Union Pacific map

[DTL98]

I have been recently working on a scenario for the Union Pacific part of the transcontinental railroad. (to compliment the Central Pacific campaign map) I was wondering if it could be beta tested so I could know what to improve upon. Any feedback will be much appreciated. (I tried very hard to make the historical aspect as good as possible, but I couldn't find a good way to make the Credit Mobilier scandal work. )

[Hawk]

It should be noted that this is a 1.06 map. Maps made in 1.06 will not show up in the selection list of earlier versions of RT3.

[OilCan]

...but I couldn't find a good way to make the Credit Mobilier scandal work.

I know I could probably find the credit moblilier scandal on-line, but it would be helpful to hear your version of it. Please share a summary of the scandal. I'll keep it in mind as I beta test the game.

[DTL98]

The Credit Mobilier was the construction company used by the Union Pacific. The UP board of directors secretly purchased the Credit Mobilier, and some of the leading people in the UP were using the Credit Mobilier as a way to get extra money through manipulating the valuable shares of the Credit Mobilier's stock. They would bribe any politicians who either knew about the scandal or weren't in support of the UP with shares of the valuable stock. The scandal was exposed by a newspaper in New York in 1872, and several politicians and railroad men were questioned about the matter. It caused a lot of trouble for politicians who owned shares of the Credit Mobilier, and caused the public to lose trust for the government for most of the Gilded Age. I couldn't find a good way to manipulate stock prices through events, so I left the event(s) out, hoping to figure something out by messing around with it.

[RayofSunshine]

Welcome aboard DTL98,
with your new scenario. It will be interesting as I read an article pertaining to the UP and its "faults".

Now, I don't know anything about how you will create the "stock market" with its events, and it appears that you do have the basis of the group called the "Credit Mobilier", but also don't know how complete your knowledge of that group and era.
It might be of interest for you to read my thread on the subject in the "Railroad History" , and my thread is 1880s Rwy Financing".
Don't know if it will be of any help, but just a suggestion.

[RayofSunshine]

Okay DTL98,
With Expert I did make the OMA/SLC connection with an amount of bonds. That was not a problem.

The 1st was that at OMA. Being that the station is so close to the river, and after a number of attempts, I could only make the connection to Council Bluffs, with the track at OMA having a 16% down grade. That is not realistic. I was able to make the connection only if I ran a single deflecting track. Didn't try to see if it was possible as a double.

A 2nd major problem was that of not getting """any""" CBV from all the laid track, stations, and a few supply farms, as per the "year end ledger" which shows "0". However, the Company Overview of the Balance Sheet, does show the amount of the revenue for equity. Now I know that you did not fix and know how to create the stock market due to the Credit Mobiliers, but didn't see any mention to that of CBV agenda. However, I don't always "see" what I "read" correctly.

Normally I don't like exaggerated mountains, but your terrain, to my liking, is manageable, even though they may not be realistic of reality. I have traveled through the Rockies, and Cascades, so know they are some thing to be desired of a challenge.

OH, I did notice that the 'requirement' is to cnn DEN. But the end of the year 'ledger' shows is as "Colorado". DEN is in CO, but I would believe that the ledger should read "Denver" and not "Colorado". But, that is your choice.

Just waiting to see what changes you will make, after some intended comments from other members/creators.

[EPH]

For the Credit Mobilier scandal you could take a look at my "Transcontinental". It's available in Hawk's library. I'm not saying it's the best way to handle the scandal, but it is one way.

In general, there were two ways to make money from a railroad - being paid to construct it, or by operating it. Both the Central Pacific and Union Pacific decided to have it both ways, which was illegal. The members of the board for the railroad agreed to offer the construction contract - at very high prices - to a construction company that they secretly also owned and controlled. Stock gifts, outrageously high dividends and other favors were showered on politicians and officials either because they helped pass laws to give the railroads higher payments or just to generally pass on the loot. This meant the railroad actually cost more to build than it would have if built without corruption.

The Credit Mobilier was the UP's construction company; the Central Pacific used the same sort of scheme but avoided scandal because all of its books and records were lost in a 'mysterious' fire, so the CP's Big Four got away with their fortunes scot-free.

[Wolverine@MSU]

Stock gifts, outrageously high dividends and other favors were showered on politicians and officials either because they helped pass laws to give the railroads higher payments or just to generally pass on the loot. This meant the railroad actually cost more to build than it would have if built without corruption.

Sounds like what we have today with telecommunications, big oil, and big pharma. The more things change the more they stay the same.

[EPH]

Well, Wolverine, they say, "Where there's a will, there's relatives." And a lot of wealthy people have realized they can get a whole lot wealthier and more powerful if they get the government's big heavy finger on their side of the scales. And the easiest way to do that is to invest a tiny bit of corporate cash into buying a candidate. You can do it by campaign contributions, gifts, free trips, favors, jobs for friends and family... the list goes on. So the taxpayer foots the bill for toxic waste cleanups and watches billionaires boast about being able to buy a candidate. Sorry - I do not think dollars equal votes and I do not believe corporations are people and I do think that lobbyists and interest peddlers are vermin, but don't get me started.

