more fixes and tweaks

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Jesse
2026-08-01 12:00:27 -04:00
parent d1f689d4fc
commit f00255ce31
7 changed files with 94 additions and 8 deletions
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@@ -726,3 +726,38 @@ The temptation is to rebuild everything at once. I would not.
**Do not retune anything against current measurements.** Gap 12's numbers describe a placeholder
ruleset. Re-measure after step 5 and treat everything before that as void.
---
## §10 Q13 — rear-end collisions on a Mainline card are not implemented
**Found by playing.** The Superintendent's §8.1 ruling asks whether one train may follow another onto
an occupied Mainline card. Granting it is currently **free**: both trains cross, nothing collides, no
penalty. Verified directly — two trains on one card, clearance granted, both alive and revenue
unchanged.
Two places in the rules say it should not be free:
- **§10** — "A collision on a Mainline card is the fault of the Superintendent who cleared the trains
out; he loses 5 Revenue points" and "**Train-on-train.** Both trains are immediately removed."
- **ABS Signals** — "Trains on this card will not rear-end each other. They will stop short of a
collision." A card whose entire purpose is preventing rear-enders presupposes that rear-enders
happen.
But **§8.3's trigger list does not include it.** The three automatic triggers are all about arriving
at an Office or highballing past fouled track; none covers a follower catching a leader mid-card. So
the rule is asserted in §10 and priced by ABS Signals, yet never given a trigger.
The missing piece is **timing**, and it is a design decision rather than a transcription gap.
Crossing is counted in Stages (Q1), so both trains simply run their counters down. Candidates:
1. **On entry** — following onto an occupied card wrecks both at once. Makes clearance a pure gamble
and ABS Signals very strong.
2. **On catching up** — collide only when the follower's remaining Stages would take it past the
leader. Rewards judging the gap, which is what a Superintendent actually does.
3. **Never** — clearance is genuinely safe, §10's Mainline clause is vestigial, and ABS Signals is
worth less than it reads.
Until this is settled the clearance buttons describe only what the engine actually does — they say
the train "closes up behind" rather than promising a 5 risk that cannot occur. Wording that invents
a consequence is worse than wording that under-sells one.