Smart Cargo Demand - Automatic Cargo Balancing

Smart Cargo Demand loads first the cargo your destination will run out of next, and pauses cargo it already has plenty of. Your factories and towns get what they need, and no truck or train brings cargo into a stock that is already full. WHAT PROBLEM DOES IT SOLVE? Many lines load several cargo types at the same stop, for example sheet metal and machines for a vehicle factory. Transport Fever 3 gives every vehicle the cargo of which the most is waiting at that moment - it does not look at what the destination needs. So the factory may stand still because sheet metal is missing, while trucks keep bringing machines it has no room for. Or trucks keep bringing bricks to a town that only takes a few of them, and the cars that are waiting stay behind. WHAT DO I HAVE TO DO? Nothing. After loading your savegame, the mod finds every stop that loads at least two cargo types and delivers them to an industry, a warehouse or a town further along the line. It steers trucks, trains, ships and aircraft. HOW DOES IT DECIDE? For every cargo the mod asks one simple question: "How many days can the destination keep going with what it has?" This is called the reach. 1. It looks at the destination: how much is in stock, how much is already on the way in the line's vehicles, and how much the destination uses per day (factories: their recipe; towns: what the town buildings can consume). 2. Reach = (stock + cargo on the way) / use per day. Example: 40 sheet metal in stock and 20 on the way, the factory uses 6 per day: reach = 10 days. 3. It compares the reach with a target. By default the target is about twice the line's travel time to the destination (between 5 and 60 days), so a delivery can arrive in time. 4. Below the target, the cargo is loaded (100 %). Clearly above the target, the cargo is paused (0 %). In between nothing changes, so the setting does not flip back and forth. 5. The cargo with the shortest reach (the bottleneck) is always loaded - unless the stock at the destination is (almost) full. You can see the result in the game's own "Configure stop" window: paused cargo shows 0 %, loaded cargo 100 %. The game then loads the vehicles as usual. HUBS AND WAREHOUSES If a line delivers to a warehouse (hub), the mod follows the cargo along the lines that load it there, to the factories and towns behind it - up to three hubs deep, by any kind of transport. It then uses their real demand and counts the stock in the hubs, at the factories and on all vehicles of these lines. If nothing is found behind the warehouse, it uses the measured outflow of the warehouse instead, smoothed so that a single delivery does not make the numbers jump. The demand behind a hub is never counted lower than this measured outflow, and a factory or town that gets cargo both directly and through the hub is counted only once. Not yet included: several lines that load the same cargo at one hub are not coordinated with each other. TOWNS For a town as destination, the mod counts the town buildings around the destination stop and their stock. Only buildings within the stop's catchment area can take cargo: if they are full, the cargo is paused, even if the town needs more elsewhere. Then a second stop in another part of the town helps. TRAINS (NEW IN REV. 30) Transport Fever 3 gives each wagon its cargo when loading starts. A cargo switched on later only gets the wagons that are still free. So for trains the mod decides before the train arrives: - If the needed cargo waiting at the stop can fill the train, only needed cargo is loaded. - If it cannot, cargo the destination needs soon (less than three times the target reach) is switched on from the start, so the other wagons do not run empty. - If there is still room, a train may take one extra train load of a cargo the destination uses, as long as the destination stock (including cargo on the way) stays below 85 %. Full trains earn more money. - Cargo that is being loaded is never switched off during loading. If a train still leaves partly empty, the missing cargo was usually not waiting at the stop. Trucks keep the rules described below. SPECIAL CASES - Supply short at the loading stop (less than one load waiting): a truck carries only one cargo type, so the mod lets this cargo collect while trucks take other needed cargo. A train has several wagons, so the scarce cargo simply goes along with what is there and the other wagons take other cargo. The cockpit also tells you why it is short: another line loads the same cargo at this stop, or too little arrives (feeder line or production too small). - Nothing needed is waiting: trucks fill up only with cargo the destination needs soon (less than twice the target reach). If none of the switched-on cargo is waiting at all, the vehicle takes the available cargo whose destination needs it most, so it does not leave empty. This cargo stays switched on until a full load of the needed cargo is waiting again, so the setting does not flip back and forth. - Destination full: at 90 % stock, or less than half a load of space, the cargo is paused - even the bottleneck. It is loaded again below 85 %. - Stops that load only one cargo type are not steered (nothing to split). - If you change the cargo settings of a stop by hand, the mod stops steering that stop until you click "Let the mod take over". - If you remove a cargo from a stop in "Configure stop", the mod stops steering that cargo there and never switches it on again. To bring it back, add the cargo again and click "Steer" in the cockpit. - Days are in-game calendar days; the mod measures the length of a day itself and only starts switching after that. WHERE DO I SEE IT? - Cargo button in the mod bar: one table with all lines and the cargo that is loaded or paused at each loading stop. "Details" opens the cockpit of a stop: a traffic light per cargo, reach and target, the destination (also the factories and towns behind a hub), what is waiting at the stop, and the reason in words. Click a destination name to move the camera there. - Traffic light: scarce = loaded first, ok = loaded too, enough = paused, supply short = missing at the loading stop. - Each line's window shows a short summary per stop. "Open cockpit" opens all settings for that line. WHAT CAN I SET? - Per line: on or off. - Per cargo: "Always load", or remove it from steering (x). - "Advanced" per stop: priority per cargo (low, normal, high), target reach (Auto, 10, 20, 40 days) and response (calm, normal, fast - how far above the target a cargo may go before it is paused, and how often the mod switches). - Main switch: automatic mode for all lines. Settings are saved in your savegame. WHAT THE MOD CANNOT DO It can only choose between cargo that is there. If a cargo is missing at the loading stop, the destination stays short - then you need more feeder transport or more production. If all vehicles of a line leave full and the destination still runs low, the line needs more vehicles. REMOVING THE MOD Before removing it, untick the main switch "Automatic for all lines" and save once. Every stop then gets all cargo back at 100 %. COMPATIBILITY The mod only changes the cargo settings of stops and adds no assets. In my test game it runs together with a timetable mod and other line mods. It has not been tested with every mod - please report problems. FEEDBACK WELCOME Please tell me in the comments: - which lines it steers well and which not, especially with hubs and towns, - a screenshot of the cockpit (cargo button, then "Details") helps a lot, - what you would like to be able to set.