Yes I noticed they'd gone too but, of course, I already had them.
I'd say this is a lot harder than Baghdad Railway. As I recall that once you'ld got the idea of how to do it it became relatively easy but I can't say that for this one!
Review Of Age Of Steam II-Green Diamond
The logo's for the game and the P-2 locomotive should be in the folder with the map. I'll ask Hawk to check it out. The p-2 is available on the site here. I just checked and the extra stuff is not in the folder with the last revision. As soon as I hear from Hawk we will have the extra content put in the folder with the game. Sorry about the confusion. Stand By. Any one who does not have the extra content feel free to send me a PM and I will try and get a folder with the extra content to you since I have it here at home.
Last edited by wsherrick on Fri Jan 26, 2007 12:35 pm, edited 1 time in total.
I checked the latest zip you sent and those files aren't in there. It's also missing the read me.
When you (or anyone) sends me a zip, I don't change anything. I unzip it to install the gmp file so I can get the screen-shot and if the read me is a doc file I copy it to Notepad to post on the site.
I then upload the zip as it was sent to me.
Other than that I don't mess with the zips, as a rule.
When you (or anyone) sends me a zip, I don't change anything. I unzip it to install the gmp file so I can get the screen-shot and if the read me is a doc file I copy it to Notepad to post on the site.
I then upload the zip as it was sent to me.
Other than that I don't mess with the zips, as a rule.
Hawk
Thanks for a very exciting and challenging scenario. I managed to win the gold on expert, after two short-term false starts during which I figured out what was necessary in the early game.The new revision will be up soon so please be patient. :D
On my winning run, as on the two false starts, I bought the lumber mill in Madison, and also managed to buy a virgin dairy farm for $400 (with annual profits of $200+ throughout the game). Saved my money & upgraded the lumber mill ($845) before the ICC ruling kicked in, so enjoyed $800 - $1500 profits from the lumber mill throughout the game.
Layed first track -- Chicago to Milwaukee -- in January of the 3rd year, just before the shareholders started screaming for action. Had no problem hauling lumber from Madison, and enjoyed the jacked-up prices on logs & lumber. Had no problem hauling the 100 irons, but payed through the nose in the meantime running track & building a couple of bridges at grossly inflated prices.
I never did manage to get my express speed up to 30, and the $$multi-millions player cash from the Railway Express contract would have been very nice. I started out running very few express trains -- started with the Sterlings with only 3 cars & express routing -- upgraded to 8-wheelers when available, again with only 3 cars & express routing. Managed to hit 26 mph right away, and stayed right there until about 1905 when the average express speed went to 27, and would go no higher. I was careful not to carry any express cargo in any of the mountenous regions, so there was a lot of pax & mail going to waste in places like Charleston & Lexington.
I do know the "trick" of routing express trains station-station without stopping to service, and then running them empty to service/maintenance facilities located on spurs. But on a big map like this it seems way too tedious to fiddle around micro-managing 175+ trains (because you have to take care of your freight trains also, since they wouldn't pass any service/maintenance on the main line).
Lucked out and won the court case, after which I put hotels, restaurants & taverns in nearly every city. Made a fortune here! Getting $300+ annual return on $100 hotels and $150+ annual return on $50 restaurants and taverns. Of course, there were 50+ passengers waiting at nearly every station -- couldn't even begin to carry them all without clogging up the entire system.
Started out buying very few of my own shares, but buying all the AIs when I could. Ended up owning about 3/4 of Grand Trunk (which started out the weakest of the AIs, but ended up being the best one), and about 40% of all the other AIs -- until there were no more shares available to buy except my own company's. Some of the AIs bought back their own stock aggressively, which kept their price quite high for a long time. All the AIs paid very high dividends throughout most of the game, so I eliminated my own dividend. Meanwhile, after my stock had gone up enough to make it worthwhile, started issuing stock each January & August, for track expansion. By about 1898-1900 or so, I had pretty much connected the entire map, and had surpassed the $150 CBV requirement. At that time I doubled up my tracks, started paying a healthy dividend, and started buying back stock.
Made a bundle on "Miscellaneous Income" from connecting to the AIs (and doubling their station platform tracks when doing so). A typical good year would be: Express Revenue = $7 million; Freight Revenue = $9 million; Industry Revenue = $6 million; Miscellaneous Revenue = $3 million. Late in the game a couple of the AIs started struggling, so I deliberately ran trains on their tracks to boost their incomes.
Invested in all the steam engine enhancements, & reaped the profits therefrom. Didn't get suckered into Rockefeller's embezzling scheme, but did manage to haul his 40-50 oils in less than one month.
