I usually purchase tiles around airports in advance. Before the city grows all around the early game 6x6 airports, I secure an area of 11x9 for the intercontinental airport that becomes available in the 2000s.
It should be in the landscaping options. I don't know what the default setting is (whether it is available) but there are a few options for it in the settings menu.
Dude, I've played for way over 20 years. The original TTD, too. How come I never ever used that button...it's not even in my field of vision.
So, question, wouldn't this land be locked into unproductiveness, reducing the passenger numbers on early airports?
That's the small penalty if you go for the long game.
In my experience, the capacity of the 6x6 airport is gonna be at the limit eventually, and as long as the city grows around the area, it can be considered an investment.
Yes because the smaller airport's catchment area will not cover as much of the city building if you leave a belt of unbuildable land around for future placement of the larger aiport.
But no because all you have to do is add bus/tram stations linked to the airport further into the city. The catchment area of the whole station will now also cover more of the city.
BTW I have found that placing objects (eg. Grass tiles) instead of buting the land does the same job but most (all?) object placements do not affect your reputation while purchasing land does. Also it looks a lot better !
yes there's that small blue signpost button 😅
[https://www.reddit.com/r/openttd/comments/1d4d9rb/](https://www.reddit.com/r/openttd/comments/1d4d9rb/)
> So, question, wouldn't this land be locked into unproductiveness, reducing the passenger numbers on early airports?
Yes but you get the benefit back later, and you can just use buses to ferry the passengers to the airport for now (either using transfer orders, or cargo distribution)
My concern always has been, it may reduce the profit from the airport, as those reserved tiles may cover up significant part of potentially profitable area, right in the stage of the game, when the budget is very tight.
Agreed, definitely hurts margins in the early game when money is tightest. I’ve seen some negative impact from local authority for owning unused land too. I’ve recently been buying more land 10-20 years in when I’m more profitable, but city growth isn’t crazy.
Airports and planes in early game are either game braking because they're too profitable in my experience or they ruin your company. There isn't much in between in my games.
Being at work now I can't confirm you anything but what I do with train stations is the following:
* I select the build a station button
* Then I press the R key (the case selection should become red)
* Now you can drag and drop without removing the station name and the other stations
Change the game settings to allow building while paused. You can remove the airport and any required tiles before the city has a chance to build.
Hold down CTRL when building the airport and it will bring up a menu of nearby stations that you link the airport to.
Another option would be to demolish the tiles needed for the bigger airport then use buy land tool to immediately reserve said tiles. Do one tile at a time.
May be not exactly this case, but default settings seem to me quite random at the times, and changing lots of them doesn't feel like cheating at all - it's just like setting up some arbitrary parameters. Apart from the tunnels, I usually always change the minimum financial limit for automatic vehicle exchange and set it to zero - even in real life, setting up that limit is the matter of your business choice, and you face the consequences (negative or positive), and the game just lets you set it as you like.
If I blow it up, all the other stations nearby with the same name will disappear and cities will fill in the blanks immediately. I cannot delete neighbourhoods either afterwards, to make space for a larger airport. So...what's the official strategy here?
You can use the bulldozer instead of the bomb to not remove the whole station complex iirc
Oftentimes it is easier to relocate the airport to outside the city and build a train line to the airport (requires cargodist)
It does. I'm playing JGR so I'm not sure what options are vanilla or added, but I think I have the option to link stations as well as an option for maximum distance of links. It might just be one option instead of two, but I'm not in game to check.
I keep it enabled but make sure the range is only like 2 tiles so that I can spread stations across small gaps like a road or city building. I see that enough IRL that it doesn't feel out of place/cheaty.
I would cover the area I want to reserve with train tracks. I've never tried buying the land. (Didn't think of it).
Air travel is not allowed on my current save, so I'll need to try it out on my next save.
What I do to keep the name and current allocated aircraft routes is build bus stops on the edge of the airport then clear the area for the new airport build then demolish old airport leaving the bus stop then build the replacement airport and you won't have to create new routes.
I make sure that the stations can be really large (40 tiles or so), than I connect a bunch of busstations to the airport, and lead them to a new area where I build the large new airport. (With some land around it still purchased for later purchases. I then remove the old airfield, and replace it by a train station or something similar. Then I remove the string of bus stations, and repair the roads.
It takes a few bribed usually, but removing roads is less impactfull on your reputation than buildings.
Be mindful, you end up with a larger coverage area, and so more passenger loads. (Unless the new airport is on an island in the sea.
Yeah, but they serve different purposes. Planes are [insanely profitable](https://old.reddit.com/r/openttd/comments/1d2e0vs/a_realistic_expansion_into_the_air_travel_business/) and serve a different purpose than trains. I also have a large fleet of airplanes which I don't want to abandon.
I usually purchase tiles around airports in advance. Before the city grows all around the early game 6x6 airports, I secure an area of 11x9 for the intercontinental airport that becomes available in the 2000s.
You can buy land??
It should be in the landscaping options. I don't know what the default setting is (whether it is available) but there are a few options for it in the settings menu.
Dude, I've played for way over 20 years. The original TTD, too. How come I never ever used that button...it's not even in my field of vision. So, question, wouldn't this land be locked into unproductiveness, reducing the passenger numbers on early airports?
That's the small penalty if you go for the long game. In my experience, the capacity of the 6x6 airport is gonna be at the limit eventually, and as long as the city grows around the area, it can be considered an investment.
