Hey Lama -
What on earth did you do to make Guatamala so darned hard??? I remember beta testing this scenario last year, and managed to win the gold at least once on expert. I've just tried it again, and couldn't even get to 2nd base. The cost of laying track -- especially on grades -- seems to be way more expensive??
Anyhow, on my last attempt, I was in pretty good shape after 12-13 years, so got suckered into supporting the war effort -- for which I lost my shirt.
-- Cliff in Virginia
Guatamala Revised
It has gotten a bit harder, hasn't it? 
I don't think I changed that much, though. Mostly, I wanted to make it more realistic. The biggest changes were a start date twenty years later than beta, and removing weapons and ammo from the Pacific Coast port.
I actually added coal to the map, and uncluttered the event structure.
The invasion seems to be key. If that goes well, you're all set, but if you overstretch and fail, you're toast. A lot hinges on the economy at the start of the war - if you have a boom, you can afford plenty of bonds.
Maybe I should set the game economy to boom when the player volunteers to haul Barrios's troops?
Anyway, I've failed more often than I have succeeded, on this one. Early industry is key.
The way I got gold on Expert was to max out bonds in December of the last year, then spend all company cash to buy up stock, and finally, with the added collateral, had my tycoon buy stocks until he got above $16mil. Even with the downward adjustment of the stock price at the end of December, I still had more than $12mil. when the Gold event triggered.
I guess it is a good idea not to mess with corruption until after you've got a nice set of cheap bonds out, because the scandals will ruin your credit rating. Otoh, the money from the corruption comes in rather handy for the PNW goal.
You should definitely go for the steamer stock and banana plantation, because they are only offered once.
I don't think I changed that much, though. Mostly, I wanted to make it more realistic. The biggest changes were a start date twenty years later than beta, and removing weapons and ammo from the Pacific Coast port.
I actually added coal to the map, and uncluttered the event structure.
The invasion seems to be key. If that goes well, you're all set, but if you overstretch and fail, you're toast. A lot hinges on the economy at the start of the war - if you have a boom, you can afford plenty of bonds.
Maybe I should set the game economy to boom when the player volunteers to haul Barrios's troops?
Anyway, I've failed more often than I have succeeded, on this one. Early industry is key.
The way I got gold on Expert was to max out bonds in December of the last year, then spend all company cash to buy up stock, and finally, with the added collateral, had my tycoon buy stocks until he got above $16mil. Even with the downward adjustment of the stock price at the end of December, I still had more than $12mil. when the Gold event triggered.
I guess it is a good idea not to mess with corruption until after you've got a nice set of cheap bonds out, because the scandals will ruin your credit rating. Otoh, the money from the corruption comes in rather handy for the PNW goal.
You should definitely go for the steamer stock and banana plantation, because they are only offered once.
Yeah, with only ammo/weapons in the Atlantic port, there's almost no way you can get the 5 ammos & 5 weapons to San Salvador in time. Getting the loads to Honduras wasn't a problem. Shuffling troops between stations in Hondorus made the troop hauling easy, and the same for San Salvador.and removing weapons and ammo from the Pacific Coast port.
Maybe I quit too soon. After failing to haul the ammo & weapons to San Salvador, my railroad there was confiscated and given to the competition. Maybe this was the time to start buying the AI's stock big time?
Anyway, guess I'll give it another try some day. Let us know if you make any more changes, and I'll download the newest versionl
-- Cliff in Virginia
I just remembered that I actually made the invasion goals a bit easier - it used to be you had to meet yearly goals three years in a row. Now, it's only cumulative over three years, with lower haul requirements. So you can drop stuff and pick it back up, and carry it on to the next station. The real challenge is the cost of track, not so much the logistics.
I didn't support the war, even though I was busy building track there at the time.
Nice map - beautiful scenery and the connections aren't too impossibly difficult. I did panic a bit at the beginning - there seems to be little worth hauling - but I was able to buy a distillery and build south from Puerto Barrios. Next I built inland from the Pacific side, working up the coast to the two small cities on the north border. Finally I connected both ends to Guatemala City and started making real money. The most industry I ever owned was one distillery on each coast and a textile mill in Honduras.
I never did take the offers of extra labor gangs; the 150 track per-turn plus an additional 100 for $100k worked fine. Made all the connections and delivered loads with time to spare. I kept my nose 'mostly' clean of corruption, speculating in coffee, steamers and bananas with my own money. I had the PNW goal licked... and then the economy started going sour the last five years of the game. My worth declined from $14 mil to around $6.8 mil (with $3 mil debt) as we settled into a depression, and nothing I could do - paying off debt, buying stock - would help. My preference would be meeting a goal of a certain PNW at any time rather than at the end. I hate to lose a gold medal to something I have no control over.
This is a great scenario. It is reasonably challenging with enough things for a player to do that boredom never sets in.
One request: please add a gift of track to the victory conditions for those of us who like to play on after the medals are handed out.
Nice map - beautiful scenery and the connections aren't too impossibly difficult. I did panic a bit at the beginning - there seems to be little worth hauling - but I was able to buy a distillery and build south from Puerto Barrios. Next I built inland from the Pacific side, working up the coast to the two small cities on the north border. Finally I connected both ends to Guatemala City and started making real money. The most industry I ever owned was one distillery on each coast and a textile mill in Honduras.
I never did take the offers of extra labor gangs; the 150 track per-turn plus an additional 100 for $100k worked fine. Made all the connections and delivered loads with time to spare. I kept my nose 'mostly' clean of corruption, speculating in coffee, steamers and bananas with my own money. I had the PNW goal licked... and then the economy started going sour the last five years of the game. My worth declined from $14 mil to around $6.8 mil (with $3 mil debt) as we settled into a depression, and nothing I could do - paying off debt, buying stock - would help. My preference would be meeting a goal of a certain PNW at any time rather than at the end. I hate to lose a gold medal to something I have no control over.
This is a great scenario. It is reasonably challenging with enough things for a player to do that boredom never sets in.
One request: please add a gift of track to the victory conditions for those of us who like to play on after the medals are handed out.
The optimist proclaims we live in the best of all possible worlds; and the pessimist fears this is true." - James Branch Cabell
Glad you liked it, EPH! And congratulations on getting (near) gold the peaceful way - I have yet to do that. Usually, the economy does me in, too.
I hadn't thought about the "have $12M at some point" criterion!
I hadn't thought about the "have $12M at some point" criterion!
I'm positive I did that! Will check again.EPH wrote:One request: please add a gift of track to the victory conditions for those of us who like to play on after the medals are handed out.
I checked, and it turns out it only works if you got Gold. The event that would give you 10k track after the game time has elapsed evaluates a year to late.
Fix:
Find the event "Track: pre=End" in the track section of the event list, and change the trigger to "Years Elapsed = 24".
Sorry for that bug!
Fix:
Find the event "Track: pre=End" in the track section of the event list, and change the trigger to "Years Elapsed = 24".
Sorry for that bug!