Deadwood Dakota

[Hawk]

I also noted that the hardware store can't be built by the player. That kind of threw me for a loop as to why I owned 3 of them.

Just thought I'd point it out.

[nedfumpkin]

Just an FYI...I'm back to working on TM and this map when I get a few minutes to spare. Things should settle down for me in April.

So I decided to backdate the map 5 years....just cause. I'm also rethinking the work gangs theory since I should include freed slaves as an option.

[nedfumpkin]

Just an update on how I have decided to change the track building in this scenario....

Every march the player will need to decide their track laying plans. They can defer to July if they like. They will then have to choose their work force by engaging crews to lay track. The choices will be civil war vets, freed slaves and asian immigrants although these won't be avialable until the player has track on the west coast. They can hire 0-3 gangs of each selection who will be able to lay a certain number of pieces per month...the larger the rr, the more pieces will become available. The different crews will affect maintenance costs, and train speed. Each month from April to November, the alloted pieces are credited to the player for building and the crews are paid. If the pieces aren't laid by the end of the month, they do not accumulate.

[Hawk]

Looking forward to the updated version.

[nedfumpkin]

Here is the Deawood map ready for some testing and benchmarking. This is still very much a work in progress, and probably has some bugs in it. This will be a campaign map when completed.

Your goal is to connect the east and the west, and generate industry. You must hire crews to lay track. At first only europeans, then freed slaves, then chinese immigrants. You can only lay track from April to November, so planning is essential.

You will have 5 year track laying goals. Track is measured in miles, but supplied in sections. 1 piece of track is ½ mile. Your track only counts in the US, and only between the cities. The cities are regions, and so the teack inside them doesn't count. Track laid in Canada won't count either.

Ths map is posted so that benchmarks can be established

Currently you need 350 miles in 5 years. Depending on what is reported back, the 5 year marks will be created.

This map is going to be more about trying not to lose, as it is about trying to win. Pressure to expand will prevent players from sitting around doing nothing. :)

There is also a security index, and a character index. The security index will determine your likelihood of getting robbed. You will be able to hire security agents when necessary, and transporting troops will provide some security. But nothing is guaranteed.

The character index will alter how the map unfolds. Opportunities will present themselves based on your character...i.e. players with negative character will be able to bribe or steal, while platers with good character will get the opportunity to lucratively ship bible supplies all over.

The only stated goals will be the track mileage and east west connection, and the industry profits. These will be to achieve Station Master. To achieve Trainmaster, it will be necessary to scrutinize the newspapers for clues. Pay special attention to the third article in the papers because they always have a clue to something. First clue states "Steel from Aberdeen - There's Talk - RR Needed"....this means that if you connect St Paul to Aberdeen, as steel mill will be constructed, and once you ship steel, you will get new engines.


But for now, the track allotment is worked out. So if anyone wants to play, let me know how many miles of track and how much industry profit you had at the 5 year marks.


....hint on getting started....don't read this if you want to figure it out for yourself.........

When you start, you need to start a company. Once you have done that, get a bond and buy the textile mill at Minneapolis. Wait a week and you will get 250 pieces of track. You have to lay this before the end of March.

Lay the track so that it is turning at a right angle at St Paul, and just bridge the river. Just get to the other bank or else you will have to wait until 1867 before you are alloted enough track to make it across. Connect up to Superior from St. Paul. Put a medium station, making sure you show that you are connected....make sure you can run a spur out the back.

Wait for the $100k payout and then put a large station (½ price) at St. Paul, and you should have enough for a locomotive. Buy yourself a coffee with the change cause that's all you will have left.

Run a train back and forth here, don't worry about the water tower or maintenance shed just yet. When the choice comes to hire crews, not this year.

Wait until the new year when you can get a bond. Buy the logging camp near Superior, when you can lay track, connect to a Station at Minneapolis, and then finish your spur, and connect up to the logging camp. Get a 2-8-0 and haul some freight. Once the logging camp is connected run a 4-4-0 carrying machines to the camp, logs/pulp/hides to Minnie, and freight back to Superior. Buy the lumber mill.

When you have track left over, and you have some money, double track at the stations and spurs.

During the winter, the ledger shows your goals progress, during the summer it shows your construction detail, and securiy index.

Happy railroading.

------------------------------------------------

Note....

This zip file contains the Cowboy Engines which are the 4-4-0 and 2-8-0 up versions. These will be a part of the next TM release. You'll need these if you don't already have them.

[nedfumpkin]

Here's an updated version of this map that has a bunch of new stuff added. Still lots more to go. Still have to put in character and Indian events.

