Four Roads to Berlin
Posted: Sun Jan 22, 2023 3:52 pm
I can't see a thread linked for this one in the archive so I'll make a new thread. Anyway, I tried this one for the first time today, on Expert, just to see what the scenario is like. You start in 1829 by default and the scenario states that you have 170 years for Gold, not that you'll need them, taking us to 1999. So let's have a look then.
The scenario uses the same map as the State of Germany campaign level or Germany scenario level, but with territorial changes. There are plenty of cities, but the territories themselves are interesting. For me, the cities in 1829 were mostly tiny, and the game starts with your company and 3 others. You cannot have AI in this scenario, instead, your player owns all the shares in all 4 companies, named (in German), North, South, East (which you start with), and West. You can only start in Berlin and 4 other cities to the North East of Berlin, in a territory called East (or similar), and there are 3 other territories surrounding Berlin (itself in its own territory called Berlin), for the other 3 directions North, South, and West. So far, all seems okay.
The objectives seem straightforward. Gold requires you to connect every city on the map, including Copenhagen (which is surrounding by water and requires a suspension bridge to access, thus only being doable after 1895), haul 200k loads in total, and haul a certain amount of loads to certain areas, although these areas weren't specified to me, but I'm guessing it was the areas not immediately surrounding Berlin.
As I can only start in Berlin, and it is 1829, I built a Large station in Berlin, and connected up to Stettin, one of the 4 cities in Ost territory. I bought a Dorchester locomotive, set it to 7 cars and a caboose, and off it went.... making basically no money, because there was basically nothing to haul. Hmm okay, this isn't good.
To make matters worse, you cannot buy any industry in the game, besides Post Offices, Taverns, and Restaurants. For some reason you cannot buy Hotels. So you have to run track and trains. You also cannot Issue Stock, Buy Back Stock, Buy/Sell Shares, take out bonds, or declare bankruptcy.
Finally, I wondered if I'm supposed to build track and trains as the East Company, let them run for a bit, and then something, anything, would happen and I'd get an in game event. By about 1840 (11 years into the scenario), I got bored and quit. I also even tried taking over chairmanship of the North company, but alas, that does nothing, as the other 3 companies start with 0 track, and 0 money.
This scenario therefore seems utterly broken. Has anyone else ever tried this one, and if so, do you have any tips on how to beat it?
The scenario uses the same map as the State of Germany campaign level or Germany scenario level, but with territorial changes. There are plenty of cities, but the territories themselves are interesting. For me, the cities in 1829 were mostly tiny, and the game starts with your company and 3 others. You cannot have AI in this scenario, instead, your player owns all the shares in all 4 companies, named (in German), North, South, East (which you start with), and West. You can only start in Berlin and 4 other cities to the North East of Berlin, in a territory called East (or similar), and there are 3 other territories surrounding Berlin (itself in its own territory called Berlin), for the other 3 directions North, South, and West. So far, all seems okay.
The objectives seem straightforward. Gold requires you to connect every city on the map, including Copenhagen (which is surrounding by water and requires a suspension bridge to access, thus only being doable after 1895), haul 200k loads in total, and haul a certain amount of loads to certain areas, although these areas weren't specified to me, but I'm guessing it was the areas not immediately surrounding Berlin.
As I can only start in Berlin, and it is 1829, I built a Large station in Berlin, and connected up to Stettin, one of the 4 cities in Ost territory. I bought a Dorchester locomotive, set it to 7 cars and a caboose, and off it went.... making basically no money, because there was basically nothing to haul. Hmm okay, this isn't good.
To make matters worse, you cannot buy any industry in the game, besides Post Offices, Taverns, and Restaurants. For some reason you cannot buy Hotels. So you have to run track and trains. You also cannot Issue Stock, Buy Back Stock, Buy/Sell Shares, take out bonds, or declare bankruptcy.
Finally, I wondered if I'm supposed to build track and trains as the East Company, let them run for a bit, and then something, anything, would happen and I'd get an in game event. By about 1840 (11 years into the scenario), I got bored and quit. I also even tried taking over chairmanship of the North company, but alas, that does nothing, as the other 3 companies start with 0 track, and 0 money.
This scenario therefore seems utterly broken. Has anyone else ever tried this one, and if so, do you have any tips on how to beat it?