HEXUM

[Sugus]

Anybody experienced with this scenario?

I simply have a craving for maps like this one!!!

But - trying and trying again (varying the difficulty level), I didn't get any silver lining! Would really be nice, if somebody could tell stupid Sugus - yes, that's me - how to get into this scenario ...

[Sugus]

After getting the kick in the ass by Ales - ok, in principal it's o.k., but the "sound makes the music", means: not my style to do conversation with RT3 folks - I made an attempt to start HEXUM on easy difficulty level. So, I layed a track between Moran and Holywell Barracks and waited for good things to happen (I'm sure, Ales would say: kick it again in the ass). It's really hard to be alive after seven, eight years - but if you do, try to install a saw mill in Moran as soon as possible! If you can reach this goal, you shouldn't have any (basic or generall) problems with this scenario.

But - of course, it's not only the (really hard) problem to get into this map - it's up to you to stay alive anyway. You'll have to look for exotic regions (ramps) and create strange connections ...

I'll post my actual experiences, when I've got happy with this marvelous scenario!

[belbincolne]

Well I only vaguely remembered playing this years ago and getting gold possibly on expert so I re- downloaded and tried again. Soon as I saw the map I remembered it. I think the secret is to just play normally. Mixture of rail and industry. Where to start will depend on the seed and you have to decide on the north or south areas. I've started north with a lumber mill and, after 5 years, have connected nearly every town in this block and have 4 locos. Seems to be going o/k but only time will tell. Remember that it was a fun scenario.

[Sugus]

Meanwhile I'm in 2189 and there are only two cities I've not connected. I think that I'll do it tomorrow or - at least - next weekend.
I'm sure that I'll try it on expert level ... some weeks later. It's a map of may taste! Taleisin!!!

[belbincolne]

O/K I did it - on Expert - and got Gold in 2163. Connecting the last town (Congratulatory) was absolute hell. Took me hours to find a way of doing it. One or two others are pretty tough too (Supreme High Overview) and earlier I had to connect the final state (Lyes? - northern part) at a cost of around $15m for the bridge. I found that some towns you couldn't get into from below so had to build out from them but there isn't a consistent way to connect so every one is a case of trial and error - including long bridges in many cases.

As PNW doesn't matter you can keep issuing stock so after the first connection to another state and the increased cash this brings in from both railing and industry I was rarely strapped for cash. Some industries didn't make money (Meat - Aluminium) despite having many raw material producers right beside them but I'd enough cash just to sell them off.

It's important (I think) not just to wait doing nothing until you've enough cash to proceed into the next state - keep building industry and don't neglect the little "castle" towns - the trains to/from them brings in its cost in no time. I only used two locos - the cheapest to start with and after I'd got into the third state the most expensive and only double lined around the two most visited towns - hardly spent anything on this. Also downhill use all 8 cars but uphill make maximum less (six?).

Phew. Now can try another scenario

[JFMarvelous]

Where did you find this map? I've looked in the maps section here and could not find it. Please point me in the right direction to find this map, so I can try it out.

[Sugus]

@JFMarvelous: have a look at http://molse.de/Downloads - there you'll find HEXUM. When doing so, also look for Fosse-Lyes Hottmudd, which is something like the predecessor of HEXUM (maybe somewhat easier to win).

And - have fun! From my point of view: really great scenarios ...

Sorry - the link seems not to work as intended. Go to http://molse.de instead and look for a Download link instead (just on the left side). Then, enter the RT3 Phantasie-Maps section and you'll go happy.

[JFMarvelous]

Sugus, sorry, but I have a hard enough time with english(and I only know one), so german? is out of the question. Is the map in english? I found it but could not figure out how to download. for you help

[Grandma Ruth]

JFMarvelous:

http://molse.de/downloads.php?view=detail&df_id=97
With a bit of luck this will get you right to it - it says it's in English, I haven't checked. But I think you have to register to be allowed to download, if my schoolgirl German's right!

[JFMarvelous]

Thank you Grandma Ruth, but I can't understand enough German to even register. (pretty bad because I'm 1/8 German).

[Hawk]

Here ya' go JF. Maybe this will help.

http://hawkdawg.com/zips/rt3/Hexum.zip

[JFMarvelous]

Belbincolne and Hawk, I've got it now,will check it out soon.( I figured you would add it when this thread started,but you was just waiting for someone to ask for it I see).

[Hawk]

( I figured you would add it when this thread started,but you was just waiting for someone to ask for it I see).

Actually I've been rather busy with my father-in-law's funeral and other related stuff. I haven't been around much the past few days and haven't had time to look for the zip.

[belbincolne]

My sympathies (and I'm sure everyone on the forum) Hawk.

[Hawk]

Thank you! I'll pass that on to the Badger.

[RulerofRails]

Well, thanks to Wolverine's comments in the favorite scenarios thread, I took the time to check this out and I am so glad I did.

I did two dud starts where I got greedy going for 100% ownership too fast. I was then relying on train revenue when I was maxed out with debt. Once I ran out of bonds I couldn't grow my revenue fast enough to soak up all the new overhead and other costs. So the dread margin call came. Third go, I settled for 50% ownership, no debt, and then didn't stress about growing too fast.

