Tan-Zam Railroad BETA

[OilCan]

This game is in 1.05 V, although it should not make much difference to be played in 1.06 V. Some engines in 1.06 V may not appear.

This game originated from an earlier game called TAZARA, developed by Brunom in 2011, and is an extensive modification of Brunom’s TAZARA – a player of both games will notice they share some similar elements.

Brunom's TAZARA is an enjoyable game that needed a few 'adjustments' to increase its challenge and playability.

Changes in this game include:

• Correcting errors / oversights in original TAZARA game
  Adjusting map economy
  Adjusting AI growth & AI stock profiles
  Requiring player to build entire TAZARA, not just the Tanzanian section
  More cities offering multiple routes for TAZARA
  Removing connected track requirement
  Encouraging electric rail system (and boosted by event)
  Stronger requirements for GOLD and SILVER

I left the stock market active - although in reality these railroads are not publically owned - to keep the player from freely issuing too much stock. The AI players will buy stock into the player's company if the player's share price drops too much.

I left the city connections to be 'station to station' and not 'company station to company station' which allows the player to connect to AI lines to accomplish connection goals. I felt that this gave the player an option to accept AI rail traffic on their own line as well as accept low priority status for their trains on AI line as a tradeoff for not building new line.

I set the GOLD haul requirement at 200 loads of copper (bauxite) and lifetime Co profit at $25M. These may be too easy to attain. I would be interested in hearing other's opinions on the GOLD requirements.

As always, any comments or suggestions (and spelling corrections) to improve the game are most welcome.

[RayofSunshine]

Well OilCan,
I might be missing something in the translations of information, but I have a question.

In 1972 a notice appears as to the city of Kapiri is offering a some of money, for a connection to Dar. However, after playing another year, there isn't any access to Zambia, and it cannot be purchased.

However, seeing that Dar is to be completed for the bonus by 1978, and that to Kapiri by 1984, I then suppose that the connection to Dar is the intial connection to be completed, and thereafter, seeing that a person cannot haul copper for the goal requirement, that Kapiri would therefore would follow, and Zambia not be opened until the Dar completion.
Guess maybe I answered my own questions.

I don't know about the installation of an electric system. Trackage just "gobbles" up the revenue.

[RayofSunshine]

Okay OilCan,
I didn't find any programming problem, which is not unusual with your creations. Being that the electric track was just too expensive, I only used it for 2 different routings. The rest was regular track and the use of steam and diesel.

The AIs expanded in their normal sense, and not being able to get control of them, I had to run parrallel tracks in getting access to Arusha. Neither Chamba or Bukoba were being serviced, so no problem getting connected.

Finished the goals 6 years early, BUT, I had only selected the Medium level, which is not my usual level in Beta testing. Hence there could be a different result with either Hard or Expert. Will run another attempt in the Expert.

Terrain was a little "hilly" for some of the routings, but manageable. Good engines for the challenge. Overall, an interesting scenario in challenges.

[RayofSunshine]

2 attempts in the Expert level OilCan,
And came short of the Tunduma- Dar both times, having only connected to the next city of both destinations. Tried it from Tunduma, and Dar in each attempt.
I don't believe that the African people either don't like to ride trains, or write letters. Don't believe that I would have used all the fingers on a hand in either case. Lots of "stuff" but need a whole consist in most cases to just break even.
Much of the time only able to have hauls of 1-3 commodity. Not having much luck with electric, I used the Deltas.

I was only able to get 1 bond at the start and never could even get a "B" rating for the rest of the scenario.

It might have been a mistake, as I tried to "issue stock" to try and compensate for operational revenue, to help with the Chineesse loan.

Have to use and think of a different strategy.

[OilCan]

I might be missing something in the translations of information, but I have a question.

In 1972 a notice appears as to the city of Kapiri is offering a some of money, for a connection to Dar. However, after playing another year, there isn't any access to Zambia, and it cannot be purchased.

Access to Zambia is granted once you connect Dar to Tunduma. I believe this is explained near the start of the game.

[OilCan]

2 attempts in the Expert level...And came short of the Tunduma- Dar both times...

I was only able to get 1 bond at the start and never could even get a "B" rating for the rest of the scenario.

