I failed this attempt. The closest I made it to was $840M PNW at the end of 2004. I kept accumulating cash, but the economy declined later on resulting in only a 1:1 ratio of CBV to PNW. At the end of 2006 I wasn't even awarded any medal (loss event). The problem is the set of Territory Variable 2 = 1 when checking for the Cyprus connection, this event hasn't got the flag set to not apply to territories.
I don't like going into the editor even when maps have bugs, because as I did on this one I might see some spoilers. On the other hand it's frustrating when events don't work and you wonder what really is happening behind the scenes. I decided to look on this one and unfortunately I saw what was the right choice for the second scam. There is a problem/feature with it also, because the instructions asks for a connection to Konya, but the event checks a different city. I felt like I wouldn't have gotten this choice right, so I didn't chose it. This would obviously have easily given me the PNW.
As I said previously, I wasn't sure how the event I mentioned last time should be set, so if I didn't got to Turkey early, I think I can go faster. Also, this play I only used 2 diesels because of their mountain climbing abilities. All the rest were QJs (main reason is their low purchase price) with a half a dozen or so Red Devils on the long resource runs. How was your engine strategy?
I find this map a little tricky to calculate the ROI, on the one hand I want to develop the special resources and the more complex industries requiring multiple inputs, but this doesn't yield the same instant bang like putting a Lumber Mill on a log stack will. This is more generally a 1.06 feature, honestly was awhile since I played 1.06, and getting used to the split furnace/smelter. Anyway, as an idea of how much potential I got from the map, profit topped at $49M in boom year on revenue of $83M. But, in normal economy $30M was more typical.
Here's a picture of what I did Duba:
I was really debating with myself whether it's worth it to try to maximize production at the fields or to collect almost $40k of haulage revenue per load on the way down. I feel like this strategy wins for the main reason that the port in Duba is going to ensure that prices for end-products (Diesel/Toys/Goods) are a lot more stable than inland. Doesn't matter if the station cell gets a price-lock (island) at a very low price. As an idea: average prices Diesel, 422 loads @ $169; Toys, 430 loads @ $301; Goods, 268 loads @ $301. Obviously, economy varies but this is close enough to full price for me to be happy. Production from the Oil wells has averaged 8.77 loads per year (unlocked full production in 1977). I don't know how high these can run, perhaps 12 loads per year or higher at full price??? Quick math seems to indicate that it's close nominally (before engine/station/track costs) assuming 33% higher production. So would be a clear winner to maximize production if there was enough demand near the wells to ensure that price didn't simply crater.
Not long after the picture above, I replaced the wood bridge with a stone one. Never double-tracked it, or built another.
In terms of ideas since this map is a beta, I did have the thought that it might be interesting to do something with overhead here. This made up 60% of my costs. Perhaps some choices where your factories' production would take a small penalty, to be offset with a drop in overhead. Could also do something similar with a penalty on Station/Track/Engine maintenance costs offset by quicker station turnaround. But, the map did play well as it is, I just felt that these sort of choices later in the game when the player has probably maxed his holdings out (all profitable industry or thereabouts), it would give him a chance for a bit more strategy.
I will say that the Ports are well setup. There's probably a bit more "fishing" than ideal especially in "Trye" (should it be Tyre, I did notice some other speelling i-shoes, but assume they will be fixed for the final), I even accidentally placed my Beirut station just so that it dumped all delivered cargo straight into the sea
making it an effectively isolated "full-strength" demand zone. But within the confines of the game you did well.
PS. Also the 2nd and 3rd Lebanon peace newspapers have two time conditions combined so they will never fire. The ledger is repeating (also has some defunct text about LTD loads). Reason: it's testing against All Territories.
Bonus: aren't Nuclear Power Plants fickle? I don't know what cause the profit spike here. Economy had improved but around $1-2M was typical average profit. Will note that supply was a little scarce for the Upgrade long-term, but regardless GWhrs per load consumed is varying a lot.