With lots of cash to spare after about 1900, went wild & built lumber mills, furniture factories, toy factories, a couple of dairy procesors, a steel mill, a couple of tools & dies, and a couple of oil refineries -- all carefully located for maximum profitability, even though I had to haul a few logs, coals, irons, milks & such.
Bottom line: My PNW finally hit $100M in about 1903; in Sept. 1905 -- as fate would have it -- the economic situation went booming, and I think one of my patent/invention investments paid off at about the same time with $10-15 million personal cash. Kept buying stock throughout 1905-1906 in 5K chunks, and had about $25M company cash with which I was going to buy back stocks in January 1907, but the fall stock price increase got me over $150M PNW in Nov 1906 so the game ended there.
Never did see the P-2 Mountain Loco; when is it supposed to appear???
Wow! It seems like you have mastered the game well. I'm really glad you enjoyed it. The game plays differently almost every time it is played. If the economy gets stingy on you it can be pretty tough. So far I haven't heard any comments about how the game plays if one loses the court case. I created an option to invest in a real estate company to get around the capital gains tax.
The P-2 becomes available in 1911. That is the year that the 4-8-2 first was built for the C&O.
Thanks again for you comments. :D
The P-2 becomes available in 1911. That is the year that the 4-8-2 first was built for the C&O.
Thanks again for you comments. :D
A note about the high speed contract
The contract offered by the Railway Express Agency pays off twice. The first time when one gets the speed requirement in the first place and again in 1912 if the average express speed can be maintained above the set amount thoughout the game. The speed requirement can be met with some planning ahead. To use the fastest engine available is the logical first step. The next thing to do is have a length of track that is straight, level and far enough between two cities to allow the engine to accelerate its train to top speed. Water stops should be eliminated during the first run to eliminate the risk from any stops. If the train gets a high enough speed during the first run. Then you can maintain the overall average speed with out any unusual steps. Placement of water tanks is important.
If you set any trains to any cargo before you get the speed required your chances of winning the contract is nil.
If you set any trains to any cargo before you get the speed required your chances of winning the contract is nil.
Since everyone else has discussed strategy in this thread...
I played this on Expert level, and it was a hard map, partly because I made a lot of "wrong" decisions. Let's see, I didn't fight the tax, so all industries were extremely expensive. The "solution" was to not buy or build a single industry (but I got a few by merging). Second, I declined the Pullman offer, since I did not have a lot of cash then. I also never tried to get the express speed up to 30 mph, and just ran mixed trains with water and maintence on the mainline, resulting in a steady speed of 21-23 mph, just barely enough to hold onto the mail offer. I did however jump every train improvement option (except getting the Atlantic??? early).
And yet I got gold somehow. "Instant" gold actually, but not until the last minute, in March 1919. First I bought Grand Trunk, with a majority of the shares, somewhere around 1900. Then Southern in like 1910, but here I only owned something like 33%, so I had to make a quite attractive bid. After that my only focus wasto raise enought cash, issuing stock every year for around $7-12M, and making as much in profit. Also taking full bonds and selling off most of the industries from the merged compainies and then I tried to merge with the southernmost of the railroads with Chicago in its name (even though I was the only one with a station in Chicago). Then the shareholders except the CEO finally accepted the maximum bid of $158M in 1919 and gold to me. The CBV was no problem, neither was having the highest revenue, but my PNW wanted to stay around $75M, especially after several millions disappeared every year in taxes.
The remaining three companies all had CEOs with over 50% of all stocks, so they weren't interesting in selling. However, unlike most people, the AI companies were almost all relatively profitable all through the game, but their profits did shrink towards the end, maybe from 1900 or something, and the Canadian company had about $300K in losses per year for at least the last ten years.
I started in Chicago, and built north and south until the map ended, then to Chattanoga in order to tap from the Iron in the mountains there. I never micromanaged my trains, and hardly even macromanaged them for the last 20 years (never even rerouted the trains that got from Southern and didn't connect my mainline to the Detroit stub), yet managed to make around $10M in profit/year in the end.
I played this on Expert level, and it was a hard map, partly because I made a lot of "wrong" decisions. Let's see, I didn't fight the tax, so all industries were extremely expensive. The "solution" was to not buy or build a single industry (but I got a few by merging). Second, I declined the Pullman offer, since I did not have a lot of cash then. I also never tried to get the express speed up to 30 mph, and just ran mixed trains with water and maintence on the mainline, resulting in a steady speed of 21-23 mph, just barely enough to hold onto the mail offer. I did however jump every train improvement option (except getting the Atlantic??? early).
