Hey Ace - If you just want to make money (and don't care about a medal for connecting this city to that in x amount of time, or taking every AI over), I have a technique. Sometime you may get lucky and win a medal, but I NEVER end up broke.
This technique does not work well with a lot of AIs and guidelines below are for scenarios with only a couple. When the world gets crowded, it takes some major adjustments to this strategy.
For sure, this is not for the "Type-A Gamer Personality" player. It takes too much patience for the average person. This is more of a rail rider's technique ONLY for those who have the patience.
1 – Your FIRST game action BEFORE TAKING OFF PAUSE should be to issue stock, NOT BONDS. Every two years, issue more to obtain cash. Plenty of time to buy back once you have cash flow. . . which leads to . . .
2 – NEVER A BORROWER NOR A LENDER BE (Shakespeare?) Usually a scenario starts out with enough cash to build between two cities, build two stations and buy a train. Run the one train until you get enough cash to expand to the next city.
3 – ALWAYS build $200K (Large) stations unless beginning cash does not let you. Advantage to this is to overcome the flaw in the game which requires you to pay FULL PRICE to upgrade a station on land you have already bought!!! Pay the $200K from the beginning and grab more cargo as it develops or passes by. Do the math! If you start small ($50K), then upgrade to medium ($100K), then again to large ($200K), your first $150K GOES TO WASTE!!! Not only that, you risk the fact that you CAN'T expand because of track or ground layout or some idiot (who is probably complaining about the train noise) built a house right next you your station. Of course, you do get the pleasure of bulldozing the SOBs house!
4 – ONLY single-track at first, EXCEPT double track ALL bridges the first time. Most trains slow down over bridges, so doubling up at the starts helps flow.
5 – AVOID (if possible) crossing rivers or building tunnels early. Look for several cities that allow you to connect without a bridge.
6 – Always select the stone bridge. Wood bridges cannot be upgraded, they have to be torn down.
7 – Watch your grade. I avoid anything over 5%. Many engines with long trains drag to a crawl on grade. KNOW YOUR LOCO!
8 - The most modern (and most expensive) engine on the board is NOT usually your best starting choice. Go for the older cheaper models at first, because you ARE low on cash which is better spent on more track and stations than having the hottest engine on the block.
9 – Have train length match loco. You should not put 8 cars on a Planet! Check the loco “glamor shot†info for what more cars do to speed. Too complicated to cover every engine here, but an example, if I use an American, I limit to four, Consolidations, five, and work up from there.
10 – This will draw argument from most, but I ALWAYS use Cabeese, more for “that’s the way it was†than for avoiding breakdowns and crashes. A true study of their value is more complicated than it is worth to prove using or not using will increase your income by .xxx%. The main advantage is, that when you take over another company, you can easily spot their inefficient trains quickly and either reroute or retire.
11 - Until line is established enough to specialize, always use the automatic ANY CARGO setting. Don't be tempted to specialize at a specific industry (coal, iron, etc.) until you are well established. Also, I set minimum full cars to “1â€. No need to burn fuel for nothin’. Just keep an eye out for trains that don’t go anywhere for a couple of years. The "0" full car setting and no cabeese is what the AIs use, and it is THEM we were put on this planet to rise above, right?
12 - Trying to figure out what stations have or want what cargo will just give you ANALYSIS PARALYSIS!!! Don't worry about meeting the publics needs until you have the line to do it with.
13 - After the third station is built, expand train 1's route to it and buy train 2. Each train goes to a MAXIMUM of THREE cities. On the out trip train 1 stops at city #2, but returns as an express from #3 to #1. Train 2 starts at city #3, stops at #2, then #1 and expresses back to #3. When city #4 is connected, add train 3 between it and city #3. When city #5 is built, expand train 3's route and buy train 4. Keep building these 3-city zones until you have an empire. If you do it right, are conservative, and wait long enough, you will start seeing the cash rolling in with only about four to six trains.
14 – Make sure track between EVERY city has a water tower. First maintenance shed (which does not need to be bought for about a year) goes outside city #1. Depending on track layout, you will not need another until after city #5. You then make sure each 3-city zone has one. I always place sheds OUTSIDE the station influence. Hover cursor over the station and watch the green. Place the shed just outside the green area. This allows the city to expand rather than YOU taking up space where a house or industry could materialize.
15 – Resist the temptation to buy industry until your cash flow can stand it. Even then, I start with corn & grain farms. STAY WAY FROM MINES!!! Make sure any industry you want to buy is well established for profit. My rule of thumb is it must be in the “white†all years showing and lifetime, and one of the last two full years profit must be close to 10% of asking price.
16 – When a train gets named, that’s when I convert it into a passenger train with a dining car and reroute to a seven to ten city zone, stopping at ALL cities in BOTH directions with minimum load set to “0†- - - NO WAITING! Don’t forget to change it to express! Finally, purchase another train to replace the named train's old route.
17 – Once a named train with a big zone is established, time to double-track, but NOT the entire way. Double through and about three or four track sections on either side of every station. You can go ahead and double a few sections past the maintenance shed also. Next, double track around all water towers. These are the places of most slowdowns. Finally, if there are any hard grades which can rarely be avoided, double track those too.
18 - NEVER double track (and even avoid building track later in game) in BOOM times or PROSPERITY - - - Track laying is cheaper! I usually wait for a Recession and spend EVERY available dollar if need be on double-track.
19 – Never replace an engine less than 10 years old. Get some use out of it. Even then, make sure the engine fits the job. Pick the fastest (usually most expensive) for your named trains. Also be aware of the "Passenger Appeal" setting and pick those pretty engines for your named passenger trains. Let older, less pretty engines be your workhorses. If mountains are involved, you would be surprised how bad a Shey can beat an Eight-wheeler.
20 – Once you have a good empire with lots of cities, many with multiple stars, you can invest in hotels, restaurants, taverns and build special trains. AVOID post offices unless you just think you need them because that is the “way it wasâ€. I build them anyway because I start running mail-only express trains between seven to ten cities, stopping at each in both directions. Now is the time to also think about long freight trains between multiple-star cities.
21 – If you take over an AI’s company - - - WAIT . . . IF you got that far, you sure ain’t broke, so - - - your on your own now kid.
Like I said, these only sometimes win a medal, but there is more to life than cyber recognition, ain’t there???
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