Could not drop second tank car at refinery. #21

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2026-08-31T02:39:51Z

Jesse.Markowitz commented

2026-08-31 02:39:51 +00:00

See turn, undo 181. Seed 550943578. in attached file.

During switching operations a refinery with a pipeline nearby had two outbound slots. I wanted to drop two empty tank cars so that the freight agents and men at work could load them later. I dropped the first tank car, but that was all I was allowed to do.

Checked "Blocked — why nothing is moving" and saw.
refinery 1,0 — green box empty — nothing to load (needs a Freight Agent action)

See turn, undo 181. Seed 550943578. in attached file. During switching operations a refinery with a pipeline nearby had two outbound slots. I wanted to drop two empty tank cars so that the freight agents and men at work could load them later. I dropped the first tank car, but that was all I was allowed to do. Checked "Blocked — why nothing is moving" and saw. refinery 1,0 — green box empty — nothing to load (needs a Freight Agent action)

station-master-seed550943578-day3.json

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Jesse.Markowitz referenced this issue from a commit

2026-09-07 15:42:19 +00:00

v0.7.9.1 — the engine was right twice; the screen was not

Jesse.Markowitz closed this issue

2026-09-07 15:42:19 +00:00

Jesse.Markowitz commented

2026-09-07 15:50:49 +00:00

Ruling: the game was right to refuse, and no rule has changed. What was wrong is what the screen told you.

Replayed the attached save through the engine — all 181 intents replay cleanly — and asked it directly why the second drop was refused. The answer is FREIGHT_WORKED_HERE.

The crew was Train 3, the Express, and the Express prints:

May drop or pick up one freight car at every location.

So one tank car at the refinery is all that train may work there. The budget is per location, not per turn, so the same train could still have worked a car at the next square it reached — that is what makes it an Express rather than a train that moves one car a Stage. Nothing about the refinery, the pipeline or its two outbound slots was involved.

The actual defect is the Blocked panel. You checked "Blocked — why nothing is moving" and it told you:

refinery 1,0 — green box empty — nothing to load (needs a Freight Agent action)

That is a true statement about the facility and has nothing to do with why your drop was refused — so it sent you to spend a Freight Agent action that could not have helped. A panel whose entire job is answering "why is nothing moving?" answering a different question is worse than one that stays silent, because it looks like an answer. The rule was written on the train card's own tooltip, which is not where anyone looks when a button they expected is simply absent.

Fixed in v0.7.9.1 (7ade60e). Against your own save the panel now reads:

[waiting] refinery 1,0 — green box empty — nothing to load (needs a Freight Agent action)
[waiting] Train 3 at (0,1) — ONE FREIGHT CAR PER LOCATION — this train has already worked a
          freight car on this square, so no more come off or on here until next turn.

It asks the same predicate the rule itself refuses on, so the wording cannot drift from the rule.

**Ruling: the game was right to refuse, and no rule has changed. What was wrong is what the screen told you.** Replayed the attached save through the engine — all 181 intents replay cleanly — and asked it directly why the second drop was refused. The answer is `FREIGHT_WORKED_HERE`. The crew was **Train 3, the Express**, and the Express prints: > May drop or pick up one freight car at every location. So one tank car at the refinery is all that train may work there. The budget is per **location**, not per turn, so the same train could still have worked a car at the next square it reached — that is what makes it an Express rather than a train that moves one car a Stage. Nothing about the refinery, the pipeline or its two outbound slots was involved. **The actual defect is the Blocked panel.** You checked "Blocked — why nothing is moving" and it told you: ``` refinery 1,0 — green box empty — nothing to load (needs a Freight Agent action) ``` That is a true statement about the facility and has nothing to do with why your drop was refused — so it sent you to spend a Freight Agent action that could not have helped. A panel whose entire job is answering "why is nothing moving?" answering a different question is worse than one that stays silent, because it looks like an answer. The rule was written on the train card's own tooltip, which is not where anyone looks when a button they expected is simply absent. Fixed in **v0.7.9.1** (`7ade60e`). Against your own save the panel now reads: ``` [waiting] refinery 1,0 — green box empty — nothing to load (needs a Freight Agent action) [waiting] Train 3 at (0,1) — ONE FREIGHT CAR PER LOCATION — this train has already worked a freight car on this square, so no more come off or on here until next turn. ``` It asks the same predicate the rule itself refuses on, so the wording cannot drift from the rule.

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Reference: Jesse.Markowitz/station-master#21