Shamough wrote:Just checked ... V1.05 can't handle the logic required. Needs to be V1.06 to correct the game logics.
The warning about less than true compatibility of 1.05 and 1.06 is
all over this site. I am trying to slowly school myself in events as well, which events changes you proposed wont work in 1.05? I would also point out that Big Valley isn't a 1.06 scenario either in case you hadn't noticed.
Shamough wrote:I looked at several starting maps and none of them had any Bauxite that I noticed. The oil and rubber were loosing $$$ and I didn't have the $$$ to support money pits and by the time I needed them they were mostly gone.
This I agree with. Rubber and Bauxite do disappear if they are unprofitable. In RT3, these two are comparatively lower priced than other cargoes and have less possible demands, so it makes sense that these would disappear first. Thankfully more Rubber farms spring up over time. I don't think this area is supposed to be rich in Bauxite. I got a seeding with 5 mines and didn't buy them until 2 had disappeared. I ended up using the two I bought a bit later in the game for fun. The one I didn't buy down in the rift valley stayed throughout the game putting out Bauxite to the market at $0. Trying Drums of War which has substantially fewer resources than this map, but the bauxite seems similar as I got 2 mines in almost identical places.
Farms, mines, wells etc. that lose money can be converted to your advantage. If you place an industry among a few of them (best on the same cell as one of them, I did this with all my Plastic Factories) or haul the cargo in by rail (only needs a $2k price difference), your factories will make tons of profit. Here, I covered 3 Rubber Farms with a large station and the price didn't rise out of deep red for around ten years. You must buy the farms for this to work. Any loss at the farms will be easily covered by the profit at the factory. I did it with Rubber because I could ensure immediate production to make Autos which were making me tons of money (2 factories each making as much as the Steel Mill), I would have been happy if the price rose faster as the farms will produce more when they are making money themselves. In most games I aim to only build industries that will be profitable immediately. Also, build the industry, buy the farms make sense in many other cases as well. Mostly it is an insurance policy for those industries built on top of stacks of super low priced cargo, as the game doesn't think they are useful. A good example where this is especially good is the Meat Packer next to Cattle Farms. Livestock has a really reactive price and in the end the farms around a Meat Packer will end up making at least as much profit as the plant itself with lower initial cost. This is simpler sort of strategy stuff. Forgive me, if you know about this stuff already and I am preaching to the choir, but I thought I would mention it just in case.
I had an idea if you end up making a modified version, use the seeder for the less difficult settings, Easy, Medium and maybe reduced at Hard. Expert should be a challenge and the seeder will make the map too easy, IMO. Already there is plenty of profit to be had, in some ways the seeding affects the difficulty more than which difficulty level you chose. I don't suggest making a 1.06 version as the haul at a loss function could make the haulage goals seem like a joke for some. BTW, I didn't find the reporting bugs too bad. I only really care about LTD as I didn't see a reason to specifically focus on YTD. The important one Electricity has a dedicated newspaper so I had that fresh in my mind before looking at the newspaper. This didn't annoy me. I don't have time to give to a modified version, but if I was to make a change I would make the port demand levels high, maybe 30 per year for each cargo (see what Wolverine did in the 1.06 map, Panama Canal for reference) as I had sustainable production of over 30 of each cargo per year. There may be some consequences with the demand map and it may make running the trains more profitable, but hopeful frustrate less players into trying to beat the games weak haulage system as I trust that all players will intend to get the hauls honestly. If the Ports actually consume the cargo from the map simply running trains on auto consist in that area wont be such a risk to inflate your load count with questionably honest hauls. This is only IF a new version is to be made for another reason (a case for one seems weak to me) and IF you are making it, you like this idea. It would require testing something I don't have time for.
African Dream V2.zip
... I went back and made the suggested changes to BIG VALLEY V1.05 friendly. THANKS! 