Yes - I would say that our current age has a lot in common with the Gilded Age, with the exception that a lot of the gifts the Credit Mobilier gave away were to officials who did them no favors whatsoever. One of the UP board expressed bewilderment that anyone would think it was wrong to show their appreciation... and he may have been sincere. I don't remember the name but his family made shovels; he got his position because the UP needed so many shovels and couldn't pay its bills.

Just remember that when the UP and CP were chartered they became - instantly - the two highest-capitalized companies in American history and possibly in the history of the world. And they nearly went bankrupt trying to build the railroad (in part because so much was overpaid to the construction companies) and then were showered with money once it opened. Given the enormous sums of money paid or guaranteed by government, promised as land grants and earned by the railroad, it was impossible for there not to be wasteage, graft, corruption, rotten accounting and simple theft. After all, these are humans we are talking about. The example of this project made regulation and financial control easier to put into place for later ventures, and on the scale of, say, the Civil War the expenditures and corruption were modest.

[RulerofRails]

I played your map. I started by connecting to Cheyenne at game start as there was a Meat Packing Plant in Norfolk giving Omaha a decent Livestock demand. I noticed what I think may be mistakes:

As mentioned by Ray of Sunshine, the CBV counter isn't working. The Status event trigger should be "Force test against companies", and on screen player specified.

The briefing says that connected track isn't allowed, but the option for "no unconnected track" is unticked in scenario restrictions.

As far as the scenery there is a problem with the river near Canyon city that flows right over the top of the hill. Also, some of the plain surrounding the Great Salt Lake is actually lower than the water level in the lake.

The Pullman car event says the cost is $1M, but the event will take $2M.


Some suggestions:
I played the map till I met the medal conditions, but that didn't take all the time. I would suggest making the Gold event test for <= 1885. This way players who finish early don't have to run the game for years on fast speed if they want a medal.

It seems that the rivers are on the same level as the surrounding land. I am guessing that you didn't use the option to lower the river bed when placing the rivers. This causes a problem in some places because it is hard to build bridges. I couldn't build a bridge directly between Vermillion and Sioux City. It will work if you start building from Sioux City, but I was honoring the unconnected track condition so had to make a slightly circular route. This is because RT3 has trouble with bridges if the point where the bridge ends is lower than where it starts. Having a slight depression lets the game start at a lower point and still end up level as it will jump to the top on the other side. You should be able to fix this with the lower tool and a smooth. At least the strategic crossing points.

I noticed that starting new companies is allowed. Most people wont play with Robber Baron tactics, but starting new companies is an open door for stock manipulation where a player can easily end up with over $20M CBV and hence make the connection before the first year is over.

I noticed that you put a town called Kanab in the lower left hand corner. Just thought I would say that there is a game bug that doesn't display buildings or trains in a small patch in that corner. Kanab is currently a "ghost town."

I have no problem with a map with lots of cargo, but it does make trains very profitable. Maybe you could add an industry profit goal as otherwise there isn't much point in building any industry on this map.

Looking forward to an improved version.

[Wolverine@MSU]

RulerofRails just saved me a lot of time. All of my observations are covered in his post; I didn't notice the scenery stuff or the bridge crossing problem. I'm at 1869, made all the connections, and have a CBV of over $50M on Expert. I "honored" the unconnected track requirement but bent the rules a little. Sometimes, I placed a station in a city I wanted to connect and then ran the rails to connect. Station placement in Salt Lake City is difficult enough even with "freehand" placement. It would be almost impossible to get an optimal placement if you had to run the rails first and then place the station.

If you want to simulate the building of the line from East (Omaha) to West (Salt Lake City) you could divide the map into territories and give access to successive territories when the rails reach a certain point along the way. You could be very restrictive in the extent of each territory if you wanted to simulate the actual route taken, or be more liberal to allow alternative routes. I've never been a fan of "no unconnected track" so this might be a way to simulate the historical progress while still allowing a player to dabble in secondary, and potentially high-profit, routes in the territory/territories in which they have access.

[RulerofRails]

RulerofRails just saved me a lot of time. All of my observations are covered in his post. . . .

I actually played the map a few days after it was posted. It sounded like Oilcan might be going to test it, and he would have better advice than I seeing he is a proper certified map builder, so I decided to wait for awhile. Seems I didn't wait quite long enough.

I agree about the lack of room in Salt Lake City and to some extent Denver. I did have a little difficultly and forgot to suggest smoothing which might help some, but I just took a look at it and the warehouses need to be rearranged. Likely smoothing will be needed to do that. Currently two warehouses are placed on the city centers and one is blocking the path of the reserved cells that the game keeps for track and stations. (In the editor go to paint terrain and look for the "not allowed" sign which will allow you to view them. Trying to edit the reserved cells doesn't seem to work so you must build around them). The other thing is to try turning off Machine Shops and Concrete Plants from those cities' recipes. Unfortunately the Construction Firm is classified as in-city support and cannot be turned off. Those industries appear as warehouses (when 1.06 was made no one had an easy way to model new buildings) in the game so it's good idea to turn them off when space is at a premium.