Help wanted - scenario for beta testing

[Grandma Ruth]

Help, guys! I'm driving myself mad with this scenario and I really do need someone to test it for me. I'm beginning to DREAM about it!! Please someone, volunteer and make an old lady very happy.

[Hawk]

You can add the zip as an attachment in a post ya' know.

[Grandma Ruth]

No, I want commitment! I want somebody who's ready to pledge they will look at this thing at whatever cost to their sanity. Then they get the zip file and not before.

[Hawk]

Picky! Picky! Picky!

[nedfumpkin]

No, I want commitment! I want somebody who's ready to pledge they will look at this thing at whatever cost to their sanity.

Ummm look around you...most of us have little sanity left so there's no real cost...:)

I'd offer, but it's 1.06 and I can't load it, and besides, I'm working on a scenario in Trainmaster right now that will also act as a bit of a turorial.

[Grandma Ruth]

You're right - "sanity" was perhaps the wrong word to describe our normal state of mind.

[Hawk]

I'd love to beta test your map, but my plate is rather full right now. I just don't have a lot of spare time for games any more.

[Grandma Ruth]

Thank you both for thinking of me, anyway.
Ned, you're quite right I should have mentioned it needs the 1.06 patch.
Hawk, are you all right? Nothing wrong is there? Any need for

[Hawk]

Hawk, are you all right? Nothing wrong is there? Any need for

Oh yea! I'm fine. Just busy working on web sites.
I appreciate your thoughts Ruth, but I get all the I need from my wife. What I really need is

money3[1].gif (1.05 KiB) Viewed 5036 times

.

[Grandma Ruth]

Now that I don't have! Couldn't open the attachment but from its name I take it a little financial support wouldn't come amiss? Are you ever going to get that donation thing sorted out? I expect some of our rich friends would be happy to show their appreciation in the accustomed manner - and I don't mean

[Hawk]

I wasn't asking for donations. I simply meant that I'm busy working on web sites to make money.
I just got a job to build about 40 web sites for a group of veterinary clinics up in Michigan. That's going to keep me busy for a while.

That attachment is just a little bitty gif image. It's supposed to be money.

[nedfumpkin]

That attachment is just a little bitty gif image. It's supposed to be money.

So is the American Dollar..:)

[Grandma Ruth]

I just got a job to build about 40 web sites for a group of veterinary clinics up in Michigan. That's going to keep me busy for a while.

Well done! I wish I had the nerve to start my own business and do something creative for a living. Hope it all goes smoothly.

[Stoker]

I would be glad to check out your scenario for you. I have been testing mine for quite a while now, so I am "In the Zone".

[Grandma Ruth]

Stoker, that's great! I do appreciate it the dam' thing's been driving me mad. Wolverine has kindly agreed as well so between the three of us we might make something of it. Please let me have your comments here, or in PM's if you prefer.

[Stoker]

OK- I have it Ruth. I am going to give it a run through before I peek at the code.

[Stoker]

I like the scenario Ruth. I made a Prohibition situation as part of a scenario that involved making alcohol production go to zero in the US and upped it in Canada, with haulage rewards - etc. The alcohol haulage in your scenario is flawed. There are 5 breweries on the map- all near collingwood. I made the Collingwood connection by nov 1922, and immediatley bought one of the breweries and sent a full load of grain from chicago towards there. When the message for the 100 loads of alcohol to be hauled by 1925, I went to the editor to check some things. It is definitely impossible. The breweries all have a LTD production of zero - they have no supply of grain. Even if they had a full supply, they would produce a maximum of 30 loads per year(60 if all were upgraded). The 100 load requirement is not possible, and the 150 loads per year afterward are even more impossible. My suggestion to remedy this would be to make sure that there is alcohol being produced, and to make the delivery quota based on the available alcohol production. If all of those breweries were producing, a realistic quota might be around 15 loads per year. Another addition might be to make a warehouse with a supply only of a certain amount of alcohol, and perhaps putting a warehouse supplying grain(or sugar and produce and add distilleries)or grain farms near the breweries to supply them with grain. The second issue I see with the alcohol is that the price is lower in Cicero than Collingwood. Perhaps making a warehouse that demands alcohol in Cicero would fix this.

Aside from that flaw, I noticed some cargo supply flaws:
*Rock-Ore crystals and Dye are listed but have no sources. Therefore Machinery,concrete, ceramics, and electronics, which are also listed cannot be produced.
*There is an abundance of Coffee farms all over the map- do they represent something else?
*there are Chemical plants but no fertilizer plants- and since you cannot build them there is no use for Chems
*No sugar on map but listed as a cargo
*Bauxite mines in WI an MN- etc,. The only commercially viable rel-life Bauxite mines are in the South- AR, MS, AL.
*Oil wells all over the south. To my knowledge, the only oil wells in the area of the country covered in this map are in Ohio and Lower Michigan.Perhaps making a port/warehouse that supplies Oil from the deep south(Gulf) or texas could replace those in the south.Also- the Ohio/MI area has LOTS of Chemical plants (Dow chemical) they use the salt/brine in the ground around there to produce Chlorine and other Chemicals for plastics etc.
*Lots of Pulpwood but no Paper Mills in the North- In real life there are lots of them in MN-WI-MI

Again, I like the concept of this scenario, and I think these bugs can be pretty easily fixed.

[belbincolne]

Hi Ruth - Happy New Year to you. I'll be happy to test it as well.

[Grandma Ruth]

Stoker, thanks, that's really useful. I had sort of expected people to cheat (as they usually do!) to make the quotas, which is why I made them so high. I'm at work now but I'll have a good look at it tonight.

Belbincolne, hello again! Nice to hear from you and do you know I was thinking about you this morning coming to work in the frost - wondering what it's like on the other side of the Pennines! I'll be very glad to get your feedback.

[belbincolne]

Hi Ruth

Downloaded it and will give it a whirl shortly. An inch or so of snow overnight and mighty cold but lovely. Just back from a week in Lakes where am temps were -10 so nice walking on the fells.