Background:
You may start in any year from 1900 (easier) to 1920 (hard), with 1910 as the default date. The scenario ends when 1961 is reached or when you earn 6 victory points. The map is the east and central US with a part of Ottawa, Canada. It is divided into seven areas: Canada (Toronto) , Northeast (New York), Southeast (Richmond), Northwest (Chicago), Midwest (Cleveland), Upper South (St Louis) and Deep South (Memphis). At start the player must select a starting region; the AIs will start in the other regions. You will receive bonuses for starting in Canada and slightly less money if you pick the Midwest.
Scoring: once 75 loads are delivered in a territory in one year, a victory point is earned. 6 points at any time is Gold. In January of 1961 4 or 5 points will earn Silver, 2 or 3 points will earn Bronze and 0 or 1 point is a loss.
Rules: no unconnected track; only one company can be started; no mergers; no buying industry (but you can build new ones).
General play:
I recommend thoroughly developing your home region first, building a few industries and connecting the major cities. Most of the regions are failry small, so this won't be too difficult. Don't connect to cities unless you can move enough cargo to make it pay, because track maintenance is high and will get higher. Don't worry about getting into another region for the first ten years or so.
Connection costs are high. You'll need a profitable company and good credit. Pile up (and/or borrow) the money and connect to a neighboring region. Make sure you have a few million available after the access fee is paid - you'll need to build industries and connect cities for new service to recoup your investment.
Early on rates will rise to help your new company. As you become more successful, rates will drop, union demands will increase and access fees will rise. Keep your eye on the bottom line, watch your interest payments, maintenance and fuel costs, and be patient. With the default starting date of 1910 you have fifty years. Grow in the good times and manage your company well in the bad times and you will have no trouble with gold.
Three cities are divided: Washington DC, Toledo, Ohio and Paducah, Kentucky. This allowes you to build into them from two different areas and lets them serve as transfer points for cargo. These are all good places to get into if you can!
You cannot merge with other companies (trust-busting, anti-monopoly laws prevent it). Playing the stock market can be fun but it really gains you nothing. Over time all of the AI companies will probably fail unless you connect to them.
Events:
Prohibition strikes in 1919 and 1920. Alcohol production ceases and price drops to zero. If you own distillery or brewery industries you can keep them (and eat the losses) while Prohibition lasts or sell them off for cash.
World War I and II will seriously impact your railroad. Read the event descriptions! Generally speaking these are times to be conservative, pile up some cash for emergencies and wait for the war to end.
Locomotives:
If you don't already have the G5 and P2 locomotives, you should get them. You don't need them to win, but they are efficient and have good specs.
Electric locos are cheap - once power plants develop 200 GW of power or more per year (yo do NOT have to own the plants). Until then (check the ledger or just check the engine price) they are not worth using. They have VERY high accelleration and are fuel-efficient, but laying the track is pricey. My opinion: short, high-density routes between big cities, like the NY-Washington DC corridor or Chicago-Milwaukee-Madison. A few electrics can do the work of more numerous steam engines because they accellerate well and run at higher speeds. Plus they don't need as many oil, sand and water stops.
Diesel engines are reasonably cheap to run, not terribly expensive to purchase. The Zephyr accellerates well; the F3 doesn't. They aren't worth much on grades. Diesels will be impossible to afford during WWII, so buy them early or wait until the war is over.
Steam will be your choice for much of the time, especially if you can use the G5 and P2 (later the U1 is very nice). Most of them don't have high fuel efficiency ratings and this will tell as time goes on.
Regions:
Canada - easily the hardest start. Advantages: you get more money and cheaper access to other territories. Industry can be profitable but limited. Getting into the Northeast or Northwest quickly is a good idea.
Northeast - nice big cities close together and some opportunities for industry. Going Southeast is easy; going Midwest is harder because of the access fees and mountains. Two routes to Buffalo (via Albany and via Scranton) have been smoothed and can make you a lot of money. A good place to start.
Southeast - industrial opportunities but no big cities. A spoke system feeding the Richmond hub with a line up to Washington DC will make money. A decent place to start.
Northwest - not as many industrial opportunities as you would think (the towns build a lot on their own), but many big cities. Expanding to Upper South or Midwest (if you have the money) can be amazingly profitable. A fine place to start.
Midwest - you get less money if you start here, but the region is rich in cities and industry. Indianapolis, Cleveland, Cincinnati, Columbus and Pittsburg are all rich. Plus it touches on almost every other region, giving you many ways to expand. Still... you start with less money, so I rate this one as less attractive.
Upper South - next to Canada, the hardest. The industrial opportunities (oil) are expensive or limited, the cities aren't large and they are far apart. Best asset is easy access to Deep South, Midwest and Northwest.
Deep South - terrific industrial opportunities in factories that are fairly cheap to build - textiles, lumber, alcohol, paper. Good source of oil (from Texas). Several cities of decent size (Memphis, Nashville). And finally, access over the mountain to Knoxville and huge amounts of lumber and paper. A fine place to start.
Review Of Farewell To Steam
Farewell to Steam
The optimist proclaims we live in the best of all possible worlds; and the pessimist fears this is true." - James Branch Cabell
I have to say that this was a funny scenario, and I will probably replay it from a different region and starting time.
The northwest is a good starting place, my first track was Detroit to Toledo, which also later became my first electrified track. There is a lot of logging camps here, and it is also possible to lure away some of the logs and pulpwood from Canada, and build furniture/toys from the lumber. There were also many cities to connect to.
As said in the other thread, my first choice of expansion was Canada, since I wanted a bit of a challenge, and I wanted to use the logging camps there soem more and it was on the way to the northeast. Money was good and it didnt take time until I had connected to Buffalo. i got my second and third point once lake Ontario was surrounded by tracks.
Then I expanded to the Midwest once the depression hit, since it meant low trackbuilding costs, and also updated some parts to double track. One trouble here is that the game had gone back to boom by 1934 or 1935, so maybe there should be a event that keeps the economy bad until 1940 or maybe even 1945, because a short depression is not as hard on thee railroad as a long one would be, the profits didn't really shrink until 1931.
