Caucasus
Tbilisi is in Georgia, actually the largest city of the Caucasus (I think), but I dont know, sometimes it is spelt Tblisi or Tbilisi, its hard since they use a different alphabet there.
I am glad it is running on other computers. But the problem I also have too, even on other maps not just my own, is AI companies dont want to start. (I know also on Scandinavia, Iceland, and Europe they dont start). I dont get it. :S Its fun playing with AI's, and its a good strategy if they connect to the cities you are suppose to connect in, then just use their tracks :)
I am glad it is running on other computers. But the problem I also have too, even on other maps not just my own, is AI companies dont want to start. (I know also on Scandinavia, Iceland, and Europe they dont start). I dont get it. :S Its fun playing with AI's, and its a good strategy if they connect to the cities you are suppose to connect in, then just use their tracks :)
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belbincolne
- Engineer
- Posts: 526
- Joined: Thu Nov 30, 2006 7:28 am
- Location: Colne, England
Well this now plays perfectly with no crashes. However I connected the four towns needed for Bronze and the Almanac says I haven't (and no I haven't made an error all are quite definitely connected). Cost $7m to get over to the last one! I'm also way over the loads requirements for Gold and PNW for Silver with 20 years to go. Unfortunately although I'm making a fortune (Oil trains are bringing in $200k or so a journey - but they take 2 years to arrive!) the stock market has taken a ridiculous dive and my share price has halved and although (theoretically) I only need sell 1 share to get me back in the black I've been sold off entirely so it looks like its back to the beginning.
Well, I gave this one a shot - and it does play fine now, no more crashing.
I started up in the northeast, I think the city is called Atyrau? There's an awful lot of diesel and oil up there, that's all I know. Unfortunately...I couldn't quite make it out of that region. There just aren't enough cities nearby, it cost too much to get to more than 5 or 6, and I wasn't making enough per train to build up enough money to buy access to any other territories.
This map is interesting because it's a region I've never seen before, but also because it really forces me to run trains...typically I lean towards industry at the beginning of every map, then once I have enough industry income I start running trains. In this one, I really couldn't find any industry that would support me, so I had to run trains from the very beginning.
I think I'm going to try again and pick Russia instead of Khazakhstan as my starting territory. We'll see how it goes.
I started up in the northeast, I think the city is called Atyrau? There's an awful lot of diesel and oil up there, that's all I know. Unfortunately...I couldn't quite make it out of that region. There just aren't enough cities nearby, it cost too much to get to more than 5 or 6, and I wasn't making enough per train to build up enough money to buy access to any other territories.
This map is interesting because it's a region I've never seen before, but also because it really forces me to run trains...typically I lean towards industry at the beginning of every map, then once I have enough industry income I start running trains. In this one, I really couldn't find any industry that would support me, so I had to run trains from the very beginning.
I think I'm going to try again and pick Russia instead of Khazakhstan as my starting territory. We'll see how it goes.
I also wanted to point out I am happy to meet other people who also play RRT3. I thought I was the only one in the world who still plays it. I tried Railroads but I played it 2 minutes and I was disgusted, so I switched back to RRT3 :) so yea its nice to meet other players, especially around the world like UK, USA and so on ^^
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belbincolne
- Engineer
- Posts: 526
- Joined: Thu Nov 30, 2006 7:28 am
- Location: Colne, England
Yes and we're glad to meet a new map maker too - even if it is a b.... hard one :D Having lost out on PNW on my last few tries I'm now playing again - but like an idiot I switched to Expert - now that really does reduce your income hauling oil/diesel - train loads seem to be worth about 50% of what they were on Normal. Has anyone else a problem with the first 4 connected twons not being recognised?
On my second try I started in Russia and WOW what a difference. I was able to buy some industry early (textile mill, uranium mine, and something else) and with those profits plus a couple of bonds I was able to build an oil refinery on the coast...and that turned out to be an excellent idea.
I have now built about 5 and they're all making around $1,000,000 per year. I expect to really start building track after another couple of years of profit-making.
