new map: Tazara Railroad (Tanzania-Zambia)

[brunom]

This map spend about half a year unfinished in my laptop. It is more or less contemporary with Mozambique Coast (which was my first map ever) and Ethiopia and it covers another part of the uncharted (in RRT3 terms) African land. So, it was laying there... recently, I read a good book about Egypt and the African motif brought me back to this project. Being a slightly better creator than I was when I started (duh! obviously! ) I dare to say this is better than Mozambique and that Ethiopia.

This isn't yet a finished project. I am short on time to play test it properly (played twice in super-fast mode, just to see if the events worked) and will be even more busy in the coming weeks. However, since it is in working condition, and you fellas enjoy new maps as much as I do, I decided to post it..

Here is - the TAZARA railway.
(recommended reading: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TAZARA_Railway)

Comments are useful and welcome. I wondered if I should keep the scenario bound to reality (no stock, no mergers, Tanzania was a "Socialist Experiment") or give some freedom to the player. I went for the latter, but you tell me if the stock is of any use (other than issuing stock for cash).

B

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[RayofSunshine]

I like the concept of this scenario, and the terrain is within my liking. BUT, I could not get the track laid to Tunduma within the deadline of "before 1975".

Basically the yearly sipends was helpful, but to get to Mbeya, I also had to take out 5 bonds, and naturally the interest of 10-12% ate up the profit revenue of the hauls. So my rating at the end was constant CCC.
I used the Class 01 and Class JQ steam for the short hauls, and the C55 Delta for the long hauls. My routing was via Morogoro thru Ifakara, which was a better haul revenue, rather than the routing via Kibili to Kidatu.
One of the problems, which is not necessrily the economy, of which touches every level during the time frame allotted, but that of the engines, of which the C55 consistantly is "broken down". Not that the rest do not have their periods of malfunction.

Now, seeing that the BZ has the requirement of the Dar-es-Salaam cnn to Tunduma "before 1975", I did not get any notice that medals were not possible, or something to that affect. It also did not terminate me. And even when I did connect with Tunduma during 1976, no mention of any action was forcoming. Hence, all I can believe is that a player can play to 1999, but will not be given any medals.
Like Brunom, I guess I am looking to some comments.

[RayofSunshine]

I would like to see the comments from Blackhawk on this scenario. Not that it doesn't have favorable terrain, and great challenges, but I find it difficult to get the goal of Dar-3s-Salaam to Tunduma completed before 1975.

Revenue is adequate between Das-es-Salaam to Kibaha, but that is where the "cheese gets binding". It takes 2x the "assistant financing" betwee Kibaha and Morogoro. 2x again between Morogoro and Kidau. The shortest section of track with 1x "a-f" to Ifkara, and then the longest section requires $1700+ to Njombe. The section between there and Mbega requires 1 1/2x the "financial assistance", and the at least 1x to Tunduma. Now this is besides the depots and the maintainence amenities.

I didn't even try to initiate and industry purchase toward the LIP, as besides the financial assistance, I took out 5 bonds. Those 10-12% interest finally destroyed any credit rating near the end.

this time I only used the Class O1 steam, and the C55 Delta, which breaks down frequently. As mentioned, an interesting concept, but just a shortage of revenue. The economy had its normal swing of levels, but I found slight profit, or revenue from even the full consists being hauled.

Some real challenges.

[Blackhawk]

I was behind in playing this scenario. I was working on modifying one of Brunom's scenarios to make it a new scenario but my computer froze and I lost my notes of changes I needed to make after a test run so that project is now on the back burner.


I did get a chance to play this scenario today (and just finished a little while ago). I was able to get gold but it was pretty difficult.

I wasn't sure where to start with this scenario as building track was expensive and the towns didn't seem to have much to maintain a profitable connection unless several other towns/industries were connected. So I decided to start with buying industries. I took out a bond and I think I bought a textile mill in Morogoro. In 1969 I bought a brewery in Dar-es-Salaam. Then in 1970 I built a brewery in Dodoma and a lumber mill near Ngamba, and a couple years later I built a furniture factory by the mill. I then saved up money for a year or so and in 1973 I built from Tunduma to Mbeya - Ngamba - Rungwa - and connected to the AI's track in Manyoni (which then connected to Dar-es Salaam and satisfied the requirement of connecting Tunduma and Dar-es Salamm) I bought a QJ or 2 to run around the cities on the track there, and then I bought several more QJ's and sent them to Dar-es Salaam with "minerals" even though a large portion of the trip would be on the AI's track.

