Drums of War

[RayofSunshine]

Well Petunia,
I guess I "shot off my mouth" in the Aftrican Dreams, this being the same terrain, so will just extend a welcome to the "user creators". Always anxious to see what imagination a creator will add to the challenges of play. As I have mentioned in previous threads, I will always attempt to play a scenario, no matter of my preferences, as I believe it customary to acknowledge the creations, after a user creator has taken the time and imagination to let others have the enjoyment. Am looking forward to your future creations.

[belbincolne]

Has anyone played this scenario? If so can they explain it please. I find it totally beyond me as I cannot stop the enemy getting more and more control nor carry many of the goods required. I've had 2 starts both equally bad. In the latest the main requirement being to carry weapons I connected to a town where there were plenty and loaded a train to where I was told there was a demand at +$31 but (being in 1.05 not 1.06) the train wouldn't load because weapons couldn't be carried profitably. I've stopped at this point as I dont like beating my head against a brick wall.

In a previous try from a different start I was able to run a hugely profitable railroad but never managed to carry more than an incredibly small number of the required goods.

[Wolverine@MSU]

I've just discovered this one and am about 12 years into it. I think I took the 6M cash at the first choice. To quell the uprising, you have to haul weapons to Zanzibar (8 per year on expert). My seed gave me a steel mill in Juba, with a few coal mines nearby and iron mines not too far away. There was also a munitions factory there (ammo to Kampala is also a goal). I connected up the sources to get the mill rolling and hauled ammo at first. I think I built a weapons factory there (Right next to the steel mill and munitions factory), but also used a lot of money to buy industries at the cut-rate price. Rubber was nearby, so a tire factory was able to supply the weapons factory, making weapons that could go to Zanzibar. You have to expand the railway system to get things flowing, but also spend some money on buying up insdustries/mines/farms etc. as they become profitable. I didn't worry too much about the 6 country-specific goals for the first several years (but you do have to pay $1M each to gain access) but instead focussed on getting to Zanzibar by going across the mtns. via Nairobi rather than around, although I did eventually hook-up via Dodoma way. ROI on industry is really good, so I spend about 1/2 of my yearly profits on it, issue stock every year to start with, and max out bonds. I used all electric track and the E18 exclusively. There are lot's of things to balance but once you get rolling, profits are good; I'm taking in around $20M per year. After upgrading the steel factory I had enough to supply another weapons factory in Mambasa, so I am able to supply well over 8 weapons per year. I'm playing in 1.05, so I had to do the "bait and switch" a couple of times to get the weapons to move, but hauling them out of Zanzibar helps (sometimes they'll go to Nairobi), but I also saw that my big station in Zanzibar had a lower price than right next to the barracks/military bases, so I built a spur and put a small station on the highest-priced cell; that got weapons moving again. Once I got that set up, I started working on country goals. Some are easy (lumber out of Sudan) but others take constant attention (Troops to East Africa, Clothes to Ethiopia), but I'm making pretty good progress.

Hope this helps

[BigBoyTycoon]

Really good point @Wolverine.

What I did was choose the better credit rating, borrowed 10 mill and had 16.5$ millions on pause. Then i bought a mix of industries, and access to all countries, and then slowly tried finding a balance so i could make money, pay off all the rents, and still do the goals, by starting production of a couple steel mills, loads of munition facotries, weapon factories, half away from the map. I first focused on zanzibar many years later. I tried doing the country goals first mostly to get the industry set up correctly so i could still make money. I ended up having a 6 rail track (3 doubble tracks) as my rails were very busy in one of my stations. Then when i made around 5-7 million a year in profit i was sacrificing many trains with millions in debt per year, but i made 9+ deliveries of weapons to zanzibar, aand was able to get 0% (full control) back, all 6 countries was easily done. In a huge circle around the big lake when looking at the map. Just a ton of diesel trains around, it was a huge mess, but what do you expect with all those monkeys in the jungle

Anyway ended up with all goals completed, but the 1000 deliveries of troops, ammo, and weapons only got around 500-800. SO it was a silver - i could have used the trick for spamming cargo hauls by creating chokepoints + adding stations diffrent places on the line, but after doing it for a year or so i deleted all my stations as i felt terribly bad about it XD. Oh well ended up getting a silver the "legit" way. So im quite happy about that. I felt that was the goal, as im using 1.05 and i WILL not do that little trick i do like the common statragy is, just no point or fun in doing so. So by that i got gold in my mind

Its definitely a very very intterestign scenario, EXTREMLY FUN!, but also very very confusing in the beginning. I only tried once, and just had a blast with my first go at it on expert. So really fun. So many ways to play it. I just loved listening to those monkeys while my trains drove past :3 I love the atmosphere and graphics in RT3. Simply amazing. And thanks to Paul, the creator for this wonderful scenario! Will try his African dream now, even though this already felt like a dream playing the Drums of war!

