Gulf Oil Spill - Beta Version

[OilCan]

Attached is a beta version of a scenario based on the 2010 Gulf of Mexico oil spill.

The objective is to haul tar waste (ore) from the beaches of the gulf to disposal centers near 3 large cities. There is a haul quota so the player has to get started hauling right away instead of investing in industry or building somewhere else on the map. Industry is 1.5x normal price to slow the player down from investing in industry too early in the game.

This is a 1.06V map. The 3 collection centers have a 'no station allowed' buffer around them to prevent a player from building a nearby station which captures the cargo at a collection center and then cheating by hauling the same cargo over and over again to run up the count. I think this is the only way to prevent this 1.06V cheat.

The game is set for slow time and runs for 15 days. This was a trade off. The scenario loses its realism if it were allowed to run 10 or 20 years because in real life the beach clean up is almost over after 2 years. 15 days is fairly short for real life, but the player will get bored if it ran much more. This is the equivalent of 30 years normal play time.

The map is color coded for different land uses, each with their own rail costs and train speeds. This is supposed to present the player a challenge on where to build a rail line: trade offs on speed, cost and convenience.

I have been all over the board with the gold amount for CBV and finally settled on $350 million. At one time it was $500 million. Another time it was $250 million. I will be very interested in the final CBVs for the beta testers.

This is a large map. It may take a few extra seconds to launch.

Note: I removed the beta version on Nov 29.

[Blackhawk]

I'm currently playing the map and making some progress in it, I'll give more details once I finish. As of right now if i remember correctly the briefing says UKoil will pay 40k per carload, but then when it comes time for payment per carload it says 30k per car. (Until the offer to supply more and get 50k per load)

[OilCan]

Will be interested in your comments about the game.
I'll correct the $40K typo. I tried the game at $20K, $30K and $40K before settling on $30K per load.
Let me know if the game starts to lag in the final stages...it did for me every time, but then again, I have a 2004 vintage PC.

[Blackhawk]

I would say the game slightly lagged for me in the last couple "years" although it was still playable. I've experienced much worse lag in other scenarios, and I was also running the game at its fastest speed so that probably made it a little more laggy.

As for the scenario, I liked the idea behind it and this scenario had a different feel to it besides just build up, ship, and industrialize and repeat. I don't know if it's just that it's been awhile since I've played RT3 or that it was the scenario itself. The map was pretty large and so I didn't really know where to look to industrialize at first as all my focus was on shipping "ore." Had I better looked over the map and saw where the resources/industries were I probably would have done better with the company book value and bought up industries before they became more expensive. It also didn't help that it took me a long time to realize I didn't connect to a couple collection sites so I was probably missing out on an extra 4-6 carloads of ore a shift at 30k or 50k. (My CBV was only 205mil.)

Was the AI track supposed to have any trains on it or is it just there to use but you won't face any delays from other trains? I would imagine if AI trains were there it would further complicate the matters of shipping.

You may also want to consider remaking the zones around the disposal sites and pre-placing a station. Put the station down and then put the zone just big enough to cover the station, then create your "dead" zone where if you build anything other than track it gets destroyed. I noticed that I could build a furnace inside the disposal site zone which would help create more ingots.

I barely made the 750 loads of ore as well, as I previously stated I didn't realize I failed to connect 2 of the collection centers (C9 and C10 I think) for about 15 shifts had I connected those I'd probably have been able to get 750 much easier than barely completing it on the last year. Also I'm not sure if the event that says they'll collect 1 more ore load at each collection center works correctly, as before and after that event my centers were putting out 3 loads not the 4 like the event said would occur.

[OilCan]

Thanks for the comments, Blackhawk.
The AI lines do not have trains because it would have been very difficult keeping the AI companies productive but not productive enough to expand and get in the way. The AI lines are supposed to be both a help in some places and an obstruction in other places - the player has to decide where those places are.
I could not ignore the railroad lines already in place in 2010, but I couldn't make them active AI companies either, so I created the lines and liquidated the company.
There is a dead zone around the disposal centers, but it is for stations only. This stops a 1.06V means of cheating. Building a furnace in the zone would help use up some of the tar (ore) stored at the station, but should not affect the count of loads to and from the station.
I will double check the increase in production at the collection centers. I have found that RT3 bases production on other external indicators which are unknown to me. An event can be set to increase production 50% but the actual increase is something besides 50% because of the way RT3 factors in other indicators.
I will have a message appear near the start of the game to inform the player that there are 12 collection centers and 3 disposal centers so they don't miss a couple of collection centers. Missing 15 shifts from 2 centers means you missed a possible 90 tar loads.
Again, thanks for testing the game map.

