I played this so long ago that I didn't remember anything useful about it. So long ago that I wouldn't have been too worried to fail at the 40 points medal.
With predominant haulage goals and limited track it's more of an empire builder map. As such it's better enjoyed when not pushing too hard.
I can tell that a lot of hard work was put into this map. Quality design of terrain, visuals, and economic setup.
In terms of starting the scenario, since there's limited track and reduced industry costs, that's the obvious choice. I don't think it's wise to get the largest track package first up, as you will sacrifice CBV and therefore have less bonds available for purchasing the cheap industries. It's not hard to max out bonds before they return to regular price.
My early rail strategy (with the limited mileage) is to try to service the Ports (try to satisfy their demands) well enough so that they upgrade early in the game. This will help to get the haulage targets underway down the track.
Sure the grades seem intense. Since bridges have 3-4% grade ramps, one can only really get hill-climbing strategic play by requiring 6% grades with low pulling power engines like the American. This rewards well laid track. The mountains seem exaggerated visually, but this is the type of map where Hill-climbers are worth their salt.
The Coal hauls aren't a problem to do "cleanly". To clean out demand at a swamped location, it's possible to dump it in the sea at a port. The Lumber and Goods hauls can be done creatively as those things are wanted at houses all over the map. However, the Iron haul is a bit tedious IMO. The warehouses at the mines have a very small demand. In addition, these are the ONLY demands for Iron on the map. So, to clean out demand at one location REQUIRES that you re-haul for an extra count. The only way to avoid that would be to load up a train and simply delete it, taking the Iron out of play. But it's not a clean play, and because it's up to the player to police himself to make "legitimate" hauls, this sort of forced re-haulage is a bit irksome to me.
As you found, there is a problem with the Camel Shipment event. Firstly, some events test against the territory "Camel Pens" while applying effects to the territory "06 Tribal Village". There is another problem, the success event needs to check for Territory Variable 2 = 1 (currently testing for Territory Variable 2 = 2). This is the "flag" that records that this event chain is active.
The Troop haulage is a bit tricky (if you don't follow the suggested story-line then it's on you). I agree totally that there should at least be an event afterwards that drops Troop production after completion and also not penalize the few that may be hauled after completion. Also needs a warning to be careful not to haul extra Troops while the funeral procession is en route.
I didn't connect to the Gwizz Port (Deep Water Port). I was trying to be clever to control my price gradients better.
Now the Gwizz port is showing 8 loads of Troops willing to travel anywhere on the map, whereas those at the Old Port City will only travel to nearby locations. So my solution (after rewinding a year) is to run each troop train from Old Port City down to the Deep Water Port (this way I get the count that they have "left on their journey") and then run them out to the individual villages. This is where my game stands right now, so not 100% sure if I will easily get a shipment from each village to the Hidden Temple.
The Salaga Tribe task has a random chance and involves a victory point. The chance is high enough (10% per year for 12 years) that it should show up in the game, but I didn't see it in my game yet.
As long as you don't want to go outside to work Gwizz,
I keep trying Gwizz,
) I think I blew the Troop hauling goal by hauling too many? I really didn't understand what I was supposed to do, I guess... disable all trains until the 1 troop car goes from Old Port to each tribe and then to Hidden Temple? Sooo many events to read through to understand how this scenario even works.
