The Third Republic

[RayofSunshine]

Well, I am just going to start a new thread. My search took me to "Ports, Warehouses, and Buildings. The next was for "Favorite Scenarios, Who's Money, and Something. Hence there may have been some connection to "the" "third" "republic", but not directly with the scenario itself. So seeing that the items basically pertained to items which would have to be done thru the Editor, I make my case.

The Third Republic being created in European countries, the terrain is basically of a level nature, and hence easy to lay track. The concept of CBV, LIP, and with highest PNW at the end is some what different in scope. I found that crashes are within limits, as well as the mentioned other goals or requirements.

And true to AIs, there is always one which is gung-ho. Lays track all over the place, and connects close with other companies depots, hence very little generated revenue Then with a goodly routing and trains, the AI starts to shift all the revenue in procuring its own stock. Basically well over the 50%. This creats a players problem of buying its own stock to accummulate a sizeable amount of stock, so as to invest in those of the AI.
The reason for the initiative of buying those of the AI, is to ward off that AI from maximizing the dividend, and hence be able to control the PNW of the player, for the player to obtain the "highest" PNW at the games end, as a requirement.

I was not able to obtain the Gold. Although I had managed to keep reasonable accummulation of the CBV, LIP, and PNW, thru a couple of recessions during the scenario, it was within the last 6 years that the economy went to pot, into a depression, and did not emerge until the last 6 months of the time limit.

It just so happens that both the max CBV and the highest PNW, are the requirement for the Gold. So, because I had expended so much revenue at times on the stock dividend, I missed the required CBV, and then it didn't matter that my PNW was not adequate. I did check that AI, who had basically had a $1.00 dividedn thru most of the game, at least until it had 50%+ dividend (125,000 of 206 stocks) ended the game with a $4.50 dividend.

However, I believe that the scenario is a good concept of RT fun, and am sure that using some different system, that I could have obtained a Gold. It was fun to play and hope that others will go back and enjoy these Campaign creations.

[Rick]

Hi all,

I am having persistent problems with this scenario and thought I'd seek some advice.

I start buy connecting Paris and Orleans and then Masstricht and Brussels and then usually add in Le Mans and connect the two systems. From there, I have been going north to Le Creusuot and I also starting looking for a port.

I always seem to start off OK but eventually the tycoonatrons seem to overhaul me despite having smaller networks. The I have to borrow to make new connections and eventually I collapse under the weight of the debt late in the game if the economy turns down.

I have been rejecting the cheap coal and running the Duke and the other more costly loco instead of the Fairlie or Cramptons.

I have been usually hauling four wagons plus a caboose and the most lucrative cargoes for me seem to be alcohol and milk. As for industries, I am buying wheat farms and dairy farms mostly.

I can usually get the industry profit target but fall short on one of the other two, most often the personal net worth.

Any suggestions?

Rick.

[EPH]

Once I get the Paris area set up I usually turn southwest to the ports or southeast to an eventual connection with Le Creusot/Lyons/Marseilles. And I build/buy as much industry as I can, especially 'transformative' industries like distilleries, breweries, lumber and paper mills, steel mills, etc. Connecting to Belgium is always a middle to late game move for me.

[RayofSunshine]

Well Rick,
Now you know that you are "bucking up against" one of the masters of these creations. Just when you believe that you have the situation in hand, EPH deals you another challenge. Not that the challenge is impossible, but adds to the enjoyment of the scenario, as well as to your intelligence to determine how to overcome the problem.

Your system of play sounds normal, but as EPH explains, first deal with the present country, no matter what country is involved. Get tracks laid to the seaports, well, provided that the are of a ""supply"" nature, and not just a ""demand"".

For myself, also as EPH has given, I try to tend to make the "supply and the demand" of revenue of profit. Grain to Brewery. Produce to Distillery. Dairy to Processor.

Some of the worst are Coal and Iron, although Steel Mills are usally lucretive. A player always have to watch multiple industries of "demand". Grain to cities with Brewery and Bakeries. Steel or Lumber to cities with Tool & Die and Warehouses, or Toy Factories and Warehouses.

And unlike some created sceanrios, EPH, even in mountainous scenarios, gives a player a chance to surmount them, with his "less than sharp" terrain. As you play any of his creations, you will appreciate his input of both his talent and imagination.

Hope some of this helps your endeavor to ""enjoy"" playing any of the membership user creators. They may give us a challenge, as although they spend hours with their creations, they enjoy creating as much as we enjoy playing them.

[RayofSunshine]

Okay Rick,

I don't know how much progress you may have had in your endeavor with the Third Republic, but I can sympathize with you as a player, trying to "butt heads" with the talents of these master creators. I also don't know if it is of any benefit to you, but you will scroll down, you will find my thread entitled just "Third Republic", indicating the problems which I have had.

NOW, if you become too disenchanted with the 3rd Republic, I have played a scenario, of which I will later comment on it in a thread, is Ks United States. This is a winner for any level of play. Check out the thread. Well, provided that there isn't a thread already in progress, as this is an older scenario.

[Rick]

Thanks for the help guys. I have managed to jag silver using some of the advice supplied. I think the key to this modest success was buying the brewery in Orleans right from the start and then getting involved in the lumber trade around Le Creusot while buying the sawmill in Lyon. In a bid to win gold I did bulldoze some dummy track I set up near Paris to thwart the AI player from connecting, but he replaced it each time fairly quickly. Just as an aside, is this regarded as a fair way to play, or is it seen among you guys as "dirty pool"?

Regards and thanks,

Rick.

[Hawk]

I've merged the two threads for this map.

EPH didn't create the Third republic. That map is a campaign map that came with RT3.

