CoS January Devlog - Fire in the Hole!

Oh gosh, I didn't expect you to read the whole question out loud 😂 I can't promise, but I'll *try* to keep possible future questions more concise? xD Anyways, thanks for the in-depth answers and also for this look on the firing system. While I'll probably not use this detailed model in day to day operations, it definitely does spark more than just a bit of interest and a desire to learn firing properly. This really looks well thought through and educational.

Thanks for what you are doing.. it's impressive. .. will we have to deal with clinkers too? :)

Question for Q&A: How are freight operations handled in game? Are the industries self sufficient, or is there an "interchange" that will bring in other materials that the railroad doesn't have online? Will there be an incentive to running mixed load trains, or are we only moving sets of outputs to a set of inputs at another industry?

Question for Q&A: How large is the Ponderosa Map? 4km x 4km? 8km x 8km? 16km x 16km? 32km x 32km? 64km x 64km?

For Q&A: Will there be geared locomotive engine sway due to uneven track? I think it would look really good and realistic.

oh my god that is a BEAUTIFUL locomotive

This looks amazing, it would be awesome if century of steam were to get as far as being a viable teaching tool for introducing volunteer footplate crew to steam locomotive principals on heritage railways. One thing I didn't see mentioned in the video, will there be any kind of damper control or fire door opening to control primary and secondary air for combustion, and will you be simulating the way that boiler tubes start to hum if you run with a hole in the fire? A trick I often use is to fire the grate ready for train departure but deliberately leave a hole in the fire to stop steam building if I have a while to wait before the train departs. It's then easy to quickly fill in the hole just before the train sets off so you have full steaming capability right when you want it, it would be interesting to see if your firebed simulation supports this technique. Keep up the amazing work guys, can't wait to play it.

For q&a, will overheating the crown sheet allow for the glorious Cthulhu? Also love the work y’all are doing, I haven’t been this excited for a game release for a decade

For Q&A: Will there be interchanges we have to pick up freight from or will everything just be servicing local industries?

Question for the team: Will Different bridges have weight restrictions? Such as a late 1800's bridge not being able to hold up a large locomotive like a K-37. Great Job on the game and thanks in advance!

who up steamin' they century rn

I already love how this game looks, but I was very much interested in something that was mentioned in a previous video. It was brought up that it won’t be set solely in the west/Rocky Mountains, and that a few levels may be set in the Midwest/East coast, and was wondering if the ill-fated Kansas Central Railway would make an appearance storming up the 1.5% Government Hill or rolling through the farms and hills of Northeast Kansas?

Question, will we be able to take those old timy kinda photos you see in historical documents and if so will we be able to see our characters in multiplayer and single player if we want to.

What can you say about the company operation side of the game? Do industries request cars? If so, how?

Question, is we damage a loco will we have to take it to a repair shop and fix it ourselves or will we just have to pay to fix it?

A quick question, what can you say about the diesels? Will we be seeing them soon or maybe about the horns?

For Q&A: While we know a comprehensive list of locomotives won’t be available till the game releases, are some the proposed big engine designs being considered (like the D&RGW outside frame 4-8-2s and RGS 2-8-8-2s for example) to show the “what if” potential of the later US narrow gauge scene if it had progressed differently?

One very important question. Will the Montezuma(baldwin 8 1/2 C3) be in the game. As well as the D&RG class 35(baldwin 12D3).

I wonder if the weather, or just bandits will affect the bridge and if you will have to maintenance it just like the tracks, or just completely rebuild it. The red barrels made me think this, just cause they seem explosive, and if we could see the explosion if it were to explode and if it were to be in game, that would be awesome!

I’m wondering, will there be an intense tutorial that’ll walk you through the process of firing while running? I have no idea how to run a steam train, but I definitely want to run it as realistically as possible when I play

For Q&A. Will we have boiler explosions if we run the water to low or at least damage to the engine.

