Vehicles
OpenTTD Manual
Installation · FAQ
Tutorials and Instructions
Game interface · README.md
Infrastructure

Railways:

Signals · Stations · Junctions · Carrying capacity · Rail Designs & Tips
Roadways · Tramways · Waterways · Airports · Landscaping
Vehicles
Trains · Road vehicles · Ships · Aircraft · Orders
Settings
Game options · Settings · AI settings · Custom graphics (NewGRF) · Cheats · Command line
Graphics and sound
OpenGFX · OpenMSX · OpenSFX
More topics
Climates · Towns · Industries · Economy · Disasters · Tips · Hidden features · Hotkeys · Console · Game Mechanics · Multiplayer · Scenario editor · Online content
Troubleshooting · Links

In OpenTTD, vehicles are what keep your company moving. They produce your only source of income, and therefore must be deployed on a map to ensure success for your Transport company.

Built in Depots, your vehicles will follow Orders between Stations, and will pickup any available cargo that they are able to carry. (Passenger trains do not pickup mail, for example, unless you add a mail van).

There are four different types of vehicle in OpenTTD, each representing the major transport methods. They are as follows:

Vehicle Types

Each method of transportation has its own strengths and weaknesses:

Every vehicle has its own reliability rating, which affects how many Breakdowns it is likely to suffer. Every vehicle of the same model has the same maximum reliability score. Prototype vehicles (see below) will have lower maximum reliability scores than normal for that vehicle type. When a vehicle is serviced at a Depots, its reliability score is reset to the current maximum reliability for that vehicle model.

It is possible to become rich in the game via any type of vehicle, given an appropriate environment. Over vast distances planes and trains perform well and for small distances where huge amounts of cargo needs to be delivered, ships become a good solution (for example, when serving oil rigs). Ships are inappropriate for very long trips because of the time penalty for slow delivery. See Cargo income for details on income calculations.

Prototypes

From time to time, your company will be offered one year's exclusive use of a new vehicle prototype. Prototypes usually have low maximum reliability scores, but this score increases once the vehicle has been officially launched. If you accept an exclusive use offer but don't bother to build any of the new vehicle type, you won't get any more trial offers for the next 5 years. Trials are offered to all companies working downwards from the company with the highest rating. AI-controlled companies can get exclusive previews too.

Maximum Reliability Ratings

When new vehicle models appear, they usually start out with quite a low maximum reliability rating. The reliability score then creeps upwards for a year or two until it reaches a peak value. It then stays stable at that value for many years until the model starts to get old and its reliability begins to decline. After a decade or two of decline, the model will be withdrawn from service.

The starting, peak, and final reliability ratings are randomly set for each vehicle model at the beginning of each game. In the year 2050, the max reliability for all models freezes for the rest of the game. If the Never expire vehicles setting is on, the max reliability of each model will freeze at its peak.

See Also