Central California

[jrbrockm]

Hi All,
Please test out my new scenario "Central California". I'm wanting to know if my variables are set up correctly and if my medal conditions work. Please let me know if you get a different medal than you should have gotten. Your haulage reports in the status window should be all the info you need to test this accurately. Of course, let me know if anything else is dodgy.
Thanks,
JB

1.04 beta patch or later FYI

Edit by Hawk: Removed zip from post. Now available in the Archives.

[belbincolne]

I gave this a very quick test on Normal and made several mistakes (I should have gone out 15 mins ago ) but got Bronze and was only one short of silver on 2 carryings with others all at silver. Pretty straightforward and will give another try later. So far as I could see there were no errors or flaws anywhere.

[belbincolne]

Second try I went to Expert and got absolutely nowhere. 61 coffee carries, 38 meat down to 0 steel. Two big problems were depression which came in on both plays around year 12 just when you're making crucial expansions so cant raise the money needed and second train crashes. Haven't looked at the Editor but in both plays from around year 10 they must have averaged two a year. This is killing as most of the required carryings are long haul and can take a couple of years to arrive.

The seed was very different second play (aluminium was in the east whereas 1st time main supply was at Hanford) and steel appeared in the west as well as at Bakersfield) as an example. Coffee remained identical but I think there was more Alcohol second play and possibly more Meat.

The only (very minor) flaw I found was the extra coffee farms. Couldn't afford this play but still got the message to say hadn't arrived yet. They correctly didn't arrive at all.

Personally doubt if anything beyond Bronze is attainable on Expert and Gold requirement looks high even for Normal. What have you managed to attain yourself?

Must say though that its a nice map and scenario which I enjoyed enough for me to give it a third try in the near future

[jrbrockm]

Personally, I've been able to meet all of the requirements of each product for Gold on normal. Unfortunately, that's never happened in the same game. I usually end up short on one or two. I have never tested it on Expert. Alcohol tends to be the easiest since it's the shortest distance, and meat is also rather easy since there's ample supply. Good to know about that coffee thing, I'll revisit and post again.
JB

[jrbrockm]

I've reworked the coffee variables, and added a couple farms. Give it a try on normal and let me know how it goes.
Thanks,
JB

Edit by Hawk: Removed zip from post. Now available in the Archives.

[belbincolne]

will do possibly tomorrow

[jrbrockm]

Just went through it and was able to get all the gold requirements on Normal save one (25 loads short on coffee).
JB

[Sugus]

Gave it a try today and (only) got bronze on normal (14 alu in short for silver; coffee wasn't a problem without any "help"). Possibly there was a depression too much. All in all, a nice scenario. Nevertheless, I had a lot of train crashes ... and as I promised to do it in any of my future maps: please, please, disable locomotive crashes and breakdowns! Ever seen a burning loco? Furthermore, an expansion to a 25 years limit would be nice for "simply railroading" (e.g. model railway playing) people like me ...

[jrbrockm]

Thanks for the input, all. If anyone gets a gold let me know!
JB

[Hawk]

This map is now available in the Archives.

http://hawkdawg.com/rrt/rrt3/map_arch/rt3_n_am.htm

I also changed the title of this thread to acknowledge it's status change from beta test to release version.

[belbincolne]

I assume there's no changes to the original map?

[Hawk]

His email said he made a few improvements, but didn't say what or when, whether they were made after the last beta zip that was available here or not.

[Gandar]

This one is a toughie, I hit the coffee comfortably, but barely scraped by with Alcohol and meat, quite often my trains would not load because it wasn't profitable but the killer for me was Aluminum and steel. The tool and die up in Bakersfield would stop my trains from loading and use up the Aluminum and steel and I didn't have 5.3 million to bulldoze it.in consequence I was 30 loads short on both metals. I found the train wrecks frustrating too, its bad enough to be in a depression without 400K trains crashing on me. Its a very enjoyable scenario. I think I will go back and see if I can make gold, although this time I will disseminate the alcohol and meat from the destination ports and somehow find the money to take out that darn tool and die.

