Age Of Steam IV-Blue Streak For Your Comment and Review

[belbincolne]

Just spotted that on my game on Expert - couldn't they have different names? Tried everywhere up the Wabash and couldn't get over anywhere - very odd although, as you say, you often can have difficulties. Had a 2nd quick try again on the new game and still couldn't although I haven't gone into it as thoroughly.

Incidentally although I upgraded all my six trains to Mastodons I was only averaging 19mph so haven't made the free entry - don't know how many loads I carried - couldn't that be added to the Almanac?

[wsherrick]

It is easy to check how many cars you have hauled. Just look in your ledger under, Haulage Report," and you will get the number of cars hauled at that time. Happy Railroading 8)

[belbincolne]

Well finished my game on Expert - not too surprisingly I did better and got Gold plus on everything but carryings where I'd got Bronze on all but Aluminium - despite my best endeavours I only carried 6 (2 years later it went up to 12!). Still never got anything to say I'd lost.

[wsherrick]

Thanks for pointing out the lose event. It has been fixed, so enjoy a game that you can play for awhile and not lose. When Hawk gets back I'll give him the fixed one. Did you solve your bridge building issue? It took a lot of hours to make the rivers in this one. I used the same technique that was used in Big Valley, but better. I hope everyone finds the map scenic and realistic. The appearance of the map was of the utmost importance to me. I painted and repainted it over until I struck a balance of what I thought was attractive. Of course game play is the most important thing, but looks matter too I guess. :)

[belbincolne]

Love the map and the new trains. Makes the speed thing easy! I tried to cross the Wabash early on and couldn't and had forgotten since so I've just gone back and tried again. After about 10 mins I succeeded but I had to go half way to the edge of the map from Shawneetown and then cross diagonally N-E so that by the time I'd turned round to get back to the farms the track had cost me twice as much as going over the Ohio. So if anyone has similiar problems I'd recommend that route!

Incidentally I couldn't make the speed or loads for either of the first two offers but the economy in this game is so strong that I could afford to lose the $1m p a and still make a fortune. Even on Expert the game play is very easy except as far as the load carrying is concerned and, probably, with more understanding of what the new ports/warehouses do this might be easier. Although I'm still not sure as for over 20 years I carried loads of Livestock up to Chicago where there were two meat producers and yet I barely managed to make 75 loads out (and the trains carrying these weren't profitable). Again with more micro-managing I might have been able to improve this (ie. watch the train and everytime it got back to Chi change its destination to somewhere else that wanted meat). But I find this tedious and it ruins the enjoyment for me - especially as I'd have to be watching perhaps 12 trains which would make the game play incredibly slow - it can of course take possibly three years for the train to fill up and set off.

I wouldn't bother to re-post a new map yet if the only fix is the lose event - we can all do without being told we're rubbish Wait till some-one finds something else

I'm away now for a weks walking - its been raining for 48 hrs and the hills have vanished in mist. What a life.

[wsherrick]

Yes, the Mastodon works really well in this game as well as the J Class Hudson. You can thank our Master Mechanic and Shop Foreman, Bombadier for all of these great engines

[wsherrick]

I've sent Hawk the fixed map with a few changes and the fixed lose event. I'm sure it will get put up after he gets settled in from his vacation. One thing I would like to hear about is how are the ports/warehouses working out? This is a big experiment on my part to see how building them adds to gameplay. In testing, Wolverine and myself were amazed at how much they add to strategy and how profitable they are.

[Hawk]

The latest version is now available on the Map Archive page.

[wsherrick]

Here is an example of how profitable ports can be in this game. They cost $550 to build and look at the money rolling in!

[wsherrick]

I have sent an updated version of Blue Streak to Hawk for posting. I have added the new industries and cargos that are provided with the 1.06 patch and made the game a little harder on the expert level. For all of you who don't like to micro manage cargos I have added an alternate gold win. To win it you have to have a CBV of ONE BILLION big ones by 1945 and achieve an overall freight speed of 27 miles an hour and haul a total of 15,000 loads of passengers and freight to get it. I felt that an alternate win might make this game more appealing to a wider audience if there was more than one way to win at it. One billion might seem like a lot, but with this map it is quite possible. Let me know how it works.

[Hawk]

The updated version is now available.

[UncleJR]

Ok, so I finally managed to get past all 4 of the trials (yeah, took a few trials but finally got past that.)