And yet I got gold somehow. "Instant" gold actually, but not until the last minute, in March 1919. First I bought Grand Trunk, with a majority of the shares, somewhere around 1900. Then Southern in like 1910, but here I only owned something like 33%, so I had to make a quite attractive bid. After that my only focus wasto raise enought cash, issuing stock every year for around $7-12M, and making as much in profit. Also taking full bonds and selling off most of the industries from the merged compainies and then I tried to merge with the southernmost of the railroads with Chicago in its name (even though I was the only one with a station in Chicago). Then the shareholders except the CEO finally accepted the maximum bid of $158M in 1919 and gold to me. The CBV was no problem, neither was having the highest revenue, but my PNW wanted to stay around $75M, especially after several millions disappeared every year in taxes.
The remaining three companies all had CEOs with over 50% of all stocks, so they weren't interesting in selling. However, unlike most people, the AI companies were almost all relatively profitable all through the game, but their profits did shrink towards the end, maybe from 1900 or something, and the Canadian company had about $300K in losses per year for at least the last ten years.
I started in Chicago, and built north and south until the map ended, then to Chattanoga in order to tap from the Iron in the mountains there. I never micromanaged my trains, and hardly even macromanaged them for the last 20 years (never even rerouted the trains that got from Southern and didn't connect my mainline to the Detroit stub), yet managed to make around $10M in profit/year in the end.
It is a very good scenario! I also won instant gold on expert.
During the last years my PNW was cut every april so in the end I had 30 Millions of debt. But I managed to take three companys over because my company made big profits, so I could merger without having own stock by bidding the highest price possible (~90.000.000$ per company). I had connected nearly every town, also the ones with their own territory (200$-Stations make it possible).
Anyway, I like it when you can play a scenario like this with different strategies.
Somehow the special logos did not work, though I copied them into UserExtraContent.
I will try out Age Of Steam IV soon (after the vacation
)
During the last years my PNW was cut every april so in the end I had 30 Millions of debt. But I managed to take three companys over because my company made big profits, so I could merger without having own stock by bidding the highest price possible (~90.000.000$ per company). I had connected nearly every town, also the ones with their own territory (200$-Stations make it possible).
Anyway, I like it when you can play a scenario like this with different strategies.
Somehow the special logos did not work, though I copied them into UserExtraContent.
I will try out Age Of Steam IV soon (after the vacation
)ab-It seems to me I remember a couple of folks seeking multi-player games at one of these two forums.
http://theterminal.dune2k.com/forum/
http://www.exdx.net/cgi-bin/Yabb/YaBB.pl
You might want to post a link to your forum over there. Just might find some players.
http://theterminal.dune2k.com/forum/
http://www.exdx.net/cgi-bin/Yabb/YaBB.pl
You might want to post a link to your forum over there. Just might find some players.
Hawk
I decided to force my self to take some time and try my hand at tycooning.
I started with the Age of Steam series. I'll start a new thread on AOS-I.
I got Gold on Green Diamond (playing on medium) but it took me until 1915, 'course I lost the tax battle with the government.
I actually had the CBV and PNW set by 1909 but it took me another 6 years to beat out 2 of the AI's at the revenue.
I had a ball with this one. I want to go back and try it on expert next.
I started with the Age of Steam series. I'll start a new thread on AOS-I.
I got Gold on Green Diamond (playing on medium) but it took me until 1915, 'course I lost the tax battle with the government.
I actually had the CBV and PNW set by 1909 but it took me another 6 years to beat out 2 of the AI's at the revenue.
I had a ball with this one. I want to go back and try it on expert next.
Hawk
Wow you blew the gold requirements away there. 
I've played this with the 1.06 patch and the AI's bought up almost every piece of real estate on the map. Maybe next time you can beat the government on the taxes. I'm thrilled you had a good time playing it. Thanks for the comments. By the way-it's a little bit harder on expert.
I've played this with the 1.06 patch and the AI's bought up almost every piece of real estate on the map. Maybe next time you can beat the government on the taxes. I'm thrilled you had a good time playing it. Thanks for the comments. By the way-it's a little bit harder on expert.
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Canadian Viking
- Brakeman
- Posts: 171
- Joined: Thu May 17, 2007 11:46 am
- Location: Alberta, Canada
This scenario looked very interesting and challenging (playing on Hard) with six railroads on the map at the beginning. Then when the ruling came down that greatly increased the price of buying businesses, I though it would be extremely challenging! 