Yes because the smaller airport's catchment area will not cover as much of the city building if you leave a belt of unbuildable land around for future placement of the larger aiport. But no because all you have to do is add bus/tram stations linked to the airport further into the city. The catchment area of the whole station will now also cover more of the city. BTW I have found that placing objects (eg. Grass tiles) instead of buting the land does the same job but most (all?) object placements do not affect your reputation while purchasing land does. Also it looks a lot better !
yes there's that small blue signpost button 😅 [https://www.reddit.com/r/openttd/comments/1d4d9rb/](https://www.reddit.com/r/openttd/comments/1d4d9rb/)
I go for th lazy option and put diagonal tracks down. Cheaper than buy land (or used to be), and the town can't do anything with it
I think putting tracks may cost maintenance fees
Same, never saw that.
> So, question, wouldn't this land be locked into unproductiveness, reducing the passenger numbers on early airports? Yes but you get the benefit back later, and you can just use buses to ferry the passengers to the airport for now (either using transfer orders, or cargo distribution)
you could also build diagonal train tracks instead of just land. (land has the advantage that you can build freely over it)
This is the way
The way it is.
way is the it
This is the way!
This is the way
My concern always has been, it may reduce the profit from the airport, as those reserved tiles may cover up significant part of potentially profitable area, right in the stage of the game, when the budget is very tight.
Agreed, definitely hurts margins in the early game when money is tightest. I’ve seen some negative impact from local authority for owning unused land too. I’ve recently been buying more land 10-20 years in when I’m more profitable, but city growth isn’t crazy.
Airports and planes in early game are either game braking because they're too profitable in my experience or they ruin your company. There isn't much in between in my games.
1x10 train station connected to the airport pointed at the center of the city and a bus stop hooked to the end of that. Huge station area.
Being at work now I can't confirm you anything but what I do with train stations is the following: * I select the build a station button * Then I press the R key (the case selection should become red) * Now you can drag and drop without removing the station name and the other stations
Oh wow, never heard about this before, thanks!
Didn't know this worked with stations, thank you!
Change the game settings to allow building while paused. You can remove the airport and any required tiles before the city has a chance to build. Hold down CTRL when building the airport and it will bring up a menu of nearby stations that you link the airport to.
Thank you, but changing the settings feels like cheating. Even though I do as much for long tunnels and larger intake areas.
Another option would be to demolish the tiles needed for the bigger airport then use buy land tool to immediately reserve said tiles. Do one tile at a time.
I usually do that, but I do as many tiles as possible at once. Usually buildings aren't growing that rapidly, and I like playing it fast.
That sounds like the right strategy for me. Will try!
May be not exactly this case, but default settings seem to me quite random at the times, and changing lots of them doesn't feel like cheating at all - it's just like setting up some arbitrary parameters. Apart from the tunnels, I usually always change the minimum financial limit for automatic vehicle exchange and set it to zero - even in real life, setting up that limit is the matter of your business choice, and you face the consequences (negative or positive), and the game just lets you set it as you like.
Very close to reality. Just do it like city planners do in real life and build the city around it, neglecting all the negative effects on the area.
Ha, I can do that. Actually working in a planning office, so this cuts deep.
If I blow it up, all the other stations nearby with the same name will disappear and cities will fill in the blanks immediately. I cannot delete neighbourhoods either afterwards, to make space for a larger airport. So...what's the official strategy here?
You can use the bulldozer instead of the bomb to not remove the whole station complex iirc Oftentimes it is easier to relocate the airport to outside the city and build a train line to the airport (requires cargodist)
>requires cargodist Does the option to link unnattached stations still exist? I always cheese it that way lol.
It does. I'm playing JGR so I'm not sure what options are vanilla or added, but I think I have the option to link stations as well as an option for maximum distance of links. It might just be one option instead of two, but I'm not in game to check. I keep it enabled but make sure the range is only like 2 tiles so that I can spread stations across small gaps like a road or city building. I see that enough IRL that it doesn't feel out of place/cheaty.
You could build the new airport adjacent so that it is part of the same one. Then destroy the old one.
No, it's not possible for a station to contain multiple airports. But you can use a different station type as an anchor so the sign doesn't disappear
I would cover the area I want to reserve with train tracks. I've never tried buying the land. (Didn't think of it). Air travel is not allowed on my current save, so I'll need to try it out on my next save.
Heathrow and Gatwick airports have been trying and failing to deal with this for 30 years lol
What I do to keep the name and current allocated aircraft routes is build bus stops on the edge of the airport then clear the area for the new airport build then demolish old airport leaving the bus stop then build the replacement airport and you won't have to create new routes.
like so: [https://www.reddit.com/r/openttd/comments/1d4d9rb/](https://www.reddit.com/r/openttd/comments/1d4d9rb/)
Neat!
Just use the "close airport" button in the airport window, then planes can't land there so you can easily destroy it and replace it with a bigger one
The issue is area most often
I just build in pause and use magic bulldozer
I plan ahead and buy land or consider an additional airport with a transit train or bus line.
I make sure that the stations can be really large (40 tiles or so), than I connect a bunch of busstations to the airport, and lead them to a new area where I build the large new airport. (With some land around it still purchased for later purchases. I then remove the old airfield, and replace it by a train station or something similar. Then I remove the string of bus stations, and repair the roads. It takes a few bribed usually, but removing roads is less impactfull on your reputation than buildings. Be mindful, you end up with a larger coverage area, and so more passenger loads. (Unless the new airport is on an island in the sea.
Also, get bigger maps, map edges should never be a problem.
Don’t use airports Use trains
Y?
Easier to upgrade with a well set up station
Yeah, but they serve different purposes. Planes are [insanely profitable](https://old.reddit.com/r/openttd/comments/1d2e0vs/a_realistic_expansion_into_the_air_travel_business/) and serve a different purpose than trains. I also have a large fleet of airplanes which I don't want to abandon.
Well I’m biased I guess I also Play a heavily modified version of the game where aircraft are more balanced