Then I also connected to the upper south and converted all engines over 10 years to diesels before the WW2 got to US. Wow, my profit went from a few millions positive, to about 2.5M negative during the war years, and I had a few extra crashes (but the breakdown rating hadn't changed). A few suggestions here, my guess is that US mobilized a lot extra even before they actually entered WW2, and in that case, wouldn't it be a good idea that the engine prices increased more gradually from maybe 1938 and onward and that the cost of diesels rised more early than that of steam, especially since it seemed like you wanted the players to have a lot of older locos on the tracks instead a lot of new locos. A second idea would be to make the Kriegslok available and to make it cheap, or maybe instead just make a not so good NA engine cheaper, so that there would be an extra choice to whether to replace crashed engines with a good new engine or a cheap new engine.
Then I could buy into the Deep South a few years after the war, and an easy gold, but I can see that it would be a lot harder if you start in 1920 instead of in 1905, since I waited over 15 years to expand.
Edited to add:
While the game says that electric track should be a lot more expensive, it still seemed quite cheap to build, but in this case I stayed true to the game and only eventually electrified Detroit-Cleveland, Toronto-Syracuse and Columbus-Cincinnati (the last one was mostly to test the GG1). I thought that the EP-2 still had only ok acceleration, when you traveled with the train, despite saying Instant.
My favourite locos were:
Prairie (Cheap and fuel efficient and reasonable fast) the n P2 (Like a all-round cheaper version of the Northern) then Zephyr of reasonable flat ground (despite the table saying that the speed with 8 cars was about 45, there was no problem to get the speed up to 70-80) and thus only making the F3 a good choice in hillier terrains.
The northwest is a good starting place, my first track was Detroit to Toledo, which also later became my first electrified track. There is a lot of logging camps here, and it is also possible to lure away some of the logs and pulpwood from Canada, and build furniture/toys from the lumber. There were also many cities to connect to.
As said in the other thread, my first choice of expansion was Canada, since I wanted a bit of a challenge, and I wanted to use the logging camps there soem more and it was on the way to the northeast. Money was good and it didnt take time until I had connected to Buffalo. i got my second and third point once lake Ontario was surrounded by tracks.
Then I expanded to the Midwest once the depression hit, since it meant low trackbuilding costs, and also updated some parts to double track. One trouble here is that the game had gone back to boom by 1934 or 1935, so maybe there should be a event that keeps the economy bad until 1940 or maybe even 1945, because a short depression is not as hard on thee railroad as a long one would be, the profits didn't really shrink until 1931.
Then I also connected to the upper south and converted all engines over 10 years to diesels before the WW2 got to US. Wow, my profit went from a few millions positive, to about 2.5M negative during the war years, and I had a few extra crashes (but the breakdown rating hadn't changed). A few suggestions here, my guess is that US mobilized a lot extra even before they actually entered WW2, and in that case, wouldn't it be a good idea that the engine prices increased more gradually from maybe 1938 and onward and that the cost of diesels rised more early than that of steam, especially since it seemed like you wanted the players to have a lot of older locos on the tracks instead a lot of new locos. A second idea would be to make the Kriegslok available and to make it cheap, or maybe instead just make a not so good NA engine cheaper, so that there would be an extra choice to whether to replace crashed engines with a good new engine or a cheap new engine.
Then I could buy into the Deep South a few years after the war, and an easy gold, but I can see that it would be a lot harder if you start in 1920 instead of in 1905, since I waited over 15 years to expand.
Edited to add:
While the game says that electric track should be a lot more expensive, it still seemed quite cheap to build, but in this case I stayed true to the game and only eventually electrified Detroit-Cleveland, Toronto-Syracuse and Columbus-Cincinnati (the last one was mostly to test the GG1). I thought that the EP-2 still had only ok acceleration, when you traveled with the train, despite saying Instant.
My favourite locos were:
Prairie (Cheap and fuel efficient and reasonable fast) the n P2 (Like a all-round cheaper version of the Northern) then Zephyr of reasonable flat ground (despite the table saying that the speed with 8 cars was about 45, there was no problem to get the speed up to 70-80) and thus only making the F3 a good choice in hillier terrains.
I am glad you enjoyed the scenario and I appreciate your detailed comments.
I did limit the Great Depression effects to 7 years (1929 to 1936). If your company is healthy the economy can climb out of depression earlier. At first I let the Depression run until 1941, but this limited the economy (and the player's company) so severely that I cut it back. A long Depression, plus WW2, would keep the player bottled up for nearly 20 years. I was concerned that did not leave enough time to win by 1961. Historically, you are right - but this is one place I felt I had to bend history a bit to make the game work better. Just remember - no matter how hard you may have it, in real life the rialroads had it worse...
Not sure why trackbuilding cost would drop in the Depression. Did I read this correctly?
Before the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor the US was mobilizing, expanding the Army, Air Force and Navy plus selling to Britain. But there was so much surplus manufacturing capacity standing idle (because of the Depression) that there were no shortages. After Pearl Harbor the industrial machine kicked into high gear and the railroads got low priorities for materials. Some companies had planned to dieselize but kept on with steam instead, for this reason. In the game, the intent is to encourage the player to run his existing engines longer and replace the ones that crash with cheap, temporary expedients.
Laying new electric track is more expensive than usual. Electrification of existing track does not seem to cost as much as it should, and this is - as far as I know - a flaw in the basic game engine, as I have seen this happen in other scenarios. Electric accelleration is increased by event, but I agree with you that it is not 'instant'. Perhaps someone can tell me if 'pulling power' also needs to be improved? The GG1s are quite impressive... At one point I electrified Chicago to Pittsburg via Toledo and Cleveland, and wow!... those monsters really fly!
A principle reason for electrification is to reduce fuel cost. In my current game I dropped fuel cost from about 750k per year to about 250k by going all-electric.