Oh yeah and i actually tried to be kicked off chairmanship by foolishly buying issuing stock while buying with my own money like a fool Was good fun seeing the ai ruin my company though xD

[RulerofRails]

antso22, good to see you have been enjoying more maps! I have completed this map in the past, but didn't give it a write up. I must say that the Poptop guys did a nice job of painting maps, I guess they were paid to do it. Only recently with the method of painting maps from satellite image have the fan made maps caught up to this standard. I wish the same could be said of Poptop's event scripting and seeding balance, but the re-dos of their maps such as this are very enjoyable maps to play. (I also recommend Gilded Age based on the Building to Buffalo map.) Some of the previous posters were talking about 1.06. That's confusing cause this is a 1.05 map. It could be played in 1.06 with an advantage, but that isn't what the creator intended.

It was awhile since I played this one, so I don't remember my strategy too well. I do remember focusing on getting Steel pumping near Juba followed by Weapon and Ammo shipments to Zanzibar early on. My original track skirted eastward around the largest mountains. The haul counts are high here. BTW, good effort for your first play. In my play I didn't restrict trains from running between barracks (necessary for the troop goal) and military depots. This means that weapons and ammo were moved around the map by mean of the auto consist selection without my help (recycled naturally). I don't think that this is cheating cause weapons especially (and some ammo) get shipped around to different areas with troops for training and deployment.

I don't remember having problems with the troop goal either. Provided most of the cities with barracks are connected in a reasonable amount of time, there should be enough troops to make the goal. Something to watch is if the troops want to travel, but their value is lower than some of the other cargo that the computer will load on the train in preference to troops. There are two things I would suggest to help build that count honestly:
1. Buy a few more trains to service cities with barracks. Troops like to do small hop distances as much as traveling between more remote barracks.
2. It takes more effort, but, since this is 1.05, using the custom consist with 2 or 3 loads of troops and the rest any cargo. This will ensure that troops board the train even if they are paying 10k per load and the rest of the train is full of meat paying 20k per load.

Tip: Don't buy access rights with bond money if you aren't going to make an investment (industry or rail) in that newly opened country. You will be charged interest, but get nothing to pay that chunk of interest down. There are some special situations where this could still be a strategic play, but not a good principle. Sorry if I misunderstood and this isn't what you meant in your post.

[BigBoyTycoon]

antso22, good to see you have been enjoying more maps! I have completed this map in the past, but didn't give it a write up. I must say that the Poptop guys did a nice job of painting maps, I guess they were paid to do it. Only recently with the method of painting maps from satellite image have the fan made maps caught up to this standard. I wish the same could be said of Poptop's event scripting and seeding balance, but the re-dos of their maps such as this are very enjoyable maps to play. (I also recommend Gilded Age based on the Building to Buffalo map.) Some of the previous posters were talking about 1.06. That's confusing cause this is a 1.05 map. It could be played in 1.06 with an advantage, but that isn't what the creator intended.

It was awhile since I played this one, so I don't remember my strategy too well. I do remember focusing on getting Steel pumping near Juba followed by Weapon and Ammo shipments to Zanzibar early on. My original track skirted eastward around the largest mountains. The haul counts are high here. BTW, good effort for your first play. In my play I didn't restrict trains from running between barracks (necessary for the troop goal) and military depots. This means that weapons and ammo were moved around the map by mean of the auto consist selection without my help (recycled naturally). I don't think that this is cheating cause weapons especially (and some ammo) get shipped around to different areas with troops for training and deployment.

I don't remember having problems with the troop goal either. Provided most of the cities with barracks are connected in a reasonable amount of time, there should be enough troops to make the goal. Something to watch is if the troops want to travel, but their value is lower than some of the other cargo that the computer will load on the train in preference to troops. There are two things I would suggest to help build that count honestly:
1. Buy a few more trains to service cities with barracks. Troops like to do small hop distances as much as traveling between more remote barracks.
2. It takes more effort, but, since this is 1.05, using the custom consist with 2 or 3 loads of troops and the rest any cargo. This will ensure that troops board the train even if they are paying 10k per load and the rest of the train is full of meat paying 20k per load.

Tip: Don't buy access rights with bond money if you aren't going to make an investment (industry or rail) in that newly opened country. You will be charged interest, but get nothing to pay that chunk of interest down. There are some special situations where this could still be a strategic play, but not a good principle. Sorry if I misunderstood and this isn't what you meant in your post.

