Scenario in progress - "Warrington Wire" (CA02)

[RulerofRails]

Randomness is good as long as it doesn't make the game impossible. Unfortunately, to make a difficult game requires sacrificing a small percentage of starts (I think below 10% is acceptable) to be really difficult. When I was learning I thought some games were surely impossible, but, now I don't know of a single one where the goals are impossible to reach no matter what seed I get. There are always new strategies to try and these rare difficult games help to keep me sharp. Many TM games take lots of the randomness from the map by having pre-placed industries. Personally, I prefer a balance between random and pre-placed. This map is good in my view.

The connection to Chester is the surest start. Forget about looking for an agricultural community, that is a less frequent opportunity. Even in the ideal spot I don't believe it offers a big advantage here. There is a fail safe for any start as long as you make a small amount of money from your initial connection (each year's profits are slightly positive). You can issue stock. After 4-5 years of doing this you are virtually guaranteed to qualify for the first bond and therefore this map is always winnable. In the grand scheme of things the start isn't so important in this game. The victory points are mainly earned by hauling Iron and then Steel.

Please note that the Iron haul is setup so you need to haul at least 6 full loads in a year to get a point. The briefing says MORE THAN 5, but the way the scenario is scripted this means AT LEAST 6. If using wait-to-fill you will need to set the train to fill 7 cars as the last one will not be filled completely in waiting mode. If using two trains I believe 3 cars and 4 cars will work as 2.5+3.5=6. I use 7 car trains as they are easier to keep track of and one will fulfill a years requirement. Remember that supplying the Iron Mine with Logs or Coal (BETTER) will help it to produce more Iron. Later on, I believe the Steel requirement is similar in that 11 loads are actually required to get a point.

One of the biggest strategy points with TM is proper routing. I have developed a pretty successful system that may be difficult to explain. The premise is simply that you are more concerned about where specific cargoes DON'T get shipped than where they do. I will mentally mark certain stations (whether cities or stations covering just industries) as having strategic resource value. Then I will limit the types of cargo leaving that station by using custom consists on all trains. (TIP: Available cargoes are highlighted in the consist manager.) I don't care what comes in, I just need to prevent the possibility of that resource being hauled away. (There are so many demands in TM, that if you have trains on auto consist the chances are very high that it will get hauled away.) Custom consists are some work, but by limiting where I use them to a few specific stations the game is still fun to play.

Also, when you buy a specific cargo train such as a Log train which is wait-to-fill to supply a Coal Mine (which in turn is used to supply an Iron Mine) leave the train empty (no auto-consist) on the return run. I also add a caboose so I can easily identify those trains (empty with caboose). It is possible to custom consist also, but the principle is to prevent the train hauling back the same thing it hauled there. This is a disadvantage of hauling with a loss. Hauling at a loss means the cargo doesn't want to go to that destination. Forcing it there is absolutely necessary in TM. Basically, it really wants to be back where it came from, so this is removing the opportunity for it to get there.

Routing isn't such a big deal on this map as there are many passengers which will give a far better return in the early stages than almost all industrial opportunities. The presence of AI means that cargo will get taken from cities you both connect to, so there is no reason to try to control it on your side. Therefore, you shouldn't need to keep many industries supplied unless you want to near the end. The Steel Mill in Sheffield though is one place. The other much simpler option is not to buy a train or set it to express only. This will also keep cargo at that station.

I went a little off topic here, but I thought I would take the opportunity to get my strategy to keep control of cargo in TM into writing. Others probably use the same/similar tricks. It is such a headache when your own trains are stealing your cargo from your own industries that I am sure this is one of the main reasons less people play TM then RT3. I want to prevent others from getting this headache and enjoy the game. If you understood this, good. If you already do this or similar, great. Hope it helps people enjoy TM!

[RulerofRails]

Well, I "finished" this. I put it in apostrophes because I didn't play until 1875 only up till 1861 when I reached 50 points. Because of the way I played I had 90 or so stations and tons of track with 320 trains. Unfortunately this is too much for my PC really bogging down, so I simply cannot be bothered to run the game just to receive a medal.

By maximizing passenger revenues early in the game, I made plenty of money and had taken over all the AI companies on the map before the twist. This gave me full access rights, so I think I found a loophole, as I am sure this wasn't the intention. By using my stock as bait (selling mine and buying his in recession) I successfully obtained 51% of BR. In my opinion the late game penalties on the BR are far too severe. I had been watching it and I just missed out on its stack of cash by maybe 6 months or so. Hope I didn't give any spoilers.

I am not trying to complain about this, as I love the map. It is definitely playable and enjoyable the way it is. The events are very creative and well thought out for the most part. However, my attempts to understand the editor scripting has caused me to see some obvious mistakes such as the dates in the events (for example 1938 instead of 1838 so the event wont fire). I see that the requirement that a player keep playing until 1875 was going to be corrected by edbangor. I am wondering if he actually did this? And, Has anyone got a corrected copy?

PS. If it has been lost somewhere, I will be tempted to attempt to fix the scripting myself (gives an idea of how much I like the map), but I think I would end up making a couple of slight changes at the same time.

[johnny_oe]

Ok. Now I made it as well. The start is not as hard as I thought as somehow the connection to Chester is really a lot more rewarding than all the other options available at the beginning (I had especially tried with Crewe several times unsuccessfully). So you just have to take care of your early strategy because of the "sting part" - I already knew what would happen this time because I had lost another game without being able to take over companies almost completely in the hand of another player.

Now I played the scenario to the end. I was offered to end the game with a silver medal and rejected. I then made it up to 54 points, was the only company - but I still lost. Seems as if some trigger for gold does not work.

However: A very nice scenario. Some small mistakes (as the gold trigger and the typos mentioned somewhere above), but a really interesting and complex map. Thanks for that!

[RulerofRails]

Now I played the scenario to the end. I was offered to end the game with a silver medal and rejected. I then made it up to 54 points, was the only company - but I still lost. Seems as if some trigger for gold does not work.

First, glad you conquered the scenario!

Going by the events this is what should be happening:
Besides 50 points and being the only company, a connection between Seaforth and Warrington is required for Trainmaster. This is checked during the year 1860, a lose will trigger if the game cannot find the connection. It currently isn't possible to achieve Trainmaster before 1875 as that is when the event is triggered. (Edbangor talked about changing it so TM can be achieved sooner, hence my question about a corrected version.) When a player reaches 1875 without satisfying Trainmaster conditions, a player should receive another medal instead of loosing provided he has over 20 points and has made the connection to pass the Seaforth connection event in 1860.

That's the theory. I am wondering which year did you get a loss? I am curious to see what is happening here.

[johnny_oe]

Ah, I received the "You lost" message on new year 1875/1876 if I remember correctly. I had 50 points in 1870 already but did not receive gold. I had received the option to finish with Bronze and later with Silver but rejected them to continue plaing. In the end I had connected all cities except for some you probably know if you played the scenario.
Some thing I just saw is that in the description it says something about connecting Canada Docks - which I did not find on the map (the port in Seaforth is just named "Port" and I think this is the one concered). I don't know if this has something to do with it.

[RulerofRails]

Did you takeover all the AI companies? This is the only thing that you didn't mention that is necessary for the Train Master medal. There is an oversight with the medals here, because if you have 50 or more points you cannot receive the Station Master medal even if you aren't able to takeover all the AI companies (the other condition for the Train Master medal).

Yes, Seaforth represents "Canada Docks" in this scenario. To complete one of the tasks you needed to connect to it by 1860. As long as you don't bulldoze some rails later on that are part of this connection, you should be good.