I agree with your evaluation of the engines. The G5 and P2 are almost literally life-savers. I pay MUCH more attention to fuel and maintenance costs in this scenario, and those are economical engines. Electrification is expensive on a large scale, but the 2D2 is really cheap and efficient, the Bi-Polar is terrific in hills and the GG1 is blazingly fast.
I tend to use the Zephyr to replace any aging Atlantic or G5 types, the F3 to replace my Pacific or P2 engines.
Thank you again for your comments - most helpful!
I did limit the Great Depression effects to 7 years (1929 to 1936). If your company is healthy the economy can climb out of depression earlier. At first I let the Depression run until 1941, but this limited the economy (and the player's company) so severely that I cut it back. A long Depression, plus WW2, would keep the player bottled up for nearly 20 years. I was concerned that did not leave enough time to win by 1961. Historically, you are right - but this is one place I felt I had to bend history a bit to make the game work better. Just remember - no matter how hard you may have it, in real life the rialroads had it worse...
Not sure why trackbuilding cost would drop in the Depression. Did I read this correctly?
Before the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor the US was mobilizing, expanding the Army, Air Force and Navy plus selling to Britain. But there was so much surplus manufacturing capacity standing idle (because of the Depression) that there were no shortages. After Pearl Harbor the industrial machine kicked into high gear and the railroads got low priorities for materials. Some companies had planned to dieselize but kept on with steam instead, for this reason. In the game, the intent is to encourage the player to run his existing engines longer and replace the ones that crash with cheap, temporary expedients.
Laying new electric track is more expensive than usual. Electrification of existing track does not seem to cost as much as it should, and this is - as far as I know - a flaw in the basic game engine, as I have seen this happen in other scenarios. Electric accelleration is increased by event, but I agree with you that it is not 'instant'. Perhaps someone can tell me if 'pulling power' also needs to be improved? The GG1s are quite impressive... At one point I electrified Chicago to Pittsburg via Toledo and Cleveland, and wow!... those monsters really fly!
A principle reason for electrification is to reduce fuel cost. In my current game I dropped fuel cost from about 750k per year to about 250k by going all-electric.
I agree with your evaluation of the engines. The G5 and P2 are almost literally life-savers. I pay MUCH more attention to fuel and maintenance costs in this scenario, and those are economical engines. Electrification is expensive on a large scale, but the 2D2 is really cheap and efficient, the Bi-Polar is terrific in hills and the GG1 is blazingly fast.
I tend to use the Zephyr to replace any aging Atlantic or G5 types, the F3 to replace my Pacific or P2 engines.
Thank you again for your comments - most helpful!
The optimist proclaims we live in the best of all possible worlds; and the pessimist fears this is true." - James Branch Cabell
Review Of Farewell To Steam
I hope I am not being redundant by posting a review here since so much has been said about this scenario in the general discussion section so forgive me if I repeat what anyone else has already said.
First, I must say that this is an enjoyable scenario that can be played by both beginners and advanced players. There is enough differance between the easy and difficult levels that makes this so.
I played on both medium and expert and got the gold each time. On medium I started in 1900 in the northwestern region of the map. I managed to haul the first seventy five loads within eight years and won gold by 1947. On expert, I won gold by 1955. And you know me, I did it with ALL steam engines.
The methods that are used to take your money are varied and inventive. I started by investing in industry as soon as I could to provide income to cover the taxes, and other operating costs that build up over time.
I also liked the punitive nature of the government as they meddle in your company's business and punish you for your sucess. JUST like in real life.
To overcome this you must build industry, because your train revenue does not cover your expenses, especially after the Roaring Twenties.
I feel that the effects of the depression and both wars are effective without, destroying your company.
Overall this is a brilliantly executed scenario, (as are all of EPH"s) the only issues I had with it are the AI's which really don't have any purpose to the point or goals of the game. Since they can't buy industry they tend to get liquidated before it is all over, and their track provides a way to sort of cheat on your haulage goals since your loads taken to their stations count toward your victory points. The extra cost of running over their tracks is worth it if you don't have enough money to expand your own network after you have bought into a new territory.
Unlike others, I didn't have any problems with the game slowing down or crashing on me. It ran fine until I reached the medal on both games. I have an envidia game card and lots of extra memory on my computer so I guess that's why I didn't have any problems with the game slowing down.
The only other issue I had was some of the routes were difficult to build due to the roughness of the terrain, but that is the way the original map is laid out and has nothing to do with the scenario itself. I had a tough time crossing the mountains, but the challangers and big boys did a good job of getting stuff from here to there, even though they cost a lot to run.
I had a big advantage as I have the P-2, G-5 AND the NYC Hudson installed. The Hudson is quite the engine-I recommend everyone to add it to your roster. It is available in the extra content section with the other locomotives. I used all of these locomotives in the areas where they were best suited, much like most railroads did in the Steam Era.
Thank you EPH for providing us with another wonderful scenario to add to our collections. :D
First, I must say that this is an enjoyable scenario that can be played by both beginners and advanced players. There is enough differance between the easy and difficult levels that makes this so.
I played on both medium and expert and got the gold each time. On medium I started in 1900 in the northwestern region of the map. I managed to haul the first seventy five loads within eight years and won gold by 1947. On expert, I won gold by 1955. And you know me, I did it with ALL steam engines.
The methods that are used to take your money are varied and inventive. I started by investing in industry as soon as I could to provide income to cover the taxes, and other operating costs that build up over time.
I also liked the punitive nature of the government as they meddle in your company's business and punish you for your sucess. JUST like in real life.
To overcome this you must build industry, because your train revenue does not cover your expenses, especially after the Roaring Twenties.
I feel that the effects of the depression and both wars are effective without, destroying your company.
Overall this is a brilliantly executed scenario, (as are all of EPH"s) the only issues I had with it are the AI's which really don't have any purpose to the point or goals of the game. Since they can't buy industry they tend to get liquidated before it is all over, and their track provides a way to sort of cheat on your haulage goals since your loads taken to their stations count toward your victory points. The extra cost of running over their tracks is worth it if you don't have enough money to expand your own network after you have bought into a new territory.