I learned a lot about coal fire mechanics in this video. Thank you

will snow add resistance to a locomotive? so if theres deep snow drifts you'd need 2 or 3 engines

34:43 Okay, my own addon to that question: since it will be in the game, will it also be possible then to experience an uncontrollable wheelslip, like what happened to Blue Peter across the pond in 1994?

Thank you for the openness of the video.. This is wonderful, hope that work continues smoothly with the project into the future. Would like to see a video about the flora/fauna, very appreciative of the game having a formal art direction

Another incredible video. Every time one of these comes up, I'm blowen away and thoroughly impressed by what the team has accomplished, and all the love and care that goes into all these different elements. The coal-firing mechanisms and dynamic fire box are far beyond what I would have expected. It's truly amazing what passion, dedication, and an intimate knowledge of the irl experience are capable of producing. Also, the new video-publishing strategy makes total sense, yall have to do what is best for the game, I will still look forward to each video as it is released!

With all the focus on the steam sim and firing the locomotive gives me a question. Are we going to have a need to use speeders? Also are the controls going to be accurate for the actual thing? The old belt driven cars were absolutely crucial to a railroads operation and are fairly involved for the person operating it yet they are often the ignored red headed step child of railroads and their preservation

Aw man, I guess we'll never see Century of Steam for the Wii, so sad : (

Never been this excited for a game since Geometry Dash 2.2 was announced. You guys are spectacular. This game as well as its mechanics are simply just beautiful. I wish I could support more, but I'm just a 15 year old who only gets money if he asks for it lol. Keep it up, you guys. This is going to be legendary!

Will there be some sort of cruise control for train? Such as try and maintain X speed to allow someone in single player to focus on firing? Also will we be able to toggle the autofireman for individual locomotives or is it a global setting?

I absolutely love the level of detail your studio is committed to in the development in this game! With this new firing video, I do wonder for situations where you goof up and run out of fuel or water without a refueling station nearby, is there a mechanic in the works that allows you to refuel with a penalty? or would it be necessary to have a spare locomotive available to rescue it?

I just thought to ask. if your rolling stock has a decal from your decal folder that someone else doesn't have in theirs what will they see instead.? will it display an error texture or will they just see nothing. if its the later players might have issues identifying cars when the same car looks different to other players.

Greetings from Germany, first of all, really big respect and Kudos for what you guys created so far. As im working on Steamengines as a Fireman myself, im really amazed about how much detail went into the coal firing (wood i hope as well) and the mechanics of the engine all arround. As said in the Video with the priming of the boiler and a constant/healthy waterlevel to come later on, im really loking forward into putting hands on it myself after release. Finally a bunch of people sat down, took a deep dive into the physics of a steamengine and made it accessible to players in a game. Looking forward for your next devlog videos and cant wait for the release.

Qustion for the next Q&A I know player avatars/models haven't been talked about yet, but is there a plan to have an animation for the fireman's avatar shoveling while they're in the fire-door view working on the fire? And if so, when playing single player with an AI fireman can we have an animated AI avatar in the cab? It'd certainly help with making the world feel alive, rather than just you, by yourself, in an empty horror-game world Also just wanted to say, when you overfired coming up the hill and popped the safety? As someone who's been in that exact situation, it makes me unreasonably happy (and preemptively frustrated) that's possible in game. Amazing work! Can't wait to see more!

Very cool. This begs the question now, how does locomotive fireup and beddy-bye time work? Can we bank the fire and let them simmer for a while if we want? How does starting a locomotive from cold work?

Will there be any early access for Patrons?

6:34 Oh yeah, I was d e l i g h t e d when Railroader released with THAT being the "firing" system in-game...ok, sorry, not gonna get into that and start making cockatoo noises myself about the game. Seriously, though, I am so excited for this! And even if it's not a perfect 100% recreation, it's still gonna be the most accurate one out there, and I'm all for learning how to do it!(something else to keep in mind is that this'll mainly require just the mental dexterity, not the physical. Learning something/doing it digitally and actually doing it are two v e r y different things, as you'd be able to tell us!) Cheers, Mark and Studio 346!

