 24/7 server goes up and either takes a territory and proto or freelance it's operation. The server is available to members and can be anarchy dispatched. Freight trains can run on call sheets, but are often run on demand via the crews availability and the work that is done on a DAILY basis. When crews can't run any longer they tie their train down (not AI them). In fact the only time AI is needed is if 1) it can be dispatched properly 2) the work is done for that train 3) An actual yard needs it.
Of course this for CA would result in even far less traffic, and again it just might be too big for the number of people (which is why again smaller is better). Not every industry or job needs to be simulated. Just like every train doesn't need to be run. If a DS becomes available the trains begin to run more, and when he goes off duty the players go to anarchy or things simply slow down. It essentially becomes what the 24/7 server is now when sessions are not running.
So I don't know if this would ever work for this server or not. Lots of work has been done originally by myself, and obviously carried on to a far greater level by Mike and the team here. But in an ideal world if I was to run a 24/7 server if I ever hosted again, I might give it a shot.
But as the video shows from July 10th I may have some other ideas up my sleeve involving ships and ports in the Great Lakes down my neck of the woods. Anyways way past my bed time.
Thanks
Sean
For me personally I love to dispatch, but obviously not everyone is going to get their optimal time. Also you can't have too many session hours run or else the work piles up in such a huge territory like CA is now. We are already running slightly less than full 100% number of trains. Honestly I miss the 100% from a dispatcher point of view, but not if it hurts the overall flow and numbers are not available.
I personally like to look at virtual railroading as I do a model railroad club. So once a month or so, you head out to the club and even if it's for 3 hours you know your going to meet with a bunch of people and run trains. Of course the scale here is not 1:1 and not everyone can make it on the same time every month as well.
But what I like about when I could make it (which was often) was that I liked dispatching, yardmaster, yard switcher, operator in Romford (which is basically a staging yard with a junction). We actually ran a 6 hour event session with 1 hour off in between for supper at the 1200 mark of the 4:1 fast clock. I would often DS for 1 half, and run Romford the other half for example. But even if I didn't get to bid on those jobs I had other favorites and knew what to expect based on the schedule of trains for the area. In other words I had plenty of choices for things I liked.
When Ski gifted me LA it reignited all the possibilities I was missing running on my own with a limited server. Suddenly I seen all these potential jobs, etc. But there is one issue with that. The bigger the territory gets the more work that needs to be done. Some of that work includes stuff that is not always the most enjoyable job. For example when it comes to hostling power I often use AI to move power around simply because it's really boring but needs to be done. When power is not set up with a facing and trailing engine pointing both directions I try and combine them with something that will allow me to AI the whole thing back to the shed.
So on Sunday I had a quick look around, and seen some jobs. Of course some jobs are more appealing than others. So too is some jobs at certain times of day. But I didn't feel anything on the menu was appealing to me so I caught up on YouTube. By the time Monday came around I lost my appetite, and well Tuesday is just another day for me.
Tonight I made a video for July 10th both on the current development of both my work in RTS, and how I feel about Run8. I think most of here would probably agree Run8 is the best train simulator on the planet, unlike when I made that claim on Train-Sim to mixed reviews. But I made that statement because Run8 was lacking competition. It is closed for development by real 3rd parties. Heck they can't even get their chosen one external dispatcher up and running. Could of made not only an external dispatcher by now but AI dispatching that would of solved many issues.
But I did give 1 possible idea that may work in this environment. I don't know how it works for CA, and I'm not sure if it would work on any other section of Run8 and I'll certainly take a look and see. But the concept is very simple and I mentioned it in my video tonight. Lets say the majority of people are in the eastern time zone of North America (over 50 percent) with others west of here, and a smaller percentage overseas both across the Pacific to the west and Atlantic to the east. Let's say for the typical player who works a day job or part time job in the day, he is available from 4pm to 4am. Let's then think of how most railroads run and say MOST switching jobs might take place on a smaller division between the hours of 9am to 9pm. If a server was to run 24/7 and was scaled down to the demand let's go out on a limb here and say crews are often only available for those 12 hours to run through traffic as well. Then you run into crew shortages in what is the overnight lull. So a sim clock is actually set 7 hours back from EDT. As it just turned midnight here it would be 5pm in the sim clock. Plenty of people like me still up (though it's past my bedtime).
Now again simulating the west coasts traffic patterns may not work well for this. This is why I've always stressed a smaller Run8 territory is needed. My area for example has a mainline run of about 1 to 2 hours across 2 counties (1 region) but carries 2 class 1 railroads as well as a short line. We would be lucky to run 20 trains a day, but most trains do run in that 12 hour window for the most part.
So how would this play into Run8 and believe me I thought of this months ago. A 24/7 server goes up and either takes a territory and proto or freelance it's operation. The server is available to members and can be anarchy dispatched. Freight trains can run on call sheets, but are often run on demand via the crews availability and the work that is done on a DAILY basis. When crews can't run any longer they tie their train down (not AI them). In fact the only time AI is needed is if 1) it can be dispatched properly 2) the work is done for that train 3) An actual yard needs it.
Of course this for CA would result in even far less traffic, and again it just might be too big for the number of people (which is why again smaller is better). Not every industry or job needs to be simulated. Just like every train doesn't need to be run. If a DS becomes available the trains begin to run more, and when he goes off duty the players go to anarchy or things simply slow down. It essentially becomes what the 24/7 server is now when sessions are not running.
So I don't know if this would ever work for this server or not. Lots of work has been done originally by myself, and obviously carried on to a far greater level by Mike and the team here. But in an ideal world if I was to run a 24/7 server if I ever hosted again, I might give it a shot.
But as the video shows from July 10th I may have some other ideas up my sleeve involving ships and ports in the Great Lakes down my neck of the woods. Anyways way past my bed time.
Thanks
Sean