Unlike others, I didn't have any problems with the game slowing down or crashing on me. It ran fine until I reached the medal on both games. I have an envidia game card and lots of extra memory on my computer so I guess that's why I didn't have any problems with the game slowing down.
The only other issue I had was some of the routes were difficult to build due to the roughness of the terrain, but that is the way the original map is laid out and has nothing to do with the scenario itself. I had a tough time crossing the mountains, but the challangers and big boys did a good job of getting stuff from here to there, even though they cost a lot to run.
I had a big advantage as I have the P-2, G-5 AND the NYC Hudson installed. The Hudson is quite the engine-I recommend everyone to add it to your roster. It is available in the extra content section with the other locomotives. I used all of these locomotives in the areas where they were best suited, much like most railroads did in the Steam Era.
Thank you EPH for providing us with another wonderful scenario to add to our collections. :D
Thank you for the kind words!
I did intend this one to be as easy - or as hard - as you want it to be. Where you start has a lot to do with how difficult the game can be. Since the game ends no later than 1961, starting 5 or 10 years earlier makes it easier; starting 5 or 10 years later makes the game MUCH harder. If someone can start in 1920 and win at the harder settings, then my most sincere congratulations to you!
Industry does help your bottom line, and I agree that the AI's inability to purchase industry is a major problem for them. Allowing the human player to buy (rather than build) industry made the game vastly easier, and frankly it seemed unrealistic - the Union Pacific never owned US Steel or General Motors as far as I know. :) If anyone can suggest a better solution I would be most grateful; William has pointed out a critical issue.
The other major purpose for AIs - mergers - had to be blocked, as a single merger would give the human player $30 million-plus dollars worth of free access. So William is quite correct to say the Ais serve little purpose save to move some cargo, buy your stock and block your easy access to cities. :)
William is too polite to say that the methods of taking your money are numerous as well. :P This is malice a-forethought, as the lawyers say. Just keeping the wheels turning is sometimes a challenge... which is just what I wanted. I have never had to watch my fuel and maintenance costs so carefully!
Overall I think the best quality of this one is the replay value. Starting in the Upper South is very different from starting in New York, and the issues - and challenges - are very different in each area.
I agree with William that the P-2 and G-5 are almost literally lifesavers, and you can get a lot of value from some electric routes, too (like that hilly Pilly to Pittsburgh run). I don't have the Hudson, but I'm going to go download it now! Here's a big 'THANK YOU!' to the engine modders!
Thanks William! And if you, or anyone, has improvements and suggestions to offer I will be glad to hear them.
I did intend this one to be as easy - or as hard - as you want it to be. Where you start has a lot to do with how difficult the game can be. Since the game ends no later than 1961, starting 5 or 10 years earlier makes it easier; starting 5 or 10 years later makes the game MUCH harder. If someone can start in 1920 and win at the harder settings, then my most sincere congratulations to you!
Industry does help your bottom line, and I agree that the AI's inability to purchase industry is a major problem for them. Allowing the human player to buy (rather than build) industry made the game vastly easier, and frankly it seemed unrealistic - the Union Pacific never owned US Steel or General Motors as far as I know. :) If anyone can suggest a better solution I would be most grateful; William has pointed out a critical issue.
The other major purpose for AIs - mergers - had to be blocked, as a single merger would give the human player $30 million-plus dollars worth of free access. So William is quite correct to say the Ais serve little purpose save to move some cargo, buy your stock and block your easy access to cities. :)
William is too polite to say that the methods of taking your money are numerous as well. :P This is malice a-forethought, as the lawyers say. Just keeping the wheels turning is sometimes a challenge... which is just what I wanted. I have never had to watch my fuel and maintenance costs so carefully!
Overall I think the best quality of this one is the replay value. Starting in the Upper South is very different from starting in New York, and the issues - and challenges - are very different in each area.
I agree with William that the P-2 and G-5 are almost literally lifesavers, and you can get a lot of value from some electric routes, too (like that hilly Pilly to Pittsburgh run). I don't have the Hudson, but I'm going to go download it now! Here's a big 'THANK YOU!' to the engine modders!
Thanks William! And if you, or anyone, has improvements and suggestions to offer I will be glad to hear them.
The optimist proclaims we live in the best of all possible worlds; and the pessimist fears this is true." - James Branch Cabell
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Wolverine@MSU
- CEO
- Posts: 1166
- Joined: Fri Nov 10, 2006 2:14 pm
- Location: East Lansing, MI
Played this one last night and this morning. I started with the default date in Canada. There were a couple of logging camps about midway between Toronto and London, so I built a Lumber Mill and Paper Mill there and shipped to Toronto and London for a year or two. There were a couple of dairy farms over toward Buffalo that I could capture with a large station, so I built a spur line there and sent the milk to London, where I built a Dairy Processor. As demand for lumber waned in Toronto and London, I built a Furniture Factory in Toronto, and extended the London line to the Detroit River where I built a Toy Factory. My station there was able to overlap a little with Detroit, so I got some of the cargoes shipped there by the AI.
My next foray was into Northeast US where I connected Buffalo and Rochester, then on to Albany and eventually New York and down to Philadelphia and Baltimore. Profits were rolling in, so in a few years I expanded west and connected Detroit and Toledo, eventually making it across to Chicago and Milwaukee. Slowly worked my way to Cleveland, Pittsburgh and then Columbus and Cincinnati, then from Chicago, down to Springfield and St. Louis. There was lots of oil hanging around St. Louis, and the Oil Refinery I built there paid for itself in a few years. Finally pushed into the South and connected to Richmond and points south in the East and into Kentucky/Tennesee from Cincinnati.
The economy behaved itself very well. After dabbling a little in the stock market, watching my stock value skyrocket, I eventually sold enough to get out of the red and then issued two rounds of stock at the beginning of each year. This provided much needed rights-purchasing cash. Didn't bother with the AIs since they couldn't be bought out anyway. They also didn't hinder station placement much at all. I was able to get full city coverage with large stations in all the big cities that the AIs had stations.