Hello again Mr RulerofRails! Always a pleasure since i first met you on here, you´re a little older than me on this place afterall, and you love sharing of your knowledge and experiences, even if you can´t remember completly how you did it. I really appreciate it

I finished all the hard scenarios i could, curently doing alternate USA. (alot easier than i thought) and just finished southern pacific - an extremly easy map, it said it was hard. but it was more annoying than hard xD. And now i finished mr paul the creator of Drums and war, African Dreams on expert gold. Alot easier but just as fun. Will upgrade to 1.06 soon and try the map you suggested me earlier :>

Anyway about your update here: I think i played the same way as you, like i only bought into countries when i was gonna do something, for example setting up textile mills and trains to do the clothes goal. Mkaing a profit etc. I did have specific trains a like 2-6 maybe usually 4 of the specifc cargo to do the goals. And ignored any other profit - relying on profit on my industries. As even though im sure you could accumulate hundreds of millions, its not really needed. So my 5-7 million profit is just fine with a huge loss of millions up to 20+ or more millions per year because of inefficeny as long as the goals are met. Thats what its about afterall.

I wish there was an easy way to spot barracks in RT3. I did try and link up all cities. But i gotta admit im still a novice about troops. as sometimes it will sya 3 loads want to get to 3 cities on the map with 3 loads each place. but when i deliver to the first place the others dissappear. I assume its because they all just wanted to get that way to get to the correct barracks as trains were running between all cities. So of course thats why. Just a tad annoying like the passenger spike problem with passengers showing up even to cities not connected without telling you to which. And making specific express trains are rarely worth it for me. Ofc if i get 20+% premium train i´ll copy it and dedicate the specific train to express. As going from ugly to ultra cool + dining car + premium can give you 85% increase compared to an ugly train without anything (15% per ugly to acceptable + 15% to looks sharp + 15% to ultra cool and 20 + 20%) Which ofc is fantastic. Anyyway back to my point.

1. Did you get the 1000 goal? Perhaps i should try like you, and put alot more trains and connect to alot more stations and just put random cargo like you said and make the weapons and ammo spread around the map like that.
2. When using the custom consist, its not even always it picks troops. Do you mean put like 2-3 cargos of troops and put it to minimum one - and then rest ANY CARGO? Sorry if im asking a stupid question.
3. How many trains would you suggest between citities? As i also need to focus on the country goals. Allthough they could get done this way too perhaps.
4. Im sometimes scared of my products being consumed, but i should keep in mind in this map weapons and ammo wont be consumed, or at least i dont hope so by the civilians :P
5. Do you do express/freight trains? like one of each between a city? i tried this but didnt see much diffrence.
6. Do you do long train rides? i found out this is nessasary to ensure frieght gets moved around properly - thereby needing to make aloooot more tracks than just double track.
7. One of the reasons i dont do so many trains on this map between cities is because 1. i dont need the profit. 2. im scared it´ll cluster my already clustered trains.
8. do you rename stations and trains to help you know specific ones?

I remmeber, not sure if you or anyone else know it - but there was this HUGE pdf file about rt3, a guide. it was the most amazing guide. 100+ oages or so by a player who wrote it. Not sure if you know where to find it? i love reading it just for the sake of it and i find it fun.

Hope its not too many questions but i+d love to know from the RulerofRails, i love listening to such an experienced player. So hopefully you can help me out here. I consider myself an extremly good rt3 player, but in here, im just a mere child. Oh well got my childhood back can´t complain about that i suppose!

[Hawk]

Will upgrade to 1.06 soon and try the map you suggested me earlier :>

Before you do, you might want to read this topic about multiple installs.

viewtopic.php?f=82&t=2363

[RulerofRails]

I don't claim to have it all down. I view the game mainly from a strategy viewpoint. There is always a new technique or different timing to try. The complicated strategies aren't always better than the simpler ones either. Adapting the strategies I know work to the map I am playing is great fun. I also tend to look for the quickest methods, so don't tend to focus on passengers very often (in the 1800s there are plenty of exceptions) as I find that a good system takes some years to build up and doubling tracking is often required to run the extra trains. BTW, good reminder on the revenue increase available for the express trains. I didn't realize there was that much difference. (I will have to look for it, but I think the total difference may be only 60%, which is still a big difference.) One of the best tricks I know for rails is to study the map overlays to find where the economy is the strongest, with a focus on hauling processed cargo (Goods, Meat, Cheese, . . . etc.). Processed cargoes especially Meat and Cheese develop a 20-30k price difference per load pretty quickly giving a nice profit.

The guide you are thinking of is most likely "A Handbook to RT3" by Oilcan available about halfway down this page. It is an excellent resource. It goes into company and train management and industry investment very well, but plays the financial aspect safe. I often make more risky financial plays. On the other hand, I view it as cheating to try to "steal" a cargo stream from an existing industry. I may cut off streams that are going right across the map, but if there is one Lumber Mill with 5 logging camps that are close enough the camps are turning a profit, I will never plonk a competing Lumber Mill down in a slightly better spot. It would give me more profit, but this seems so low to me. It can be argued that trains do a similar thing ("stealing" cargo from one factory for another), but I hardly ever buy single input-single output (simple) industries that don't get a natural supply of resources without a rail connection.

