Gilded Age V2

[RulerofRails]

I didn't find a topic for this scenario, I like the concepts so much that I decided to start one.

For those who haven't played this scenario before: there is a points system with a certain quantity required for each of the medals. Points can be earned if you have a high enough PNW, company profit, haulage, or express speed in the current year. 24 bonus points are available if you connecting certain cities. Points can be gained or lost through some other events I am not going to give away here.

This scenario is based on the first campaign map "Go West". EPH did an excellent job and this scenario is far more interesting than the original. For some reason "Go West" has cheap Dairies and this map is the same. This is my preferred industry investment to start. Some of the Grain Farms can also be worthwhile.

There is a big incentive to start with lines between Boston, Lowell and Worcester. I discovered that you should place a station at Boston first then when you place one at Lowell a Coffee Farm will appear. At 240k this is a steal. Another tip is to start your company with only 140k of your money. This will enable you to buy another 1,000 shares in June, otherwise you are locked out for the first year. 700-800k profit is possible in the first year, but interestingly I have had more success with a slightly slower start (500-600k) because this enables a better price for heavy margin buying.

I have tried many different starts (with no AI) making sure to restart the game every time as I noticed some extra resources appearing if I just re-loaded. So far my best result was Gold at the end of the 20th year. On this run I didn't receive any points in the first two years. I also chose the cheap track option so didn't even try to make separate express trains. So no points for speed either. So far my attempts at achieving the speed goal earlier have been unsuccessful as I then lost out on PNW points. The cost of not running much express as well as the extra infrastructure seems to outweigh the extra points. Even so there are 20 potential points I am leaving on the table. I would love to hear anyone else's strategies or experiences.

EPH, another excellent scenario that I wish I had tried earlier. "Discovering" high quality maps like this helps keep my interest in the game. It's quite amazing how many maps there really are for RT3. The overview says 607, some are translations, but still that's a ton of maps. Hidden among all these there are some gems like this. Thanks!

[Hawk]

The overview says 607,

Just curious where you saw that. On the main page of the website it says there's almost 650 scenarios. Let me know where it says that so I can update it.

[RulerofRails]

Hawk, I came up with that number by adding up the numbers shown after each area under the RT3 Map Archive section below. I didn't include the Base Maps. I don't want to be picking on the counter, but is there a more accurate way to see the total for future reference?

RT3 maps.jpg (48.29 KiB) Viewed 8819 times

[Hawk]

Ah! If you add the base maps and the TM maps into that it comes up to 645. That's where I got the count I used on the main page of the site.

Main Page.jpg (38.69 KiB) Viewed 8817 times

A more accurate way? Not really. I change that count every time I add a new map. That's about as accurate as it gets.
You could count every map on the various pages. There should be 30 to a page, except for that last page in each section, with the exception of Asia, Australia, Base Maps and the TM maps.

[RulerofRails]

You could count every map on the various pages.

Ha ha ha! Didn't want to do that.

[Hawk]

You could count every map on the various pages.

Ha ha ha! Didn't want to do that.

I don't blame you.

[EPH]

Thanks, Ruler - I appreciate the pat on the back.

Gilded Age was my first map. I tried to include some fun things to do (like deciding whether or not to support a presidential candidate) and put in some of the trivia I'd found, like the bit about shipping ice. The points system was supposed to guide the player toward doing certain things and was (I thought) a good alternative to the gold medal conditions that were standard on other maps. On the whole I think it holds up pretty well - and I'm very glad you had a good time playing it.

I haven't played this one in a long time but I remember always starting in Boston. If you play your cards right you can trade ice (coffee) for sugar (I think) to make alcohol. Build a lumber and paper mill up around Portsmouth, connect to New York City and you're off to a good start. As I recall I usually separated my freight and express trains, but that's not the only way to go.

Thanks again!

[RulerofRails]

You certainly succeeded in making this interesting. The historical events are great. I also love the way that the points system makes you perform up to certain benchmarks throughout the game. With the most classic goals the goals I tend to run a poorer railroad at the start in the hope of realizing bigger gains at the end (i.e. binging early on industry before really getting my rails off the ground). These points make me focus on everything PNW, hauling, and profit at the same time (even speed but so far that only seemed to be a competing goal).

Those reasons are enough to make this a great scenario, but the thing that kept me playing over and over again is the way that the good credit available from connecting Worcester at the start only lasts for 2 years. In that time I often managed to take out 5M or 6M worth of high interest bonds. This makes a lot of money in the start, but once credit returns to normal it often takes almost another two years for more bonds to become available. This creates a lull that flat lines share prices right when I need them to be rising as the fast start makes the original 2nd year buy-in more expensive. I like pushing the curve to 100% ownership and right here you created a nice circumstance to challenge me. In fact, you made me pay dividends half way through the game to pay down my personal debt. This is the first time I remember doing this. Normally I will wait until good expansion opportunities are gone before I do that. Well done, sir!

BTW, the Boston port conversion is Coffee to Cotton. I saw some comments on other threads that you had some difficulty with the conversion being profitable. I ignored the Textile Mill in Lowell and placed my own in Boston as close to the port as I could. Of course with only one Coffee farm this can also be marginal, but normally there was one already near Boston and the new that appears when you connect Lowell right is enough to end up supplying a mill pretty well.

After buying those Dairies and cheap stuff at the start, I find myself liking the Tool and Die converting Iron for pure ROI. The price difference in the bases of Iron ($30) and Goods ($170) is $140. In-game the price difference is more like $200-$250 a load. If there are two Iron mines pretty close together and Iron is in a red price zone it isn't uncommon to see $500k profit in its first years.

[RayofSunshine]

Overall, I am glad to see that members are going back into the Archives to play previous scenarios. It is a 'shame' that once a scenario is played, that it starts to collect dust in the Archives. And that is with any Edition. At the present I am playing the RRT2 Edition II. There is a difference concept in the programming, but does have some interesting strategies of playing.

As to the Gilded Age (v2) or many of the previous scenarios, I have yet to play. Just so many of them as I try to replay them. Hope more members will take the hint.

[low_grade]

Played through this one today. Ignored industry until the war when I built a couple munitions factories. Well, I didn't ignore industry, I just didn't buy or build any, as a self-restriction. I certainly hauled resources towards industries. Hotels everywhere from early, Boston start. Connection bonuses are quite generous. 474k the first year and off to the races from there, all rail. NYC in 1846. Albany in 1848. Buffalo in 1849. So yeah, it was a rapid-expansion all-rail start, focus on pax. Altoona in 1858, missed Civil War goals initially, never made PNW, all victory points from connection, loads per year, and profit per year, then a few when I was hauling troops weapons and ammo by the end of the war. Gold on expert in Jan 1966. All autoconsist routes from the beginning. Pretty easy, straightforward map. Challenging terrain... I allowed a some 8's and 7's here and there, and a few 6's in a row here and there as well. 1.05 Connies are a great improvement over the American and Baldwin, I'd forgotten! Nice scenario, nice events, great history.