new map: Haiti - Reconstructed

Discussion about reviews and strategies for user created scenarios made for RT3 version 1.05 and earlier.
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brunom
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new map: Haiti - Reconstructed Unread post

Seems new maps are popping daily, so I thought I should just finish off a beta I had half-done and make it public for you folks to give it a go.

I pushed myself these last couple of days to polish economy, test it half-a-dozen times and make neat presentation texts and win conditions.
Before final release, however, events/choices affecting the story-in-game need to be added. That means this is an incomplete release and not a beta on a final version.

Paint and trees will come later, only once everything programmed works as planned.

So, for the time being, if you guys find the time.. play this and post your thoughts here:
1.are the goals too easy, too hard or just right?
2.should the terrain be "tweaked" in any specific place?
4.are there are other kinds of scenario goals that would be more appropriate?
5.did the economy work?
6.anything else?

Much appreciated
B

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OilCan
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Re: new map: Haiti after the quake (testers wanted) Unread post

Brunom: I downloaded your map today and got a few years into it then sadly had to get back to real work. So far so good. I'll get back to you after I've played it for a longer spell.

This might sound morbid, but I immediately thought about a RT3 scenario for Haiti after the earthquake struck because the infrastructure of the country was reset to about zero. That's a great opportunity for a real life RT3 scenario about trains in modern day. You have chosen a good topic.
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OilCan
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Re: new map: Haiti after the quake (testers wanted) Unread post

Brunom: An update. I was not able to get much RT3 time in this week-end, but I did manage to get about 14 years into the game. I have all four key cities connected, plus 14 other cities. I could easily connect 4-5 more but am saving money for trains. I have not made a move towards the Domincan Republic or my rival RR company yet -- that will come later.

I brought in a revenue of about $4.5M with a profit of $2.5M last year. I have $6M in bonds and have issued stock 4-5 times. I have 11 trains and will buy 1-2 more real soon. I can only afford the $600K Class 460 (yes, I made this an all electric network). Would be nice to have the option for another electric train less than $1,200K. I don't thnk I will be able to afford one of those until after I deal with DR.

I spend the first four years doing nothing but investing in industry because you said rail was expensive the first 4 years. On the fifth year, I laid rail from Port-au-Prince to Mirebalais and stretched out from there. You may want to add a requirement to lay rail before the first UN payment arrives to stop this tactic - or not to allow a player to make that choice.

158 passenger loads thus far. I don't think I will hit the 1000 mark for gold...but who knows. I should make silver with no problem.

Some comments:
1) there is no option to build aluminum mills for the bauxite mines on the map. I did notice a port appear later on which accepted bauxite, but at $1-2 per load -- not worth the effort.
2) Many of the ports supply produce, but produce is also available on the map through farms. Should these ports have demanded produce instead of supplying it? Seems to be an overload of produce?
3) I did a quick search of Haiti industry on the web and found they export lots of clothing to the US. Maybe clothing should be added to a port's cargo demand in a couple of cities?
4) I also noticed that Haiti has corn, sugar and coffee farms. The coffee is well represented on the map, but not sugar and corn. However, I like your scare resouce design of the map and would not want to change that too much. Maybe, if you did add sugar and corn farms you could reduce all farm production by 30%(?) to represent the actual eroded soils and low productivity of the land.
5) It would be nice to have count down of years on the ledger.