I would be happy to see This new map or any map in the Track laying process You don't even have to talk just record a video if your building a new layout or updating one. Because I love to Build it is my Sandbox Passion to Bild in this Beautiful Environment.

The amount of detail that is going into this game is awesome and I just can't wait for it but I must.

Hey guys first of all i have to say congrats to you for the features shown this far. Is really sth. to be proud of. For progression i know you talked about not wanting to implement a classic tech tree. I do not know how many people would be interested in such a feature and its feasabiltiy. But what about an optional progression system in which the maps economy plays a role. Either delivering materials to a facility for „testing purposes“ in exchange for research points or a set amount of resources for a specific pice of rolling stock. For me at least it would be interesting to have to work for better equipment and to be kinda forced to expand the railroad.

Hey guys what’s the fastest y’all have gotten theme up to so far 😊

Oil Fired K-37 when? XD

I love the progress of the game so far. The foliage, ground cover, and trees all make the world look real, like you're actually out there in the mountains. The way the track looks with proper rust color on the sides is great. I like the look of the engine house that was in the background. Now for the questions: Will wood firing work in a similar fashion, throwing wood instead of coal into the various boxes? Will there be a limited or wide variety of switch stand variants? With the detail to scenery and weather, will there be a difficulty level in which weather can damage things like bridges. I love the scene from Michal Todd's Around The World in 80 Days when the D&RGW #315 barely crossed (with a little encouragement from Kenosha) a collapsing trestle bridge and the thrill of wondering if a bridge around the corner might be washed out would be exciting.

Perhaps it's due to the recording, but I hope that the train has more bass and fullness as we get closer to release. It's just something I've noticed in many train sims -- it's lacking compared to something like https://youtu.be/nUE7ghI_aE8?si=oLNDRJe_FA_-ugVP&t=196 (drivers plate of an engine with pretty decent sound) There's a certain sense of weight. Loving the project and hope we can really feel it in the headphones!

Really loving how this is all coming along, every devlog brings more and more things to get excited about. Now I know your opinion of Railroader isn’t the highest, but I am really hoping that when it comes to operations, ie moving cars to and from industries, the car forwarding system in C of S is similar to Railroader, that being interchange-based, at least where possible. I know that most narrow gauge railroads were “logs to mill” “mine to mill” etc. but examples like the RGS at Durango and Ridgeway come to mind. Also is there the possibility of having roles such as Station Agent, Telegrapher, etc. for multiplayer to have full operating sessions.

i like the coal firing system. question though how will wood firing work. is it just the same but with wood or is there some other special method that makes it different? I'm really exited to play this game. keep up the good work.

G'day Mark, really looking forward to seeing the dev videos showing less polished "work-in-progres" areas of the game, aside from making sense from a production point of view it'll give a much better big-picture view of how the game is progressing and the direction you guys are taking this awesome project! J

Hello all, can't wait to get the chance to play. Was wondering something though, I'm pretty sure I've only seen stub switches in the videos, are those going to be the default style? And will they be interchangeable for the more recent point style? Same for some of the more complex switches like triple splits or double crossovers. Awesome job so far as always!

Those firebox shots, I can't see a thing because of the bitrate. It's just an orange flickering mess. Think next devlog you could upload a higher bitrate video if you're showing off something bitrate-heavy, like weather or the firebox?

Ok the level of detail is approaching sillyness. I won't consider the game fully detailed unless the engineers boogers freeze when it's cold out, lol. My questions are will there be multiple unit operation? Any plans for multiple gauge track?

I really, really like the complexity of firing you're showing here. I'm guessing that means that injecting is the next topic? Am I correct in assuming that you'll be modeling different types of injectors and their operation? Lifting vs non-lifting, etc?