Well now this is interesting, I went back to a previous save and amended my play somewhat and my loads hauled were 193 Alcohol 167 Meat, 160 Coffee, !77 Steel, and 163 Aluminum and lo and behold I got silver. So, do I have to hit the 150 mark before the 20 years are up ? the medals are awarded at the end of the 20th year so I thought I had hit the target. It was a challenge and I liked the scenario. For some reason this time around the recession didn't seem to last as long although if anything I had even more crashes.
I think I will give this one another try, with a different seed it may be a whole different game.

[jrbrockm]

Hey folks,
Yes, there are a few changes to the beta version. First of all, there are a few more coffee farms to work with. Second, the chance that you will be ripped off by investing in coffee was cut in half.

You should have twenty full years to make gold. Whenever you reach a medal requirement for all four goods (i.e. 75, then 100, then 150), it trips a variable for that particular medal. You should have tripped the gold one unless you were able to haul more than 50 loads of something in a single month, and thus trip the silver AND gold variable at the same time. Wonder if going back to a previous save messes with that? I wouldn't think so.

Dissemination is everything in this one, especially spreading the meat around the Santa Maria area, since you can't use meat for anything else. I usually end up building a few Tool and Dies in Salinas to keep the demand up there for steel and aluminum.

Another thing to think about. Do I want the faster train or the more reliable one? I know which one I would choose, but I haven't got gold on this one yet either.
JB

[Gandar]

You should have twenty full years to make gold. Whenever you reach a medal requirement for all four goods (i.e. 75, then 100, then 150), it trips a variable for that particular medal. You should have tripped the gold one unless you were able to haul more than 50 loads of something in a single month, and thus trip the silver AND gold variable at the same time. Wonder if going back to a previous save messes with that? I wouldn't think so.

Dissemination is everything in this one, especially spreading the meat around the Santa Maria area, since you can't use meat for anything else. I usually end up building a few Tool and Dies in Salinas to keep the demand up there for steel and aluminum.

Another thing to think about. Do I want the faster train or the more reliable one? I know which one I would choose, but I haven't got gold on this one yet either.
JB

In the last year I had to haul 24 coffee and that was the only one I was struggling with, but I did hit all the goals so I am counting it as a gold win on expert.
Like you I had to build 2 upgraded tool and dies in Salina to keep the steel and aluminum flowing, and I also had to ship away from the receiving cities for alcohol meat and coffee otherwise my trains wouldn't load because they could not ship profitably. Case in point, I started a new game and I have only delivered 2 trains of alcohol and the first is back to reload up again and the darn train says that it cannot ship profitably. I will have to go back and develop the rail network to ship stuff out before I even ship it in !.

[jrbrockm]

I will have to go back and develop the rail network to ship stuff out before I even ship it in !.

Exactly right.

Also, a goof. Looks like I can't count, and you actually have 21 years to finish the scenario, instead of 20. I guess the game actually counts your first year as year 0.

[belbincolne]

Odd because on RT6 if you use custom consist trains should carry cargo at a loss if necessary unlike original RT3 and early patches. Also its awfully common to get a year longer because this is the automatic way that the builder does it so a finish on 1st Jan has to be built in specifically and most scenario builders don't do it.

[Gandar]

Odd because on RT6 if you use custom consist trains should carry cargo at a loss if necessary unlike original RT3 and early patches. Also its awfully common to get a year longer because this is the automatic way that the builder does it so a finish on 1st Jan has to be built in specifically and most scenario builders don't do it.

Yes its true you can ship at a loss in 1.06 but I was under the impression that this was written for 1.05 and so thats what I played it in, and of course you cannot ship at a loss in 1.05.
I agree its quite common for scenarios to include 31 Dec of the target year rather than finishing at Jan 1st. I only raised the query because I couldn't understand why I wasn't credited with gold, not that it matters that much it was a load of fun, much better than in my latest attempt, I got hit by a recession starting in '54 and then I just got out of that recession in '63 and I am headed back into another one in '65 so anything better than silver is out of the question.Back to the drawing board.

[belbincolne]

Well I just assumed it was in 6. And that depression ruined me too - both plays really although second one was worse. Think I should turn off crashes in Editor befo re trying again!

[Wolverine@MSU]

Yes its true you can ship at a loss in 1.06 but I was under the impression that this was written for 1.05 and so thats what I played it in, and of course you cannot ship at a loss in 1.05.

If you can open it in 1.05 then it must have been written in 1.05, and thus should be played there. I too started it in 1.06, but will go back with the updated version and play it in 1.05 just to be fair.