Age of Steam

[Hawk]

I never could get past Silver after playing this one twice, and that was playing on medium.
The first time I never did get any rubber to hit the map, even though I was supplying the ports with plenty of alcohol.
So-I went into the editor and put a check mark in rubber to turn it on and saved it with a different name.
Got some strange results after that. Rubber showing where there was no rubber farm, but at least some rubber was being produced by real rubber farms and at the ports.
Yea, I was trying to get some autos going on. :D
It was fun though. I want to try it again but first I want to play AOS-III and IV.

[wsherrick]

Thank for playing Hawk! I glad you enjoyed it. I didn't realize there was an issue with rubber production.

[Hawk]

I thought rubber wasn't showing up because it wasn't checked in the industry list, but when I checked it, it started showing up at places other than ports, and at the ports as well.
I didn't go through all the regions to see if it was unchecked everywhere though.
I still want to go back and try it on expert.

[Wolverine@MSU]

Might be because of the dates. As I recall, it starts before autos are in much demand, hence no auto plants and no demand for tires hence no demand for rubber.

[Canadian Viking]

I finished a game of this a couple weeks ago and had no trouble earning gold playing on hard. I hit the gold targets in March 1906 so I played only 21 of the 35 years permitted.

This is a game of build and buy. There are plenty of profitable express and freight cargos. It takes a few years to build up a head of steam , and then every year I built some more track, and then snatched up new industries that were going to be profitable. I began with a line from Chicago to Milwaukee and Madison, and then expanded first in the places that would help me produce and move more lumber. By the end of the game I had built to all but a handful of cities on the map.

I built all my engine servicing facilities on short spur tracks off of the mainline near stations, and sent the engines for servicing when they had no cargos. So I had no trouble keeping the speed of my express trains high. They were averaging 45 mph at the end. Near the end I electrified the Chicago - Madison line, and a branch to Sheboygan, just to reduce the number of locomotives that needed servicing in Chicago. My loco servicing area there was double tracked and still getting jammed!

In the last couple years I started moving rubber so autos could be manufactored. I didn't get that going very strongly, but I was having some success. Then I went on to Age of Steam II - Green Diamond

[Hawk]

Might be because of the dates. As I recall, it starts before autos are in much demand, hence no auto plants and no demand for tires hence no demand for rubber.

When I played it, rubber never came through, the whole scenario. Maybe it will next time I play it.
I wonder if it had to do with the fact that I was playing on medium install of hard or expert.

[wsherrick]

It shouldn't make any difference. If you think it is important enough to do a revision I certainly will look into it.
In this game as well as Green Diamond. Passenger trains are important and they make gobs of cash if you get the pullman cars. Hotel, etc. income is also inhanced. If you don't get the pullman cars. Your passenger count and income goes down for a period of years because the public gets ticked at you for ignoring their comfort.

[Hawk]

I don't think rubber is important to the goals. It's just that I like to work on the auto industry in some scenarios. Mainly because it requires so many different industries to work well.

Chemicals, fertilizer, rubber, tires.
Coal, iron, steel.

Plus I like the way the autoracks look.

I do most always take improvements to the railroad industry but generally stay away from the 'questionable' options.

The past couple of days I've been a little busy testing out some new forum software that I hope to upgrade this forum too, so I haven't had a chance to play the scenario again.
Feel free to stop by and help test if you'd like.

viewtopic.php?t=831

[RayofSunshine]

Unbelivable!

And I must have done something "wrong", as I was able to get the GOLD about 6 years prior to the deadline. That also was in the Expert level as well. ????

Must have done something right for a change. However, I did find it to be a very interesting scenario. Keep up the good creations as I like steam as well.

Ray of Sunshine

[wsherrick]

Thank you very much. I'm glad you enjoyed the scenario. I have one more scenario in the Age Of Steam series which should be ready in a few days to a week or so.

[BikerTim]

This scenario is a cinch! The best way to win is to start at Memphis, building east across Tennessee. After connecting Memphis to Jackson, connecting to Dyersburg is not a bad idea, as it helps build the revenue base, and the player most likely cannot yet afford to connect to Nashville or Fayetteville. Buying some reasonably profitable industries in the beginning can also help. Just remember not to buy any industries that require raw materials except for textile mills, lumber mills, and paper mills.

It is best to connect to Nashville as soon as practical. Then making a few other connections, such as Paducah, Bowling Green, or Fayetteville is not a bad idea, nor is acquiring a few more industries.

Soon comes the point in the scenario where the banks will let you borrow money cheap for one year. This is when you make your move. Issue as many bonds as you can. Connect first to Knoxville, then to Charlotte. With whatever money is left, buy industries, just remember the guidelines I stated above. Once, after making the connection to Charlotte, I had a furniture factory lose $4 million in one year. Not that it mattered. The rest of the business was super profitable. Also at this point, buy as much stock as you can. Don't worry about margin calls.

After the connection with Charlotte is made, profits will skyrocket. Buy a few more industries while the going is good. These will get expensive quick. If there is a good place to build a textile mill, lumber mill, or paper mill, do it. As the profits keep rising, building more track becomes an exceptionally good investment. Go ahead and connect a lot of cities. Connect with the AI if you can. This is one scenario where I find it beneficial to let the AI live!