Is or will the locomotive suspension/spring rigging physics be in the game? Will the trains sway and lean over uneven track?

If one is playing single player, and using say a AI fireman would we be able to give instructions to the Fireman via a dialog wheel. I would love to just push tab and tell the fireman to give her the beans as we approach a hill. or to chill out on the stoking. Or duuuuuddeeeeeeeeee she's sizzling pump in all the fracking water. PS the AI fireman being drunk once in awhile would also be cool.

Awesome video, this firing mechanic is exactly what I was hoping for! One question I do have though, will there be an option to open the firebox door to introduce secondary air as another way to help cool the fire when not working the loco?

I have an idea for firing. What if rather than queuing the coal scoops, you loaded the coal shovel and then opening the fire box and flinging it at the selected grid. Just a thought. Keep up the good work y’all. I’m loving it.

One thing that is very notable in prototype consists of boxcars (especially ones from mixed roads) is how they're all a bit different in size from each other. Have you given any thought yet to how you'd reproduce this in the game?

The amount of polish and attention to detail is fantastic, and am looking forward to the future new Devlog format. That being said, will there be discussions on engines as a complete system and the industry/economy system as well? (And as a side note, potentially being able to interchange with “outside” railroads?) Thanks for all the hard work!

The firing sim blew me away. Is there gonna be anything modeling “breakdowns” based on maintenance? Things like holes in the grate, busted arch bricks, compressor governors sticking, etc. I know that’s way out in the weeds but it doesn’t seem much farther than pinecones. Love the work you guys are doing. Can’t wait.

Gosh, not only does the game look incredible to play, I love just how much you care about both the realism and the accessibility to your community! Along with that, will there be avatar customization? Specifically asking because I'd love to see options for a woman/fem presenting avatar as well as a gender neutral presenting avatar. Oh! And I know we haven't seen any multiplayer stuff yet (including player name tags at all), but do you think you'll have the option to include pronouns next to your name tag (especially useful for if you're doing multiplayer with a large group of people)?

Very cool, definitely going to need a robust tutorial for firing when the game comes out, but this looks like so much fun!

Oh men, years ago i came with a familiar idea to "Simulate" Coal fire when TSW was still in beta development, now i see you guy's had exact the same idea! this was exactly what i had in mind! So for the pro's........ is it possible that if you let your fire grate to long exposed in the hot air without coal that you damage it in the long turn need fixing to get your fire back at maximum performance? Also: is it possible to see the Lead Neal when you look above you? so you can somehow "in your imagination" ( see spongebob meme with rainbow ) simulate to check if its not melted or see white stains. In my day's as fireman we have also to check if we don't slib the grate with to much coal, when it does the warning blue/greenish flames could tell you that it lacks fresh air and you also could damage the grate, ( Yes we had cheap welded grates and not the more durable cast grade ), it would be fun to poke around to get the Slack out the firebox somehow as a minigame. :D I don't know what America use as the main supply coal, in the Netherlands they mainly used Fat-coal or as we also called: Stone-coal, in Belgium and part of France they use the stinky and ugly brown-coal witch has poorer quality and needed more to get a good fire. Guys! Every time a video comes out I'm on the edge of my seat again, i love it! Erwin.

I want No Need This. Also Will there be town progression? Like will a town build up as you bring more freight through.

Will the fire dance with the exhaust beats?

Good to see you can throw switches from the cab, I always miss that feature when I'm not playing derail valley

To Studio 346, I saw the gaps in the rail segments in your latest video. I'm watching. No worries lol.

Looks fantastic! If this gets any more realistic, we'll have to worry about tank car sloshing physics.

I do really like how the Ponderosa map looks like in the game it looks amazing, but one question i have is that can we make our own maps for the game in the future? Mostly because i like to have something that dosen't look like the same as other players have. And the game it self looks amazing i love the work you guys have done and with this feature in the game now and i love it, keep up the good work.

holy shit 2 minutes in and the fire is insane !

