Rail Baron East

[RayofSunshine]

Well Stoker and Orange46,

Since the program was already in the "free angle" and that I was not able to get a cnn to BuF, I decided to try a different approach from that which I usually use. That approach being that I would lay a track to the "star" of the city intended for a connection. Now it didn't take a genius, but I thought that "just maybe" if I were to move a "large" station to its "extreme encompassed area", that might be the answer of getting the city into the mapped area, in making it available for a routing. THAT fellas, it worked. So a word to the "wise?", patience and persistence.

Besides, I would hate to see Orange46 spending more time trying to re-program the locations of those 3 cities. I also dislike just scrapping a scenario. Not after all the time, talent, and imagination a "user" puts into a creation.

Which gives me the idea of only using it in similar "close to edge" cities, but for one of OilCan's? scenario for the town of FEWE, of which I had the same problem.

[RayofSunshine]

A few question all around, as I am having a similar problem as Belbincolne with getting the notice for a total of more hauls.

The ledger shows that all 18 cities have been connected for the NYC scenario portion. Now the only problem which might be a factor, is that of the depot is not "ON or CLOSE" to the "dots or stars" for BUF, Schennectoedy, and BOS/ALB interchange. But the depots do show that the indication that they are ""connected"". Evident by the 18 total shown in the ledger.

So Belbincolne, were you able to get a depot in the area of the "dot or star" for those cities near the upper edge of the map? And Orange46, do you believe that this is a factor of my problem? Also, is there any "time factor" of completing any of the different RWY systems?

Any comments from anyone will be appreciated.

[RayofSunshine]

Okay Orange46, I don't like to be "bugging" you, but as an addition to my last post, I have let the scenario play a year beyond the ending of the year in which the 18 cities were connected.

Now to add to the comment of not being able to incorporate BUF into a routing, as the "zoom" did not indicate the depot which in the initial attempt, was placed on the "dot or star" location.

However, when I took a good look at the routing of the "dot indicator map" all the dots are connected, with the exception of BUF etc, and the line shows it to be below the dots which indicate the locations of the cities.

Don't know if these comments help solve the problem.

[belbincolne]

Hi Ray - first I had no problem connecting the two northern cities (except for the cost of doing so!). As I've said in numerous posts peoples computers play differently so what happens on mine only happens on some others and vice-versa. Also I have to admit that what I thought was an error wasn't. Just my own stupid fault - I wrote down all the connections needed and missed on - even on re-checking

My problem with this scenario is the almost consistent depression/recession - if it was boom boom I'd be well away. (Orange - is that deliberate?) I have actually found a possible flaw a couple of times. At the end twice I borrowed mightily to get to the last town and built the station there before those of the two intermediate (required) towns - I was then broke so hadn't cash to build these - and before I had got message to say I'd won subject to carryings. A nice touch too was that twice I was told I'd won (subject to carryings) and whilst I was waiting why not do the direct connection (as per scenario requirements). I've never knwn a scenario before which could actually tell that I'd not made a direct connection only one through other connections - brilliant Orange

[Orange46]

Ray: The ledger does not say that "all the xx cities are connected". It says something like - xx cities are connected and then tells you to check the Breifing to see what cities are needed. You can connect the whole map but leave out one of the required cities and you ain't gonna get squat.

I can't even imagine why there would be a problem connecting to a city anywhere on the map, even one on the edge, non of which are in this map, unless a huge mountain impeded placing the station. A large station can reach these cities practically from PA (ok, probably not, but a large stations has a huge radius).

[belbincolne]

Yes I found that a large station got me in from miles away. I had to demolish something to actually get into NYC and one other town (cant remember which) but could have connected from outside - at time had cash and better for future game play to demolish???

But your second comment isn't quite correct. Twice I was told I'd connected all required when there were two I hadn't - no mention of checking Almanac although I've had that message too - and only needed extra loads. I connected them anyway to (a) be certain and (b) for extra loads

[Orange46]

Actually, the lawyer in me says that the 1st comment is correct but you did not interpret it correctly.

1. you called it the 2nd comment and 2, just because you can get an all connected message without actually connecting all of the cities does not mean that the statement I made was incorrect. OK, in plain English, it's a pain to force you to connect to everything, so some of the lesser towns can be bypassed - but - in the spirit of the scenario, you shouldn't and in the cargo phase you should place a station there anyway, as it might help the RR in the Gold phase. But, as I said before, only the named cities are required, but - you got me here - not necessarily all of them.

[RayofSunshine]

Well Fellas,

After reading all the previous players threads, I had gone back to make sure that I definitely had all the cities connected, and of the 18 required cities, the ledger did say
18 cities are connected. BUT just to make sure, I went to the Brief, to make sure that there were more than the 18, and to also make sure that I had connected the required ones that were stipulated.