I've enjoyed this map and game story. The terrain has enough obstacles to stop laying straight track. and the slopes are gentle enough to lay reasonable grades over the hills. Think about sprinkling in some headline news (real and otherwise) as well as an occassional tremor. You may want to add UN bonuses of player cash/company cash for hauling 200, 400 and 600 passengers as well as connecting the main cities. This would help in taking over DR.
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brunom
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Re: new map: Haiti after the quake (testers wanted) Unread post

Hi, OilCan
Thanks for trying out this preview of a scenario. Will now "comment" on your comments..
OilCan wrote:Would be nice to have the option for another electric train less than $1,200K.
The Brenner is a state-of-the-art locomotive and I have raised its price on purpose to become almost prohibitive, the same was done to the best diesel engines. If I could I would even make it a newspaper event to celebrate the usage of a most-modern-engine-in-the-world in Haiti's network... Still, I plan to allow the player, sometime into the game, to choose between keeping cash injections yearly or trading them for locomotive price cuts.
OilCan wrote:158 passenger loads thus far. I don't think I will hit the 1000 mark for gold...but who knows. I should make silver with no problem.
I have the feeling the PAX requirement is high - but in general I like to create a real gap between Silver and Gold in my scenarios. To achieve such high PAX count I think companies can't waste the first years in industry-only policies and the cities need to grow (which only happens if they have good rail service).
Overall, the PAX goals in this scenario is one thing I am absolutely not sure about.
OilCan wrote:1) there is no option to build aluminum mills for the bauxite mines on the map. I did notice a port appear later on which accepted bauxite, but at $1-2 per load -- not worth the effort.
I have seen as much as three baux mines, depends on seeding. Bauxite mining in that area is realistic and so is the little quantity mined. I intend to keep it that way.
OilCan wrote:2) Many of the ports supply produce, but produce is also available on the map through farms. Should these ports have demanded produce instead of supplying it? Seems to be an overload of produce?
You will notice that it only happens on small towns, because I have set the same weight for ports and for warehouses in coastal small towns. Further thought into it, taking your comment, makes me change my mind - I will cut to zero the possibility of a port in those towns and double the probability of a warehouse. Alcohol and Produce in those places is meant to represent/induce internal demand.
OilCan wrote:3) I did a quick search of Haiti industry on the web and found they export lots of clothing to the US. Maybe clothing should be added to a port's cargo demand in a couple of cities?
Fair point. My research was not up-to-date on this, I used maps from the 1970's. I will have to go around the problem of creating enough supply of cotton (which, in real life, is probably imported in the form of fabric) - if you have any idea, let me know.
OilCan wrote:4) I also noticed that Haiti has corn, sugar and coffee farms. The coffee is well represented on the map, but not sugar and corn. However, I like your scare resouce design of the map and would not want to change that too much. Maybe, if you did add sugar and corn farms you could reduce all farm production by 30%(?) to represent the actual eroded soils and low productivity of the land.
Will probably follow your suggestion, as is. ;-)
OilCan wrote:5) It would be nice to have count down of years on the ledger.
Will do.
OilCan wrote:I've enjoyed this map and game story. The terrain has enough obstacles to stop laying straight track. and the slopes are gentle enough to lay reasonable grades over the hills. Think about sprinkling in some headline news (real and otherwise) as well as an occassional tremor. You may want to add UN bonuses of player cash/company cash for hauling 200, 400 and 600 passengers as well as connecting the main cities. This would help in taking over DR.
OilCan wrote: You want to add a requirement to lay rail before the first UN payment arrives to stop this tactic - or not to allow a player to make that choice.
There will be a number of in-game events, and the majority of them will impact on how much help you get from international donors. I have listed a few ideas and will script them into the scenario before I publish the next version in here.

Cheers for all comments (0!!0)
B
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OilCan
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Re: new map: Haiti after the quake (testers wanted) Unread post

They import most, if not all, of the raw resouces and make the fabrics and clothing. Labor is cheap. On second thoughts, I would not change the cotton density on the map. The clothing has a strong demand on the map which even gets stronger as the cities grow. There is no need for an export - I doubt any would reach the port unless the station was right beside it.

The only reason I mentioned aluminum mills is because that opens an option for making goods - albiet not a promising option, but an option nevertheless.