I was glad I had bought several restaurants and two businesses before their price went way up. After the high prices came into effect, I did buy one hotel and a couple more restaurants in what I thought were the best locations, and found they did make an adequate return on their cost. Fortunately, I won the appeal of the case some years later, and business costs dropped back to normal. (That is realism for you; the appeal of a government ruling that takes years to be decided.) After that I bought the profitable new ones as fast as I could.
Seeing that the AI companies were all profitable, I bought stock in all of them right from the start. After a few years I focused my buying on the three that were the LEAST profitable, since (until I won the appeal of the anti-trust case) it appeared to be very difficult to hit the financial targets for Gold. My empire gradually expanded but MUCH more slowly than in Age of Steam. The more profitable AI's bought back their own stock so that eventually it was impossible to buy more of them. But I was able to accumulate 50% or more of the stock in the weaker three, and then one by one bought them out: first Grand Trunk Western, then Milwaukee Road, and finally the Southern in 1902 - which got me instant Gold before the game was half way through its 35 years. At that time my PNW had already hit the Gold level, but it would have taken 2-3 more years for my CBV to hit the Gold target.
As in Age of Steam the standard technique for maintaining high express train speeds worked well and my average at the end was 41 mph.
I commend wsherrick for the way he built other railroads into the game - and they were all profitable. I find it more interesting and more realistic to have other railroads on the map competing with me for locations. Canadian National was so profitable I could never have bought it out, so I did what the real railroads did and built some lines that paralleled CN's so I could serve the same cities with my own stations! After that, CN's stock price didn't rise so rapidly.
This is a good scenario with some interesting choices and a few unexpected twists in the events. Well done!
I was glad I had bought several restaurants and two businesses before their price went way up. After the high prices came into effect, I did buy one hotel and a couple more restaurants in what I thought were the best locations, and found they did make an adequate return on their cost. Fortunately, I won the appeal of the case some years later, and business costs dropped back to normal. (That is realism for you; the appeal of a government ruling that takes years to be decided.) After that I bought the profitable new ones as fast as I could.
Seeing that the AI companies were all profitable, I bought stock in all of them right from the start. After a few years I focused my buying on the three that were the LEAST profitable, since (until I won the appeal of the anti-trust case) it appeared to be very difficult to hit the financial targets for Gold. My empire gradually expanded but MUCH more slowly than in Age of Steam. The more profitable AI's bought back their own stock so that eventually it was impossible to buy more of them. But I was able to accumulate 50% or more of the stock in the weaker three, and then one by one bought them out: first Grand Trunk Western, then Milwaukee Road, and finally the Southern in 1902 - which got me instant Gold before the game was half way through its 35 years. At that time my PNW had already hit the Gold level, but it would have taken 2-3 more years for my CBV to hit the Gold target.
As in Age of Steam the standard technique for maintaining high express train speeds worked well and my average at the end was 41 mph.
I commend wsherrick for the way he built other railroads into the game - and they were all profitable. I find it more interesting and more realistic to have other railroads on the map competing with me for locations. Canadian National was so profitable I could never have bought it out, so I did what the real railroads did and built some lines that paralleled CN's so I could serve the same cities with my own stations! After that, CN's stock price didn't rise so rapidly.
This is a good scenario with some interesting choices and a few unexpected twists in the events. Well done!
Last edited by Canadian Viking on Fri Apr 18, 2008 12:39 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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belbincolne
- Engineer
- Posts: 526
- Joined: Thu Nov 30, 2006 7:28 am
- Location: Colne, England
In view of nice comments above thought I'd try again on Expert with patch 6. AIs were (of course) incredibly profitable so no chance of buying one out let alone three but I did pretty well by buying their shares (tho may have done even better by buying more of my own before they did!). Had no difficulty in reaching the two Gold financial targets despite losing the Industry battle. I had forgotten that this was coming so had no industries at that stage.
However didn't get any medal at all as presumably wasn't the biggest earner. This is only made necessary in the wording for Gold and isn't a requirement for Bronze and Silver although the Gold wording does imply that this is the most important winning requirement to get any medal. Snag is how do you know who is the biggest earner? You can work it out annually by working through all the AIs but keeping a running total is far too much like hard work - am I missing something?
However didn't get any medal at all as presumably wasn't the biggest earner. This is only made necessary in the wording for Gold and isn't a requirement for Bronze and Silver although the Gold wording does imply that this is the most important winning requirement to get any medal. Snag is how do you know who is the biggest earner? You can work it out annually by working through all the AIs but keeping a running total is far too much like hard work - am I missing something?