[Blackhawk]

ere is a dead zone around the disposal centers, but it is for stations only. This stops a 1.06V means of cheating. Building a furnace in the zone would help use up some of the tar (ore) stored at the station, but should not affect the count of loads to and from the station.

I wasn't sure if the dead zones were just for stations or buildings as well so I mentioned the ability to build furnaces, since there was the message in the game saying if you hauled any tar/ore from the disposal center to a furnace elsewhere it would count against your total, which if you can just build a furnace right next to the disposal site why bother hauling it anywhere else.

I looked briefly at the event that is supposed to raise production of ore and I think the problem is that because of the way the event is set up, it only raises your company's production of ore and not the ore production across the entire map.

Edit:
You may also want to correct your event that says you are the author of the scenario in that the word actual is missing the T.

[Wolverine@MSU]

This is a really interesting scenario. I'm less than halfway through it now, but have all of the collection centers connected to disposal centers and am getting 30 or more loads per shift. It was really slow going at first, CBV-wise, as most of the traffic was on AI rails, so I wasn't making much profit. As I could, I built my own rails to increase profits, which really helped. The "extra" connections to cities are a real plus. The millions that come in from them helped a great deal in allowing me to build my own rails, further increasing profits. The extra money also allowed me to start purchasing/building industries. I'm a bit puzzeled by the "reproccessing" center that comes later, asking you to haul stuff to the University-sponsored reprocessing center. Wouldn't those loads (hauled away from disposal centers or directly to the reprocessor) count against your total loads of tar waste hauled to disposal centers? Was this put in as "bait" for the unwary player, or am I missing something?

I like the "Urban Area" slowdown of trains, and the different track-building costs in the different "territories". I find myself taking advantage of the AI tracks that cross interstates, as the buiding costs there are pretty steep. The little bit of profit lost by using these short sections is probably more than made up for by not incurring the high cost of building my own rails across/along them. As I now have a steady stream of tar waste going to disposal centers, I'm focussing on building CBV by expanding rail network and buiding industries. I'll let you know how I fared when I complete the scenario.

[OilCan]

Back from a looooong weekend of no RT3!

Blackhawk: I've lost count of times I've tripped up over a company-wide verse game-wide event effect. I seem to be blind to this simple concept. You are exactly correct, the effect should be game-wide, not company-wide. I'll make the change in the final version.
Building a furnace beside a disposal center should not affect the tar count at all. It would help 'use' some of the ore which arrives at the station and somewhat increase demand. That would not affect the haul amount since 1.06V custom consists ship regardless of demand, but it might help keep a higher price for the ore which would in turn help the player.

Wolverine: Glad you are enjoying the game. Bait is the answer. I like to add one or two choices for a player which can turn out to be unwise but won't cause the player to lose. I think it adds 'playability' to a game: the desire to play a game again and again using different tactics each time.

[Wolverine@MSU]

Got Gold on Expert with just a couple of shifts to spare. I think $350M is the right CBV; could have maybe made $400M, but $500M is a little much. I really like it, especially the "innovative" ways of dealing with different land types and the "dead zones" around disposal sites. I made the mistake of hauling away ore from DC3 to Auburn after it closed, but soon found out (at the end of the shift) that these were still being counted against my total hauls. I guess there's no way around this since a player could just as easily haul them from DC3 to one of the other DCs.

There are a few nit-picky things I noticed in the events:

In the "Shift 1&2", "Fine NF", and "Game Setup" events, the word "less" should be changed to "fewer" since you are talking about "numbers of" rather than "amounts of".

In the "Shift <X" events, there should be an "a" after "This is..." at the beginning

In the "Reminder-Farm" event, the first "which" should be changed to "that", and the second "which" should have a comma after it. In the "Reminder-Ingots" event, likewise, the "which" should be "that". Also in this event (an maybe a few others), you have not been consistant in your use of upper case letters for naming cargoes and industries; you use "CRYSTALs", but then go on to use "electronics", "aluminum" etc.

In "News 24" it should be "inundates", not "inudates"

In the "Shift Max" events, you've checked the "One time only" box. These should probably be awarded each time a quota is met, and could be made so by adding an "ANDED" "< upper limit" i.e "loads >= 30" AND "< 40".

I think I'm going to try it again, now that I have a feel for how to do it, and modify my initial strategy a bit to get the most profits (build more of my own track) from hauls right away.