It might have been a mistake, as I tried to "issue stock" to try and compensate for operational revenue, to help with the Chineesse loan.

Have to use and think of a different strategy.

You should have enough cash at the start of the game to invest into one industry (lumber or textile). Let that industry run for a year or two, then begin to build track. Maybe start track at Dar because it has the most cargo. Once you've built aways, move to Mbeya - leave the mid section which has the fewest cities alone until the end. Use the Chinese money to push rail a little further each year. Save your bonds until the final push to collect the reward. Use the QJ engine until the line is complete.

[RulerofRails]

After playing the original, it took me a while to warm to some of the changes. On Tazara, I only ever used the Deltic engine so I had to use them super efficiently. The tighter economic environment and my willingness to walk the line with debt to push the Copper run to completion using only my own connected track all the way except the AI Dar station made that game about debt management. I am surprised that a few small changes twist the strategy around a lot, especially those cheap engines. I am not here to make a comparison of this versus that. It's good that this version feels quite different.

First thing I noticed was that the seed chances still allow 2 supply ports in Dar-Es-Salaam sometimes. I stuck with the seed with 2 supply ports. I noticed the really cheap Class 6E, and I wanted to give myself some challenge so I decided to not issue any bonds or stock, lay only connected electric track and start immediately on building the copper run from the AI's station in Dar-Es-Salaam but laying my own track down to the southwest. I bought zero industry or hotels. I used timed-expansion to finish mid-1984 with profits of around 60M. I also merged all the 3 original AI, only for their chairmen to start new companies with 100% ownership. I left those new start-ups alone. It seemed that electric was unfairly easy, so I decided to try a steam run. Here's an idea of routing.

Tan-Zam beta1.jpg (68.33 KiB) Viewed 11006 times

I also realized that I could get the Tunduma to Dar-Es-Salaam bonus at the start of the game by issuing stock and bonds using a medium station in Tumduma and running a fairly economical line up to the AI's track near Dodoma. With the connection bonus I extended as far as possible into Zambia, enough for 330k first year profit. Then using the second year bonds and Chinese loan to connect down through Zambia to Kapiri Mposhi for the second bonus. I used this bonus money to connect the AI together to get the cargo price increase bonus from the Arusha "connection". This was a no-industry attempt with a seed which had only one supply port in Dar-Es-Salaam. Second year profit was 1.8M, good enough for a credit rating allowing 8M of bonds at the start of the third year and an attempt to merge the AI on the spot, cold-turkey. Well, Clement of Kenya Rails had really benefited from the higher cargo prices and my efforts to link all our tracks together, his second year profit was around 870k. This gave him enough purchasing power to buy up the final lump of shares that gave him majority ownership in his company on the turn of year 2/ year 3, so I left his company alone, but bought the other two out. I then bought lots of Class QJs to start off on the Copper run. I retired them as they arrived so they didn't have to swim upstream as I never doubled the track and also to prevent them from ending up only break-even as fuel and maintenance costs for the return trip were greater than the cost of the engine. This attempt I bought trains that stayed on their original run and didn't go for an aggressive timed-expansion strategy. I only bought Class QJs except as I got near the end I used a couple of diesels to haul Copper to see how fast it was possible to get the medal when losing the Mwenza warehouse in the second year. Both attempts I made extra special care not to do any re-hauling. The 200th load of Copper appeared at the very end of 1981. A four car HST 125 diesel which had to stop for a month at a breakdown as well as normal maintenance stops (no buying a fresh engine to skip stops) arrived with the final loads in October 1982. This time I had ~44M profits:

Tan-Zam beta2.jpg (59.18 KiB) Viewed 11006 times

Well done on the adjustments to make the Warehouses produce the stated amounts! This brings up an interesting question, is the decay of the original Copper stacks miniscule enough that it is faster to leave the Mwenza warehouse for a few years? From looking at these two plays, I would tend to say that the decay is greater than the extra 1.8 loads per year you could gain. But, I really haven't looked into cargo decay rates. Did you ever test this?