I started by building a Lumber Mill the first year. As I got more capital available I built a couple more and then I saved for another year or so until I got the bonds needed to buy access to and then to connect to Hottmund with the cheapest possible connection I could find between Deflitor and Belchammer. I bought a Class 132 engine. I then continued using diesels and bought 20 or so DD080 X's. I then dabbled with a few E88's on the flats down in Mudd, but then realized that I should have been using the Brenner from the first time I was able to electrify. The DD080 X uses too much fuel and the E88 isn't reliable enough, while the Brenner has the best hill climbing ability so it should have been the obvious choice. Don't know how I missed that, maybe due to the fact that I haven't played a modern scenario for quite a while.

I decided not to build my own industries in Hottmund to keep a good price gradient for my trains. I did buy up a few of the industries in Mudd just before they became profitable. But mainly tried to focus on train revenue here. I did build 3 Nuclear Power Plants to get a nice demand for all the uranium available in Bosse. Also, two Rubber factories in Hottmund to get some weapons produced, I bought one of the factories too. My thought was that half of the Oil wells and Iron and Coal mines would disappear by the time I eventually got access to their demands up in Lyse. So I built a few highly profitable industries in Bosse. Meat from Fosse is one of the biggest earners and was crucial to saving for the expensive more sparse higher levels.

I ended up with 211 trains, over 180 of them were Brenners. I hit profits of 65M for about 3 years during the game. I always bought trains and full service for all connections one after the other as I could afford them. At first I was a bit unsure about the industry weighting/seeding on this map, but I tried to broaden my horizons and ended up enjoying it and seeing why it was done.

The terrain on this map is awesome. My hat's off to the author for making a map with few events that is still challenging and enjoyable to play as there is some real strategy in deciding how, when, and where to make the next new connection. Making use of height differences to make the map seem 3-4 times as big is really genius. This is probably the largest rail network I have ever laid on a map as the routes are really well designed. Writing about it makes me want to play again, but it does take a while. I took 34 game years on this attempt without burn track or any shortcuts. With such a large network that's about 8 hours of play time.

[OilCan]

I played Hexum for my first time, just a few days ago. I should not have ignored this very unique game for as long as I did.

The only goal of the game is to connect all the cities on the map, which sounds simple enough, yet the conditions on the map make it a drawn-out and expensive endeavor, ending in a labyrinth of track, tunnels and sky high bridges.

I must admit that I did not grasp the strategy for the game at first and I was annoyed at the overabundance of resources on the map thinking that it was going to be too easy to make lots of money. Then I realized the simple brilliance of the strategy. I also realized that I was going to need every dollar.

I can’t add much to the overall strategy which has not already been said except to remind those who attempt this game that time is a helper (it’s not a race against the clock), to issue stock every year and to heavily invest into industry – take advantage of cheap industry in cities before your rail reaches them. I found the plastics – toys industry chain to be very lucrative.

One tidbit of advice which I don’t think has been mentioned: connect the territories in as many places as possible, not just the obvious places. Use tunnels with extreme grades or bridges which end on a mountain slope if so needed to accomplish these connections. And run lots of trains between the territories. (I built nuclear power plants in the first territory to gleam HUGE profits from uranium in the third territory.)

While I immensely enjoyed playing the game (for 29 years), I’m can’t say that I would attempt it again any time soon.

[RayofSunshine]

It has been some time ago that I believe that I played this scenario, and maybe without too much success. However, I thought that I would try to "renew" my play, but have a problem with both Hexum as well as 'Basic ship testing". Both give notice that the system cannot find "HbauxC_Body.3dp". This is an odd extension, and don't remember having a problem with that of Hexum the last time. Never got involved with the Basic Ship Testing.
Have not found any "source" in the Data 2D, 3D, the Pop Top's Extra Contents, or the User Extra contents, as only find Pks. Any suggestion as to "where" the HbauxC_Body. 3dp" can be found?

[Gumboots]

Those are custom bauxite cars, originally made by WP&P. You can get his version here: http://hawkdawg.com/rrt/rrt3/Xtras/Rollingstock.htm

Or, if you prefer, you can get my version, with double and triple cars, here: viewtopic.php?f=67&t=3947#p40639

[Hawk]

Hmm? There's nothing on the website or in the zip that says that Hexum requires any extra content, and nothing in this topic about it.

It may be another map you've installed that require that rollingstock, even if you're not playing that particular map, especially considering that Hexum was released before the bauxite cars (I'm pretty sure of that), which means that Hexum can't require the bauxite cars since they weren't available when Hexum was created.

I see you recently downloaded the Madagascar map. I know you do not have a separate 1.05 and 1.06 install, so try moving the Madagascar map out of the maps folder and see if you still have the same problem.
I'm just guessing here, but I do know that Cash on Wheels (who released the Madagascar map) did download the bauxite cars and may have unintentionally used them somehow when creating Madagascar.