Rehabilitating Construction Companies in Trainmaster

[sbaros]

Does it seem logical to include a demand for hemp in Construction Companies (in regard of the so called "hempcrete" and other related by-products)? Or is it too insignificant to bother about?

[Gumboots]

No idea. I've never played TM. Only 1.05 and 1.06.

[RulerofRails]

This is the first I have heard of these products. The volume surely can't be representative as woth representing on the scale the game uses. However, the "hemp" cargo isn't that solid realistically. It's a game, and the balance of cargo sources/uses is important for playability/strategy. If you have a clear idea how it will add depth to gameplay I would probably support including it anyway.


PS. I don't remember a Construction Company in TM. Are you porting in the Construction Firm from 1.06? TM has plenty of buildings. What is your reasoning for this? If we are talking about hemp representing in some way "cement".... that to me is a stretch.

[sbaros]

While Construction Companies (presumably civil works Construction) have always represented a sizable portion of railfreight clientele and are thus indispensable in a transport strategy game, hemp seems a dubious commodity altogether, and I feel inclined to scrap it altogether in a future version of Railroad Tycoon. However, I didn't want to move towards that direction without discussing it beforehand. For the record, there's some information about the stuff.
https://greenbuildingcanada.ca/2017/adv ... hempcrete/

[RulerofRails]

In my recollection, Ned liked to have a "golden goose" chain in TM, the Paper Mill is part of that, and Hemp one of the inputs for Paper allowing vast quantities of paper to be made almost anywhere. Does the game need a "golden goose"? For me, no. I feel the same way about the chimps. TM was a heap of work, and he did quite well overall. A little creative discretion is a small courtesy to give.

PS. For me the construction firm is part of the implementation of ceramics (bricks?) and cement in 1.06. If those cargoes aren't included I don't know if it serves a very useful function in the game economy.

[sbaros]

My curiosity was sparked and I investigated hemp a bit further. Ned's assumption of common Paper Mills for Hemp and Wood pulp was mistaken, as it seems. Different machinery is required, so a Paper Mill producing both is in fact 2 Mills. Moreover, Hemp paper is more expensive and reserved for totally different uses than ordinary paper, so these are not to be stockpiled together at least in the foreseeable future. I think I'll revert my Paper Mills to the original concept before continuing my experimentations.
Still, Hemp does remain competitive for clothing, so there is a reasonable scope for it to be kept available in RR Tycoon for the time being.
The growing multitude of building categories does constitute a problem of time consumption in mapmaking. I'll probably consolidate all Agricultural Cooperatives into a single one, all military installations into a generic base and all administrative activities into the generic commercial BCA to save time. The visual variety can be maintained by assigning existing and future BTY assets to randomly appear in the place of these generic categories.
To remain on-topic, there is the proposed Trainmaster-compatible Construction Firm, in case anyone is interested.