Will we be able to use a coal scoop for firing like derail valley?

wow this is neat and novel, and the whistle is hauntingly beautiful, But Please say the exaust chuffs is to be updated to the same standard, btw lets hope the back sheet cant be melted...

I know that I've already posted a comment so apologies if this is spam but I want to ask a few things that I haven't seen anyone else mention yet. 1. Does the boiler pressure gauge flicker along with the valve events? Or is that just the needle oscillating at speed a bit. I noticed that whenever the camera zoomed in on the gauge to get a reading, it was bobbing around a little bit. It was hard to see what exactly was going on seeing as the bitrate was a little funky in a few spots. 2. Will the grates in the firebox become uncovered if you leave them unattended? I'm wondering if/how you guys are going to simulate the temperature differential by having that cold air being sucked into the firebox through the grates causing a bit of damage.

Question for the far future. If and when this game is completed, are you planning on doing other games assuming this one goes so well?

When we build trackside facilities do they clip on the track so it fits right or will we have to eyeball it like RRO (which is kinda pain). Also will there be a option to build trackside facilities with resources or do we need to just buy them with money and then theyre there?

It would be nice to have a little shake in the interior camera while moving along, a bit of movement as you go over a bump or when the loco is working hard. In the video it's like you're a go pro on a hard mounted stand and the ride is very smooth (narrow gauge usually isn't very smooth) I guess the closest example to such a feature is the interior camera motion in ets2?

I don’t know if this has been asked or answered but will there be an external camera view? Similar to RRO? Also the game looks great so far

Obviously I gotta ask. With all this firing simulation, if you let the water get too low does the locomotive suffer a sudden and insurmountable loss of boiler structural integrity?

I get what you're saying with it feeling out of place to have a "mini golf firing game." That doesn't really fit with CoS. However, it does feel weird to me when you go into the fire box and just spawn coal out of thin air. I know there's not a great way to do this, but I want the feeling of holding the shovel, of pivoting back and forth - Maybe right click on the coal load to scoop up the coal, then you can put it in? I'm not sure y'all of course are the ones actually testing, and maybe you found that constantly moving back and forth felt a bit dizzying. But if you could find a way to incorporate the actual coal scooping, add it as a config, I'd be really happy. That's part of that romance of railroading part of the game you've mentioned I'm excited for - I want that sight and sound, the scraping of the butterfly fire doors opening. As is, it feels a bit... digital, if that makes sense. I'm reminded that it's a game. My critique aside, I'm very impressed that you've simulated tending the different parts of the fire, way beyond anything I would've expected. All of that part is golden. Also was reminded of how great the whistles are as you went across they trestles, with that beautiful echoing.

Five minutes in I said: wonder if the fire will dance off the grates when she works? The answer to that question made _me_ dance in my desk chair. The fire sim looks (and sounds! the coal scoop digging up coal!) amazing. Thanks for the fun vlog! I also 100% support the new format for vlogs and would really like to see more of the process - I know nothing about software or game development and a peek behind the curtain sounds like a lot of fun and easier for y'all to manage. Thanks again!

Listen, I’m the guy who when they’re running smokebox stuff in *TSC* that has to run and fire the engine at the same time like it’s a real steam locomotive. I remember the other day I was peaking into the firebox of their big boy model saying to myself “you know if I ever made a train game it’d be to where you have to click on each part of the fire box if it was a hand bomber instead of a stoker engine”. So needless to say that my face legitimately lit up like a small baby’s when I saw this *exact* thing. I’m so unbelievably floored that the team wants to bring actual steam operation to the public like this. It seems with every dev vlog my expectations for this game keep getting shattered and rebuilt in terms of realism. Long winded paragraph aside, you guys are legitimately insane. Incredible work.

Anyone else see that deer/cow?

This is for a future Q&A, Will you be able to add pictures you took in real life to your rolling stock? Like a picture I took of a real life Desert for example

This is beautiful so far fellas. One question I have comes to mind with this resource transfer stuff. Will auxiliary tenders exist ingame?