I agree Alternate USA isn't really that difficult. Last play, I only had to monitor Corn, the rest of the cargoes took care of themselves as I had a single city where I built enough industry to consume all the cargo I needed to haul in (example 4 upgraded breweries on one square in one of the cities in Texahoma). Having a simple strategy makes this one fun, otherwise it can be a hair-pulling experience. Shattered Union is based on this map, is easy, but has an interesting premise to get rid of the AI. I got lucky on this one and completed it in 4 years. Might be fun to try it when you finish Alternate USA. Will try to think of some of the harder maps. Not many players like to play in time-attack mode, so the hardest maps generally turn out to be medium difficulty. Most maps I get the goal in 1/2 to 2/3 of the time given, and play against my best time instead of to get the goal in time for the medal. There are a couple others I can think of for 1.06: Chile, Michigan1830 (like Panama Canal, there is a Platinum medal available for the best players), and Denver & Western. Trainmaster is also a challenge I would put on your horizon for one day. There aren't many maps, but game-play is more complex and challenging. Hawk's tip is good advice, many of us have 3 separate installations (1.05, 1.06, and TM). Reason: they aren't fully compatible.

How to find the barracks? Go to the map overlay for Weapons or Ammo. In this scenario some warehouses demand both cargoes, otherwise green triangles will be barracks or military depots. Smaller triangles will be barracks and larger ones military depots. It becomes pretty easy to find them with a little practice.

1. Yes, I got the goal. Random trains aren't the best idea. They will most likely run at a loss. Just a few running between the cities with barracks will work best for weapons and ammo. Troops do like to travel to cities without other barracks, so an extra train or two running general service from the city with barracks will help this goal. You don't need heaps extra.
2. Yes. The idea of using the custom consist is to make sure any troops available get on the train instead of sitting in the station while other cargo that is more profitable is hauled before they are. They may disappear while waiting. I wouldn't put them on wait-to-fill. Think of this train as a 5-car train, with the potential to run with 3 loads of troops whenever they are available. This way the train is making money, and all the troops are still getting hauled. Every now and then, a quick check to see where troops want to go will keep this running smoothly. Sometimes the troops may want to travel back to the barracks so it may not be a bad idea to run maybe 2 coming back as well.
3. Train density depends on cargo density. If using custom consists (efficient) maybe 1 or 2 extra trains than normal. With maybe 2 running between each barracks (substantial distance, 1 for close). Remember that troops are like passengers, they build up over the years. The trains between the barracks only need to be bought once prices at one of the barracks are orange from oversupply. So, don't buy them all at once. Add them as time passes and traffic builds up.
4. You will realize pretty quickly where they are consumed by the map overlay. You are right, the general public has no demand for them. The idea of hauling between barracks is to help demand on the map, instead of directly adding to your haul count. Thing of it as a string. As price drops at one place, cargo is moved to the next destination and so on spreading across the map for consumption. This cuts out some long hauls that cost a pretty penny in fuel costs. Consumption is necessary to keep demand high. (I think I did do the long haul to Zanzibar and distributed from there.)
5. It was awhile since I noticed if troops are loaded on express trains. I think they are? Anyway, I wouldn't bother with this. I generally wait till the later stages of a map until I have a double-tracked line before trying to set up special express runs. Your reminder about the extra bonuses available from the speed record trains makes me want to set some up again though. There needs to be a certain amount of traffic to make this worthwhile for me. Other players are much more into express, so it isn't necessarily a bad thing.
6. I try to avoid it, but for some of the goals here it is necessary. When done it should mainly be for finished products. Resources are best processed at nearby industrial facilities (factories). I don't think I ever had more than double track here. A better solution would be a double-tracked more direct mainline which doesn't pass through the cities. Cities tend to be choke points.
7. Fair enough. Maybe more specific and a few less will work better. How many did you have?
8. On occasion. Normally this is a sign of too much management on my part so I will try to find an automated solution.

Glad you are having so much fun with the game! This turned into a pretty LOOOOOOOOOOOOONNNNNNNNNNNNNGGGGGGGGGGGGGGG post. Hope you get some ideas from it.

[BigBoyTycoon]

Thank you soooo much RulerofRails for that excellent, long post. You´re a great great guy! I really appreciate this!

On to your post -> I wish there was quadrable track or triple track in this game or something. Or they made rt4 with this. But you can get around it by later in the game deleting track and making it more efficient, i dont make it super efficient at first because its too expensive. But later on you can use many ways to enter cities or do shortcuts etc. In my biggest citties i´ll also always have 4-5 big stations so i can have sooo much profit.