My feeling is that the subsidized engines may be a little too cheap. They allow fast expansion. As with the amount of resources on the map, it is a question of difficulty, and hence feel, as economically there is plenty of room to get 25M profit using many varied strategies, so it's maybe a question of what's fun while waiting for the Copper to roll in.
_________________________________________________________

In the editor I noticed the Russians have an offer to increase Copper output. Because a +65% increase is already in effect, to further increase total output by an additional +65%, I believe requires (1.65*.65=1.0725) +107% in the way that RT3 "calculates" percentages. (Didn't test it, hope my math is working today.)

A small grammar consistency issue that was likely in the original: July 1977 newspaper, "industry cost increase(S), tourism declines"

For your consideration:
Did you intend for the AI players to start new companies when you merge with their old ones? Don't know if you want to close the path of going for the connection bonus immediately like I did in the second play?

I liked the new events, especially the one for the lions. I was half expecting some inconsistency with electricity supply seeing it is Africa after all. A setback event may provide a risk to help balance the operating cost advantages of the electric engines. Depends where a player focuses his strategic attention, to me higher maintenance costs simply means more frequent replacement. Fuel cost savings still put electric clearly ahead.

[OilCan]

I am surprised that a few small changes twist the strategy around a lot, especially those cheap engines. I am not here to make a comparison of this versus that. It's good that this version feels quite different.

The engines price tags were not changed between game versions - except the Class 6E. I wanted a cheap choice for the electric line as there already was a cheap choice for the non-electric.

First thing I noticed was that the seed chances still allow 2 supply ports in Dar-Es-Salaam sometimes. I stuck with the seed with 2 supply ports.

This is frustrating! I made the coast jagged and even add reserved cells along the coast to stop an extra port from appearing. I did 3 tests and only 2 ports appeared. I guess I thought I had it fixed. Oh well...

I also merged all the 3 original AI,

Wow! The Kenya line was majority owned by the AI player. That was a feat!

Well done on the adjustments to make the Warehouses produce the stated amounts! This brings up an interesting question, is the decay of the original Copper stacks miniscule enough that it is faster to leave the Mwenza warehouse for a few years? From looking at these two plays, I would tend to say that the decay is greater than the extra 1.8 loads per year you could gain. But, I really haven't looked into cargo decay rates. Did you ever test this?

The sole reason the Mwenza warehouse dissapears is to force the player to ship only from Kapiri Mposhi. The logic is that the warehouse was supplied by trucks and the need for trucking copper to the border dissapears when rail replaces the road. I did not look into decay rates.

My feeling is that the subsidized engines may be a little too cheap. They allow fast expansion. As with the amount of resources on the map, it is a question of difficulty, and hence feel, as economically there is plenty of room to get 25M profit using many varied strategies, so it's maybe a question of what's fun while waiting for the Copper to roll in.

Yes, the 2 engines are cheap, maybe too cheap. The QJ is 20% cheaper than normal, and the 6E is a comparable price for electric, but this goes away when the chinese loan ends. It was an item that I left alone from Brunom's version.

In the editor I noticed the Russians have an offer to increase Copper output. Because a +65% increase is already in effect, to further increase total output by an additional +65%, I believe requires (1.65*.65=1.0725) +107% in the way that RT3 "calculates" percentages. (Didn't test it, hope my math is working today.)

This was a late addition intended only for the struggling player. It is a generous offer, but then if the player is in the poor state that makes the event trigger, he needs the generous help.

For your consideration:
Did you intend for the AI players to start new companies when you merge with their old ones? Don't know if you want to close the path of going for the connection bonus immediately like I did in the second play?

To stop the AI players from starting new companies will involve some special events - Disabling multiple companies will not stop their restarts because their companies were pre-built using the player's ID. They should have been built using the AI players' IDs. I'll stop the restarts - it annoys me as well.
I will leave the 'quick path' as it is. The player sacrifices priority on the AI rails as well as profit. I'd rather have the player decide for or against the quick path rather than block it.

I liked the new events, especially the one for the lions. I was half expecting some inconsistency with electricity supply seeing it is Africa after all. A setback event may provide a risk to help balance the operating cost advantages of the electric engines. Depends where a player focuses his strategic attention, to me higher maintenance costs simply means more frequent replacement. Fuel cost savings still put electric clearly ahead.