Got all 4 connected, was going to try to get the freight hauled and then...

WHAM! Right out of left field!

Straight down the tubes!

Ok, time to rethink this and retry this.

I'm so thankful I wasn't around for that one first hand!

[wsherrick]

What happened to you? Did you get wiped out in the crash of '29? The depression can be really severe, especially if you play on expert. If you don't pay attention to the stock market and make sure you have a majority share in the company before the depression hits. You will likely get fired. You will probably run in the red for a few years and then recover during the mid-30's.

[belbincolne]

Never thought of that - haven't bothered with the market as PNW isn't a target. Must now rethink! Anyway playing fine despite having to meet 3 x $500k p a for access. Now making so much money that its taking me an hour to play each year.

[belbincolne]

Well got to finish with no medal. CBV $627m, PNW $462m and cash $340m - kept adding lines to farms etc but to be honest by the end I just couldn't muster up the energy to search for places where it was worth bulding lines/industry. I also can't understand the various wahehouses/ports. What they do - where they should be placed. Some made a fortune and others kept losing money. As one example placed several Southland East ones in the south-east with very mixed results and similiarly the Northern ones. Is there some logic to them?

[wsherrick]

The warehouses are (in theory) set up to help with the demanded and supplied freight you are required to haul. When I created them, I was stepping into new and dark waters as there was no precedent in designing warehouses/ports that could be built by the player. Perhaps I could have named them better, but they will do what you want them too if you place them in the right places. They also will make gobs of money if you place them near freight they demand. The, "Northern Cities," warehouse will do great in the Dallas-Ft. Worth Metro area for example (even though it is not a northern city). This was the basis for my idea with these(Wolverine feel free to jump in if you want too )
Again let's take the Northern Cities and Rubber/Bauxite Warehouses. If you place several Northern Cities warehouses in Chicago they will demand corn to supply milk. Since you have to ship cheese out of Chicago, they provide lots of milk to make cheese if you build some dairy processors. Northern Cities also demand grain and convert it into meat. You have to ship grain from Kansas City. If you send the grain to Chicago you are killing two birds with one stone. You work on your grain shipments from Kansas City and then get a lot of your required meat to ship out of Chicago as well. If you notice the Northern Cities turn rubber into fertilizer. So if you put a, "Rubber/Bauxite," warehouse next to a, Northern Cities warehouse, you get fertilizer to send to Kansas City which it demands. It might be confusing, but the warehouses also supply and demand stuff that isn't required for the win. This was a BIG experiment for me and I was hoping that I could learn from others who know more about how warehouses work to comment on Blue Streak's port/warehouse arrangement. Next time I do this I think I will limit the products they demand and produce a lot more, because these make way to much money for what they cost to build. That's why the new Instant Gold win is set at a Billion dollars. If you look at all five varieties of warehouses/ports they will help you get the products needed or demanded for the win if you can decide what to do with them. Another example is the,"River Boat Traffic," port. It demands coal. If you place one near Cairo ILL it will bring in coal off the river system. You should have iron mines near Southern ILL as well. This brings in the raw materials to make steel in Cairo, to make goods to ship to Memphis or to send to Kansas city, both being demanded cargoes. I tried to create an added dimension to the game this way. I just hope I didn't go over the top with it.

[citizenvish]

Gave this map a go about a few weeks ago, and all I can say is that this one of the toughest scenarios I have ever played. I must have tried at least a dozen times (over the past few weeks) before getting the first part of the game right. But once, you get the first part right and obtain access to the four territories by completing the challenges, then it’s a very fast, fun, and (above all) much easier game.

First thing to remember while playing this scenario is that YOU HAVE TO COMPLETE THE FOUR CHALLENGES. You just have to, because if you do not, then it really is tough saving enough cash for future expansions. In my experience, once you get the first one, the others are much easy. To complete the first one, I needed at least 4–5 cities connected; in my experience, placing a warehouse in a proper location will get you enough cash to expand this much. Further, I placed my service towers and maintenance depots on small spurs immediately besides my stations, and had my trains run in “7 cars + caboose” combination accordingly (two round trips before maintenance). The other challenges simply followed as I just kept expanding.

