East of Mississippi

Discuss about strategies used for the default RT3 scenarios.
kingecbert
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East of Mississippi Unread post

Hello everybody, i'm new in the forum.
So, in the coast to coast expánsion, we have a good scenario called "East of Mississippi".

-Bronze Medal: 10 million in CBV , freight average speed of 20 MPH and lifetime loads hauled of at least 5,000.

-SIlver: 30 million CBV, .... 30 MPH and 10,000 cargos

-Gold: 75 million CBV, ...... 40 MPH, and 20,000 cargos.

I won silver medal on expert, but hauling 20,000 cargos while maintaining a freight average speed of 40 MPH is very difficult, if you put more trains, they will slow down each others.

Do you guys have efficient strategies for this map?

thanks :-D
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RulerofRails
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Re: east of mississippi Unread post

!!howdy!! Welcome!

It was awhile since I played this one, so I don't remember specifics that well. If I recall correctly I have gotten the gold medal when I chose the electric option. I think I was careful to keep my track away from the mountains using wide sweeping curves to keep speeds up, and also to mainly connect cities that were further apart. I didn't run many cars per train, don't remember how many, but definitely double track wherever more than one train had access to the line. Also paid attention to reliability and tried to prevent breakdowns as far as possible.

I am not saying that this map is impossible or harder with diesel, just that I chose electric. Either way, because extra investment is needed to make high speed rails (double track, more engines, etc.), the profit available from investment in them (return on investment (ROI)) is poorer than normal. This makes industries attractive to build up a revenue base in the first 5 or so years of the game. Later on this revenue base will finance a steady expansion of quality rail network. There are many different strategies for industry investment, but building is often preferable to buying. However, in the first year there may be some excellent buying opportunities as industries on the map are getting established.

I would tend to get a good income going with industries first, but your question was about how to prevent clogging up your lines. I didn't use these when I won this map, but here's some ideas which have been invented/adapted/re-designed by various members around here:

One idea would be to plan to have more than one station in some of the cities (larger/more industrial ones to begin with). This isn't great from a profit stand-point so I would do it later in the game. But you need to plan to leave room when you expand initially. If not to make alternative connections (make the map look like a spiders web) these can be used to make parallel connections in high traffic areas.

One of the strategies that will make this map seem easy is the use of dedicated maintenance spurs. That is, spurs near stations that are off the main-line. This method requires extra stops are added to the trains roster so that it makes short empty runs from the station out to the service facilities (holding down the Ctrl key will enable you to select them for the train's roster) and back to the station where it will then load for its normal trip. There are different ideas about the best way to setup these spurs, they work best if you have them beyond a station on straight track, but it is debatably easier to make them on short curves of track leaving both entrances to the station free for connecting to other cities. Also, some people prefer to add both maintenance facilities as stops in the roster, others like me are lazy and only place the furthest one in the roster. If you only add the furthest facility on a curved-away-from-main-line spur type MAKE SURE you leave some space between the junction and the first maintenance facility, if not the train may be confused by the junction and SKIP this facility. For diesel and electric I think it is pretty safe to leave sand as an optional stop. With steamers it is a case of going Water-Oil (automated Water), or Oil-Water where some will add both stops to the roster.

Here's a few screenshot examples. This is the most common way I use spurs. This is where care needs to be taken to leave enough room before the first facility.
Maintenance Spurs curved-track.jpg
Maintenance Spurs curved-track.jpg (20.74 KiB) Viewed 130752 times
This is a method I have used mainly as an experiment. Traffic flow is pretty good without building two stations. Visible is the routing setup I was using.
Maintenance Spurs alternative end-of-line.jpg
Maintenance Spurs alternative end-of-line.jpg (56.37 KiB) Viewed 130752 times
Combining everything. It takes a little planning to make everything fit nicely in larger cities.
Maintenance Spurs with double stations.jpg
Maintenance Spurs with double stations.jpg (18.35 KiB) Viewed 130752 times
Notice how the track junctions are pretty smooth. To get this effect always make a junction from the existing track side. If the track connects two existing tracks make the curves at either end separately first and then connect up the middle last. Freaky joins can slow trains considerably. All these screenshots are from Age of Steam Blue Streak IV (1.06).
kingecbert
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Re: east of mississipi Unread post

a second station connecting a city already connected is a good tactic.
the maintenance spurs are really new to me, i will give it a try.

there is a "trick" to win gold medal, this scenario begins in 1990, but if you start in 2000, you could be benefit for the E-88 locomotive(appears in 2012), a super-fast locomotive, plus the acceleration that is instant which is a very important thing in the average speed.