One thing i also noticed is people tend to use medium or small stations if they can get away with it. The way i see it is, in the long run large runs are better + it covers more area to be supplied even if there is nothiing it covers those lovely green squares. It makes a huge difference i think :)

Yes it was exactly that book i was talking about! Thank you thank you thank you! I LOVE THAT ONE! I know its super weird. but even though i know everything a manual says i love re-reading it just to do it. I love it. I have read some manuals to games over 100 times over the years. Just enjoy it and sometimes discover something new even when we thin kwe know it all we dont really know it all, you know?


I really like the playstyle and moral and ethics you mention. Its just very fitting with how i do it aswell :) I really think you and I play almost the same identical way from the sound of it. Or lets say the best way just to brag for a sec

I had another go at Drums of war on expert today and this time i easily managed to get gold and have over 50% more of hauled things, the country tasks done twice or more, and the hauling wass on 1500 or so. And then with a quite few years left, with tons of money and where i just let things run and wanted to finish i was done. Soooo easy. I noticed the second time now i checked for barracks and just in general focused wayyy more on supplying and buildning. Just a wonderful thing. I love this scenario and i am very proud to get this gold medal on expert now it took so long. Thank you so much for giving me the hope of trying again as it paid off :)

A really fun note is that you mention you beat MOST scenarios with 1/2 or 2/3 of the time left and you compete with yourself - like, wow. Thats EXACTLY what i do too! And in the same time as you either 2/3 or sometimes like go west etc with 1/4 of the time. The AOS ones was about half the time. Competing with yourself is the best, and i love it when i can kick my own ass and beat a record i thought was unbreakable

Another thing to add to our informative posts is i see alot of people want to buy first tier indsries first like logging camps, farms etc. i always go for second or third tier factories so the goods gets processed before the final processing. it makes alot more money than the usual 10-20% you can get.

I also find it tedious to rename staions and trains - i only do it if i cant find the bloody station among my trillion other ones XD.

Thanks again for all your tips and givng me this gold medal! i really love this scenario especially since i only tried it to see how much i´d fail in this crappy scenario which turned out to be my probably favorite all time, and thats me who usually hate those weapon/ammnution troop goals usually!

[OilCan]

I really like the playstyle and moral and ethics you mention....you mention you beat MOST scenarios with 1/2 or 2/3 of the time left and you compete with yourself

You will find that RulerofRails truly lives up to his name: he is one of the best players that I have encountered on this forum. His insight into the strategy of a game is amazing. His understanding of the nuances & performance of industry as a universe is superb, only equaled by his adeptness & speed in building a rail network. I have not met a player who purposefully ties his own hands behind his back and can still master a game in lightning speed like RulerofRails.

[RulerofRails]

Thanks for the kind words. I had 0 game time for the past few days. I must point out that the statement I made about 1/2 to 2/3 is NOT time remaining but time GIVEN. So say the goals are in 30 years, I can often do it in 15-20 years. I tend to pick the more involved scenarios and to say "time remaining" doesn't give respect to the creator who put lots of effort into making an enjoyable challenge for the medals. Of course the less involved scenarios can be beaten in even less time. Lots of the original PopTop scenarios are in the less involved category. (An example: Chip off the Old Block as revised by Gumboots done in 9 years with the Red Devil. A great redo, I recommend it.) Once again I look at it as strategy with time being a factor so the quickest strategy is best, but not so much as a competition, just an improvement and refinement of strategy. It is amazing how much thought can go into trying to optimize a strategy for a particular scenario. On top of all that it has to be fun and interesting. I get tired of hitting scenarios in the same way over and over again, hence my focus on trying to get rail revenue refined to a point where it is better or at least as good as industrial revenue. Every pass I try something new, and I will always have some new ideas to try. Great fun!

Oddly enough I hardly ever wish for more than double tracks or use more than two stations in a city. This may be to do with my attempt to try to keep industry local. If I am having traffic jams I tend to alleviate them pretty effectively with city bypasses for long haul traffic. I really need to play this again, I think I do remember traffic management as being important for the long-haul runs. Give me time. Placement of Maintenance spurs is a big part of keeping that traffic movement. Some people use maintenance spurs, but I find them more trouble than they are worth especially for the long-haul stuff.

I am 100% with you on Large Stations. Only in special circumstances will I build a Medium or small one. I wish in 1.06 the AI had been forced to build Large stations, this would improve their sustainability in the long term. Maybe the programmers tried, but that was done before I was around here.

Glad you had a lot of fun with this challenge. Glad I could give some tips. I have said this before in another post, but I tend to enjoy the exotic maps a little more, and this one fits the bill perfectly. I agree wholeheartedly on the second-tier industries, there are exceptions (newly seeded or just coming into profit) but great advice.