From that point on, just let the money roll in. Keep buying stock and expanding the business, just keeping in mind which industries to avoid. Before long you will start making money faster than you can spend it. Last time I had the gold medal, hard level, in 13 years.

[wsherrick]

I hope you enjoyed it. Thanks for the comments. I want to hear what you say about Green Diamond. Try it on Expert.

[nedfumpkin]

Just a note to say that I've started playing Age of Steam and I am enjoying it so far. I am pursuing a strategy where I am stating with 990k so that I have 10k shares at 99 dollars. I am then putting in a paper mill in a spot where it will take two years before pulpwood gets there and it makes a profit. This will drop my share price significantly, and if I do it right, by the third year I can own all the stock with a personal of less than 200k, and have a very profitable railroad ready for expansion within 5-8 years. The 850k that shows up lends to this strategy.

All in all, a fun scenario.

[nedfumpkin]

I've been having a lot of fun playing this scenario, and I thought I would share my initial strategy for this scenario. For those who haven't tried it yet, it is a 35 year scenario and to get gold you need 250M in cbv and pnw.

To start, I only put in 90k so that I began with 990K and stock at $99. Then I took out a bond to give me 1480K. I built a paper mill at Madison, then I used up all the cash left to begin laying track from Milwaukee to Madison to Chicago. The paper mill should take a couple of years to have pulpwood flow to it and for it to make a profit. The cost of track maintenance will put you in the red.

I then put the game on super fast for a couple of years while I go right into the hole. If the paper mill brought me into the green, I would spend all the cash on continuing the track, and putting in maintenance sheds or service towers. Depending on the economy, you stock will drop right down below $50.

In the fourth year comes the 845K payout and credit rating increase. It should come at the same time as your paper mill becoming profitable, and you should be in the green at this point. Buy bonds until you have 5 million in bonds. Buy back the rest of your stock, which can be done for a few hundred K. Now you won't have to worry about your PNW because it will be tied to your company book value. You need not pay out dividends since your salary will cover your margin in a few years.

With the money left over, finish the connection to Chicago - Madison - Milwaukee - single track. Build a lumber mill where there isn't one already, I put one at Sheboygan, and then connect to it. Use the Stirlings for express (priority), and pull only 4 cars. Consolidations for freight. Your first load of lumber to Chicago is big money, and as soon as you can afford it, double all your track. When you have an 30 mph average express speed, you get 2 million dollars. I got this the first year of running trains.

So on January 1, 1891, You've got 2 million bucks, a very profitable railroad with up and coming industry, and the world is your oyster. Save the game now so that you can keep trying different strategies and routes. For the first five years I alternated between buying/building industries and paying down the bonds. You'll want to be completely debt free by year 15.

[wsherrick]

I'm glad you are enjoying it. Thanks for commenting.

[Gandar]

I played it today too with a different approach, I sold my stock then built track Chicago- Milwaukee -Madison bought 2 stirlings then stopped the trains for 3 years bought up all the stock and restarted the trains and expanded as the money came in, i built single track only,with train routes of 2 or 3 stations , after a while I started a second company and running single track and short routes built that company up . I ended up with with 2 companies that could win the gold in the 22 year.
I played the Age of Steam from the DVD so perhaps it wasn't the latest one. I am going to try the next one in the series I have a feeling its going to be tougher

[Hawk]

I played the Age of Steam from the DVD so perhaps it wasn't the latest one.

I take it you're talking about the DVD from Molse?

How did you like it? Was it worth it?

Just curious.

[Gandar]

Re: Age of Steam

Post by Hawk on Thu Apr 17, 2008 5:19 am

Gandar wrote:I played the Age of Steam from the DVD so perhaps it wasn't the latest one.


I take it you're talking about the DVD from Molse?

How did you like it? Was it worth it?

I Like this DVD so much that I joined this forum just to say thank you, because I downloaded it from this site.
At the time I thought that you Hawk were the person responsible for the production of it. I realised afterwards that you were a contributer not the prime instigator, but hey you made the bandwidth available so you get my thanks.
RRT is one of my favourite games and to have a whole library of maps just a click away means that I will be playing for quite a while. I also enjoy reading posts from some of the people who created some of the scenarios, and getting an idea of their background and why they created the maps. I am sure that wsherrick will end up this series with " The Triumphant Return Of Steam " and I am looking forward to playing it.

[Gandar]

I played this yesterday and had a great time, partly because of my increasing knowledge of steam thanks to Mr wsherrick and his reading primer for steam. So I was doubly interested in playing. I am a player who usually uses industry quite intensively, but I made gold just running rail. Thats not strictly true, I started a second company and went building rail with it, and when I went back to my first company, it had bought a ton of industries with the cash that was available. I started the second company so I could build it up and then shut it down so I could take it over, but I was having so much fun building the RR that I ended up competing with myself to win gold.
Thanks it was a lot of fun and I will be revisiting this scenario for sure.

[Hawk]

Actually Gander, you didn't download it from this site. You downloaded it from Molse's site. It was just the link that was posted in this forum.
My only contribution to the DVD was a couple maps and beta testing, and the link.

If you want to thank someone, stop by Molse's forum and thank him. http://railroadtycoons.de/forum/index.php
'Course it would help if you can read German.

You could also send him a PM from this forum as he is a member here. I believe he has it set up so he gets an email if he gets a PM, and he does pretty good reading and writing English.