An electric setback event is a great idea. I'll add a couple. I have noticed in the forum discussions that many players stay away from electric - mainly because of the additional costs. I wanted to offer it again in this scenario without as many high costs that electric usually has.

[Gumboots]

I stay away from electric simply because I like choofers better.

[RulerofRails]

I think I discovered the problem with the ports. Dar-Es-Salaam is set to seed that port at 100%, but one is already pre-built so when the game manages to place one you get two. I set it to zero, seems good so far. It is interesting that most of the map also follows a pattern of two likely seedings and it happened that the port only happened in one, probably because of crowding from other industries in the city.

If you intended for Kenya Rails to be majority owned, it currently sits at 7 owned/ 11 unowned. That time I was slower off the start using connected track following the route taken by the railroad in real life. I didn't connect the AI together for many years. I have said this before, the seeding really affects the AI's initial performance, especially for example if a functioning Brewery etc. spawns inside a medium station's catchment area versus outside which is really random. On that play, he issued stock at least once as second year performance was also poor. Conversely, on the second play I dug deep enough to sacrifice profits to start off many trains on the Copper run and buy out the other AI with debt so I never ran a long way on AI track. This gave me a significant flat spot as the economy declined and I could only defensively hold onto 50% of my company instead of buying into him before he started stock buy-backs. If I had focused purely on profit other than getting the Copper hauled as early as possible, I would have taken him out that time also. Possibly would have needed to drive up the price in good economies so he would sell a couple thousand for me to snatch up.

My observation about the Mwenza warehouse was more of a curiosity, there are many reasons not to wait for a couple extra loads. In my view, the player should use the Tunduma connection bonus money to connect into Zambia as there is lots to haul there and the second bonus is really tempting as well as the big stacks of Copper in Kapiri Mposhi. This should be within the space of a year or so. The concept of a truck depot is good, but usefulness in-game is slightly lacking. If there was a delay before you gained access when it was the only supply available it may "work" better. Guess I was a little disappointed that I lined up a couple of trains to haul from there, only to have the warehouse disappear before they reached Dar-Es-Salaam.

Because of the way the game's pricing model is set, engines below a certain point can be termed "disposable". The exact point is debatable depending on the value of cargo of course. With the proper technique, a good one-time run will fetch around 320k on Expert ($30 per car after costs). In my opinion an engine is disposable anywhere below 50% of this value. When below 30%, it's no use keeping the engine if it can't be re-purposed quickly. Because the economy is stronger here, this is giving me a marked difference in gameplay compared to using the Deltic at 480k which, with a caboose, I took to be the best engine in the original. I never imagined the advantage from going electric that you found in the original, but I was running the Tazara line using only connected track initially so cargo was scarce and I had some grades.

As far as the Diesel vs Electric vs Steam, steam is dis-advantaged by frequent water stops when using regular in-line service facilities and higher fuel costs. Engine price plays an important role (along with running costs, performance, and reliability of course) in whether I will go for electric or diesel unless I am playing under personal conditions. For electric to be worthwhile, fuel costs should be lower, but I think that it's required for an electric of equal performance to be cheaper than the equivalent Diesel. Because I played without industries this decision becomes more important than ever. Generally, electric tends to be a little slower to grow initially but can pay off in the end if in-game distances aren't too great or if cargo isn't really scarce. There is a slightly different style to get the most from a system. If I commit to one system, in the average game I wont build a mixed system unless events greatly change best strategy or an engine too good to miss comes along, in which case I would have been preparing for its arrival already at least when I'm replaying a map. I compare a mixed system to a real-life break-of-gauge situation. But I tend to run the same type of train as traffic flows better were they interact, and I tend to expand a little here and there as part of timed-expansion to give the price map a time to adjust instead of adding a long string and then everything stagnates for awhile. I will rarely decide to switch to electric. The money to upgrade can be compared to repaying bonds, a cost-saving instead of an investment. At the time I start considering repaying bonds I may look at upgrading my system especially if it ties in with an engine replacement schedule (another cost-saving expense). A saving not an investment and therefore an inferior way to spend money.