thank you for the hints.
Grandma Ruth
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Re: East of Mississippi Unread post

Finally I have reached the end of the "Coast to Coast" expansion games. This was my last one, and it gave me a run for my money! The goals are deceptively simple but the more loads you haul, the less your average speed will be, as kingecbert points out. You don't need to worry about Company Book Value, if you haul 20,000 loads you're bound to be worth more than $75m.
I thought at first this might be the reverse of Orient Express. (Where you make a good express speed by not running express trains. You just have the one express run at the end.) But there aren't enough express cargoes to make the 20,000 loads, even if you manage to generate troops.
The first few tries, I could either make the 20,000 or the speed but not both. Then I tried the maintenance spurs idea and found that made a real difference. The trick is to empty the train, then run into the spur, then back and fill the train again.
This only works if the distance between stations is just right - not too long or you'll have to have intermediate stops and not too short or you'll have to watch the train all the time to see when it's going to run out of oil. I like to micromanage, but by the time you've got a lot of trains it drives you !hairpull!
Then you have the long distance problem with steel at the opposite end of the map to the industries that want it. You can't do that run without an intermediate service.
Finally I got the trains sorted out and running reasonably smoothly by 2003 - more than half-way through the time. My average speed was 61 mph so I thought I would just see how much that decreased by, over a number of years. I let the game play itself with very little intervention except for replacing crashed trains and so on and suddenly realised I was going to win!
I finally won in 2011 with 85 trains, average speed of 57 mph, and $101270 book value. Whew!
BTW, I recommend having a look in the Editor, especially at the impeachment event. There's a joke hidden in there that only old-timers and historians will understand ^**lylgh
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Gumboots
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Re: East of Mississippi Unread post

Grandma Ruth wrote: Wed Sep 20, 2023 1:46 pmI thought at first this might be the reverse of Orient Express. (Where you make a good express speed by not running express trains. You just have the one express run at the end.)
I never play Orient Express like that. I run express almost from the start, and never have any problem maintaining the required speed.

Then I tried the maintenance spurs idea and found that made a real difference.
Yep, that's how you do it. Any scenario that has a speed requirement will usually require spurs, or at least be a lot easier with spurs (unless you are going to use a dodge, like the one some people use in OE).
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Re: East of Mississippi Unread post

Gumboots wrote: Wed Sep 20, 2023 11:25 pm I never play Orient Express like that. I run express almost from the start, and never have any problem maintaining the required speed.
I'm tempted to have another try: I know how to play now a lot better than I did then. (Thanks to all the advice here!)
But my own website https://www.my-familytree.net/ needs some attention, I'll take a break from RT3 for a while and tend to the ancestors.
(0!!0)
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RulerofRails
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Re: East of Mississippi Unread post

Grandma Ruth wrote: Wed Sep 20, 2023 1:46 pm Finally I have reached the end of the "Coast to Coast" expansion games.
Well done! ::!**! Glad that the info here helped you improve as a player. :D
Grandma Ruth
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Re: East of Mississippi Unread post

Thanks guys! See you later !*kiss*!
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RulerofRails
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Re: East of Mississippi Unread post

East of Miss, low effort electric, ledger.jpg

Decided to refresh my memory of this. To keep it interesting I didn't use the maintenance spurs. Also, no industry/bonds. Only built electric track which also slows expansion a lot.

Started NYC - Philadelphia - Washington D.C., ran 4 cars on the E60CP. Aimed for 45mph speeds. This worked ok, but volume and profits were quite low. Once the Brenner arrived in 1999 the game changes, and it's a simple connection mission. My run was low effort but with a steady expansion achieved the haulage target in time. Bought a couple E-88s in the final year but they don't really affect the result.

While I didn't use maintenance spurs I was careful about how I placed maintenance. Maintenance was placed on what would be the quickest leg of the journey (90% of routes are A-B-C-B), and it was placed as practically close to the station as possible (I think needs to be 5-6 cells separation to avoid the 1mph bug).

The premise of the scenario seems to be using the Brenner, and electrifying (aka modernizing) the US networks. The Brenner can comfortably do 50-mid average speeds, when it runs in clear air (either double-track, or single track where only one train is allowed), even on light grades.

To get the most from the scenario, start with diesel and accept 30+mph speeds. The USA 103 with it's better acceleration should be used once it appears in 1993, but it should be used only in the flatter sections of the map. Then in 1999 switch to the Brenner. The intent would be that we should electrify and upgrade the existing network as well. With a slow start you could leave the old engines in place for awhile. But using finance for a fast start the scenario is setup to give a good incentive to electrify at least a good part of your network. Just do a bit of math on where required average speed and loads hauled will converge. :-)
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