On retracing the routings for the NYC, I checked each city to make sure that they showed them to be "connected".

But as previous mentioned, I did not that because I used a "large" station for the 3 northern, close to the edge cities, and that they showed "connected", that the track on the "connect the dot map", was NOT connecting the dots for the 3 edge cities. Which was the only problem which I could see to be the problem.

So, being at a stalmat, I am going to bulldoze everything from Erie to BOS, and then to realign the track and use a Medium size station, or at least, pull in a Large station closer so that I will still see the "connected" notice, or city on the routing map.

Interesing situation.

[belbincolne]

How the heck do you have the cash to do that????

Now got Bronze and on to the C & O

[RayofSunshine]

Well, the mystery has been solved. Well, maybe not a mystery, but on the trend of DUMB.

Now this Orange46 is what I was what I had mentioned in a PM with you on memory. Even though I had read that Brief a goodly number of times, and checked it against the cities cnn, PLUS I have it written on a piece of paper for reference, and referred to it a goodly number of times, I READ but CINcinnati did NOT REGISTER. Anyway I now have the requirement to haul more loads to comply to the notice before the next RWY.

And Belbinoe, my TESTING of the scenario, with bulldozing everything from Erie to BOS was done on a TEST screen. I just save the present scenario to a TEST, and then "cheat" with the necessary revenues. But by moving all the system between those cities closer to the "dots or stars" did not help. The original "large" stateions indicating that the cities were "connected" was not the problem. It was that I, like you, had missed a cnn to a required city. So now I can just delete that TEST scenario, and go back to the original, of which I will cnn CIN, and then go to the next RWY.

So, both an apology, again, for the confrontation of my problem, and want to thank you for your suggestions. I have the patience to try anything, and have gotten some new ideas from you, to know more of the Editing of the program. Will try to be less bother with the on-coming RWY systems. BUT will be back if I can't find a solution.

[Orange46]

Ray: I like the way that you work out the problems. I originally thought that this was not a good scenario for you (Earlier PM), but now I realize that I was wrong - this scenario does exercise what you wanted to exercise.

[RayofSunshine]

Hey, thanks for the compliment Orange46,

And a person has to be patient and persistent. Seeing that you took the time to make such a creation, it behoove me, that you had done most everything to make sure that the program worked. Hence, I had to keep trying to find a solution, considering that other players had not had the same type of problem.

To keep the mind working is the answer. Oh, everyone will make a mistake. It is just that a person has to find it for their betterment. Thus, I had forgotten to mention in any of my PMs, that although it may not be RRT, that Nintendo is used in Nursing homes to help the elderly use their capabilities of reflexes and mind to play the games.

Now my sons use ""chess"" for mind decisions. Never was able to get very far with it myself. Even tried to learn more, by using a chess game, which when a player makes an incorrect move, a notice will indicate such error of movement.

RRT now, is of a greater interest to me, as I was raised within a perimeter of railroads, and was fascinated by them. Well, that of steam. And there were a couple of other railroads in a nearby city, of which they also had "roundhouses", which was of interest to watch the operation of the turn-tables.

But RRT keeps a person thinking. The whole concept for the operation of a Tycoon, to compete with the AIs for territory, and use the stock market to enhance mergers, or just to obtain requirements. And don't forget those industries. This game may not be the ultimate of games, but it certainly is in the top of the list. I love it.

Again, thanks for the compliment, and """""we""""" are all looking forward to another of your creations. There might be some critic of some of the programming, but they are far surpassed by those who enjoy any of the user creations.

[belbincolne]

C&O started well with boom so lots of cash and got on well. Then at end big problem which may cause Ray even more. How to cross Canada when Canada isn't on the map. Finally saw that (although its not on my mini map) there is a very narrow strip along the top from Detroit to Buffalo which proved surprisingly easy to get along and so just had to wait two years for loads and in 1934 moved on to The Ill Central - is that a good time Orange?

Will be interested to see how Ray gets on if that strip isn't visible on his main map.

Family now here for Easter so may not get anymore play time in for a while. Enjoy the break guys.

[RayofSunshine]

Well Belbincoe, I am progressing with the SO, but took time at the beginning. 7 years before I saw a "pass" being hauled. Most of the time the engine ran empty between Lynch and Charletteville, as Char only had 3 houses. In that 7 years I hauled 11 loads. But I persisted with laying $50G worth of track each year with those "pittance" finances. Only was able to get 1 loan, and then the rating was "F or D" the remainder of time. So I just cnn with the B&O at DC, and things started to come together.