Have you guys considered releasing a demo to steam to help build hype and increase funding etc for the game

Are there any plans to release the software on non-Windows devices, such as iMacs? I'm not sure about the limitations, so I would love to hear your response.

This looks beautiful and daunting... might stick to oil firing with this game ;)

Another great video! Love when experts get to do their thing and find a way to share it in a way thats new, but makes sense for the laymen out there. I know we have rivet counters on the engines and pine cone counters on the pines but im curious about the buildings. Is 346 mostly pulling building designs and styles from the areas and times maps are based or from more general sources? (I.e. true to the area but maybe a bit out of style or vice versa). I spent to much on an arts degree to not ask.

Question, can I tie down the injector, overfire the boiler then watch it make a big boom?

Also, I'm excited for the new "Round Robin" chats! Please keep these updates coming!

Hello! I just saw your Q&A and wanted to know how y’all would handle wood firing and if you could use wood firing on any engine?

It's been said before, but this really might shape up to be the equivalent of DCS for steam-era train sims. I'm very appreciative of the deep love and effort being put in.

I got 2 questions for you. 1. Will you show off wood firing? And 2, Will y'all's include a "fireman feedback feature" where the fireman gets to pelt a misbehaving engineer?

Really glad to see you did hand firing the right way. Can't wait to get my hands on it. If you guys need testers I'd love to try it out.

(railroader) with 2 people that game can get a bit overwhelming in its current state How will the team address the playability aspect of cos. Also how hard will the game become. Having big mp servers is fun but single players may feel overwhelmed depending on how much work we need to get done.

It seems that the only thing missing now, is my knees scorching from the heat coming out the firehole door (always remember to wear a pair of trousers UNDER your overalls when firing, folks! Nobody ever works well with hot knees...). Superb work on the firing and thermodynamic sims so far, Studio 346! Will you be looking at any means of varying your flame animations to reflect the initial bursts of draught as the loco starts off? I have seen steady flames rapidly and violently elongate and brighten for the duration of the chuff, or even actually fireball towards the tubeplate. (Also, very pleased to see that you aren't modelling clinkers. They suck and they ruin your day. And much like you can't easily simulate the actions of swinging the banjo, so to speak, working the pricker and ash rakes is undignified and the motions complicated and sometimes outright weird...)

Y’all continue to blow my mind. I don’t even ask questions anymore because I know whatever it is, the answer is probably yes, and the result is gonna blow me away

PHENOMENAL update!!! Love seeing how this game is progressing!

"burning questions" in a video about firing. I see I'm rubbing off slowly. ;)

Holy crap, I love this keep it up!!!

I'll have to agree that making firing the engine a "golf style mingame" would be very gimmicky and rather frustrating. I'm glad you chose not to do that! On a related note, will wood firing work in a similar fashion? And will players have to worry about different "flavors" of coal that could affect their engine's performance?

Would love to see a mikado in the next video!

This game already looks amazing. I'd be happy with a 2026 release date lol.

Man, I can just see the passion behind this project. Feels like everything I've wanted from a game ever since I was a kid.

My reaction is just... screams of childish glee. Y'all are really at the bleeding edge of technology here.

I've been blessed

I can never tell if you guys have too much free time, or too little.

Absolutely amazing! Every time a video is uploaded I know I’m going to see another amazing advancement in train game technology!

I knew there would be firing but I didn't expect a full on firing MINIGAME! Thats absolutely Kickass!! so excited for this game, keep it up guys!

Been waiting for this since a year ago! ;D Joking aside, always looking for these with baited breath! Keep 'em coming!

Coal in the hole. I should know.

These updates are always a monthly highlight!

Beans go in the hole 🤣 loved the Lionel train Town intro, its definitely interesting to see the coal firing mechanics, it definitely feels more immersive anyway keep up with the great work guys ❤️❤️