From a rough figuring of the numbers in my plays, it seems the 6E is costing about 30% less to run than the QJ at 50% higher average speed. Normal purchase price is 400k. A 35% reduction as was applied to the QJ would give 260k. Below this seems a steal to me. It's your call.

I mentioned the Russian event because RT3 will simply add percentages together and the player wont see as much increase as promised. That's why I said the correct number that needs to be added by the game is 107%. The effect will be a sixty-five percent increase over the current already modified production.

[OilCan]

I was half expecting some inconsistency with electricity supply seeing it is Africa after all. A setback event may provide a risk to help balance the operating cost advantages of the electric engines.

I forgot that 1.05V has a bug and does not recognize electric track pieces - this was fixed in 1.06V. I wrote two events to setback a player with electric track only to find out (and remind myself) that it is impossible to detect electric track in 1.05V. I ended up reworking the events to trigger by date with the focus of the setback to electric trains, if the player had any.

[Hawk]

The final version is now available in the archives.

http://hawkdawg.com/rrt/rrt3/map_arch/r ... amRailroad

[TheBonobo4]

This is a really tough scenario, I can't even beat it on Medium. However I've noticed a bug (unless I'm doing something wrong). There is a $1.3M bonus to connect Tunduma to Dar-es-Salaam by Jan 1978, and this does indeed work (even if you use the AI track). However, failing this, there seems no other way to get into Zambia. So, if one fails to get from Dar to Tunduma by Jan 1978, Silver/Gold become impossible and (at best) you only get Bronze.

[RulerofRails]

If you look in the editor there are two events. Dar-T Reward and Dar-T No Reward. Basically one triggers if the connection is made before 1978, and the other after. The rest of their setup appears identical from what I can see, so I'm really not sure why you aren't getting the access. If you have a saved game where you didn't get the access, zip it up and I'll see if I can figure out what is going on.

A tip here is that Industry production in Tanzania is slowed, so the basics of that is lower Return on Investment meaning especially that more care should be taken to make sure bonds issued are a net gain. It's really worthwhile to push to Zambia before the deadline not only for the bonus, but also because long-term cargo supply there will be better, Industry production is normal there. Kapiri Mposhi will never have strong prices since it's near the edge of the map, meaning consistent haulage profits from there, in addition to any monies to be made from Copper haulage to Dar-es-Salaam.

[OilCan]

This is a really tough scenario, I can't even beat it on Medium.

It was intended for the player to 'struggle' a little and maybe test a few strategies on the best approach to start the game. I did not intend for the game to become too tough, but to be a challenge. I'll offer 2 possible start-up strategies - skip this if you don't wish to know:
(1) Invest into textiles or lumber before laying any rails - make sure your first factory will turn a profit immediately, not a year later. Lay your first rails to connect an AI to a new town (a town receiving lots of cargo). You want the AI to run on your rails. Begin the Dar to Tunduma route after 5-6 years. Use the AI track to help claim the reward, then build your own route.
(2) Follow the coast and connect Dar to Tanga (and all towns in-between) and allow both AI companies to run on your tracks. Stay off their line as much as possible. Invest into industry which is immediately profitable. Begin the Dar to Tunduma route after 5-6 years. Use AI track to help claim the reward, then build your own route.

However I've noticed a bug (unless I'm doing something wrong). There is a $1.3M bonus to connect Tunduma to Dar-es-Salaam by Jan 1978, and this does indeed work (even if you use the AI track). However, failing this, there seems no other way to get into Zambia. So, if one fails to get from Dar to Tunduma by Jan 1978, Silver/Gold become impossible and (at best) you only get Bronze.

Edit: I found it! There is indeed a bug which prevents access to Zambia from triggering. I found it after downloading the map version I sent to the map archive. It was not in what I thought was the latest version on my laptop. It came from a last minute adjustment to an event before sending the 'final' version off to Hawk. Sloppiness on my part.

I am exceeding sorry for the frustration this must have caused. And I greatly appreciate you pointing it out. I will fix the bug and send Hawk the corrected version.

I think I will also make some improvement to the electric train situation. After re-playing the scenario several times this afternoon, I decided that the electric train component needs some polishing up.

