Rorschach - Heiden & Spanisch Brotli

[belbincolne]

Funny isn't how some scenarios get a lot of comment - like LA & LA and now Dispatcher - and some none.

These two are Sugus's first two scenarios and nice ones they are too so lets welcome him to the Forum and RT3. Both are well worth playing.

Brotli is straightforward - as is the countryside - been to Zurich and Baden and I don't think it was that flat!
Got Silver on Expert at first try - getting all the requirements for Gold except the number of loads carried. You cant build and have to buy existing Industry / farms and I boobed on the one I chose (Two Textile Mills next to each other and I bought the wrong one) as a result I had less money to build lines and buy trains - Without that I think Gold would have been very easy so the scenario is less interesting then -

Rorschach - Heiden. Country is much more rugged and rails therefore expensive. The hints in the Read Me are useful but I'm sure not the only way to win. After a quick try on Normal I took what I'd learnt and had two serious attempts on Expert both times getting on really well - and made the same mistake. Bought too much stock just before the economy goes downhill (and when it goes it really goes - don't suppose its any worse than in other scenarios but it seems like it!).

The loads requirements may be a problem. On one start I had two Breweries so carrying alcohol was easy but on the second only one. I found it necessary to build extra Meat Processors to get enough Meat for Heiden and even then it wasn't going well as it takes two/three years for a full train load to get there. Also these are moving at Nil profit as Heiden obviously has a surplus after the first train arrives. This (I assume) is one factor leading to your company not weathering the storm when the economy goes downhill.

Anyway shall give it another try(tries?) and hope to do better. Be interested to learn how the rest of you have found them.

Well done Sugus

[belbincolne]

Second serious attempt got Gold on Expert on Spanisch Brotli but after 3 tries on R-H have still only got Silver on Expert - although I was probably only a year off Gold. Can thoroughly recommend this one to everyone.

[edbangor]

I had a quick go Spanisch Brotli last night playing on 'medium' (Yeah I know I'm better than that but still!)

Anyway, I nearly messed up the connection as I spent too much time trying to make industry profits and shifting sugar, but thankfully realised in time to pull through for gold with a couple of years to spare, even if the map did look a bit like a spider had crawled all over it, as I had lines going everywhere!!!

Scenario was fun to do, and if you want a realatively quick game, then can't recomend this one enough.

[low_grade]

Played Rorschach-Heiden today, Gold on Expert in 1896 2nd attempt. First try was starting with rail, but after a few years I didn't like my returns and opted for the obvious industry start. Textile mill in Goldach, then another out in the countryside on the other side of the map. Massive industry buildup ensued, lumber, t&d, distilleries and breweries. Finally began my network 7 years into the scenario. Stirlings in the flats and mildly hilly, Connies over the hump. And what a hump it is! Not very subtle, this map! Long runs of track to connect everything finally. Sprinkled a half dozen country stations where 3 houses could be covered. Let's just say money was not an issue. Never bought much on margin, CBV of $40M and PNW of $10M means I only need 25% of my stock, and I was guessing CBV was going to be way over $40M by the time I met my haulage goals. So I issued stock to supplement my early growth without worry.

Last 10 years were spent fiddling. Watching Heiden for when meat arrived so I could ship it back out immediately. Finally adding a catch station to grab the alcohol on the water and send it and all my production to a purpose built country station on top of a house with the highest price for alcohol. Took a year or so for the S3's to begin arriving, but it was either that or wait for existing autoconsists to finally pull the rest of the alcohol out of Rorschach, while price gradients were relatively flat across my network after already hauling 450+ loads out.

Which brings me to my point. This scenario is interesting as a study in over-supply. As usual, I bought up all the sheep ranches, cotton farms, produce farms, grain farms, and logging camps around the textile mills, breweries, distilleries, and lumber yards I built. And as usual when a giant stack of resource builds up on my industry, I build another industry in the same cell to keep demand strong and so profits pouring in from the nearby resources. 5-6 textile mills, 2-3 lumber mills, 5-6 distilleries, 4 breweries. But in this scenario, there was just too much wool and cotton, and the price of clothing collapsed. Textile mills running in the red. Even worse, the cotton farms and sheep ranches I'd bought weren't making more than about a 10%-15% return. Some of the logging camps were at about $0. So, careful with your industry strategy, this is not a normal map, the oversupply is serious.

Great to find this and give Sugus's first scenario a whirl!

[low_grade]

Spanisch Brotli today, quick game, gold on expert in Oct 1852. Bought a T&D that popped up in Zurich, and made enough profit to issue $10M in bonds at the start of 1847 to make the required connection/pay for access to Baden. Followed the river at first, side tracking the towns, and adding catch stations along the river. Eventually bee-lined it the rest of the way, still adding stations in between. No long side lines out to country-side stations, though that may have hastened victory, as I had cash to spare in the last couple years, just waiting for the $6M in LIP.

If you're looking for something short and sweet, this shouldn't take more than 2-3 hours tops.