[BigBoyTycoon]

Ahh yeah, of course, I know thats what you meant - with the time given :) I completely agree about that time is a factor, and you can spent hours upon hours modifying strategies and testing whats most efficient. I do admit when i can see everything is rolling just fine that i tend to slack, like maintaince/water towers, etc or train management, etc etc all those things, i start to not focus on that but just watching my trains go by, or zoom in on a river or mountain to hear the water sounds or the cold wind blowing at the peak of a mountain. I know thats silly :P but who cares

I really like how you´re so efficient and how you truly live up to your name ruling those rails, even focusing on them whenever you can :D

Oh boy i remember the old good days when i didnt even know about industries, and i spammed trains and i couldn´t even win the "go west" on easy and i raged quitted xD No idea what i was doing - good times

I think in general you got alot better management of trains than i do, also with the track and spurs. Again i just go a bit childish as its not nessasary, but i´d love to see how you played - i always watch whatever videos i can find on youtube or strategis i can read on here or see pictures. Always amazing to learn and be like "Oh i never thought about that "

The reason i spam stations is to get diffrent prices, so i can easier do hauling targets, and spam trains to sacrifice them or save time by having multiple tracks - also again - i´m a huge nerd about trains, also having model trains in real life and love houses, terain all that. Its a huge money consumer. So RT3 is great for doing that for free, by making huge stations and tracks and watch the trains leave and arrive :3 I love it. As model trains in real life are insanely expensive ( i still got a dream about one day getting a basement and filling it up with tracks, coal, trains, houses, all the things. I loooove model railways. I know they got something in Hamburg in Wunderland the biggest model train collection in the world - if you´re interrested in stuff like that you should check out a video. Its amazing. One day i´ll go there :3)

Abotu using maintenance spurs, i only use them for speed goals. And it´s always a hassle, so i´m with you on that one. I just place them whereever now seems fitting - HOWEVER! If i got a huge load of trains - then i found out placing 2 maintenance spurs + 2 water towers is a great idea - if you place them next to each other - i´ve been experimenting with this as the trains coming from A-B-C will take the first ones, while the trains coming from C-B-A will take the other one - this is only effective with 300+ trains of course.

What i also do to increase effecitivity, is using double track ONLY on the stations + small sections where theres maintenance+water towers. Saces alot of money and is effective in the beginning. :)

I know nothing about programming, but it sounds like you´re right about that could had been effective. I think im doing serious programming when im editing station names.

Exotic maps are hell on earth i gotta be honest - BUT i also love them the most, they are the most interresting and fascinating, and the challenge is what makes us love it. They are not easy at all though usually. And this map is just pure eye candy!

Oh yeah newly seeded milk factories, especially is amazing :3

Wish i could see how gumboots played that map so fast, thats insanely amazing he was able to pull that off. That map was always a bit tiring for me. Not my kind of style, more like a "lets get the gold medal and keep moving". Very impressive indeed. Have seen him on alot of scenarios posting very good posts and advice.

I wonder if multiplayer works on this game actually if anyone has found together and played. I triedi t a couple of times, but it seems to be all about who can click fastest and build fastest. Quite fun but oh well. Im sure there could be made specific maps that could make this really fun :)

[RulerofRails]

First off, I am not a model player as regards train management and how clean it looks aesthetically. So don't worry about that. My focus lately has being trying to get my head around the map demand and the consequences to the demand map from the train service I am running. If I forsee this right before making connections, most cargo should end up going where I want with a minimum of fuss. As always, I don't know if it makes as much difference as I like to think, but it's fun anyway. This is fun to do on the best quality maps that have well-balanced economies with little mid-game seeding such as those by Oilcan. The more haphazardly seeded ones is a joke to try a subtle strategy like this.

If you have some screenshots of your double maintenance shed and service tower system, zip them up and post them. I am always worried about trains running over each others tails and stopping one another, but you might be onto something. Suggestion: start a new thread for this in the General Discussion section of the forum.

The map I was talking about is "California uber alles" by Gumboots that is available in the map downloads. I was playing it, but didn't go into great detail for strategy in my review. The general idea is to cheapskate before getting the cash connection bonuses and then roar to the finish, but if you want more detail it will have to wait, sorry.

BTW, if you are computer savvy and can manage to host a game following the directions given, there is a multiplayer method available in this thread. I can't host cause I share internet, but I did play a game with the creator hosting and it works. I don't think many people are using it, but you never know. I would play sometimes if you manage to host. Would have to be PMs to set up games etc. I heard about Wunderland too. It sounds awesome! I don't bother with model railways, the games are enough for me. Best of luck with yours, though.