I then debated what to do next and decided I'd try to take over the East African Rails Company. I barely managed to be able to do this but eventually I had enough cash and stock in the company that I could take it over. Of course I had to max out in bonds to be able to take over the company so then it was rough in recovering from the take over. Luckily I had a AAA rating by the time I attempted the take over, and I believe I was in normal or prosperity economic times so my highest interest rate was 10% on 2 bonds which I quickly paid off the following year. One thing to consider is whether or not to let the trains hauling minerals unload or not. If they do you're now giving half the profit to the AI company and helping their stock go up in price, which makes it more difficult to take over the company, however on the hand, you also get half that profit and that may just be the money you need to be able to attempt the merger, or it may increase your stock price and allow you to buy more stock on margin. I think I let my first wave of mineral trains unload, but then I stopped some later trains just outside of the station, then at the start of the month I was going to attempt the takeover I'd let them unload, hoping that this would give me the profits to use in the take over but not affect the stock price too greatly as it seems stocks usually make their biggest jumps monthly. After the takeover there was then the problem of re-routing a lot of the AI trains and adding some more as the AI's trains didn't cover all the stations and a constant route between a couple stations might not be profitable. I have a feeling some of the AI trains were constantly having their routes changed depending on where cargo needed to be hauled.

The takeover and recovery were probably the hardest part. Once I started to get things turned around and the bonds paid down I was able to go back to investing in more industries. A meat plant outside of Moshi as there were 2 nearby cattle ranches, a lumber and paper mill and furniture factory Kaliua by all the logging camps, etc.

I then just waited for enough minerals to be shipped and then with the large stockpile of money from profits (and occasionally issuing stock just to be sure I had enough money) I made the final connections as required. It did seem like it I was cutting it close on having enough minerals to make the gold. The warehouses say they create 6 bauxite a year but then if you look at the warehouse's profit window it says only 2.8-3.0 loads produced. So I'm not sure if the warehouses are putting out 3 or 6 bauxite a year.

As for the coal message/goal. I didn't bother with it. I didn't have track nearby and a couple years after the notice the 1 coal mine disappeared anyway.

I used mostly the QJ as they were cheap and worked well enough. They seemed to break down on me less often than the C55's I inherited when I bought out the AI company. Towards the end when I had a lot of money and speed was more important and to make sure I got minerals to the port I used a few HST 125's and replaced the QJ's that were making mineral runs since by now they were 15-20 years old and I already had one crash after 10-15 years that had 8 loads of minerals, so it was important that no more of my mineral trains crashed as reaching 250 was cutting it close.

[brunom]

First of all, sorry to hear that your revised version of one of my maps went to the backburner, Blackhawk. I'm curious about what that will be, and obviously looking forward to be proud about having a map I started being upgraded by an expert.

As for this map, again and again we go for different strategies. Or, actually, you jumped boldly into what I considered would be impossible - to takeover EAR as soon as possible. I normally take over the Tanga-Arusha line (which, by the way, will be revised, since I discovered the line passes in Moshi before finishing in Arusha) - this is an easier take over and guarantees the northern access right away.

And Ray, again you should consider industry starts.. I think an industry start is the best way to go in this scenario - there's plenty of logs waiting to be worked or on occasion you get cheap cotton already concentrating in Dar-Es-Salaam just waiting for a textile mill. Alcohol also pays well. My strategy is to develop industry in Kidatu, Ifakara or Mbeya, and build the railroad to Tunduma through the southern side.

The C55 is the best option to haul 8 loads of bauxite across the map, but indeed, it's a terrible engine that breaks too often. I tend to electrify the line because the engines are so much more reliable. Profits get a little thiner, but with a prosperous industry base, it's still enough. Gold ain't so hard - as long as your company becomes very profitable while the chinese are giving a hand. Once they leave, you feel the difference right away...

Revised version coming up soon, by the way...
B

[Blackhawk]

First of all, sorry to hear that your revised version of one of my maps went to the backburner, Blackhawk. I'm curious about what that will be, and obviously looking forward to be proud about having a map I started being upgraded by an expert.

I'm still working on it slowly. I'll just have to save my notes more often or hand write them so I don't lose them next time. I'm not entirely sure how the map will turn out but it's based off of the map with Kane City and Diramme. For some reason I can't think of the maps name right now. But as of right now I've taken the map, added a few more cities, turned Diramme's empty desert/plains into a newly discovered vast oil reserve, broken up Kane into a few smaller nations (that's not to say Kane isn't still big, it's just reduced in size as the outlying lands decided to revolt. I made this a 1.06 scenario and added some of the rocks/minerals industries that can support each individual national as a rationale for these minor nations being able to reclaim their old feudal monarchical ways and break away from Kane. [I also wasn't sure of what type of events i'd be writing so the extra abilities of 1.06 seemed like a safer route to go].

