Atomic Systems

I would be grateful to know what is a Blocker and why is it used. I've encountered it in a scenario in the new BHBP line from Vulcan productions. I'm driving a freight train from Reading to Westbury, I'm stopped in a loop to let a Class800 pass, well it doesn't because it is held somewhere near Reading. So I should be good to go but the red signal persists. Before edging out on to the main line,I check the '9' button which brings up a map and there I see the Blocker just round a bend. I go onto the main line and wham into the Blocker which is invisible!!! I saved the game before hitting the blocker. Is there any way I can remove the offending item.
Cheers Dumps

A blocker is an invisible train designed to block your progress.

It is used in scenarios to delay a service - when it moves it might go in to a portal and be removed from the scenario
As you will never see what is in front of you it does not matter what it is.

dumpadillo wrote: ↑Tue Nov 17, 2020 3:06 pm So I should be good to go but the red signal persists. Before edging out on to the main line,I check the '9' button which brings up a map and there I see the Blocker just round a bend. I go onto the main line and wham into the Blocker which is invisible!!!

But the idea is you wait for it to clear instead of passing a red signal and trying to ram it.

Peter

Thanks Peter, I hope I don't have to wait too long.
Dumps

In real life, freights have low priority. A driver may have to wait some time (many minutes or even an hour) to get a path if the line is a busy commuter or high speed line. I am sure that the scenario creator has decided on a reasonable length of time for the wait - after all, he/she had to test it several times to ensure that it was working OK.

Nick

I use a blocker a lot of the time on my Scenarios, to;
take the route ahead of me, so the signals are set correctly along the route. Good for some of the earlier KuJu Semaphores.
block or trick AI consists to hold and wait for me to cross their paths.
You can have fun with a blocker engine by giving is various levels of priority, I sometimes give it international status wich make even passenger expresses wait at a junction just to see a goods Jinty pass by.
Tortoise & the snail
John

The blocker is a great at forcing the dispatch manager to do things it wouldn't normally do so can make some really interesting scenarios.

My record is 25 blocker services on a scenario I have done on the Welsh Marshes route with a steam special to influence the player/AI and signals in general.

This is probably a daft question but why does the blocker have to be invisible. Can't you get the same result in a scenario with a real AI train running ahead of you?
Also in your example, can't you just give the goods train high priority just by making it international?

skiddaw wrote: ↑Fri Nov 27, 2020 11:26 pm why does the blocker have to be invisible. Can't you get the same result in a scenario with a real AI train running ahead of you?

No and yes.....but (the inevitable but) you may not want the blocker to be visible.

skiddaw wrote: ↑Fri Nov 27, 2020 11:26 pm can't you just give the goods train high priority just by making it international?

Yes, but it's not recommended to elevate service classes unless absolutely necessary. What if you only needed the freight to have precedence in only one instance of interacting with other services?

Thanks GP Tech.
For my own entertainment I often add extra traffic to published scenarios to make them more interesting, so adding invisible traffic is not something I have ever contemplated.
Your second point about giving a goods train priority just at one point is a good example where you might want to do it.

The Real Drive Scenarios by Kim Olesen have other AI going the same way as your train - sometimes it is a train you will then pass in your journey and it is a proper consist
Sometimes a blocker loco is used as the player would never see it

You could get the same effect using a light loco from that route