[RulerofRails]

Just finishing playing this one with steamers, without issuing stock and with no unconnected track. It is one of the more difficult maps around (one of those that I can't do in half the time, maybe 2/3 but a slim chance with these conditions), and I had a blast. I chose the cheap industry option. Hit 10M profit in the fifth year and then turned attention towards rails. The haulage goals require a large network and I can see the benefit of choosing the cheap track and trains option. Not now, but when I come back to this one I will try it. I noticed the setup of the warehouses is helpful to the goals and I missed some early opportunities to make Ammo by placing a Munitions Factory beside one of them. This would have made some more room in Juba for Weapons Factories on the single square of Steel demand I was operating with. I also bungled the troops to East Africa as I assumed that Zanzibar was not in East Africa. I ended up getting it in plenty of time though and the last goal completed was the 1,000 loads of Weapons. The newspaper messages get a little repetitive here, everything else about the map is great.

[1wojtas]

There is one neat trick to avoid paying for land rights. You start another company with 1M own cash & 4M from investors. First you acquire 5M worth land rights, sell all the stock, than sold short. After a month you can merge it with your own company for a song. Yeah, you loose some of your PNW (not much), but you gain acces to 5 other countries. I love resolving scenarios on the stock market.

[BigBoyTycoon]

https://imgur.com/a/tfvPJnP (Finishing the scenario around 7 years to go)

https://imgur.com/a/3WuJ6wB (Had around 100-150 per year of ammo, troops, weapons)

https://imgur.com/a/FlTZYPR (Double up of everything)
So it´s been 5 years...antso22 here (had to make a new account)...Oh the nostalgia...This map, this scenario, and just railroad tycoon 3...the feelings, the atmopshere...I love it so much...I did a quick map a long time ago to try and beat Go West in record time (4 years) on hard/gold and hoped that´d be it...Then decided...just...one...more...And returned to this map to try and finally conquer it. Started re-reading the magnificent handbook by the legendary Oilcan, and read the posts on this gentle forum, by another legend RulerofRails. I decided to record my games, and I remember mentioning It´d be fantastic to see how a player like Oilcan and RulerofRails use hubs/spokes, express trains, mail trains, and how to use maintaince sheds and water towers. I realized this map really isn´t meant much for express despite me trying to make it work, but it really was not worth it much.

I throughly enjoyed this map,and played it a couple times. Tried to really take my time, and I did get a 16m profit after 5 years through industries going with the indsutry option. A huge number, and that allowed me to get my track going. I decided to play with no unconnected track, and also no issue of stocks - just like RulerofRails. I did allow myself other trains though but using only steam is so much more fun especially on a map like this. I also tried to get a nice personal networth, just for fun.

I had way too many trains unprofitable I felt, but some of them were okay as they were doing the hauling stuff I wanted, or perhaps I had too few as when I tried to let the AI roll it, they added 10-15m extra profit through freight. I also tried to not manipulate any markets, and do everything legit, but some bad spawns made it so I had to make a huge station to get the lumber faster, and made alot of furniture factories to make a demand. I did try not to buy any industries and delete nor to cut an industry by putting an newer one in a better spot as I feel thats very cheap and exploitable.

I managed to finish my goal now after 5 years. Got the gold, and with around 7 years to spare, and on top of that - decided to let it roll and see what I could get - I can see you can do way more than this and push it alot more both with profits, and also hauling...Especially the insanely exploitable trick where a city needs 1 ammo, and you send it not just 8, but maybe 32 (4 trains) and then as soon as they arrive you send those 32 to another town...that way you could perhaps get over 5000-10000+ hauling in that time - so none of those sort of exploits.

Im happy with my results and managed to do twice as much of everything when I let it run out..I can´t recall if I had another year. It does say you have 30 years. So I think this was the end. I´ll just post some screenshots and may upload it to my youtube documentation channel of played games.

It´d be fantastic to see OilCan, RulerofRails or Gumboost record how they play with express, track, and perhaps this map or another - as I´d really like to see some neat tricks, as I feel there is room for alot of improvement. I think I got the hang of the whole passenger thing though, like how they don´t want to wait (I can see they drop out every year like from 15 to 5) so I guess you got 1 year, and the whole troops is very confusing too, despite knowing they move from barracks to barrakcs and I think also sometimes just to another city (maybe for terrain training? as in real life)

And it should be possible to farm premium trains but they are very rare, but there is probably a XXX percentage it needs to be faster and over a specific distance perhaps - I´m sure you could get some stuff, especially if you buy different kinds of trains and only take those with just a bit faster.

I also didn´t think about Zanzibar was East Africa like RulerofRails mentioned, that was a suprise.

