Russia

[belbincolne]

I remember playing this Mobius scenario a while back and finding it hard so thought I'd give it another try. In fact it proved remarkably easy - I connected all the required towns for gold within 8 years and had so much cash that I could spend it on ensuring weapons where in sufficient supply.
HOWEVER the almanac said I'd connected none of the towns and although I'd got Gold on weapons I couldn't even get to silver on troops so at the end I should have had bronze but got nothing. :(

Either patch6 has badly affected the scenario or it needs a fix :?

[BikerTim]

I agree that the troop haulage requirement is quite difficult. Otherwise, the objectives are quite achievable. Any suggestions on how to meet this troop requirement would be helpful. This is a very enjoyable scenario on the whole.

[JayEff]

Belbincolne, are you talking about Trans-Siberian, Iron Czar or Russia? Я не понял.

[belbincolne]

I was talking about Russia - if I remember correctly both the other two are very hard too but I haven't tried either for years - and I must admit I can't remember this one too well from over a year ago!

[Pat in the desert]

I was paying this recently using the updated map from the Downloads section here on H&B. Interesting scenario. It's important to meet the first challenge for industry profits. Some careful selection of industry will get there. For me, I found that borrowing the first 500K and then using ALL the available cash on industry was needed. For the first year I laid no tracks. Find a good transforming industry like lumber mill, brewery, distillery, sometime a textile mill, with resources nearby or coming down a river. Use balance of money on crop generators like a fruit orchard. Orchards, grain, coal, etc. are discounted somewhat at first.
Later in the game the troop hauling goal becomes vital if you want to make gold. All barracks must be found and connected and then waiting traffic identified and trains assigned. And you still might not make it.
What was annoying in the last 5 years of the scenario, werethe messages on the cargo map. It would say so many loads of troops waiting a route and then so many loads do not have a destination on the route map and are not shown. And it would be like 15 or 17 or 19 or 20 loads. REALLY frustrating as I could find no more towns to ship troops to and there was enough money to fix the problem. Is there some way to find out the missing destinations? There are a lot of small towns on this map and I connected a bunch of them but never found all. I did figure out that Rostov built a barracks that was outside the radius for the station.

[Gumboots]

I was just trying out this map last night. I'm using the original PopTop version that came with the CtC expansion.

I'm finding the same thing with the troop loads. It's telling me there are a pile of hidden loads, but I have no idea where they are hiding or how to get them to show. All barracks on the map are interconnected, as well as a lot of the other towns, and there are trains all over the places on a variety of routes. Troops are still hiding somewhere.

Has anyone cracked this one?

PS: all the other Gold requirements are a piece of cake. It's only troops that are being a bit strange.

[Gumboots]

Ok, so I did manage to get Gold on the same game I'd saved last night. Just. Literally at the last minute. Ended the 20 years with exactly 175 loads of troops hauled.

City connections for Gold aren't a problem. Weapons hauled are no problem (ended up with 105 without trying).

I still have no idea where those extra loads of troops are hiding, but it's possible to win without them. What I ended up doing was having double track everywhere (had that already) and with two priority express trains running directly between each city that had barracks.

Some of these were Stirlings, but I changed some of them to Consolidations in the last year. On long, direct runs the Consolidations have better speed and pulling power. I checked up on some of the Stirlings while they were underway, and even the smallest lumps were slowing them right down even though they were getting a run at it.

If I was playing this one again (probably will), what I'd do is set up double track and the two priority express trains between all cities that have barracks as early as possible. Run Consolidations on them all, and load them right up (6 express cars + dining car + caboose). I wouldn't bother being more specific on the consist. It should work fine just with it set to express, and will be more profitable than trying to haul troops only. I reckon if I do that, I'll get Gold with a few years to spare.

One thing to note is that because this map has a lot of express traffic, hotels and restaurants and taverns are really profitable in any city that has three or more stars. I didn't try them on any of the two star cities, but they work very well on the larger ones.

[Hawk]

There is an updated version of Russia in the archives.

http://hawkdawg.com/rrt/rrt3/rrt3_europe2.php#russia

[Shamough]

I've been playing the scenario "Russia" and I can get everything for the GOLD except TROOPS. :(

I checked the scenario strategies and nothing ... :(

[Shamough]

RUSSIA

I finally got EXPERT GOLD!

-----------
On SCENARIO START make sure that you have two PORTS to the south ... if they are not there you will be hurting to make weapons.

Sell BONDS and STOCK at the beginning of each turn until you have 11 UPGRADED PAPER MILLS. After the 8th year I was making between $4.5M and $5.5M per year. (You don't even have to service the cities with your PAPER MILLS in them, although they will do better if you do.)

