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Help me out here folks. These questions are mainly for any real life engineers out there that has run the sim. But anyone can comment.What do you think of the job MS has done with the brakes?Personally, I think that a lot more work needs to go into them to make this sim feel more realistic. Sure, every one has tweaked the settings to try and make them feel real, but there are things that are missing. 1) One thing that needs to be added is a delay between making the reduction of air (automatic brake)in the equalizing res and having the drop occur in the brake pipe. As it stands now there is no setting for this. Brake valve movement means instataneous reduction in the pipe. Trainmaster has modeled this quite well with only one failing as I see it. The first application works fine, but subsequent applications do not seem to have any delay. 2) Proper independant brake operation. The independant brake application and release is way too quick. There needs to be a little bit of sluggishness in the rate of application and release. The air gauge should not abbruptly follow the independant brake handle. 3) The independant brake should apply the brake on all locomotives in the consist, not just the head end unit. Plus, as more units are added to the consist, the responsivness of the brake handle should deminish as more units means more air volume is needed to apply the brakes.Forgive me if this is a topic that has already been covered. But this is a very important subject to me as the proper operation of the brakes is what will make this a true train simulation and not just big giant bus driving simulation without the steering wheel.Comments?
I am afraid the sim designer does not seem to find realistic braking action worthwhile. You will note that when the "new" SD40-2 was released, they were offered a more realistic performing locomotive including better braking. They not only turned that down, but instead went the other way and gave the locomotive 700kN of max brake force, while retaining the stop on a dime application rates. I can only infer that some game designer thought realistic braking action would be too hard for the "typical" gamer to enjoy the primary function as they saw it, running passenger trains between stations on a schedule. Why they tought this locomotive would be used that way is beyond my grasp?? Bob
I think MSTS needs proper locomotive brake controller(like Zusi has). I mean the system where you can drop the brakepipe pressure by pulling the brake switch and raise the pressure by dragging it.
The SD40-2 also didn't come with a "bail off" switch, and the first time I played the activity from Essex to Whitefish, I watch my entire train run into the back of me on my first application. So I put the bail off switch in, but it doesn't seem to work on the other units behind me. My virtual lawyer is helping me seek virtual compensation for my virtual whiplash... Near as I can tell, sanders only work on lead units as well. So much for double-heading steam locomotives up the 3%... I'm a keyboard simmer and I don't like using the independent at all because it's so slow to use (1%, 2%, 3%...time passes... 98%, 99%, 100%) maybe that's why they made brake reaction so quick. I was driving one of the real engines the other day and thinking, "How silly would I look if I used the train brake to stop while running engine only, when I have a perfectly good independent?" Even when you're only moving 1 or 2 cars, you use the independent. I thought what made it a "game" was the idea that it challenged the user to realisticly drive a train. Where's the challenge if you make it easy to operate?