I am at 18 years now (played some during lunch break) and about 400 passengers. The 1000 mark is looking achievable. I now have over 50% control of DR as well and will buy it out next year. The economy is starting a down cycle and I am letting company cash accumulate. DR market cap is about $2.5M. They stagnated after connecting the fourth city. The passenger count is my only worry - everything else is in the chute. By the way, hotels do very well.

It is a good game even in its 'rough' stage.
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OilCan
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Re: new map: Haiti after the quake (testers wanted) Unread post

Finished the game and made gold in 23 years. My route map is shown below.

In the end had connected 38 cities, had 45 trains running (only 2 crashes), was bringing in about $14M and keeping about $8M a year. Most profitable industry was a dairy processor, followed by a textile mill, followed by a Tool & Die.

Stayed with the $600K Class 460 electric engines the whole game. Could not afford anything else.

The AI started a new company after I took over DR - not sure if that was intended. So..I waited until my passenger count crossed the 1000 mark, then I took over the AI again. That triggered the gold (actually it says silver in the event).

Daniel Drew was an investor type rival, always investing in my company even as I bought up his. I did manage to catch him in a margin call towards the end of the game and forced him to sell off a lot of his investment in my company - but he can right back as soon as he could.

Looking forward to the final version. !*th_up*!
Haiti.jpg
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belbincolne
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Re: new map: Haiti after the quake (testers wanted) Unread post

Just tried this (twice). First time I railed and had some industry (textile) - should have bought the farm as it vanished! I also didn't electrify. Once the 5 years were up I'd had it. Almost all my trains crashed and couldn't replace them as no electric track and only electric trains. Think this should be pointed out in the intro.

Second time I took the $50m. Thought there must be some catch coming up in it. No and - of course - it just makes everything ludicrously easy - all I can say is that I found no flaws anywhere.

Shall now give it another try using what I've learnt

Added later:

With what I'd learnt ( & read ) third attempt proved very easy as I used industry for 4 years then put in an electric line just to get a cheap train. After that I mainly railed but did add some more industry (n.b. you need to buy producers as well as build). In last two years I even bought two expensive trains and used on multi-station passenger only runs. Hardly needed as midway through year 21 Gold came up. Taking over AI could have been hard as it didn't go downhill as I'd expected and owner had 55% of the shares. However a 100% top up gave him no problems in selling to me and he didn't set up another company.

Nice scenario/map - ought to give it a try on Expert but off on hol in 24 hours so little chance.
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brunom
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Re: new map: Haiti after the quake (testers wanted) Unread post

Ok guys, here's some sort of an update...

For Belb, the version you have been trying is incomplete (as you probably have read in the thread).
The 50 million choice is really just to allow building freely and testing different strategies towards the medals. I often include that in my early development versions and it is for testing purposes only. It won't be there in the proper release.
Also, the annual "relief aid" is going to be affected by a number of events, most of which are already coded.

The update really is that I haven't had much time to work on this. And on top of that I am also trying a complex web of events for earthquakes which isn't yet running as I imagined it would.

However, a new version should be posted sometime this weekend. THAT ONE shouldn't be so easy... However, when I first thought of this scenario, I wanted to make it a kind of small map, kind of easy expansion scenario - perfect for newbies. I hope the end result matches that initial plan.

B
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brunom
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Re: new map: Haiti after the quake (testers wanted) Unread post

So here's the promised version...

- It is complete in terms of events (to the original plan in my mind, but suggestions are always welcome)
- Still has some development messages (including the 50 million choice, for the purpose of free building if one wishes to)
- Seeding has been increased in some places, adding some more industry and commerce to the map
- AI behaviour was made a little more aggressive

- Needs proper testing now - I intended to make a rather easy scenario, even if you find it so, please share your reaction to the map/events/goals.
- I just finished the programming and will be testing alongside you fellas, and post my thoughts/accomplishments in here too
- Needs paint - which is always the last task, and the one I like the least - I already found a good satellite picture to guide me on it (used to dread the paint part, now I just do it and accept the absence of pleasure from it)

Many thanks in advance for all testers.
B
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brunom
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Re: new map: Haiti after the quake (testers wanted) Unread post

Tried my first go at this. On expert, but with little thought and most of the time in Super Fast - I got to Silver but so ff'in far from Gold...