While the challenges were being dealt with, I kept buying stock both via company and by hedging on the stock market. I kept the dividend rate moderately high to ensure that I had enough purchasing power, and once I figured I can purchase all the stock, I went in and became the sole owner of company stock. This was around the year 1913–1914. After, this I immediately raised the dividend rate to a level high enough that my personal debt was dealt with before the depression hits and share prices drop drastically. I set the dividend to zero after that, and kept expanding both my network and industry like crazy. Also, just before the depression hit I ensured that I had enough cash to tide over the next two years; this helped out a lot as I was able to not fire my employees. Post depression, I connected all the cities in the map and had trains running all over. I was aiming for instant gold, and the main thing that proved tough was CBV (requirement: 1 billion dollars). But using the warehouses wisely, I reached 1,171 million by 1942 and hit instant gold. YOU MUST USE THE WAREHOUSES—many of my warehouses were reporting 2 million plus in yearly profits, and if you are aiming for instant gold, warehouses are the best way to raise CBV. I had 6–7 Bauxite (Rubber & Bauxite Supply warehouses) >> Aluminum (Aluminum Mills) >> Goods (Rubber & Bauxite Supply warehouses + Tool and Die plants) clusters; these WILL MAKE A HIGH PROFIT.

In my assessment, as usual Guru Sherrick has outdone himself. The concept of allowing players to build warehouses was indeed innovative and made for a very different gaming experience. The terrain was also excellent and the resources well laid; I loved the engines and the classes the most though.




Thanks & Regards
Vishal Bhatia

[j484fan]

Okay, I have the Blue Streak map open right now. Great looking map, but reading through this post I see no way to tell what Ports and Warehouse produce/provide until you build one. I also checked reading through the Read me file again in case I missed something. Also seems to me that one would be better off starting out near St Louis or East St Louis than at Shawneetown.

I know, this is 3yr old post, but this is one I had not tried before, but I also note, I had no problems placing a bridge exactly as wsherrick had shown in one of his postings. Question being where did he link to first from there, because being linked up to Fredonia isn't getting me squat, and unless there is something better about Fulton you can't see just by looking, I can't see starting over and linking to there first either.

Just curious to a bit more detail, without giving the game away. On the warehouses and ports especially. starting a game just to see which ones supply what and starting over to place them in the right spot stinks. As I said, unless there is something I missed, there is nothing to tell you which ones produce and provide what, until you build them.

I will add that I just noticed I totally missed the comments posted by citizenvish geez!

[j484fan]

Ok, it seems no matter where I pick a starting location, I always end up financing for the big city accesses. I got tired of trying to start over near Memphis first so I started with Shawneetown and Cairo and worked my way North. Once I got connected to Centralia I started making considerably more money, but not sure where I went wrong on not getting the express freight speed to get the access rights free. Only thing I can think of is start the trains with only three cars instead of the normal four. I was doing four plus the dining car to get more for the loads as I usually had at least one passenger car per train except in the very beginning.

While I don't want anyone to give away the easiet sure win solution, could someone point out what I may be missing? I started with the two cities I mentioned because Cairo had a SouthLand East warehouse so I built a Northern Cities port in Shawneetown.
Just a few simple options to improve my odds is what I'm looking for.

[RayofSunshine]

Well j484fan,

I am not authority of Tycoon play, as I just like to play. However, I have had the same situation in a number of scenarios, some of which are based on speed for Express haul.
Anyway, you have the right idea of limiting the number of consists being hauled, and some time there is not much more that can be done, unless faster engines are available.
What I have done however, is to use a spur to an maintenance facilities. It does take a little micromanageing.

E.G. From point A to point B is an adequate amount of distance, so that it requires water at point B. Therefore, you set consist to 0/0, unload, and direct the engine to the water/sand. Then bring it back to the depot to load. Now if this is the case, the same method would be used returning to point A.

However, if the distance is not that great, as only 1/2 or less is used to get to point B, just set a consist and return to point A. Then set the consist to 0/0, unload, direct the engine to the water/sand maint, and returning tothe depot set your desired consist.

That should give you an idea of how to micromanage adequate maintenaence, as it is possible that if the distance and the terrain flat, an engine could make a few trips without requiring any water.

You also have to watch the "oil" usage as well. Just continue to operate the engine by continually adding to the number of times that the engine does not need certain maintenance, as it could take many additions to the routing of the train, before it is directed to a spur for general/oil maintenence.

Hope that helps. It takes some time to coordinate each engine, but it can be done. I basically use the system any time that there is a speed conditin. Good Luck.