I´m happy I could enjoy this map - make some nice tracks, tunnels, and even bridges going accross valleys - although I refuse to make them if they seem unrealistic. I think I did a good job on the express overall as there never was an abundance...I decided instead of always having the ABC and CBA trains, and hubs to hubs - I could have one exprescovering 3-4 cities, and one express from hub to hub, and one freight from hub to hub, and a few times if there was breweries several places, I´d have to make a train from A to D to get the alcohol accross - that makes sense if you look at the mao then it can be justified...I also tried to have 2 trains percity, then 1 express even if it wasn´t too profitable - so I wouldn´t forget..I realized renaming stations and renaming trains could help out so I could just go back an add more later instead of too early...but I couldn´t figure out how to rename the trains...I thought there was a way but I seem to have forgot alot, but that would be useful to type in the cities and its routes, so you can easily see how many you got per city etc. I do love the ledger and all the infomration on the stations...I also decided to add Hotels most places, as they are so profitable usually, and restaurants do well too..and mail I feel the mere price of 1-2k per year is well worth it, just a coupel extra loads of mail saved does alot...Taverns I feel never really do well, its so rare..so I usually don´t bother with those. I just wanted to try and really maximize what was possible. But so much more can be done I realized!

Here is some screenshots from my game...I definitely want to play through the entire campaign again..and every single scenario aswell as eveyr scenario from Hawkdawg...I hope I can resist the addiction as it takes so much time when you want to do it perfectly and you also really enjoy the atmosphere...Such a fantastic game with amazing people - and I´m so happy to see the forum is still alive...Thank you so much to you all, but especially to Hawk, Gumboots, Oilcan and RulerofRails - It´d be fantastic if one could see how such legends play, and use the these different ways of managing trains, express, and their systsems - I try to follow what I learned from Oilcan´s Handbook - and its such a pleasure to read it and read all the information on the forum - but I´m sure if I could see how such experts played it, I´d be even better and be able to do so much more - as I can see there is room for improvement. I´m not sure if any of those are active anymore...I also had a quick look at so many other scenario maps from this site I remember I played...oh the memories...hundreds...thousands of hours can quickly be spent on this...you get so sucked in and addicted to it...Love the challenges and also the other African maps, I really enjoy the exotic maps, and I do love steam and the older maps a ton too, i do also like the whole electric thing too, it´s not really my style but I do very much enjoy it when I let myself really get into it, and its fantastic...there is so much to appreciate, from the sounds of nature when you zoom in on the jungle trees, to watching the trains ride, to micro manaing and macro managing so many things and learning and reading about all the history of the trains, the people, and so much more!

I have the deepest and most sincere respect for everyone who has made this, and also kept this site alive and to all the creators and the gentle, kind and highly intelligent people I´ve found on this site. Thank you so much, to all of you. I hope I can let this be it, and not get addicted again...I hope...I´m just happy at least I let myself get a bit of nostalgia again, from my old childhood game back from 2003 where I had no clue what I was doing to really feeling like you mastered it...I love taking my time spending an hour or more before even starting a game, just calculating the best options..like okay..5 grain farms...10 grain..cost 50-60 each..okay we can seel for 200-210...so thats 150 a load, then some overhead..increased prices...hmm okay what more can we do...all of that - I also enjoy doing all the manufacutring at the same place, no need to pay for tracks or trains if it can all be done at the same place - the railroad should help the industires, no the other way around unless needed or express. Usually you can get a 10% profit on every standard farm, 20% is very good but 30% is usually too good to pass, if you can see they make 30% ROI per year, unless you got even better industires, like on this map 16m was possible for me in 5 years - but using the tracks and only trains could be fun...Oh and I also enjoy the whole war, weapons ammo concept, its very rare to see - and who doesn´t love to see a factory making over 2M in profts and then when the scenario is over looking back on all you´ve done...Its also fun to play scenarios past their time to see the ultimate of whats possible - like texas tea I once tried getting to 100m+ profit per year..obviously that takes time, and theres so many scenarios to be enjoyed...

If any of the legends are active, it´d be fantastic to see a recording of this scenario or any other map to see how maintaince sheds, express, hubs and spokes and so much other stuff is done - one can always learn more, and knowledge is power, especially when put into action.

Thank you, and I´m happy I accomplished my goal. All the best!
antso22/BigBoyTycoon - Had to create a new account as I didn´t remember my old one or even have the email.
Take care & Stay safe!

[Hawk]

Could you have also created an account with the username of AntsoTheAntcoon back in 2012?

[BigBoyTycoon]

The name sounds familiar, so perhaps, sounds like a bit of a play on words, haha it rings a bell, yeah maybe I did, the name sounds like something I´d come up with. Names just like the railraod company names, are a hard thing to come up with, any good names that is.

[Hawk]

It is possible to combine all 3 usernames into one account. That way you will have 21 posts (15 for antso22, 4 for AntsoTheAntcoon, plus the 2 for BigBoyTycoon) instead of 2.

The AntsoTheAntcoon had a Hotmail address with a 22 in it, just to maybe help confirm it's you.

[Gumboots]

@BigBoyTycoon: Feel free to PM the details if you want them to remain private.

@Hawk: I should do the merger myself I think. Good practice.