Best Game Yet

[OilCan]

It's been a while since we've had some chatter about games on this forum.

What is the best RT3 game(s) you've played so far? Which one was so good that you wished it never ended? Which game(s) do you go back and play again and again? If you were to recommend a game(s), which game would it be?

I know different people have different tastes in RT3 games, but that should add some spice to this discussion.

Personally, I like connecting cities, company profit and CBV games. And I like playing against AIs. At times I like personal net worth and haul requirement games. I don't like games which have hidden tasks which must be done in a short time frame. The top three games that I'd recommend today are:
New Zealand
Mississippi Valley
Burma (Brazil is a close favorite too).

[Boroin]

Personally I prefer to play alone because I like long term scenarios. It's sometimes difficult to think about you and them, and your rail network etc...

I like to make a "industrial road". Transport materials to industry and then to the next one... I appreciate a lot historical scenarios even if some of them seems to me a little bit difficult.

Burma was a good one, I like Scandinavia (probably only because of the location), Weindenthal, some of the "utopia-arosia-etc..." series..., bagdhad railway, and so much others...

I hope that someone (or perhaps me, if I have time) will put a map of Belgium-only...

[Sugus]

I'm not focused on a special kind of scenario - I love them all!

The maps I repeatedly play or try to do comprise (hope the list is not too long)

North America
Alaska Adventure
Cheshire County NH
Los Angeles
Northern Ontario
Rule the Rockies

South America
Amazzonia
Guatemala
Tortuga Islands
Central Argentina (I)

Australia
Australia by Didgabringabilly
The port of Newcastle

Europe
British Miracle
Four Roads to Berlin
Scandinavia
The thrist of the Irish
Weidenthal County

Others
Avanti
Borogravia
Bridge to Lewiston
Green Mars
Hexum
Holiday Island
Island Sugar Company (I)
Marie I - Povver Power
Marilyn
The Dividing Range

but my absolute favorite map is Scrimshaw from the Others section.

[j484fan]

You know, the thing for me I find the most joy in is building up the network from nothing. Once I get all the track and stations put in the cities I want them in, I get bored. What I usually wind up doing is looking to see who has a ton of what, then setting up some trains regardless of distance to the places demanding the most for that commodity. Is there anything else different anyone does to get some variation from the game? I've even gone so far as to change the train ID from a number to a setup like; MEM-StL for Memphis to St. Louis or SBN-CHI, DET-CHI that sort of thing, just to make it easier to keep track of what trains run where without having to click on them all the time. I like the Germany map, as well as East of the Mississippi II and the Mississippi Valley and Southeastern USA as well. I like the maps with lots of cities and possibilities.

What tricks does anyone use if any to indicate a train running from say New York to DC as an Express or a Limited that may hit every major stop between along the Corridor? The game will name a train that sets a speed record, but I dont seem to find what names or railroad ID's were used for passenger trains that hit more than just two major points. I also forget what the RR's use to name trains other than some use numbers with a Z or Q in front of them for a high priority freight.

Anybody go so far as to make up 'train schedules' so-to-speak to help them keep track of the trains running to/from the busiest stations?

[MisterHinton]

Anybody go so far as to make up 'train schedules' so-to-speak to help them keep track of the trains running to/from the busiest stations?

Only insofar as the fact that when the number of engines approaches three figures, it's convenient to have a scratch sheet to save one from frequent scrolling. I made extensive schedules when I was model railroading, but with a PC game, I have this lazy expectation that it should actually all play in the computer. Whenever I absolutely have to make side notes I get very: - - at the developers. I have used that abbreviation-naming trick for routes that jump over "whistle stops", on complicated maps.

oops off topic; My favorite campaign game is also one that gives me fits- The Orient Express; my favorite scenario is hard to choose, but Alternate USA (once I fixed all the bugs , including both of the medal-cripplers) keeps getting my attention. I have the most fun with early US or English ones; what I want is a few remakes of the RT2 maps. I just have to decide which base map to pilfer...
As to here...I'm not ready to say yet. Still too new. Haven't tried more than a few yet.

[Elliott]

I think my favourite map of the campaign is probably the State of Germany one. I love starting in one territory and expanding to others, it appeals to my nature born of RTS games and entails expanding into massive railways. If Alternative USA weren't so ****** hard I'd love that one too!

I'm looking forward to delving into the user-made maps, sounds like there's a lot of good'uns.

[Dixie Flyer]

As far as the goals go I am pretty flexible. There are some I like more than others but I think the implementation of the goals is more important than the goals themselves. I am still catching up on user made maps since the last time I downloaded any (a couple of years at least) so I probably have not played quite a few scenarios. Also with me it is more of a case of what I dislike as opposed to what I like. I have never cared for, in any game, where a developer/designer/whatever, tries to force me to play a certain way. I have seen some good games get trashed by this in the patching process and RT3 suffered from this. Originally you could use the post office as a terraforming tool, but when PopTop heard of this they raised the price and reduced the affects of buildings on terrain (unless of course it was a new steel mill next to your tracks in the mountains, grrr) Some of this was fixed latter with the regards to new buildings at least.

So what do I like and dislike. I like to run multiple companies. I really like Great Northern and Prince of Steel for this. As a matter of fact I have a version of Great Northern that I removed the haulage requirements and substituted the Prince of Steel medal conditions. I am not that big of a fan of limited track building. Great Northern and Prince of Steel have these but multiple-companies can be started as a work around to this. I did like the way this is handled in War Profiteer as it gives the player a chance to influence the amount of track available. I also liked the way this was handled in Age of Steam 3, The Big Valley, as there were choices to rail types that influenced speed, and mileage. I also liked that it accumulated over the years. I think that that is a touch more realistic from a materials standpoint as far as limiting track amounts. I also like Age of Steam 2 with its developed AIs. I think this is one of the better approaches to AI competition as they do not do good at building railroads. They can manage a decently built railroad OK, but they can notbuild one no matter how much money they are given in most circumstances.

Average speed I am not so hot on. While I do like Chunnel and Orient Express, I am not fond of having to deal with service spurs. I would prefer to see a speed that can be maintained by good locomotive and train length choices coupled with efficient service building placement. I can not say that I have really played any maps where this was the case. Honestly the locomotive choices were what made me like the Chunnel map in the first places. Before the CtC expansion and loco packs came out most of the scenarios were in the late 1800s where it was Consolidations on freights and 8 wheelers on flatland passenger trains, which was very boring. Thankfully now there are enough locomotives to tailor what is purchased to the needs of that train.

One other map I really like is Of Men and Seals. I really liked the steam ship approach and again I can run multiple companies.