European Union

[Grandma Ruth]

I had a look at MicroDEM but far above my head. So I've made yet another map with the MapBuilder - lost count of how many this is. But it's OK, the dgVoodoo seems to have solved the graphics problem.
And, due to our discussion about the Chunnel, I've discovered I can make oil rigs! It's so simple; it works, it looks good, the oil flows through the sea (hopefully in pipelines!). The trick of turning sea into land and back again is so clever

[Gumboots]

Oil rigs is a good trick. Hadn't thought of that one.

Re MicroDEM: it's a bit gnarly if you aren't used to it, but I'm used to it. For me, making a heightmap of any area to any scale isn't a big deal. It's all the terrain painting and testing for balance that is hard work. So if you want to try a heightmap from MicroDEM I don't mind making a few (as long as you don't want millions of them).

[Grandma Ruth]

Well, you could do one for the Schools class scenario.Up to you what co-ordinates, clearly we need to go to Brussels but it doesn't have to be too big a map, south of England and north of France, Benelux countries. The ferry might have to just be some version of the one attached. You can see it works for goods, but I've never managed to figure out what makes passengers move!

[Gumboots]

Passengers are a bit weird. I've often put in a new connection, and set a train to express to take all the pax sitting around, only to have it immediately leave with no consist. It was only within the last week that I figured out what was going on. If you open a new route it takes a while for them to figure out the whole route is usable.

If you have 6 loads of pax at Station A, and the game says they want to go to Station C, they will only board a train if it is going directly to Station C. If there is even one intermediate station, the pax will not load onto the train.

This doesn't apply to routes that have been established for some time. Pax on older routes will load even if there are a couple of intermediate stations. It's the brand new routes that cause the problem.

[Grandma Ruth]

Isn't that clever? Just like real life, they need time to get used to a new service. Sid Meier must be a really interesting person, he thought it all through, didn't he?
When I've finished this verdammt EU map I'll think about it some more.

[Gumboots]

Just taking another look at Southern, their main business was between Weymouth and Dover, although they did have a branch line extending out to Plymouth and a few towns north of there. Their western ferries only ran from Weymouth though (nothing further west) and those went to St. Malo via Guernsey. Eastern ferries ran to Dunkerque/Calais/Boulogne. Most of the traffic seems to be towards Paris, with Brussels not being as relevant in that period (no EU yet, etc). So you could do one from Weymouth/Geurnsey across to Paris, and from London south to Paris, and have it pretty much covering their area of operations. That would fit on a 512x448 quite nicely. If you want Brussels as well (perhaps for a Nigel Farage protest march scenario ) the width could be extended out to 640px.

[Grandma Ruth]

[Grandma Ruth]

I've discovered a very strange thing, but absolutely realistic in fact. The territory borders only apply to land in normal circumstances.
But when you're making a tunnel - or indeed building oil rigs - and turning the sea to land and back again, that bit of sea "remembers" being land and of course unless you set the territory borders, it's inaccessible. How about that?
In did vaguely occur to me when I was building the oil rigs, because naturally the official EU map I was using to site them did show the country boundaries under the sea (remember the Cod Wars?).

[Gumboots]

Yes, you can set territories under oceans and lakes. It's an old trick to stop people building ridiculous bridges. Either set the territory to no access, or bump bridge cost sky high, and they have to behave themselves.

[Grandma Ruth]

I've had to abandon the Chunnel there was a problem with the "ghost" company that built it. The only way to have allowed access would have been to keep that company in being as the player's company but I didn't want to do that.
The oil rigs are fine though, I've made them belong to the right countries. Player has access to buy the EU ones, not the Norwegian - though of course they are still sending oil to the player's ports, etc.
Testing now so with a little bit of luck it should soon be ready!

[Gumboots]

You should be able to leave the tunnel company active until you want access, then use a "Confiscate track and stations" event to transfer ownership of the Chunnel to your current company. It may need a separate Chunnel territory to allow this, so the event can be triggered by territory. Once the original Chunnel company is devoid of assets you can use a "Deactivate company" event to get rid of it.

[RulerofRails]

I also think you should have workable options. It's a shame to toss the concept. What troubles are you running into? As in: what sympton specifically is a no-go?

[Grandma Ruth]

@Gumboots, I'll try that and see what happens.
@RoR:

This is what happens when I try to run a route through France, to which I have access, to the ghost company's station. Both stations are in France.
I can run a route under the Channel from their French station to their English one, no problem. I have to pay exorbitantly of course, but that's the EU for you

[Gumboots]

Ok, so it's a simple territory access problem. You just have some pixels somewhere that belong to a territory you don't have access to, and these are obviously cutting across that line in one or more places. That should be easy to fix. Just set all territories to visible boundaries, and check them all for pixels used and permissions set.

[Grandma Ruth]

I've tried that, both on land and under the sea. The problem is on land as well as sea - either England or France, it's the same on both sides and I think it's the land where the ghost company's assets are. All the land is painted as France/England, no sign of the "other" territory (ie Territory #1) But if I set the "other" territory to full access then all is well. It's as though there is some hidden "other" land under the ghost company's track.
I think what has happened is I built the tunnel, track and stations before I started painting territories. So by default the land "under" the track is Territory 1 land, which I later marked as inaccessible.
I'm going to have to change the territories around because I haven't much room for manoeuvre with only 24 territories available.
Watch this space!

[RulerofRails]

One trick to see what is going on under the sea is to save the map, then make all sea into land with visible territory borders. That way you can see what is happening. Painting territories works underwater so you can just fix those places after reloading the map. But, you probably knew this...

Does look like some sort of bug. You could try to temporarily paint the area where that company is running in France to Poland. And then go and repaint it as France. Which is more or less "switching" as you said. If you still run into problems, post a copy and I will take a look.

[Hawk]

Sid Meier must be a really interesting person, he thought it all through, didn't he?

Actually, Sid Meier didn't have any involvement in RT3, or RT2 for that matter. He did the original Railroad Tycoon (1990) and the Deluxe version (1993) when he worked at MicroProse and the later Sid Meier's Railroads (2006) after he formed Firaxis.

PopTop Software bought the rights to the name [Railroad Tycoon] from MicroProse in '98, after Sid left the company.

RT2 & 3 were developed by Gathering of Developers.



I know; probably more information than what you wanted.

[Grandma Ruth]

Hawk, your information is always valuable and appreciated.

[Gumboots]

I think what has happened is I built the tunnel, track and stations before I started painting territories. So by default the land "under" the track is Territory 1 land, which I later marked as inaccessible.

Ok, it's only two stations and a little bit of track. You can always demolish them, sort your territories out, then rebuild the track and stations. That's not a big job. Should be easier than rescripting everything else.

I haven't much room for manoeuvre with only 24 territories available.

You're English, right? Surely you only need two territories: England and Foreign.

[Grandma Ruth]

"Fog in Channel: Continent isolated"