I didn't get the max bonus, but avoided some of the penalties in terms of foreign aid. I still went for industry start and I nicked the first pax transport (which awards the UN relief funds) around 2012.
AI started building in south, which was a welcome surprise, as I had always seen the same game-plan from it - it is probably a consequence of picking a different character.

Found one issue - The condition "Anchor" stations in Dominican Rep. was looking for Company Stations on both ends, but that wasn't mentioned anywhere in the game - I now changed it in the programming for an easier "any station connecting the cities".
I re-uploaded the version in the previous post (it had 1 download only) with this correction.

B
RayofSunshine
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Re: new map: Haiti after the quake (testers wanted) Unread post

Well Brunom,
I took the easy way out on the 1st attempt with the $50M. As mentioned, an easy "run" and completed the GoLD in 13 years. With that much revenue, it was not a great challenge, but obtaining the PAX goal, which was moving slowly, I added HTL at each city, and then a Resturant at each. Not too many crashes, at approx 1 per year. Only purchased a Distillery at St.Marc, and a T&D somewhere. The AID came yearly. My only problem was that the "man with the top hat" gave me the GOLD from the platform of the observation car, only to only get the SILVER in the HI SCORE ledger. **!!!**

Will try the .08 version, and see what results I can acquire. A good scenarion, as I don't particularly like high ridged mountains, of which Haiti comprises, separating Haiti from the Domican Republic. !*th_up*!
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brunom
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Re: new map: Haiti after the quake (testers wanted) Unread post

Update:

The version posted here a week ago had two mis-coded events (at least, in my tests I only found these). They were easy to rectify and since nobody here posted additional glitches, I am pretty happy with the scenario.

Hence, at this point, I'll force myself to start the paint job. Let's see how it turns out and how long I'll take, but next version is going right up for the archive man (a.k.a. Hawk).

Thank you, testers {,0,}

B
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brunom
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Re: new map: Haiti after the quake (testers wanted) Unread post

Just wanted to drop the final version here as well.

(In I had to be honest,I'd admit that this a shameless trick to move this thread back up in the list..)

It's a rather poor paint job, but I ain't no good attit..

B
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Hawk
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Re: new map: Haiti after the quake (testers wanted) Unread post

brunom wrote:... but next version is going right up for the archive man (a.k.a. Hawk).
brunom wrote:Just wanted to drop the final version here as well.
If I put 2 + 2 together, do I add this up as; It's ready for the archives? :mrgreen:
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brunom
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Re: new map: Haiti after the quake (testers wanted) Unread post

Er.. yes.. I was supposed to send it to you in PM, but as I wanted to post it here I thought there was no point in having me uploading the same file twice.. I just forgot to mention that to you..

This is the version for the archives, yes.

B
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Hawk
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Re: new map: Haiti after the quake (testers wanted) Unread post

Got'cha! !*th_up*!
It will probably be in the morning before I can get it added.
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Re: new map: Haiti after the quake (testers wanted) Unread post

Hawk
RayofSunshine
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Hatii Unread post

I like the concept and terrain of this scenario. BUT, I just think that I am in a rut. Was not able to get this one off the ground, and after 4 years, got fired. Did manage to get 3 of the 25 cities connected, including Port au Prince as the main source of supply, but just sat watching the engine traversing between the cities empty 90% of the time. I did manage to get a haul of a load of steel, produce, and mail periodically, but the scenario is geared to that of hauling passengers. Without them, my railroad failed to get any "aid", and the revenue was on a downward trend right from the first day.
Hope some one will get the benefit of playing this scenario. some user creator went through the time in imagination. It just needs better players then myself. :salute: {,0,}
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