I got the gold toward the end of 1930, but would have had it a bit earlier if access rights cost hadn't gone up so much. All in all a pretty intersting scenario, with very good replayability. I'll have to try starting in different territories and see how things play out. Never got far enough to need diesels, so stick mostly with Atlantics at first, then Pacifics and later, Mountains and a few Northerns at the end.
My next foray was into Northeast US where I connected Buffalo and Rochester, then on to Albany and eventually New York and down to Philadelphia and Baltimore. Profits were rolling in, so in a few years I expanded west and connected Detroit and Toledo, eventually making it across to Chicago and Milwaukee. Slowly worked my way to Cleveland, Pittsburgh and then Columbus and Cincinnati, then from Chicago, down to Springfield and St. Louis. There was lots of oil hanging around St. Louis, and the Oil Refinery I built there paid for itself in a few years. Finally pushed into the South and connected to Richmond and points south in the East and into Kentucky/Tennesee from Cincinnati.
The economy behaved itself very well. After dabbling a little in the stock market, watching my stock value skyrocket, I eventually sold enough to get out of the red and then issued two rounds of stock at the beginning of each year. This provided much needed rights-purchasing cash. Didn't bother with the AIs since they couldn't be bought out anyway. They also didn't hinder station placement much at all. I was able to get full city coverage with large stations in all the big cities that the AIs had stations.
I got the gold toward the end of 1930, but would have had it a bit earlier if access rights cost hadn't gone up so much. All in all a pretty intersting scenario, with very good replayability. I'll have to try starting in different territories and see how things play out. Never got far enough to need diesels, so stick mostly with Atlantics at first, then Pacifics and later, Mountains and a few Northerns at the end.
The key difference between your play and mine seems to be that I don't ever issue stock. As you say that probably gave you the extra cash to keep growing quickly. Since issuing stock is not a habit of mine I didn't realize how attractive and profitable it would be in this scenario, where company control is of low criticality. Would you recommend restricting it or leaving it as-is?
The Upper South is (I think) the hardest place to start and Canada (oddly enough) is one of the best. The Northwest and Northeast don't have a lot of resources but do have some good-sized cities. The Deep South and the Tidewater have plenty of resources for industry. The Midwest is hard because you get less cash to start. This is one of the few scenarios where a Cleveland-Buffalo-Albany-New York line is quite valuable.
How did the 'split cities' like Toledo and Washington DC work for you?
I am glad you enjoyed the game and I do hope it has good replay value. I've found it to be different each time I've played, no matter where I started. Thank you for the tips... I'm going to play this one again soon myself.
The Upper South is (I think) the hardest place to start and Canada (oddly enough) is one of the best. The Northwest and Northeast don't have a lot of resources but do have some good-sized cities. The Deep South and the Tidewater have plenty of resources for industry. The Midwest is hard because you get less cash to start. This is one of the few scenarios where a Cleveland-Buffalo-Albany-New York line is quite valuable.
How did the 'split cities' like Toledo and Washington DC work for you?
I am glad you enjoyed the game and I do hope it has good replay value. I've found it to be different each time I've played, no matter where I started. Thank you for the tips... I'm going to play this one again soon myself.
The optimist proclaims we live in the best of all possible worlds; and the pessimist fears this is true." - James Branch Cabell
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Wolverine@MSU
- CEO
- Posts: 1166
- Joined: Fri Nov 10, 2006 2:14 pm
- Location: East Lansing, MI
One way to keep stock issues under control, without absolutely preventing them, is to have PNW as a medal goal. This would have the added advantage of making investment in AIs, and helping them to prosper, a worthwhile cause. Of course, preventing stock issueance would slow down growth, but it would limit strategies for success. I like scenarios where there are several ways to "skin the cat". You have to keep the "no mergers" to prevent easy territory access, but one can help an AI in many ways, especially if it results in money in your own pocket. Since the AIs don't pose much of a hinderance to making the hauling goals, they don't really do much in the scenario right now. Bringing them into play would open up new strategies. Perhaps another way to slow things down a bit, and I don't know if it's possible to script events to do it, would be to not allow expansion into another territory until the load hauling requirements have been met in the current territory. The idea being that until you prove yourself in one territory, you won't be able to expand to the next; although the high price of access rights does this somewhat as it is.
Split cities are just fine. It's nice to be able to build a station that has at least partial coverage in a split city, and then get full coverage when you buy into that territory.
Split cities are just fine. It's nice to be able to build a station that has at least partial coverage in a split city, and then get full coverage when you buy into that territory.
Re: Farewell to Steam
Wow, I just played this one for the first time. Maybe I just made some bad decisions or maybe it was just bad run of luck on the economy but I had a really hard time. It runs 50 years which is cool, and there's a creative idea about winning points in different territories. And about 30 years in (around 1941) things were going great. In fact I thought it would be too easy to get the Gold on Expert. Well then the WWII activty starts and the economy tanks. At that point I was clearing about 2,000K+ profit a year and had achieved the goals in 3 territories. Then I had 9 (NINE!) straight years of depression/recession. Each year had negative cash flow/profit. So bad that by the end of it I had a negative $6,000K+ in cash!! It totally handicapped me. I had no way to make back the cash enough for any type of capital improvement. Once the economy recovered I let things run just to see how long it took for me to get back into the red. Finally had a year where I cleared $1,000k, but then the next year, during prosperity, I was in the red again. Finally stopped in 1953 b/c I had no shot at achieving anything.
Is that 9 year downturn planned or was it just bad luck? And did I run that bad of a railroad?? I dont see anything else on the board about this scenario so maybe people dont have alot of experience.
Is that 9 year downturn planned or was it just bad luck? And did I run that bad of a railroad?? I dont see anything else on the board about this scenario so maybe people dont have alot of experience.
Re: Farewell to Steam
Wolverine - The 'split cities' were a compromise to allow the player some access to critical areas at the boundary between the territories. My only regrets as a player are that there aren't more of them ( 
) and that the 'split' sometimes runs the wrong way.
