[Weter]

Indeed:
triggering a STOP-valve may occur at any moment (but it would be better to have an opportunity for player to opt it out in explore mode, when it's not a part of given activity's plot)
- emergensy situation during departure (falling of passenger, squeezing by closing automatic doors)
- drunk or hooligan STOP-valve misuse
- routine, when train master stops passenger train, backing-up by shunter, towards terminus platform's dead-end.

[superheatedsteam]

With respect to derailments, from my observations of real world of professional simulations where adults use these tools for training, imagery of the actual crash or derailment is not shown. I wonder why that is?

I also would like to see is more realistic railway operations. If you are driving a train and your actions were the cause of a derailment, dropping a fusible plug, or going through a red light, etc, then OR should not only give you a message that you have been dismissed from the railway but the route and rolling stock on your computer are deleted to ensure you don't get another driving job there again.

[steamer_ctn]

Jonatan, on 30 December 2023 - 04:37 AM, said:

Again, the ideas are nice and I'm sure they would add to the operating aspects of running trains in the sim, but without visible and game-mechanical consequence to the physics calculations that triggers them, they're a moot point. If realism is the endgame of Open Rails, perhaps we should go beond displaying a text message?

As you suggest there are a number of scenarios already embedded in OR where the physics capabilities are exceeded and a text message is supplied only.

There are a couple of scenarios where some action was taken, for example, exceeding the safe speed around a curve did result in a broken air hose (may have not been realistic, but resulted in a consequence for poor driving), but many users complained about this issue as they didn't care about the train speed and just wanted the train to run.

Similarly couplers can be broken, and this caused concerns by Users.

Jonatan, on 30 December 2023 - 11:10 AM, said:

What would result in a potential "game over" situation, or should there be safeguards to always allow remedying the situation to avoid needing to reset the running session a lá Railroader?

So this is the real question that needs to be answered by ALL before moving from text messages to actual "failures" that may or may not be recoverable.

For example a hot bearing can occur now in OR, and this might be a recoverable event whereby the User runs at slow speed to the nearest siding and cuts the car out. A non-recoverable event might be a car derailing due to "straight-lining".

Whatever approach is adopted, it needs to be accepted by the whole OR community.

There is already a switch in OR that potentially caters for "train watchers", and those that may want more realistic physics. The switch is "Simple controls and physics".

[Weter]

I'd advice to use Autopilot+time acceleration for exploring routes quicker, rather getting habit to violate safe speed.
Railroading is STRICT ORDER's Obey - no any variants.
So, only retired engineers have a moral right to do so. ;)

Just as with physics of rolling upon rails: train never floats, never flies - that's absolutely impossible.
So, the good strategy for rail simulators would be education of untolerance to rules physical limits violation behavior. But, perhaps, not concealing consequences.

[Traindude]

superheatedsteam, on 30 December 2023 - 08:48 PM, said:

I also would like to see is more realistic railway operations. If you are driving a train and your actions were the cause of a derailment, dropping a fusible plug, or going through a red light, etc, then OR should not only give you a message that you have been dismissed from the railway but the route and rolling stock on your computer are deleted to ensure you don't get another driving job there again.

That sounds like a good idea on paper, but it may be a bit too harsh. After all, to many people it's "just a game" and in that sense, it should be easy for the users to try again or start over if something goes wrong. Perhaps having a mode switch (game mode vs sim mode) would be a better alternative.

[Weter]

I've caught it, as a kind of sarcasm, as a reaction after some wierd posts above. :)
In case, I got it right... take it easy. :D
Game Over - 12:01:57 toilet is full and unclean in your locomotive!

[superheatedsteam]

My mother keeps telling me that sarcasm is the lowest form of wit, and I keep telling her it's also the easiest. :-)

[Weter]

I bet, she means: "before doing anything badly, You better learn, how to do that excellent".
There can be very fine sarcasm - perfectness doesn't know the upper edge.