Can we talk about the speed signs?
I love this game, I already have 267 hours into Derail Valley and I don't see myself stopping anytime soon. B99 has really reignited my love for running the S060 and S282. However, I believe that there's still a glaring issues with the game, and that's the speed signs.
Now, I understand the different signs that often accommodate speed signs on the same post, the green arrow, the red arrow, the grades signs, etc. I tend to operate my trains in DVRT as close to United States (or American) rules as I can, which means I don't speed up to the next speed limit until the tail end of my train passes through that speed limit sign. Say if I'm going from 40kph to 60kph, I don't start speeding up until the tail end of my train passes the 60kph sign. Distance Tracker has really helped with this.
For the most part, this practice has kept me from going 40kph through a turnout to 70kph only to be hit with a 60kph soon after the 70kph sign. Which is the first issue that I want to talk about.
Having two speed signs so close together occurs several times across the map. In all honesty, you can get rid of the 90kph sign in the picture and leave the 60kph that's just a few meters down the road. The 90kph sign serves no purpose. This really is something that needs to be cleaned up.
Okay, this is another scenario I've come across a lot running my trains in The Valley. I'm running along, my speed limit is 60kph. I pass by a 60kph sign, it has no green or red arrow underneath it. So I assume that it's just reminding me what the speed limit is for that stretch of track. I then pass by a 70kph sign, again, no green or red arrow underneath, and I start my usual practice of waiting for the rear of my train to pass the 70kph sign before I speed up. Then as I'm about to speed up to 70kph, I'm hit with a 40kph slow down out of nowhere. The speed limit changes with no warning that they're going to change.
Speaking of the red and green arrows. It would be nice to know what the next speed limit will be. I know that the manual says it's in increment of plus or minus 20kph, depending on the arrow. However, this isn't always the case, and a little heads up beneath the arrow would be nice. I've done a crude drawing of what I'm talking about.
Please forgive my lack of artistic talent, but this is what I think would really help out in the game. Finally, what is the biggest source of derailment, at least for me, is the turnout speeds. Almost on every single Y junction sign has 60kph as the speed limit. However, on more than one turnouts, the speed limit is actually 30kph, or ranges from 40 to 20kph. If we're going to have the Y junction sign, the posted speed limit under that sign should be the slowest speed for that junction. So if you have one direction that's 50kph, but another that is 30kph, then the posted speed limit is 30kph.
Speaking of junction speed limits, the map does have clusters of junctions, where you're just going from one junction onto the next. It would be helpful if those clusters had a speed limit for the entire cluster. Keeping with the system I outlined in the previous paragraph, the slowest junction speed limit is the posted speed limit for the entire cluster.
In conclusion, I hope you enjoy my rant, and this has obviously been on my mind for awhile now, and I hope y'all made it to the end of my ramblings!