Look to the North and check where the PULPWOOD is going. I bought 11 PAPER MILLS, placed them in cities without a PAPER MILL ... there are 11 sites that will give you a great ROI, and then upgraded them, (after the last PAPER MILL was placed.)

I DOUBLE TRACKED from the very first track I laid. Would have used QUAD TRACKS if they were available between some of the cities.

Then I paid off my BONDS and then started building from MOSCOW to KIROV and then St. PETERSBURG.

I set up special TROOP TRAINS pairs to every city that had one or more BARRACKS, with one train on each end and WAITING for at least ONE load. It is very important to have a TROOP TRAIN pair going to and from each BARRACKS city. TROOPS have a destination ... if your train isn't going there they won't get aboard. As soon as you connect to a new BARRACKS city make sure that you have a TROOP TRAIN pair running between it all existing BARRACKS cities that are connected to it.

As soon as Moscow - St. Petersburg - Kirov is complete you need to connect the WEAPONS FACTORY in ROSTOV to the 2 PORT CITIES in the South. The PORTS will supply the goods to build the WEAPONS. No special consists are necessary ... just have more trains running between the WEAPONS FACTORY and the PORTS than necessary and the goods will move themselves nicely. Don't get cheap here ... ONE TRAIN to connect only two cities. I had about 6 trains running between each PORT and the WEAPONS FACTORY in ROSTOV, 12 trains total. (WEAPONS aren't a problem ... TROOPS are the problem ... got the last of them in the final game year.)

Most of my trains were run city to closest city. In some cases I had 10+ trains running between the two cities. (Yeah I know I had a some dead heading. But I moved goods and the $$$ was rolling in.)

I also used spurs for SERVICE TOWERS and MAINTENANCE ... royal pain in the KEESTER setting them all up, especially the TROOP TRAINS which needed to use the SERVICE TOWERS along their routs.

[Gumboots]

AWESOME usage of ALLCAPS, bro.

[cheminot]

Now, this the kind of feed back I've been waiting for !
Shamough's break down is wonderful !
(I just loaded the Russia thing just to follow his tips, and are they good ! Gives me a whole new strategy to the game !)

Many mercis !

[OilCan]

I usually give out a groan when the game goals require transporting troops. It is not an easy task. First step is finding the cities with barracks and connecting them with rail, second step is to keep the barracks awash in alcohol, the final step is to set up special troop transport trains. That final step is a tough one. It requires tight micromanagement of your troop trains and constantly looking at station cargo lists to see where the troops want to go (which barracks). You'd think that troops could follow orders and board a train on command, but apparently no one in charge is giving any such commands.

I like the Russia game, played it several times. There is usually a good scattering of coal and iron to run a very profitable steel industry in addition to the lumber/paper industry.

[Gumboots]

I didn't find it necessary to micromanage troop trains at all for the Russia scenario. I just had two standard express trains and double track between each city that had a barracks. Didn't really worry about alcohol either. My initial industry base was iron/coal/steel/goods, with weapons and other stuff added as required. No stock issued. Max bonds out asap, and then hold them until game end.

[cheminot]

Would that be the latest version? Seems like a lame question, but the threads point otherwise...

[Hawk]

That version of Russia by Mobius has been around for years. He made that update shortly after the release of the C to C patch.

[RayofSunshine]

It did not surprise me that other members were having a problem with the haul of troops. it has been years since I played it, but do remember that after a few attempts, I didn't get the "hauls". I believe that there was some suggestion of purchasing a "separate" depot, as I was having a problem "keeping" the troops, as they would just get hauled out on the next train from the original depot. Might give it another attempt with the newer
update.

[Gumboots]

You can get the troop haulage on the original PopTop version. It's the most difficult of the requirements, but it can be done. You just have to make sure that your stations are covering all barracks (it's easy to miss a couple if you aren't careful), that you have continuous double track between all cities that have barracks, and that these barracks to barracks runs have two express trains that are given priority over all other trains (express or freight).

[cheminot]

Whad ya mean no stocks issued!
I followed Shamough's tips, and it was the first time I tried building industries (paper mills) for several years before building a RR. Weird feeling but it did pay off -not as much as advertised- but it was (is) a good experience. However the AIs are a little aggressive...
So, lots of Bonds, and a moderate amount of stocks issued, for sure, how else can you get 11 or so, paper mills within the 8 year period?

BTW, This scenario works OK in TM, But the weapons and troops are all screwed up. (got some weapons delivered, but they don't show up in the overview/profitability menu), thus I don't think you can win the scenario in TM.

Maybe I'm wrong?

[Gumboots]

You can issue stock if you like. Up to you. I often don't bother, but it depends on how I'm feeling at the time and what the scenario aims are.