I have a word of suggestion, since I, there was a problem in previous Rwys of cnn to all the cities. I had written the cities on a pc of paper for reference, but this time with the SO, I "X" them out when the city is cnn. Could help us elderly with short memories.
LOL

Thanks for the info on that "strip" to Canada. We keep it in mind.

[belbincolne]

Yes - do the same thing and after my bloomer earlier on check I've got them right before starting - twice!! I never let trains run empty - usually have minimum consist two and also use very few trains - each visiting 3 stations minimum except when I connect two major towns when I have an express. Keep a bit of a watch on them whilst waiting for cash to come in and if they've been stuck (say) 6 months let them go.

Your experience with SO is same as mine - no cash, no cash.

[Orange46]

I usually lose track of the engines, so I stopped putting minimum loads on. Also, even if there is nothing at this station, somewhere down the line could be lots of cargo. In normal scenarios, I usually have one engine serving 3 or 4 stations, or 2 engines if one of them is ugly, but in scenarios like this (and currently in DANMARK), I make the runs as long as possible - up to 20 stops, to conserve on service facilities. Of course, I later add more services for the misnamed AI, but that's during the cargo phase.

1934 - I can't remember - and I changed the game a lot since my first tries. The C&O also moved up a position or 2 in the final, as it just didn't seem right for another railtoad to connect to Huntsville before Hunt (the C&O's president) founded the city. But, there is no time limit, although the game might get tough if you have to start a road in the 21st century, as the engines start to get very expensive.

I also added the Canada strip very late in the testing, as it just didn't seem right to leave out that important C&O line. But, there wasn't enough room to add any viable towns in Canada.

Washington is an important connection for the Southern. You don't have to build the lines in the order I wrote them - the order was created just before I started to build each railroad, so it is not necessarily the best order to lay tracks. You should be able to build to a 3rd station with each railroad before ever starting a train, even if that 3rd station beongs to another RR. Also, it is very important to connect to other RR's, not only to allow other RR's to use your tracks, but so that you can send express cargo to the AI stations, from which the express can then proceed deeper into AI territory. For example, passengers in Charlettevile who want to go to Baltimore will not take your train to Washington until you have established a working express train route to the B&O station in Washington, from which they can then proceed to Baltimore on the B&O or whatever other line is running up there from that station.

[belbincolne]

I think we're all following the same techniques in slightly different ways. What has puzzled me is that as the AIs seem to rapidly go bankrupt through adding stupid additional trains if you run a train to an AI station it seems to keep profitable whereas in accordance with the basic rules of RT3 priority should go to its own trains and your train should just ground to a halt and never be able to move again as happens in countless other scenarios.

(Later - end 1945 and I've moved on to N & W)

[Orange46]

Some stations become traffic jams, so you can't run there. Some stations may stay accessible because the owner may not have access to your current line's states.

[RayofSunshine]

Well hell Bel, you are going great guns. I am stuck in PRR in a ""loop"" of no return. Believe that I made a mistake of getting a "loan" at 11% to cnn Altoona to PIT, plus a 4th engine, and 2 other loans as 5% & 6%. THEN the economy got stuck in Recession in 1934. SO, my revenue went down hill deep enough to get a number of "financial help" which got my revenues to $0, but couldn't get a of positive revenue. As I am cnn to NYC, PHL, and DC, I increased my normal min2max5 to a full consist of 8. That didn't work, as the revenue was getting chewed up by the time I got to a destination. SO, after a goodly number of years when he economy went to Normal, with the 8 consist not working, I tried going back to the 2-5max, and finally to 2-4max. The trains got there fast enough, but there wasn't enough revenue to off-set the expenses. Right now I have decided to go back to end of SO, and start PRR over, as now with my 1st engine in the 20years with high maintainence, the loop is not getting any better, even with a Prosperity economy, and in the year 1945. Just too much time, for such little progress.

[belbincolne]

Thats pretty much how I found it until finally the economy came good and my trains roared away profitably and I got loans at 5/6%. As you said Ray its fatal to have to take a loan at even 11% and I restarted immediately the one time I did it and connected the towns via other railroads and only built one station running a good (expensive) train between mine and an AI so that after one journey I actually had enough for the second station thus getting (a) rest of target stations and (b) a small cash handout.

I never run only 4 carriages - my norm is 6 plus if three passengers a restaurant car. Of course after the first trip I never re-check so the rc is probably just slowing me uselessly. I'm very interested by your comment on maintenance when 20 years old. Does it go up? If so I didn't know. What I have particularly noticed (obviously in other long scenarios) is that at 40 years trains are rarely profitable and as soon as you replace them profitability leaps - I'd assumed this was because passengers/goods liked the new ones and had gone off the old slow ones but maybe it was actually the maintenance costs.