Good job OilCan

[OilCan]

Thanks for the editor comments. Always can use the help. Gramer and speling has allways ben a week spot fur me.

I was little surprised that neither you or Blackhawk complained about the number of player messages. And the number of newspapers didn't seem to be an issue either. That's good. This particular game needed a lot up front information to be provided to the player and I struggled to keep the messages to a minimum.

I also felt that the player probably would appreciate a reminder about ingots and ceramics since these are two important cargo types in the game - and neither you or Blackhawk pointed that out as a problem, which again is good.

I'll make the changes which you suggested, test play the game one more time and then send it to Hawk.

[Wolverine@MSU]

I'll make the changes which you suggested, test play the game one more time and then send it to Hawk.

I'll hold off on my replay until you post the final version.

[RayofSunshine]

Well, I did not even get the BZ, but I had a lot of fun playing this scenario. A great concept of imagination and challenges. This is one of the better scenarios, and I enjoyed trying to keep up with the "purpose" of the reality of what actually took place with such a disaster.

I did run into the difficulty of trying to obtain "any" oil as an ingredient for the "machine shop" to get the machinery. Set an engine at a disposal for a number of shifts, and only obtaining 1haul. Kept checking the 3 disposal sites, and it was rare to even get 1 haul.

Unable to completely remember the notice, but believe that there was a mention of a "waste" plant near Tuscaloosa. Never found any. I kept checking the disposal sites, but don't recall seeing any "waste" icons to haul. Did see a few at depots having "recycling" plants.

Basically from the start I used the Red Devil. There might have been the requirement of more maintenance stops, but believed the "speed" gave a better result. Later I used a few DD 080 Diesels, to try and obtain the 30+ hauls per shift for the revenue.

Locking out the "usage" rating to "0", really helped to maintain a flow of revenue, in comparison to have crashes.

Seeing that there was such a "speed" restriction in the yellow urban areas, I used double track to try an keep a flow of traffic in those areas. Believe next time I will not construct any maintenance stops in the yellow areas, which I usually try to place near depots.

Truly believe this a great challenge, and also enjoyed the "notices" of progress which actually is a documentary of that disaster.

[RayofSunshine]

OH. I did find an error. Miami Beach as what is reality, is on the Eastern shore on the Atlantic. Its location in this scenario should possibly be Grayton Beach. Beaches on either side on the Gulf could be Seagrove or Laguna.
Sort of a minor error, considering the time given to such a project.

[OilCan]

The 'final' version of the 2010 Gulf Oil Spill game has been sent to Hawk.

Many thanks to the comments and suggestions. I made all the changes which were recommended, except one and I can't remember which one that was. I did add pre-built stations with each disposal center which the player confiscates at start-up. And I changed Miami beach to Miramar beach. This coming April will be the second year anniversary of the spill - and the clean-up work is still going on.

[Blackhawk]

I discovered today that I had this thread open on one of the tabs in my browser and it had the original message Oilcan left before the forums were restored to an earlier point, so I'll post it as it mentions a possible future map.

The final version has been sent to Hawk.

I made all the changes and corrections suggested, except one. The 'Shift max' events are supposed to only trigger once, not every time a threshold is reached. I added pre-built stations at the disposal centers which the player confiscates at the start of a new company.

Thanks for all constructive comments. After travelling up and down Interstate 81 last week, which follows the Shenadoah valley, I'm thinking about a similar type land-use restriction game for a high-speed electric track between Washington DC and Atlanta.

[Hawk]

I forgot to mention; this map was added to the archives yesterday.

[obertran]

I started playing this map and it's very nice map. I get bronze but it's hard to get a higher score. I'll try again. Good game "Oilcan".

[Hawk]

Merged with the existing thread on this map.

[OilCan]

I started playing this map and it's very nice map. I get bronze but it's hard to get a higher score. I'll try again. Good game "Oilcan".

Thanks for the kind comment. I spent about 15 weeks over last 2 years in assignments dealing with the oil spill so it's something I know a little bit about.

Couple of hints to help reach a higher score: stay off the other railroads as much as possible, yet link as many towns and cities as possible. Start in Mobile, Al area. Quickly do city to city connections when they are requested (all you need is track and stations, then use the reward money for starting train routes between the cities.

[obertran]

After months and months playing this map I finally beat it.

My congratulations is a very hard map and very well done. I get gold on the shift 30 !! few hours before ending the game

Oilcan, very good map, very challenging