I can't answer the connection question yet, because I have only connected one of the towns. But I'll let you know.
None of the AI players has started a company, which is a bit odd - they are content to just buy stock in my company and ride my coattails. :)
I have now built about 5 and they're all making around $1,000,000 per year. I expect to really start building track after another couple of years of profit-making.
I can't answer the connection question yet, because I have only connected one of the towns. But I'll let you know.
None of the AI players has started a company, which is a bit odd - they are content to just buy stock in my company and ride my coattails. :)
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belbincolne
- Engineer
- Posts: 526
- Joined: Thu Nov 30, 2006 7:28 am
- Location: Colne, England
This raises an interesting point - as your choice of countries comes up right at the start of the scenario and before you can look for where there are any commodoties (or even where the countries are if your geography is as bad as mine) the first time you play you have to make a blind guess and as Russia is pre-selected it seems natural to go for it - so why chose elsewhere?
There's several scenarios where this applies (and in some of them the distribution is more random than it is here) and it always annoys me that you have to make a critical decision blind.
Now this could be another new thread too :) :? 8) (See Crystal Cotton!)
There's several scenarios where this applies (and in some of them the distribution is more random than it is here) and it always annoys me that you have to make a critical decision blind.
Now this could be another new thread too :) :? 8) (See Crystal Cotton!)
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Wolverine@MSU
- CEO
- Posts: 1166
- Joined: Fri Nov 10, 2006 2:14 pm
- Location: East Lansing, MI
I'm just about done with this one and have a couple of comments:
The map is wonderful. The terrain scaling is just right, no soaring mountains, but enough rugged terrain in the south to challence the tracklayer.
I know the object is oil, but it seems to be a bit over the top in oil supply. I'm making close to $2 million/year on the Oil Refineries I've built in Baku.
It does help to have it concentrated though, as Diesel hauling is very lucrative.
Other commodities, such as logs, iron, wool etc. seem to be somewhat underrepresented. A little more balance in available cargoes would only help in my opinion.
The last one is somewhat of a personal taste thing. In most of the major cities, there's nowhere to put a station!!!. The buildings are packed in so close that in some cases I've had to buldoze them in order to place a station. In fact in some, it was possible to have the city "Connected" only when placing even a large station on the outskirts of town, with its footprint covering a very small portion of the city. Perhaps cutting back on the number of "pre-placed" buildings in these cities would allow better station placement.
I like the idea about having to connect widely distant cities to get the Gold. The haulage requirements are easily met due to the huge abundance of oil and diesel. It would be nice to have a little more historical context; perhaps starting a decade or two earlier, with the incorporation of some historical events, like Chernobyl. Since the game can go for 45 years, you could be creative in the "historical" events that might occur in the future.
The map is wonderful. The terrain scaling is just right, no soaring mountains, but enough rugged terrain in the south to challence the tracklayer.
I know the object is oil, but it seems to be a bit over the top in oil supply. I'm making close to $2 million/year on the Oil Refineries I've built in Baku.
It does help to have it concentrated though, as Diesel hauling is very lucrative.
Other commodities, such as logs, iron, wool etc. seem to be somewhat underrepresented. A little more balance in available cargoes would only help in my opinion.
The last one is somewhat of a personal taste thing. In most of the major cities, there's nowhere to put a station!!!. The buildings are packed in so close that in some cases I've had to buldoze them in order to place a station. In fact in some, it was possible to have the city "Connected" only when placing even a large station on the outskirts of town, with its footprint covering a very small portion of the city. Perhaps cutting back on the number of "pre-placed" buildings in these cities would allow better station placement.
I like the idea about having to connect widely distant cities to get the Gold. The haulage requirements are easily met due to the huge abundance of oil and diesel. It would be nice to have a little more historical context; perhaps starting a decade or two earlier, with the incorporation of some historical events, like Chernobyl. Since the game can go for 45 years, you could be creative in the "historical" events that might occur in the future.
