It sounds like the scenario is performing as it should. From your last post I think you are about 1/2 way to figuring out how to balance the industries, load requirements, and personal wealth goals to win. Your comment about having so much excess personal cash says a lot. That extra money should be being used to acquire more of the other railroads, thereby opening up more sources for all of the haulage items.Also, trains that are hauling non-goal related loads can be sent to L.A. or even retired, thereby leaving more loads available to meet your goals.When I acheived Gold on Expert level yesterday, I BARELY squeaked in to achieving the Personal Cash of 25 Mill, pumping money from the Company by way of dividends and stock buybacks, increasing my own shares value- which I then sold at the last minute.
Most of the haulage items can come from short haul sources, the only one that really requires long hauls is the steel. The Ceramics, Concrete, and Goods for instance can easily be entirely supplied from Pheonix. The lumber can be supplied almost entirely from Bakersfield(build a cheap and steep route and use Shays here) and the Passengers quota can be met from cities from Phoenix westward. The Passenger related buildings all have a demand/supply aspect to them, so you need to build some in the "supply" cities as well as in L.A. to make them produce.
I also suspect you are having congestion problems in the mountains east of Phoenix, and on the pass (El Cajon) over the mountains to L.A. itself. Again, use the extra cash you have later in the game( I commonly reach Yearly Company Profits in the $10-15 Million range in this scenario towards the end). Build some well placed tunnels. For instance, a complete tunnel cutting through the mountains starting near Palm Springs and coming out near Mission Veijo usually costs around $14 Million, but is worth every cent, as it drastically reduces delivery time. A few smaller tunnels in the Mountains east of Phoenix are also well worth their large pricetags. Also keep in mind that the area for L.A. is large and you can put several separate stations there to further relieve congestion. I generally put in my first one which has my "steep and cheap" initial line over to Phoenix, then when I add the Bakersfield and northern line I give it its own station, then when I punch a tunnel through I give it its own station in L.A. and in Phoenix as well, leaving the old Phoenix to L.A. line operating with Shays.
In your previous post it is unclear what you are referring to(31/12?- do you mean 12/31 or December 31?) . I will therefore guess that you are referring to whether the goals are set to the beginning or end of a particular year. The answer is that they are referring to the END of any particular year, meaning for instance that the 12 year connection goal has until the END of 1882 to meet it. I originally was going to make the start year variable in this scenario, but elected to make it fixed as the scope and complexity involved in this large map mushroomed. I have read all of the goal related messages, and all but one state that you have "until the end of" except the briefing which says "you have 12 years". I will re-write all of these so that they state "to the end of 1882 or 1890- etc" to clarify exactly what is meant there.
I again
![thank you !$th_u$!](./images/smilies/thanx.gif)
for your feedback, it is greatly appreciated. I hope you are enjoying this scenario, and I am certain that you are on the right "track" to victory, so keep trying!
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