Re: Express D'Orient
Posted: Mon Jan 02, 2017 10:48 pm
Was doing some more loco stats testing on this map, and have a recommendation for anyone who wants to increase the challenge slightly. The increased pax and mail production (particularly the mail production) are IMO unnecessary.
The standard event boosts mail by 100%, but with a Romania start and production set back to normal I clocked up the Bucharest mail haulage somewhere in the early 1890's (can't remember exactly when). I didn't make without any special effort to get it, apart from using post offices in most towns. The Budapest target was even easier. I built a station there in 1898 and had the mail haulage in early 1900. TBH I think the mail haulage targets could easily be doubled without making things impossible for most people, even with production wound back to normal.
The pax production is only boosted by 25%, so setting that back to normal isn't crippling. It does take a bit longer to get going, but once you have a decent network and an array of hotels there is plenty of pax traffic. The main difference I noticed once I had things established is that hotel profits were significantly lower. Hotels are a total gold mine with the standard +25% pax production. Without that event hotel profits are still decent in good locations, but not outstanding almost anywhere.
The other odd thing I noticed is that I actually managed to get a few taverns making decent money. Usually I find them fairly useless and stick to restaurants, but in a few prime spots on this map taverns can give good ROI once your network is established.
I haven't yet figured out what was going funny with the Gold event. Something is up there, but I'm still not sure what.
One other thing that bugs me about this map is that if you go to the trouble of laying down a good express network right from the start, you don't get any credit for it. The status page and game variable ignore your express speed before 1885, so you could haul pax by donkey cart for 5 years and it wouldn't matter.
IMO it'd be better if you got credit for your express speed as soon as you start running express. No that it really makes any difference to the end result, since the weapons and coffee targets always end up being the limiting factors for finish time, but it's just a bit annoying when you're running good express speeds and it doesn't count.
IMO these small changes would be a good thing.
The standard event boosts mail by 100%, but with a Romania start and production set back to normal I clocked up the Bucharest mail haulage somewhere in the early 1890's (can't remember exactly when). I didn't make without any special effort to get it, apart from using post offices in most towns. The Budapest target was even easier. I built a station there in 1898 and had the mail haulage in early 1900. TBH I think the mail haulage targets could easily be doubled without making things impossible for most people, even with production wound back to normal.
The pax production is only boosted by 25%, so setting that back to normal isn't crippling. It does take a bit longer to get going, but once you have a decent network and an array of hotels there is plenty of pax traffic. The main difference I noticed once I had things established is that hotel profits were significantly lower. Hotels are a total gold mine with the standard +25% pax production. Without that event hotel profits are still decent in good locations, but not outstanding almost anywhere.
The other odd thing I noticed is that I actually managed to get a few taverns making decent money. Usually I find them fairly useless and stick to restaurants, but in a few prime spots on this map taverns can give good ROI once your network is established.
I haven't yet figured out what was going funny with the Gold event. Something is up there, but I'm still not sure what.
One other thing that bugs me about this map is that if you go to the trouble of laying down a good express network right from the start, you don't get any credit for it. The status page and game variable ignore your express speed before 1885, so you could haul pax by donkey cart for 5 years and it wouldn't matter.
IMO it'd be better if you got credit for your express speed as soon as you start running express. No that it really makes any difference to the end result, since the weapons and coffee targets always end up being the limiting factors for finish time, but it's just a bit annoying when you're running good express speeds and it doesn't count.
IMO these small changes would be a good thing.