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belbincolne
- Engineer
- Posts: 526
- Joined: Thu Nov 30, 2006 7:28 am
- Location: Colne, England
I have to agree with Wolverine about (a) the unbalance of the commodoties and (b) the overcrowding of major cities.
I've reached a point where I've oodles of cash so have saved game. On attempt one I connected the last of the three towns needed and was doing well but when the economy soured everything started to go downhill (because everything was reliant on oil) AND the connection wasn't recognised.
On attempt 2 instead of going for the expensive town 3 in the south I went for the one in the north-east (name forgotten). Easy to reach but impossible to connect. No room to build a station in its south-west so started in the north-west - large covered about about a quarter of the town - but "unconnected" so over the river to the north-east - large station - another quarter only - "Unconnected". So in south-east manged to place a medium station saying connected (although useless as it covered practically nothing) - then tried to build a line to it - couldn't. Any line building round there proved a waste of time as there was no room for a station.
Finally found that if I built a large station just over the bridge it said connected (and as there is so many goods there I could even use it for a profitable train) and thought I was in - end of year Almanac said not connected!
At this point I've given up and am off to bed :o :o :o
I've reached a point where I've oodles of cash so have saved game. On attempt one I connected the last of the three towns needed and was doing well but when the economy soured everything started to go downhill (because everything was reliant on oil) AND the connection wasn't recognised.
On attempt 2 instead of going for the expensive town 3 in the south I went for the one in the north-east (name forgotten). Easy to reach but impossible to connect. No room to build a station in its south-west so started in the north-west - large covered about about a quarter of the town - but "unconnected" so over the river to the north-east - large station - another quarter only - "Unconnected". So in south-east manged to place a medium station saying connected (although useless as it covered practically nothing) - then tried to build a line to it - couldn't. Any line building round there proved a waste of time as there was no room for a station.
Finally found that if I built a large station just over the bridge it said connected (and as there is so many goods there I could even use it for a profitable train) and thought I was in - end of year Almanac said not connected!
At this point I've given up and am off to bed :o :o :o
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Wolverine@MSU
- CEO
- Posts: 1166
- Joined: Fri Nov 10, 2006 2:14 pm
- Location: East Lansing, MI
After looking at the Events in the Editor, it became clear why the connections aren't being displayed in the Ledger. The "Status" event that refers to whether connections have been makes reference to a Game Variable that is not Evented. Actually, there are three Game Variables that are used as trigger conditions for the Gold medal, but none of them are ever created. After removing them from the Gold medal event, the medal was correctly awarded, but the connections were not acknowledged in the Ledger because the GVs were never assigned.
There's also a couple of problems at the bottom of the map, where lakes have been set to sea level, and appear as deep wells set into the montainous terrain.
There's also a couple of problems at the bottom of the map, where lakes have been set to sea level, and appear as deep wells set into the montainous terrain.
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belbincolne
- Engineer
- Posts: 526
- Joined: Thu Nov 30, 2006 7:28 am
- Location: Colne, England
Well I finally managed to get to the finish and should have got Silver on Normal (but of course I got zilch as Wolve explains). Two extra things to comment on.
Crashes - there were dozens. Out of 60 trains I lost ten in the last couple of years when I'd no money to replace and before that they'd been going regularly. After about the first ten years I was losing about 2 p a - is this programmed in?
Recessions - with 10 years to go I had one lasting 5 years or so (there's always been one at about this time). This time I'd ensured my PNW was just in the black so I wasn't bankrupted. However Oil prices more than halved so at the end I was over $3m in the red and I only managed to get back in the black on rare (and short) occasions until the finish. This also led me to need to micro-manage my trains far more than I like to do. Originally every train carrying oil/diesel huge distances was enormously profitable but during and after the recession all these trains were unprofitable because the overheads ate up the income.
Phew. Reckon I've played this scenario long enough now so unless Girdi produces a version 2 Ill give it a rest. Nice one though (wouldn't have played it so long if it wasn't) especially if the mentioned flaws could be ironed out. :D :D
Crashes - there were dozens. Out of 60 trains I lost ten in the last couple of years when I'd no money to replace and before that they'd been going regularly. After about the first ten years I was losing about 2 p a - is this programmed in?