As of right now the goal of the scenario is to reunite the territory under the rule of 1 nation. You can start in Kane, but it has lost access to the coal filled mountains in the north and has no access to Diramme's oil reserves so you must use electric track. I am contemplating adding additional goals of having to make sure enough power is generated or a haulage goal of some sort to make sure you are able to procure enough energy for the trains. But I'll have to see how difficult it is before I start adding more things. Eventually if you take over the railroad company that now supplies the coal filled mountains you may get access to steam engines and not have to use only electric.

Alternatively you could start in Diramme where you'll only have access to diesels. Diramme with its oil reserves is the growing power in the Kane Valley territory so this may be the easier place to start. (I'll need to do more testing to see) I may have to add some sort of hauling goals as well to keep the players attention or make it harder.

Essentially the story line would be you have to reunite the nations either under Kane or Diramme rule. The only way you get access to a new territory would be to buy out and merge with the railroads in the other nations. As of right now a couple of the AI tracks are highly profitable so in order to take them over you'll need to create an even more profitable railroad and invest wisely. In the one test run I had of the scenario it was definitely a balancing act between expansion on my own rails, buying industry, and buying out other companies. At one point I even invested in a fairly useless company, and overpaid to merge with it so I would have more personal wealth to be able to invest in the other companies. Of course this came at the cost of my own company's expansion but it made future tax overs easier.

I'll see how progress goes on this map. I'll should release a beta or maybe an alpha to get a general idea of what the average player can accomplish as I wouldn't want it so difficult that only a couple people can accomplish it.

[Blackhawk]

I decided to make 2 separate posts in case the above post one day might end up moved into a thread on that map or more importantly so the posts are easily divided between subject matter.

As for this map, again and again we go for different strategies. Or, actually, you jumped boldly into what I considered would be impossible - to takeover EAR as soon as possible. I normally take over the Tanga-Arusha line (which, by the way, will be revised, since I discovered the line passes in Moshi before finishing in Arusha) - this is an easier take over and guarantees the northern access right away.

I thought about taking the North over but I was worried that it didn't seem to be a profitable company in the hands of the AI so it might be even worse if a human tried to buy them out and do it. (unless they expanded to another couple cities). Other than building some industry up in the North I really didn't do much in the northern part of the map. To satisfy the requirement to connect to the northern city, I just connected my track to the AI's track.

It definitely was very difficult to take over EAR, not impossible but close to it. With all the loans I took out I was feeling the pressure to pay them back quickly and get rid of the interest payments.

Did you seem to notice if the warehouses were producing 3 or 6 bauxite a year?

[brunom]

Here's a second version for Beta

CHANGE LOG:
The railroad between Arusha and Tanga now passes in Moshi at the base of Kilimanjaro, which is more accurate with real-life.

About your question with the warehouses production. I think that happens because of the constant low price for bauxite in Tunduma and I could't find a way around it. Most of the times, some warehouses pop up in other border regions - did this happen in your game, did you bother with them? I had one test game with 3 different stations, each one next to a different warehouse. Those stations had dedicated trains sending bauxite for the closest city where the price was already above zero and from there, another train would load up and carry up to Dar-es-Salaam.

Nothing else that I can remember, really. I think it is pretty much ready for tree planting and release.

B

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[brunom]

(Separate post, to carry over for your map thread, should it happen)

Basically my 1.05 map of Kane Valley (of which we can say the beta period is over) represents a future of peace, trade and prosperity... Yours represents a future of aggression and expansion. I like that and from the way it sounds I will definitely want to be the guy that reunites Kane into one might Empire again.

I am curious to see what you've made of it, so I'm keeping an eye for attachments.
Did you make the southern region independent as well, that would seriously cut the valley from its food production areas - people can't live on cheese and meat only..
Did you add even more Oil upstream Zealla river, or inland in the desert?

No need to reply to these questions, really, I'll wait and see.

B

[RayofSunshine]

Well,
I just attempted, and I do say attempted, as I didn't get any where with this version 2 either. The 1st attempt I was so far in debt with bonds, that they were eating up the revenue. Managed to get to Tunduma, but had an engine crash, and everything went down hill. I only used steam, as there is a shortage of revenue to the C55.

The 2nd attempt was even worse. Was not able to get to Tunduma, as my rating was rarely above a "C".

I don't know where the revenue would come to be buying industry, and still make the 1975 deadline to get to Tunduma. Guess I don't have the system to be an industry investor, basically it takes away from the revenue to expand a railway system. And the return is not realized for 10 years..

