Dumb AI Firemen

Has anyone else wanted to throw their AI fireman off the train? I'm ripping along the OR&W (relatively speaking - 35-45 mph in a Decapod) heading up the grade past Mill Grove with 75 cars and two I1sa (with Coast to coast tenders!) anf I get past that grade. The next grade I find I have next to no boiler pressure and end up having to triple the hill. The fireman keeps pulling the injector and dumping water into the boiler, dropping the steam pressure. I keep working to blower to get pressure back over 200 psi.Anyone else have this problem and found a decent way of avoiding it, other than waiting for a half hour for steam to build back up?GH

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RE: Dumb AI Firemen, black5, Nov-28-04, 12:23 PM, (1) RE: Dumb AI Firemen, Busdriver, Nov-28-04, 01:36 PM, (2) RE: Dumb AI Firemen, delamaize, Nov-28-04, 02:06 PM, (4) RE: Dumb AI Firemen, heffed, Nov-28-04, 02:02 PM, (3) RE: Dumb AI Firemen, Derby415, Nov-28-04, 02:44 PM, (5) RE: Dumb AI Firemen, UP Wings, Nov-28-04, 10:20 PM, (6) RE: Dumb AI Firemen, Coonskin, Nov-28-04, 11:13 PM, (7) RE: Dumb AI Firemen, Derby415, Nov-29-04, 04:42 PM, (11) RE: Dumb AI Firemen, baldwin, Nov-29-04, 05:52 PM, (13) RE: Dumb AI Firemen, bradhig, Nov-29-04, 00:48 AM, (8) RE: Dumb AI Firemen, black5, Nov-29-04, 10:55 AM, (9) RE: Dumb AI Firemen, jorge, Nov-29-04, 01:25 PM, (10) RE: Dumb AI Firemen, Coonskin, Nov-29-04, 10:58 PM, (14) RE: Dumb AI Firemen, baldwin, Nov-29-04, 05:43 PM, (12)

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Learning to 'drive' it manually... there are tutorials around.
Try it it is great fun...but don't expect to succeed early.!!!
Georges

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If you are up to it, I think you can tinker with the physics in the .eng file to make it fire better even if you are using the AI fireman. Unfortunately, he does not know when the hills are coming, so he doesn't plan ahead very well. A friend of mine is a huge steam fan, so we turn off the AI fireman, he sits at the keyboard firing, and I engineer the train from my Rail Driver. True 2 player running since we each have our "controls". I always sit on the right just as I should Bryce

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nice, sounds like you guys are having fun with the I-1SA. I have the same problem. but I havn't found a way around it either.

Delamaize
"Long Live High Speed Rail In The USA"
"Down With Coprate Greed, Down With Union Pacific!"

Head Locomotive Builder Extraordinaire

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Yes, the AI fireman is notorious for wasting steam at inoportune moments.As has already been mentioned, do some practicing and learn to fire for yourself. It seems like a bit of a handful at first, especially on passenger runs with a lot of stops, but you'll get the hang of it. In the long run, it's much more fun than constantly battling the AI for steam. -Jeff

Union Pacific fan.

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I have trouble keeping the fire temp up when firing the decapod...i just cant seem to do it. any other steamer no problem. any ideas?

Thanks,
Jim

President Of BLLW
email us at: BLLW@aemail4u.com
or visit our webiste:
www.bllw.100freemb.com

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Make sure your blower is opened up pretty good and that your dampers are opened too. That should increase heat but then you will go through coal (or oil) faster. I too got tired of the AI fireman so I learned how to manually. It was a pain at first but now I got the hang of it and I enjoy it.
-Brian-

*Proud Supporter of the Cumbres & Toltec Scenic*

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You can tweak "Otto Phireman" in the eng file until you get it very close to the way you want it. In fact, if you want to, you can have Otto create so much steam you're always at top PSI. Not prototypical, but available, nonetheless. It's all in the tuning of the values.
Andre MingVisit VSC's temporary web page at: http://www.vscalecreations.comVisit VSC's Forum at: http://www.3DTrains.com

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Blower is max same with dampers, just cant seem to keep the temp up. does anyone else have this problem. Everytime i add coal it drops. its either keep the fire hot with mass constantly shrinking or cool it off by keeping the mass.

Thanks,
Jim

President Of BLLW
email us at: BLLW@aemail4u.com
or visit our webiste:
www.bllw.100freemb.com

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It is all in the tuning of the eng file. CylinderEffectivity and BlastEffect work on the fire. IdealFireMass and MaxFireMass should be identical to get the most out of the fire. As Andre says in another contribution, its all in the tuning.Working in the eng files is not a "black art", it just needs some knowledge of how a steam engine works, and what each parameter in the file does.Beer is not a matter of life and death. It is much more serious than that.
mervyn.

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I tried to fire manually but I ended up with black smoke coming out of the stack ,no water pressure and the fusible plugs melted.

Riding on Supertrain.

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You should have opened the firebox door to improve air flow in the firebox resulting in 'cleaner' smoke through good combustion...increased damper and blower settings to keep the pressure up and to anticipate increased steam demand for inclines and for the injectors,when needed,maintained some form of coal shovelling to keep fire mass at the 'ideal' level..turned on the injectors..especially the exhaust one to keep feeding water to the boiler..which prevents the fusible plugs from melting etc..etc..
That's why 'driving' a steamer is much more fun and challenging..more things to do..more 'thinking'..more 'balancing' of performance to maintain speed and steam pressure..more anticipation of the route to avoid big fluctuations of speed and big variations in steam demand..etc etc..just a bigger thrill of getting your train in on time after a 100 mile activity....which gives you more satisfaction..that's also why there are tutorials..they are needed.!!!.
Georges

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I barely have enough time to run a train, much less learn how to fire! So, Andre, could you possibly direct me in the right direction to be able to tune my fireman a bit?

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Jorge:It's been a while since I've worked with steam eng files (the North Arkansas project), but I think I remember a quick hack for desperate situations that will increase the steam. Look for the following value in the eng file:MaxBoilerOutputIncrease that value until it steams the way you want it to.There are many more intricacies involved to get a steamer tuned nicely so that you have to watch your business with a tonnage train, but still have a fighting chance, both with Otto and without, but such is well beyond my time available right now to go back and touch up on the various values.Bill Hobbs has graciously performed almost all of my steam eng file work, perhaps he'll come along and offer some input as well.
Andre MingVisit VSC's temporary web page at: http://www.vscalecreations.comVisit VSC's Forum at: http://www.3DTrains.com

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In the eng file there is a line that refers to injector sizes, make the second entry a zero. It will take "Otto" longer to put water into the boiler, but he will not be using as much steam to do it.
Beer is not a matter of life and death. It is much more serious than that.
mervyn.

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