Rating Scenario Difficulty

[firetrap1]

I don't think this has ever been brought up before, so...

I'm thinking about setting some guidelines for rating scenario difficulty, i.e. if you wanted to play a scenario which was rated as 'difficult', what would a normal user expect to have to perform?

local stopping duties?
shunting?
rescues?
tackling signal checks?
high speed runs?
night time runs?
driving in poor weather? (applies to Railworks 3)
dealing with heavy traffic?
freight loading/unloading?
etc...


As a scenario creator I am very interested to hear thoughts on this idea on what would be expected for 'easy', 'very difficult' and everything inbetween.

chris

[220389]

Out of the ones that you listed i would rate them for me at least like this

Easy:
Shunting
Rescues
High Speed Runs
Night time runs (Without AP Lighting pack)

Medium:
Local Stopping Duties
Tackling signal checks
Night time runs (With AP Lighting pack dawn/ dusk)
Dealing with Heavy Traffic
Freight loading/unloading?

Hard:
Local Stopping Duties if Timetabled
Tackling signal checks
Night time runs (With AP Lighting pack Dead night 10pm till 4/5am)
Dealing with heavy traffic (If stuck behind frieght or local stoppers)


driving in poor weather? (applies to Railworks 3) Currently unsure depends what effects it has to rail head etc/ what visual effect but guessing Medium for Rain and Hard for snow

Chris

[alexnick]

I would say that it's a combination of factors, and how different elements of a scenario stack up.

An easy scenario would be simple A-B runs without complications, or difficult traffic to weave through: something I could do whilst leafing through a magazine at the same time.

Harder ones have shunting movements or tight stopping patterns which keep the player concentrating, or having adverse conditions.

To be very hard, I would expect something which requires careful management of things like boiler pressure or wheelslip. Or a combination of many small complications to a scenario.

For scenario creation purposes, I judged difficulty on how hard I had to concentrate on a scenario to complete it correctly.

AN

[Kromaatikse]

There are actually four difficulty levels that I've seen in use: Easy (1), Medium (2), Hard (3), Very Hard (4).

IMO, Easy should be reserved for scenarios that a complete novice (or a young child) should be able to handle. No signal checks (except for delayed-release and junction signals which clear immediately), no reversing, no shunting, no timetable, no "advanced controls only" traction. Just go, stop, and possibly open doors. It is also appropriate for tutorials where the player is walked through every step.

At Medium difficulty, you can add signal checks, diversions, shunting, reversing, loading and unloading, and a timetable that is easy to achieve without practicing. It is also permitted to use traction with enhanced-realism controls which are unsuitable for Easy mode. Most ordinary scenarios should fit into this category.

For Hard difficulty, you may add shunting puzzles (using the Marshall instruction) and/or tight timetables, or using normally-unsuitable traction as a substitute.

Very Hard difficulty should be used for scenarios which will severely challenge even experienced drivers. For example, if the player must get an overweight train over the hill in time for a tea break, or if a strict timetable must be kept in freezing fog, or some other unusual form of difficulty.

[simuk]

I've always considered that if timings are tight, routes have to be set manually (in more than just a small number of times - depends on the route and period of course), there is shunting involved where you have to do more than just dropping off/picking up, and there is a good potential to get it wrong just by human error, then the difficulty would be harder than something more simple such as a fairly relaxed A to B journey where there isn't really anything that can go wrong or timings to stick to.