As you surmise I eliminated stock market play from this scenario because buying up one AI company would instantly give the player access to all regions. I did not include a PNW qualification for medal because I find that is usually an easy goal to get: wait to the last second, buy stock like wild and take the medal before the inevitable collapse and crash.
bmheron - I'm really sorry that turned out badly for you. The economic 'hit' from the Great Crash of 1929 is severe but usually lets up by the mid-thirties (an event crashes the economy but it recovers on its own). The scenario models some of what really happened in World War 1 and 2 with tight governmental controls over transport and very few resources allocated for locomotives, track or labor - that's why locos are so pricey during those times. I think the 50% production limitation in industries during WW2is the worst hit - I can usually just let trains crash from 1941 to 1945, or buy a 'cheap' loco to get me through - but the industrial slowdown hits me right in the pocketbook. It models the diversion of production from consumer goods to military needs. Usually I find there is enough freight and passenger traffic to carry my company through to 1945.
From a design standpoint, the increases in overhead and decreases in freight rates occur as you get into more territories and are intended to slow the player down and keep the scenario interesting into the middle 1950's. I have had a recent game of this that went bad in the same way you describe: massive depressions during WW2 got me fired before the war was over. I confess I didn't enjoy that a bit... but that is one time out of many. The only event-driven depression comes in 1929, and no, nine years of depression is not something I would wish on anyone - especially not when I want people to enjoy playing this one, not flee in terror!
The basic idea behind this one is to motivate the player to fully develop the rail and industry in a region before moving on. Once you get past WW2 you can usually just buy access, run track and deliver the loads for the points.
A good 'rule of thumb' is to look at being in your third region before WW2 hits (as you were), have your bonds paid off, have a good bit of industry and keep your locos replaced in a timely manner to limit crashes. You don't say where you started, but I think it doesn't matter that much really - I've had victories from every starting position. Industry is easier to build in the deep south, old northwest and tidewater south; Canada, the upper south and the Mid-West are probably the hardest ones to get going.
I do hope you will give this one another try. If you run into another long series of depressions, or have any comments or suggestions, let me know and I can tinker with it. I'm not sure why this one never got a lot of discussion and have never known if it gets played or not. It is one of my favorites to play because the choice of many starting positions gives it a lot of replay value.
) and that the 'split' sometimes runs the wrong way.As you surmise I eliminated stock market play from this scenario because buying up one AI company would instantly give the player access to all regions. I did not include a PNW qualification for medal because I find that is usually an easy goal to get: wait to the last second, buy stock like wild and take the medal before the inevitable collapse and crash.
bmheron - I'm really sorry that turned out badly for you. The economic 'hit' from the Great Crash of 1929 is severe but usually lets up by the mid-thirties (an event crashes the economy but it recovers on its own). The scenario models some of what really happened in World War 1 and 2 with tight governmental controls over transport and very few resources allocated for locomotives, track or labor - that's why locos are so pricey during those times. I think the 50% production limitation in industries during WW2is the worst hit - I can usually just let trains crash from 1941 to 1945, or buy a 'cheap' loco to get me through - but the industrial slowdown hits me right in the pocketbook. It models the diversion of production from consumer goods to military needs. Usually I find there is enough freight and passenger traffic to carry my company through to 1945.
From a design standpoint, the increases in overhead and decreases in freight rates occur as you get into more territories and are intended to slow the player down and keep the scenario interesting into the middle 1950's. I have had a recent game of this that went bad in the same way you describe: massive depressions during WW2 got me fired before the war was over. I confess I didn't enjoy that a bit... but that is one time out of many. The only event-driven depression comes in 1929, and no, nine years of depression is not something I would wish on anyone - especially not when I want people to enjoy playing this one, not flee in terror!
The basic idea behind this one is to motivate the player to fully develop the rail and industry in a region before moving on. Once you get past WW2 you can usually just buy access, run track and deliver the loads for the points.
A good 'rule of thumb' is to look at being in your third region before WW2 hits (as you were), have your bonds paid off, have a good bit of industry and keep your locos replaced in a timely manner to limit crashes. You don't say where you started, but I think it doesn't matter that much really - I've had victories from every starting position. Industry is easier to build in the deep south, old northwest and tidewater south; Canada, the upper south and the Mid-West are probably the hardest ones to get going.
I do hope you will give this one another try. If you run into another long series of depressions, or have any comments or suggestions, let me know and I can tinker with it. I'm not sure why this one never got a lot of discussion and have never known if it gets played or not. It is one of my favorites to play because the choice of many starting positions gives it a lot of replay value.
The optimist proclaims we live in the best of all possible worlds; and the pessimist fears this is true." - James Branch Cabell
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Wolverine@MSU
- CEO
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Re: Farewell to Steam
Glad to see you back again EPH 
Re: Farewell to Steam
I decided to give this one another go, as I have not played it in years. This time, I decided to see how fast I could get the Gold if I pulled out all the stops. On Expert, I started in 1900 , creating a Company with maximum investor input, choosing the Northwest territory. I then purchased as many shares on margin as I could, and then took out the Bond and bought back all of the stock I could. Why? Because, although you can only start one company, and not merge with companies, you do have the option of changing Chairmanships. The expensive territories can be obtained this way right at the start. By jumping over to an AI created Company, you get access to the 5 Territories other than the one you chose for your Company. After I sold my inflated shares, I then resigned from the Company, and short sold as many shares as I could. After hitting run for a moment the stock plummeted to zero, and I "Purchased" the outstanding short sold stocks, giving me ~$1.4 Million. I then let the game run and bought into the first AI company in April, which turned out to be from Norfolk to Raleigh. I invested in industry almost exclusively for about 5 years, issuing stock twice every year. At this point I had managed to acquire the full $10 Million Bond debt, and began expanding my rail network. By 1919 I had reached the 75 loads in the 5 territories I had access to, and the Gold Medal was granted! I suspect that the events were counting the loads in the territory I had chose with my initial Company, even though they were being hauled by AI's and did not show in the ledger. I decided to go ahead and keep going until I reached the intended Medal qualifications. I bought into the Northwest Territory and managed to hit the 75 load quota the next year.
All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing.