If you make your goals a year before the required date you can get cash bonuses. You can get robbed now. You can lose now. Hauling a lot of ammo or weapons lowers your security rating, but hauling troops raises it.

This will likely be the last beta I post since the events I'm writing now will remain secret until the final version.



Happy railroading.

[nedfumpkin]

Anybody got any feedback? I am going to make some changes to the robberies since I got robbed 3 times in one year (1869) and lost about $700k! :)

I am also debating the track allotment and and wether to change it or not. The first 5 years put a lot of pressure on expansion, especially if you try to get the bonuses, which is possible, but it seemed that from 1879 onwards, you got a lot of track quickly so the pressure wasn't there it seemed.

Just curious how others are making out.

[Hawk]

I plan on trying it, but I just had to put in a new hard drive and I'm still getting it set up.

[nedfumpkin]

In tjat case you may as well hold off since I need to make changes.

[Blackhawk]

I'm off visiting family/home so I haven't had a chance to get around to it yet. Hopefully by the middle to end of next week I'll get a chance.

[Wolverine@MSU]

I downloaded it, but won't have a chance to try it until next week at the earliest. Will hold off until you post the newer version.

[RulerofRails]

Here's a screenshot of my first proper attempt at this map. This gives a little idea of where I was as far as the goals in 1900 which I assumed was the end of the map seeing the events seem to end after that.

As a disclaimer I have to state that I built 16 Taverns on two of the map squares in Deadwood to test how they deal with "Gambling". At 800k total cost these were giving a revenue of approx 2.5M per year over the last 20 or so years of the game. Without this I would subtract maybe 30M from my personal cash. Unfortunately this is really an economic loophole with the positive 0.2 Gold -> 0.3 Gold going wild with "customer" numbers above 1,200 per year.

I love the track-gangs concept. I may have missed a month or two, but otherwise I was waiting for the gangs to be ready to lay the next section. On the plains I often built my track without un-pausing the game. I noticed that the numbers of track sections available in a month went down after a certain point even with the third gang of Asians becoming available. I assumed this was due to some adjustment trying to balance the sections available.

I haven't played the RT3 map this was based on before. I can see I was missing out. The work that the creator did in the Rockies is brilliant! The way they forged routes corresponding to those in reality is really nice. I only made one transcontinental line through the passes between Great Falls and Missoula via Helena and Butte. I connected to all the US towns by the end except for Reno which seems almost impossible to reach without using lots of track or insane grades.

My plan was to see how close I could get to 1 billion PNW. When I ended the game I was in normal economic condition. Even if it were Boom times, I would have had trouble having my stock value above 300M as the max I earned in a year was 31M and I was paying as much dividend as I could for a long time. I was pretty happy I achieved 500M personal cash, but I need to hone my skills some more before I could reach 1Bn PNW before 1900 even in boom times. (With more resources on the map this "goal" should be attainable.)

I ignored the Robberies except to hire as many guards as I could at year end. By the end my security rating was -78 as I was running my trains for profit and not for a good average speed. Thinking about it I could probably get some more Express revenue (I maxed at 12M) from this map if I made more effort to hit those average speeds as it sounds like Robberies reduce passenger numbers. Running 7-car+caboose Consolidation II's with mixed cargo throughout the map I was having a combined average of 20mph. From this I would say the 25mph should be realistic without making spurs which would waste too much track. I'll do this next time with some Hotels to boot. Might get me that much closer to 1Bn. I saw that some of you got annoyed by the frequent Robbery notices. It didn't faze me. In fact, whatever the notice that comes up, as long as it has something to do with my company is good. I feel like the creator made some effort to make the map special and that's great. Obviously, the Robberies are too frequent at the moment, but that doesn't spoil the map for me.

I saw some messages to be the only company so I bought out my competitors pretty early in the game. However, two of the old AI chairmen started new "shell" companies that I assume didn't have any track sections available as they just sat there throughout the rest of the game. I can see what Wolverine said that the West of the map is missing some resources such as Logging Camps that would make a connection there much more economically useful.

I like how resources (new farms/mines) are added to the map when certain new connections are made. Working out which connections are best strategically (without cheating by looking in the editor) should make this game quicker also. I am still trying to work out how to separate Hemp from Wool. My strategy of placing industries on the same square as the farm isn't working as I want to separate the Hemp that can go to the Paper Mill from the Wool that cannot while using both resources. Maybe I need to try some of the rail-yard structures.

Ned, nice going on this one. I hope that when you get time to finish it, my comments can be of some help. Thank-you.