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I'm currently trying to get a newbie to understand the basics of the game, and what he has to do with MyFirstTrain. This is the first time I've attempted to do this and I've discovered (joining the ranks of several other members) that MyFirstTrain is just not a good way to introduce a GreenThumb to Yard Duty. Like Jim said in response to the thread about grades...Yard Duty is about switching cars in a yard, not running trains on the road. So my question is, why are we introducing newbies to YD by having them run a road train? I see the same questions repeated over and over...the person I am helping is no different:GreenThumbxx <Ch 02> PLEASE HELP MY FIRST TIME GreenThumbxx <Ch 02> WHAT DO I DO GreenThumbxx <Ch 02> WHERE DO I GOThere are fundamental problems with this. A newbie comes in and has no objective, no goal to reach...and most importantly, no clue what is going on!I think that the MyFirstTrain setup should be changed. I think that we should have it so that a train is arriving at a yard...and it has explicit instructions to sort the cars via destination or state, and have them deliver the local cars once they are cut out of the train. Maybe there should be some cars already on the map so they can work with those too. I think that would promote the concept of what Yard Duty is all about a whole lot better than a train running through the desert Southwest. What do you guys think?Corey Vernier "LongHoodForward"
Me too Dave & Corey. Another question I have been asked frequently by newbies is where are all the tracks? Having them start in an area where most of the maps are left unfinished is not a great incentive for them to become members.
Yes, this is something that I will get to work on right away. I have some ideas that should make a big difference. Another problem that no one has mentioned is that, after installing YD, all maps are yellow or white, so telling them to 'sort by state or yard color' is not very helpful. I will add a 'Map color' download feature so that new users don't have to manually assign colors to maps...I also realize that it is too much to ask for someone with marginal interest in the game to read the instructions. And when newbies log on, it is safe to assume they have read nothing and know nothing.Jim
Yard Duty, The National Freight Yard Simulation - www.YardDuty.com