[TheBonobo4]

Thanks, glad it was a genuine bug and not me being stupid. :)

And from what I remember, there seemed little advantage to Electric trains. You get the events like cutting off electric to consider, and also electric track and engines are more expensive. It just seems easier to use Diesels and Steam (the Class QJ is a good locomotive and cheap). Unless there was something I'm missing.

[Hawk]

An updated version of this map is now in the archives.

http://hawkdawg.com/rrt/rrt3/map_arch/r ... amRailroad

[low_grade]

Well, I know RulerofRails won't be impressed, lol, but I finished Gold on Expert in 1984, electric engines, industry start, bonds, stock issuing I think? But there was so much cash it was unnecessary, really. Brewery in Bukoba and bought the rice farms, then a lumber mill south of Songea and 4 logging camps closest, Paper Mill to follow, but first start rail now in year 3. Shinyanga, Nzega, Tabora as they had clothing, lumber, and meat decently supplied. Then year 4 Dodoma to Tunduma, get the bonus and on into Zambia, Kapiri Mposhi that year or the next, I forget. Bought out one of the AI's because I could. The extra $200k per load of copper the guy with the line from Dodoma to Dar-es-salaam was getting kept his company rather profitable. Also deleted trains as they arrived in Dar-es-salaam, even at $96k a pop. I built/bought many Breweries, Textile Mills, Lumber Mills, Furniture Factories, and a couple Distilleries with the Sugar offer. And bought and inherited a bunch of farms. etc.

I didn't really use most of the map, and I found cargo to be plentiful. Without self restrictions like RoR is fond of, this map is too easy, and yes I think the 6E is too cheap, and the ET22 is awesome value after 1979 as well. $56M in profits in 1983. My top train made $2.4M profit in 1983.

Oh yeah! The price islands were out in force! That's really what made it so easy, to be able to haul lumber, eg, for $200k+ per load across the map, and there were tons of different cargoes getting price islands. That was my main comment on this scenario. Is this the result of the broad across the map price increases with connections? If so I'd say change the reward.

And unless we want to decrease to cargo, I'd propose leaving the option of an industry start, but cutting industry off after a couple years. An opening dialogue from the President, try to focus on the railroad, and leave industry to others, but some is okay to help you get of the ground. Then after industry profits exceed $2M, another dialogue, please focus on the railroad, industry prices up 50%, or something like that.

[RulerofRails]

Not impressed? Well, I'm impressed that people are still playing this game with relish.

I said that I didn't want to make a comparison between this version (Tan-Zam) by Oilcan and the rougher original Tazara it was based on, but I will point out that Tazara has a lower resource density. In simple terms, a bit more challenge.

PS. I didn't notice the cargo price increases. Quick check Tazara had +10%, Tan-Zam gets the possibility for an extra +30%, total of +40%. Unfortunately we all know how much they can skew a game. That's a fail on my part from a testing perspective, the longer a game lasts the bigger outbreaks expected. Funny thing is that PopTop used cargo price increase events and the "dead" (no effect on gameplay) fuel economy/acceleration modification events in some of the default maps and unless the info was lost along the way, no one really noticed.

[low_grade]

Lol I'll be playing this game off and on forever, but really only as much as there are new scenarios for me to try, I don't replay much... which is why Hawk & Badger is so important to me! Been on a kick especially since last fall when I got this new laptop that runs the game at lightning speed and I think RT3 was like $5.99 on GoG. I had a laptop die a couple years ago and hadn't been back here to sift through all my old posts (back from the days when I was hex editing locos) to get all my old stuff in a custom install folder since then, and much progress has been made over the past few years here for me to sift through, as well! I haven't installed (or do I have to hex edit the exe myself?) the restored price islands, so the game's behavior in my play may have been different than yours.

And I feel like I remember Tazara, and that it was rather tough, though I may be thinking of a different Africa scenario with haulage goals to the coast?? Well, and of course my skills have improved, partly from trying to match your speed. Still not practicing the aggressive expansion which I sure bankrolls your whole game. I hate watching trains, just let me run all auto-consists. The idea for building your own power plants with their own station for Korea was the one strategy I needed to be able to finish that game, lol! (Stop hauling coal/oil away from the power plants, argghhh!!!)