Recessions - with 10 years to go I had one lasting 5 years or so (there's always been one at about this time). This time I'd ensured my PNW was just in the black so I wasn't bankrupted. However Oil prices more than halved so at the end I was over $3m in the red and I only managed to get back in the black on rare (and short) occasions until the finish. This also led me to need to micro-manage my trains far more than I like to do. Originally every train carrying oil/diesel huge distances was enormously profitable but during and after the recession all these trains were unprofitable because the overheads ate up the income.
Phew. Reckon I've played this scenario long enough now so unless Girdi produces a version 2 Ill give it a rest. Nice one though (wouldn't have played it so long if it wasn't) especially if the mentioned flaws could be ironed out. :D :D
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belbincolne
- Engineer
- Posts: 526
- Joined: Thu Nov 30, 2006 7:28 am
- Location: Colne, England
Re: New map - Caucasus - Crash to desktop?
On another forum a version of this map appeared in January. I downloaded it - it's very slightly smaller than the one here. The towns are no smaller(?) and its still impossible to sensibly place stations in several of them. I haven't had time to play it yet so have no idea whether it fixes the various bugs (I'm still playing the version here and have connected the first 5 towns but, of course, I'm told I haven't).
Has anyone any idea? If the bugs haven't been fixed then there's no point in trying as it takes an awful long time to get through even one year when you're 20 years in
Has anyone any idea? If the bugs haven't been fixed then there's no point in trying as it takes an awful long time to get through even one year when you're 20 years in
Re: New map - Caucasus - Crash to desktop?
Many of the buildings were placed in the editor. They should not be there. The map generates cities randomly according to their programming. The map maker does not need to place them. That is why access to city centers is blocked in many cities. The map is very large and has too many cities. This makes the game difficult to load and play, taking away from the fun factor.
Re: New map - Caucasus - Crash to desktop?
First off I have to say that I liked this map and would have won gold if that were indeed possible (thankfully I didn't read this thread first or I wouldn't have started the map) and it didn't crash once and was reasonably fast to load.
Anyway, I started near Grozny with a small loop of three stations, as I thought the oil / diesel conditions would be the trickest to get (they weren't got those in just over 10 years) but turned in to a 'cash cow' to provide the money for the rest of the game.
I then wasted some time, building small branch lines near Kursk, which turned into a cash drain, so went looking for some business to run, finding an unused logging camp, that I bought, then connected to the nearest city where I bought lumber and paper mill. Once this city was connected to it's neighbours, and then further out, I had me another cash cow, which would, eventually get a connection through to Gronzy. From there the oil/diesel started to flow and it was only a matter of time before I was (in theory) getting me a medal.
So that's how the game plan went although I made some other mistakes (should have gone electric from the start), it was fun to play. Of course the scenarios has some issues but not all of those mentioned here, I found annoying. (well other than not getting my medal obviously!)
At first their being no space for stations inside the cities was annoying but, eventually I found it part of the challange to have to bulldoze enough to make the space without ruining the very reason I wanted to connect to the city in the first place. However, I didn't like that a lot of the cities already had )often multiple) Hotels, resturants etc, as those are my normal long term cash cow.
If there is going to be another version I would have liked more industries to play with as all those oil cars got a bit dull, and parhaps have the AI actually start companies as they only invest in my company (stop paying any divided and they are stuck), especially if they started in and around those cities you have to connect to. Some of the smaller - and in game play terms pointless - towns/cities could be removed as they'll never grow big enough to be of any use. Still those are minor problems.
Anyway, over all, like I said, I enjoyed this...
Anyway, I started near Grozny with a small loop of three stations, as I thought the oil / diesel conditions would be the trickest to get (they weren't got those in just over 10 years) but turned in to a 'cash cow' to provide the money for the rest of the game.