Edmund Burke
Re: Farewell to Steam
I have to admit that your tycoonage skills defeated everything I wanted to keep a player from doing...
The optimist proclaims we live in the best of all possible worlds; and the pessimist fears this is true." - James Branch Cabell
Re: Farewell to Steam
On the upside, this is a great scenario , and was fairly hard to crack. I played this without using Robber Baron tactics my first times a few years back, and it is well constructed and a lot of fun.EPH wrote:I have to admit that your tycoonage skills defeated everything I wanted to keep a player from doing...
P.S: I just have to play any map that includes Saginaw. Yes, "I was born.... in Saginaw, Michigan...."
All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing.
Edmund Burke
Re: Farewell to Steam
I'm glad you enjoyed it - as I've said before, I think making the player build up a territory before moving on is interesting and fun. If I had it to do over, I'd probably add more requirements to make it harder to get the 'point' for each territory. And I would definitely eliminate getting fired or resigning a chairmanship.
I like Michigan, in a railroading sense. Lots of raw materials and easy access to population centers in Chicago, Detroit and Toledo.
I like Michigan, in a railroading sense. Lots of raw materials and easy access to population centers in Chicago, Detroit and Toledo.
The optimist proclaims we live in the best of all possible worlds; and the pessimist fears this is true." - James Branch Cabell
Re: Farewell to Steam
I finally finished my attempt at this scenario. I started it weeks ago and never got around to finishing it until today. I didn't play the best as I was working at the same time the scenario was running. But it didn't really require a lot of micromanaging so it was possible to multitask.
I started on the default date and in Canada and connected a lumber mill and Toronto, then spread out to Kingston and London. I built a Toy Factory and Furniture factory to take advantage of all the lumber. I also built a dairy processor in the area before expanding to the Northwest. Where I connected Saginaw and Detroit and connected to the AI's track.
I then bought into the Midwest and connected Toledo, Columbus, Cleveland, and Pittsburg and built a tool & die in Pittsburg. I around this time I also connected Chicago (and later connected Madison and Milwaukee and the AI's around there). Then I bought into the Northeast and connected Kingston to Watertown to Syracuse. I went as far east as Albany. I thought of going through the hills/mountaints to get to New York but decided it wasn't worth the effort as it wouldn't be necessary for the 75 loads requirement.
Finally I bought into the Upper South and Deep South a couple years or so after that and finished the scenario in the mid-to-late 1930s.
Overall it was a fun scenario that didn't really require micromanaging. Once the company is raking in the money it seems like there's no slowing it down. Maybe during the war it would have been more difficult. Like Wolverine, I issued stock as needed which could provide a large amount of cash and help speed up expansion. I also connected frequently to the AI's track so they would run on my lines. Towards the end of the scenario I was making 1-1.5 million a year just from the fees of the AI running on my track. That probably means I could have been running a lot more of my own trains as I only had 40 trains, but I didn't mind much as it was easy money for me and I didn't have to worry about a lot more of my trains causing congestion on my tracks as well as all the associated expenses.
I think Wolverine's suggestion of not allowing another territory to open up until the 75 loads are shipped in the current territory could add some difficulty, and when an event raises the price of a territory you are now stuck paying that higher price. I know there was a time I bought into a couple territories, before the prices rose. Also preventing or reducing the amount of stock a person can issue would slow expansion.
I'm also not sure how effective the -10% cargo price events are. I had to look in the editor to figure out what the newspaper meant when it mentioned the 10%. I suppose it may reduce the profits slightly. It might be more effective to reduce the production cargoes 10% rather than all cargoes. If furniture/goods/toys/etc are less expensive, the profits won't be as great at the industries. But if all cargoes are reduced in price 10%, then the raw materials are cheaper too so the impact of the lower overall prices isn't as great as if only the final cargo was reduced in price.
But it didn't really require a lot of micromanaging so it was possible to multitask.I started on the default date and in Canada and connected a lumber mill and Toronto, then spread out to Kingston and London. I built a Toy Factory and Furniture factory to take advantage of all the lumber. I also built a dairy processor in the area before expanding to the Northwest. Where I connected Saginaw and Detroit and connected to the AI's track.
I then bought into the Midwest and connected Toledo, Columbus, Cleveland, and Pittsburg and built a tool & die in Pittsburg. I around this time I also connected Chicago (and later connected Madison and Milwaukee and the AI's around there). Then I bought into the Northeast and connected Kingston to Watertown to Syracuse. I went as far east as Albany. I thought of going through the hills/mountaints to get to New York but decided it wasn't worth the effort as it wouldn't be necessary for the 75 loads requirement.
Finally I bought into the Upper South and Deep South a couple years or so after that and finished the scenario in the mid-to-late 1930s.
Overall it was a fun scenario that didn't really require micromanaging. Once the company is raking in the money it seems like there's no slowing it down. Maybe during the war it would have been more difficult. Like Wolverine, I issued stock as needed which could provide a large amount of cash and help speed up expansion. I also connected frequently to the AI's track so they would run on my lines. Towards the end of the scenario I was making 1-1.5 million a year just from the fees of the AI running on my track. That probably means I could have been running a lot more of my own trains as I only had 40 trains, but I didn't mind much as it was easy money for me and I didn't have to worry about a lot more of my trains causing congestion on my tracks as well as all the associated expenses.
I think Wolverine's suggestion of not allowing another territory to open up until the 75 loads are shipped in the current territory could add some difficulty, and when an event raises the price of a territory you are now stuck paying that higher price. I know there was a time I bought into a couple territories, before the prices rose. Also preventing or reducing the amount of stock a person can issue would slow expansion.
I'm also not sure how effective the -10% cargo price events are. I had to look in the editor to figure out what the newspaper meant when it mentioned the 10%. I suppose it may reduce the profits slightly. It might be more effective to reduce the production cargoes 10% rather than all cargoes. If furniture/goods/toys/etc are less expensive, the profits won't be as great at the industries. But if all cargoes are reduced in price 10%, then the raw materials are cheaper too so the impact of the lower overall prices isn't as great as if only the final cargo was reduced in price.
