Multiple Gold events: how to get them.

[Gumboots]

I am sure there will be a way of doing this. The two options that spring to mind are:

1/ Make different Gold events, with different conditions. I haven't tested this yet, so I don't know if the game will allow it, but it is easy to test.

2/ If the game doesn't like this, use one event but with an OR condition applied by a suitable variable. I think this will work (also easy to test).

Example: If GV1 = 0 [*Gold conditions in here*] else if GV1 = 1 [*alternative Gold conditions in here*]

The idea here is to allow different conditions depending on how you choose to play a scenario.

One possibility would be to re-code the events so that, if you decide to play robber baron, the medal events change to make you own all the track from Los Angeles to New Orleans.

In other words, make it harder if you do a robber baron start.

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Edit: The game doesn't seem to mind having multiple Gold events. I just ran a quick test. I opened an existing map in the editor and created a basic second Gold event. Event validation and general validation didn't give any warnings. I get the impression it only grumbles if you don't have any Gold events.

I didn't save the edited map, or try it in actual play, but it's probably ok to do it this way. I'll test it more later.

[Grandma Ruth]

Interesting idea for alternative styles of play. You would have to make the player choose at the start or perhaps the game could detect that robber baron-ness has occurred and give a suitable admonition with the new win conditions. Endless possibilities, actually, so "do you like trains, industry, stock market, PNW, etc.?" and then give the player what they want. or even better, give the player what they don't want! Incidentally, the game I'm playing now (Russia) gives you an option at the start to go for industry or not. I'll have a look in the Editor and see what they've done.
Edit: not much, just a reward or punishment if you succeed or fail. Nothing in the win conditions.

[Gumboots]

I was thinking it would be easy to tell if someone has gone robber baron. One way would be like this:

1/ Assume no player company at the start (you have to create it).
2/ For the first player company, set a variable to match company ID.
3/ If another company is created after that, the player company ID will no longer match the variable.
4/ If variable doesn't match when checked, apply another variable to set alternative medal conditions.

That will also work if the player company is created in the editor, before the scenario start. The only difference in that case is you can preset the relevant variable to the correct value, via an event running at scenario start. Then the test gets applied when the next company is created.

It could get trickier if you wanted to allow legit multiple companies while still catching robber baron tricks. In that situation you would have to apply additional checks, probably on stock price of the discarded company (ie: if stock price < $10 then *conditions go here*).

Or, if the discarded company has been merged immediately, you could check for personal cash boost since last company creation, and assume evil trickery if personal cash had increased in less than one week (minimum test interval in the editor, IIRC).

These are just basic ideas off the top of my head. You might need to get even more detailed for some cases, but I'm fairly sure it would be possible to sort out suitable test conditions to cover most possibilities.

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When I was making my Latvia map I did play around with some traps for robber barons.

2/ Have reinstated the ability to do unlimited multiple companies, but...

3/ ...the catch is that every time you start an extra one (not counting your first one) access cost for Russia increases by $1.5 million. So you can robber baron and/or cash cow to your heart's content if you want to, but if you do that you'll be up for a whole lot of money to get into Russia, and you need Russia for Gold. Creating a total of three companies will put Russian access cost at $6 million. If that's still too exploitable I'll add some extra devious nasties, but I thought it was worth trying the option for extra fun and games (we are supposed to be having fun here).

I've added an extra bit of trickery to deal with company-jumping exploits. Obviously the increased Russian access cost can't apply if you already have access to Russia. However, the Kremlin can decide that making a nice donation to the glorious revolution is the price you pay for being tolerated while you play capitalist tricks. So, if you have access to Russia already and start an extra company you are still up for an extra $1.5 million for each extra company you start, except that in these cases it comes out of your personal cash, not your company cash. That should get people thinking before they get carried away.

[RulerofRails]

As you found out, there is no problem with multiple events using the award Gold medal effect. It's fine to have medals in choice events too, as in do you want a bronze/silver/gold medal, or do you want to keep playing, for example.

In regards to Robber Baron stuff. When adapting one of Oilcan's maps for Multiplayer (occasionally people try to organize a game or two on Florian's Discord server) I used a charter system. It hits your net worth each time you start a new company. If you are worth more you get hit harder. It's meant to be a deterrent, and balance the game if you chose to play tricks. Keep in mind that Multiplayer games don't use pause, you can't build stuff on pause, so it would need tweaks to have a similar effect in single player scenarios. Check it out if you want.

[Gumboots]

I did have an idea re the SP map. How much cash you can pirate from robber baron tricks depends on how many companies you trash, and which ones you choose to trash. So, you could run checks for the existence of company ID's, and for the stock price of existing companies (to check if they have been trashed) and also possibly check player company ID. Then you could use the result of these checks to adjust the deadline year for a medal. I think this should be workable. It's not the only possible approach, but it should be one usable option.

Also, regarding PNW goals: we all know the old stunt of panic buying stock at the last minute to spiral your PNW. So, it would be possible to run a check of PNW vs CBV, and require that to be a certain percentage every time the check runs. If you need (for example) a PNW target of 75% of CBV (instead of the usual fixed value in $) but you have to maintain it for several years before you can get a Gold, that would prevent the old spiral at the last minute trick.

Edit: Although running the PNW vs CBV check would require maths with variables, so a 1.06 map.