I then wasted some time, building small branch lines near Kursk, which turned into a cash drain, so went looking for some business to run, finding an unused logging camp, that I bought, then connected to the nearest city where I bought lumber and paper mill. Once this city was connected to it's neighbours, and then further out, I had me another cash cow, which would, eventually get a connection through to Gronzy. From there the oil/diesel started to flow and it was only a matter of time before I was (in theory) getting me a medal.
So that's how the game plan went although I made some other mistakes (should have gone electric from the start), it was fun to play. Of course the scenarios has some issues but not all of those mentioned here, I found annoying. (well other than not getting my medal obviously!)
At first their being no space for stations inside the cities was annoying but, eventually I found it part of the challange to have to bulldoze enough to make the space without ruining the very reason I wanted to connect to the city in the first place. However, I didn't like that a lot of the cities already had )often multiple) Hotels, resturants etc, as those are my normal long term cash cow.
If there is going to be another version I would have liked more industries to play with as all those oil cars got a bit dull, and parhaps have the AI actually start companies as they only invest in my company (stop paying any divided and they are stuck), especially if they started in and around those cities you have to connect to. Some of the smaller - and in game play terms pointless - towns/cities could be removed as they'll never grow big enough to be of any use. Still those are minor problems.
Anyway, over all, like I said, I enjoyed this...
I need a little less pressure, and a little more time
"A Little More Homework" by Jason Robert Brown from 13: the Musical
"A Little More Homework" by Jason Robert Brown from 13: the Musical
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HenryJonesJr
- Cat
- Posts: 3
- Joined: Tue Apr 15, 2014 6:50 am
"Kaukasus" Scenario - a great one but waaayyy to easy :-(
Hi there,
I tried out many Scenarios recently. "Kaukasus" was one of them (German Version of Caucasus). I really liked that one first. In order to win GOLD you have to haul 1000 units Diesel as well as 300 Oil in 45 years and make some gross profit as well as industry profit.
Now my "problem" is that after only 30 years, I had already hauled kinda 4000+ Diesel and 2000+ Oil without even pushing... this is a pity. Even if I choose "Expert" the GOLD requirements don't change.
May I suggest something? Perhaps the creator of the map could amend this (I think the map would be much more fun then, really!)
Here's my suggestion:
- More Diesel and more Oil to haul for GOLD - MUCH more! I think for testing, 8000 Diesel and 4000 Oil to win GOLD would do.
- I tried to produce weapons in this scenario - this was fun! You have to organise everything by yourself (rubber factory, steel factory, haul iron and coal, build a weapon factory... it's quite challenging in this map to produce weapons). And that's why I suggest as an additional GOLD requirements to haul lots of weapons. And I mean it's Russia we're playing, there MUST be some weapons, don't you think?
Perhaps the creator of the map reads this? Or anybody else? Have you played the scenario and do you agree with me?
Cheers,
Henry
I tried out many Scenarios recently. "Kaukasus" was one of them (German Version of Caucasus). I really liked that one first. In order to win GOLD you have to haul 1000 units Diesel as well as 300 Oil in 45 years and make some gross profit as well as industry profit.
Now my "problem" is that after only 30 years, I had already hauled kinda 4000+ Diesel and 2000+ Oil without even pushing... this is a pity. Even if I choose "Expert" the GOLD requirements don't change.
May I suggest something? Perhaps the creator of the map could amend this (I think the map would be much more fun then, really!)
Here's my suggestion:
- More Diesel and more Oil to haul for GOLD - MUCH more! I think for testing, 8000 Diesel and 4000 Oil to win GOLD would do.
- I tried to produce weapons in this scenario - this was fun! You have to organise everything by yourself (rubber factory, steel factory, haul iron and coal, build a weapon factory... it's quite challenging in this map to produce weapons). And that's why I suggest as an additional GOLD requirements to haul lots of weapons. And I mean it's Russia we're playing, there MUST be some weapons, don't you think?
Perhaps the creator of the map reads this? Or anybody else? Have you played the scenario and do you agree with me?
Cheers,
Henry