Will try 1 last attempt with industry, and then..............

Like the concept and challenges of this one. Fairly good terrain as well.

[RayofSunshine]

Well, after 2 more attempts, I guess I will leave it for players more ambition.

Great scenario, but just have not gotten the system to even make that first cnn between Des es Salaam and Tunduma. Can get there, sometimes, but everything goes down hill from that point.

[RayofSunshine]

Guess I don't like to quit. Managed to get the cnn to Tunduma, but find another confusion. It has also been that ocurrence with other scenarios as well. Can anyone explain ""why"" there is not an revenue for a "supply" when there is a "demand"? Basically in this scenario for the "bauxite" at Tunduma for the port at Des-??????? Even after 1 year the price is a great big "$0".
Now there are occasions I have played that although the price is at $0, but a revenue is attached to the consist when hauled.

[RayofSunshine]

As I mentioned in my last thread, I get good revenue from the bauxite, but have tried the steam in previous attempts, without too much progress, seeing the I get to pay back $250,000 each year, I went to the CC55, for faster delivery. WELL, that is in the events that they don't explode every 4 years. And there wasn't any change of the "random" after 3 attempts.
This is really a tought one.

[brunom]

The map was too hard for "standard" players, such as myself and Ray, so I decided to cut back a bit in the initial make-railroad-difficult-to-maintain-in-Africa tweaks. As such, the map that I am sending to the Archives now (yep, I consider this beta stage finished now), will be a little easier - Oil consumption is lowered, all engines reliability improved, and all passenger production, engine maintenance, track cost and track maintenance variables are hampered to a lesser degree.

This should make it a little bit easier. Still, hauling minerals across African wilderness will always take good judgment, careful planning and savvy management. This map needs it all

Happy Summer!
B

[joost]

Hi, I played this new version, and it's both doable and enjoyable, thanks. Two little things you may want to fix:
* It wasn't clear to me beforehand that track must be connected. Usually this is in the conditions in the briefing. It makes a huge difference, especially if you begin with building industries and build a for instance a single station with some minor track near Rwanda to get your coffee to market, and then find that you first have to connect that to Dar es Salaam to get to Tunduna.
* If you haul bauxite to dar es Salaam, only bauxite arriving at the original Dar es Salaam station, owned by the East Africa Co, counts for the medal condition. I'm weary of using other companies' track for important business, because they tend to make you wait for ages, so I spent a million on my own rail connection and station, that did cover the town and both ports. Moreover, I took some 12 hauls of bauxite there before I found out that they didn't count for the medal. I would suggest you either make every station that covers twon and ports count as a Haul to DeS, or if not, state in the briefing that you can only use the original station.

cheers,

Joost

[RayofSunshine]

Well, others seem to be able to find a system, but after a few attempts in the earlier version, and a couple in this later version, I find that the Delta Diesel is my "dimize". And it being used for the long haul for the bauxite, their crashes after 5-7 years just destroys any apprecable revenue to make any progress.
I like the concept, terrain, and challenges, but will leave it for a later date, and others who really want a challenge. Just not "up-to-it" at this time.

[OilCan]

Just finished this game - first time I have played it. Was able to make gold with 10-12 years to spare.

To add to/repeat other comments:
The bauxite warehouses produced less than 4 units per year and not the 6 shown.
The surprise increase in train and industry prices was not explained at all.
The connected track only regulation was not disclosed prior to the start of the game (I turned this off).
It was not clear if electric track had any advantage until too far into the game.
There is a snafu with territory access - after I took over Kenya Rails, I lost access to Kenya when a new company started on another spot on the map
I never saw any iron appear on the map.
The gold event triggers at the end of a year and not a month.

That said, I enjoyed the premise of the game, the terrain (very nice) and the challenge. There are plenty of industry options to help build up a prosperous company.

I wish the game map had included towns in Zambia with Lusaka, the terminal of the TanZam RR, as a connection requirement.

[Hawk]

Shame Bruno hasn't been around since Dec. of 2102. Maybe someone else would consider making the corrections in this map.

[OilCan]

I could make the corrections to the game events - it wouldn't take too much time. I would probably not add the Zambian towns nor the requirement for a connection to Lusaka, that would greatly change the original intent of the game.

This game has spurred me to think about a follow-up game of the same theme, TAZARA, but a different premise in which the player battles against TAZARA for supremacy of the rails in Tanzania.

[OilCan]

I have decided to make the corrections to the game and modify it to include a required connection to Kapiri Mposhi in Zambia (the actual terminus of the TAZARA). In doing so, I have found some other mistakes - both on the map and in the events. I hope to post the revised version within a couple of weeks.