[RayofSunshine]

I have read the posts from previous "years". And although I enjoy playing the new user created scenarios, I beliver that it is only fitting to periodically go back to the original scenarios of RT3 of the Campaign creations. And as members, they have enjoyed the Campaign, and the challenges ranging from Medium to Expert levels.

With that said, I would like to see some members go back to those "days of yesterday" in creations. By comparison there has been a whole new atmosphere in the present day creations, but I thought I would bring to now only the newer members, but the oldsters, to give these Campaign scenarios an attempt of play. And being that I have just finished getting the Gold in Expert in less than the deadline, I suggest that level for anyone. If I can do it, you can also do it, and find enjoyment in the "doing of it".

[low_grade]

Well Ray, I am going back through the campaign, on Hard first thing in my current re-start of RRT3, and I agree. The original games are often quite well thought out and can be very challenging.

Having said that, I breezed through all the earlier campaign scenarios, played a bunch of user-mades on Expert, and came back to the campaign again to be initially stumped by this one. Had to restart several times.

First of all, there's almost no chance to build industries at the start, which totally threw me off. First try I built Lumber and Paper Mills down by Marseilles where there were three logging camps (bought a couple of those, too), and then in Orleans I built a Brewery. At that point it was like 9 of 25 years into the game, I'd yet to lay any track, there was a Depression killing my profits (less than $500K in 1879,) I was heavily in high-interest debt, and my PNW was well below one of the other guys. But I had learned a few things, so I gave up and tried again.

A few things which are different about this map. No margin buying makes getting stock tough. The $50K award for hauling the most cargo becomes that much more attractive, so getting rail down early is a good idea. Resources are densely clustered, making long range hauling more profitable on most maps, milk and grain in the middle, logs to the east, meat to the east and west. No wool/cotton = no clothing aside from port production. Not enough coal to make much steel = no goods after iron stops making them. So yeah, I took another good look at the map to see what I could do, and decided, there are no industries I can really build profitably at start.

So I started to scroll through existing industries to see if any were worth scooping up. And surprisingly dairy farms were a serious bargain, from $300K-$600K or so, since it looks like milk started at a very low value, most made close to nothing in 1869 (2 years before start) and then $60-$100K in 1870. So I got a bond and 3 dairy farms, a fourth in the 1st year as profits started coming in, and another after that with a bond the next year. Then a distillery in Nimes the next year. Then started rail, as the $50K bonus was kicking in, Namur-Maastricht-Brussels. The next year built a Brewery in Maastricht and never looked back from there. Gold in 1881.

The dairy farms are a bit of a cheat in this scenario perhaps, so buy them or don't at start as is your preference. I didn't try starting rail first because I never do that, but there is a lot of grain/milk/meat/lumber to haul around, and some big cities for express traffic, so it might work. Found this map to be prone to recessions, though there was nothing in the editor to suggest that was anything but bad luck for me. The real challenge of this map is to have highest PNW since the AI's start with twice as much cash, and for me the only strategy to achieve this is to have the fastest growing company by far . Especially since Isambard seems to be quite the clever AI, and will buy into your company whenever your stock splits, and he'll also generally be getting the $50K bonus if you don't.

[Gumboots]

Having tried tackling this scenario several ways, I have to agree with the previous post. The dairy farms will get you off to the best start.

It's possible to win without using them, but it will take a lot longer and be more difficult. A few points:

1/ Don't bother buying stock in any other company. Just buy your own.

2/ Don't waste money on buying back stock. You can pay out an awful lot of dividends for the price of a share buyback. In general, buying back stock is a tactic that should only be used once there is no way of expanding your company, or if you need a specific percentage of stock. Neither apply in this scenario.

3/ Don't issue stock either. It'll just dilute your PNW. Use bonds.

4/ Best way to win: build a strong company and do it fast. There's a good price gradient for milk between Orleans and Paris, so that makes an ideal first run. You can then extend it to Orleans > Bourges and Paris > Reims. The latter will usually tie in nicely with at least one of the AI players, which generates extra cargo for you. There's usually another AI player somewhere south of Paris. Tie into that one for some extra haulage.

In this scenario, the AI doesn't run so many trains that it will clog your stations, so I find it advantageous to allow them on my tracks. They stick to the periphery of my network and don't get involved in the core routes (Bourges through to Reims). Miscellaneous income averaged over 500k per year. I double-tracked any AI stations I used and this kept things flowing well. Apart from a couple of actual stations, I did not run on any AI track.

[sleepy]

Like everyone else, I bought up 3 dairy farms right at the beginning while they were still cheap. I took out bonds and bought them for $350k each, while they each made more than $100k a year, which provided needed early cash infusions and ensured I didn't need to worry about the industry profits requirement. My only regret is that I didn't buy more dairy farms.

I started in Paris naturally and connected to Orleans and Bourges, then expanding from there, with Paris to Reims and Orleans particularly profitable. I made a big costly mistake in using wooden bridges near my Paris station, which forced me to bulldoze the station to replace the bridge with a double track stone bridge. I think it's worth the less congestion in the long run. I also purchased a Lumber Mill near Lyon which I connected to for $2900k to see if it would make money, since it seemed to be doing pretty well before. For some reason that upgraded mill produced 10 units a year, while a mill right next door produced nothing and was constantly in the red.

In late 1881, after buying as many shares of my own company as I could whenever I had the cash, I finally passed Isambard in PNW. In 1885, I was so far ahead I issued stock twice to raise about $1800k and get gold 11 years ahead. I ended with $3490k in PNW vs Isambard's $2946k, but before I issued stock I had about $3700k. Overall I didn't think the campaign was challenging, especially with the dairy farms at the start. It took me about 3 hours start to finish. The Parisian-centered network was a good moneymaker without any fancy tricks. I didn't build any industry aside from a few hotels and a getting a good deal on a logging camp for a little extra cash. My network was only moderately extensive.