Re: Farewell to Steam
Reducing the amount of money received for hauling cargo is a tricky thing. 5% rate reduction isn't just 5% of net, but 5% of gross - and other events bump up your cost of operation (income tax, worker pay). After you lose the initial bump (for hauling 75 in the first territory) then you get hit again and again: 5% or 10% may not seem like much but when added up the hits can sting. The intent, of course, was to slow down the cascade of money that develops in the later stages of most scenarios. I agree with you that more is probably needed along that line so long as it is proportionate to revenue.
I have to say that if I were going to re-do the scenario now I would adopt the idea of eliminating expansion until load requirements were met... and I would bump up that requirement and maybe add an individual, specific haulage or industry profit goal for each region. As you found, a mix of industry and transport makes for a highly profitable company and there isn't much to do during WW2 except pile up cash and buy access to other regions.
One of my goals was to make a scenario where you could set up a region and then pretty much put it on autopilot, turning your attention to new territories. I'm with you in not liking a lot of micro-management.
I'm glad you enjoyed the scenario. Try starting in the Upper South region... Canada is a challenging start, but 75 loads isn't a lot given that you can connect to Buffalo.
I have to say that if I were going to re-do the scenario now I would adopt the idea of eliminating expansion until load requirements were met... and I would bump up that requirement and maybe add an individual, specific haulage or industry profit goal for each region. As you found, a mix of industry and transport makes for a highly profitable company and there isn't much to do during WW2 except pile up cash and buy access to other regions.
One of my goals was to make a scenario where you could set up a region and then pretty much put it on autopilot, turning your attention to new territories. I'm with you in not liking a lot of micro-management.
I'm glad you enjoyed the scenario. Try starting in the Upper South region... Canada is a challenging start, but 75 loads isn't a lot given that you can connect to Buffalo.
The optimist proclaims we live in the best of all possible worlds; and the pessimist fears this is true." - James Branch Cabell
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RulerofRails
- CEO
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Re: Review Of Farewell To Steam
Well, 3 years later I bump this again, to report that I finally got around to playing it. A bit embarrassing really. I tend to delve deep into one map at a time, meant to play this long ago, but that's history now. Also, I now do this. Summary is: restart the map from the Main Menu, to get better seeding randomness. Since I figured this out, my replayability is up by a mile. 
The story of my play, was that I didn't come and read this first. So started on the default 1910. Figured to increase the AI to the maximum not realizing that this may actually make the game easier. I started in Canada as that was indicated as the hardest start. Fully extended rails first, including Detroit with Large Station on the Canadian side of the river. Had enough for a Paper Mill, but profits in the first year were not so good. Should have went straight for a Lumber Mill. Eventually built the Lumber Mill, then a Toy Factory. That was it for industries (apart from Hotels). Never issued stock.
I also followed the suggested idea (without knowing about it) where one can only expand to a new territory AFTER fulfilling the 75 loads in the previous. My expansion went Canada-Northwest-Midwest-Upper South-Deep South-Southeast. So basically a giant C around the edge of the map. Made some mistakes, still good enough for a medal in late 1933.
Personal restrictions:
No countryside stations. Only 4 places where I connected to the AI did I build my own station (Toledo, didn't have access to Midwest; Lexington, wanted to capture Steel from only properly functioning mill; Dyersburg and Chesapeake, AI had only built small stations). Used all steamers in a default 1.05 install, so no custom engines. Bought 2 Consolidations before they disappeared (1912), then Atlantics, followed by the H10 as soon as it appeared. Ended up with 40 engines.
I don't have a good reason to post except hopefully to give the author, an idea of the way in which I enjoyed his creation. This type of game reminds me of the reason why I still love this game. Great strategy.
In the moment, I had a couple of points where I was considering biting the bullet and building some industry mid-game, especially an Auto Plant and perhaps an Aluminum Mill. Even after playing and reading the reviews, I don't know if this would have allowed a faster medal or not (bungled start aside). My current thinking is that I should have industrialized a little more in the early game, but I think I arrived at the party too late.
The point is that even after some reflection, I'm not 100% sure on ideal strategy. That a game about making money and a skilled map maker can enable play environments like this is fantastic! Will definitely play again.
The story of my play, was that I didn't come and read this first. So started on the default 1910. Figured to increase the AI to the maximum not realizing that this may actually make the game easier. I started in Canada as that was indicated as the hardest start. Fully extended rails first, including Detroit with Large Station on the Canadian side of the river. Had enough for a Paper Mill, but profits in the first year were not so good. Should have went straight for a Lumber Mill. Eventually built the Lumber Mill, then a Toy Factory. That was it for industries (apart from Hotels). Never issued stock.
I also followed the suggested idea (without knowing about it) where one can only expand to a new territory AFTER fulfilling the 75 loads in the previous. My expansion went Canada-Northwest-Midwest-Upper South-Deep South-Southeast. So basically a giant C around the edge of the map. Made some mistakes, still good enough for a medal in late 1933.
No countryside stations. Only 4 places where I connected to the AI did I build my own station (Toledo, didn't have access to Midwest; Lexington, wanted to capture Steel from only properly functioning mill; Dyersburg and Chesapeake, AI had only built small stations). Used all steamers in a default 1.05 install, so no custom engines. Bought 2 Consolidations before they disappeared (1912), then Atlantics, followed by the H10 as soon as it appeared. Ended up with 40 engines.
I don't have a good reason to post except hopefully to give the author, an idea of the way in which I enjoyed his creation. This type of game reminds me of the reason why I still love this game. Great strategy.
In the moment, I had a couple of points where I was considering biting the bullet and building some industry mid-game, especially an Auto Plant and perhaps an Aluminum Mill. Even after playing and reading the reviews, I don't know if this would have allowed a faster medal or not (bungled start aside). My current thinking is that I should have industrialized a little more in the early game, but I think I arrived at the party too late.
The point is that even after some reflection, I'm not 100% sure on ideal strategy. That a game about making money and a skilled map maker can enable play environments like this is fantastic! Will definitely play again.