This is a revamping of the default 1.05 RRT3 "British Isles" scenario, as mentioned in another topic. It uses basically the same map and seeding as the original, but with changes to game goals and to a few small details. The detail changes are as follows:
1/ In the original, Belfast would build a port on a small lake. This was rather silly, so I moved Belfast a fraction east. It will now build its ports on the coast like other cities. This doesn't affect gameplay at all. It's just a fix for a minor visual bug.
2/ It bugged me that Newcastle-upon-Tyne wasn't upon a Tyne. What, no Tyne? Meh. So, I added the Tyne in. This only affects gameplay in that a bridge is now required where it wasn't required before. Not a big deal.
3/ While I was at Newcastle, I figured that since it was a major coal exporting port it should have a port that demands coal. This depends on the seeding so wont appear all the time, but adds a little to the economy when it is there.
4/ I also threw in seeding for a possible port in France. If that appears, it will produce the latest clothes from Paris, and some cognac, and that horribly Continental coffee stuff (not that any self-respecting Englishman would drink it). Again, this is only a minor addition to the British economy and doesn't have much effect on gameplay. It's mostly just there for fun.
5/ I removed the "Penny Post" event because it came last in a quick succession of three newspapers, which was a bit annoying. It didn't actually have any effects assigned to it, so I thought it was better to not have it at all.
6/ The "Compound Steam" event has been renamed and had its effects changed. Having your fleet magically converted to compound in 1845 was just ridiculous, and the 25% top speed increase with no other benefits bore no relation to reality at all. The "Engineering Quality" event is now a more realistic representation of improved quality control, with a range of modest but useful benefits (ie: reliability, pulling power, etc). Initial cost is now $500,000 instead of $1,000,000, but there is also a 20% increase in locomotive costs if the upgrade option is accepted.
7/ I added an event to make the Crampton available in 1847, which is when they actually did become available. Well, there were a couple being tested in 1846, but I thought it better to have another year's gap between the Beuth and the Crampton. Most Crampton's were built in 1847 and later anyway. The Crampton still retails for its original price, without the 20% price rise that affects other locomotives. It does still get the other upgrade benefits though, assuming you take the "Engineering Quality" option at the start of 1845, so it's a nice addition to the later stages of the scenario.
8/ The AI players have been removed. In this scenario, they never did anything apart from buy a few of your shares and sit on them. Rather pointless, so I just ditched them.
Ok, that's the small stuff.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
The big changes were in the game goals and the timeline.
9/ There are no Silver or Bronze events in this scenario. It's Gold or nothing. In my view, if you want an easier medal, use an easier difficulty setting at the start of the game.
10/ The original scenario ran from January 1829 to the end of 1855. IMO, this was too long. It's not a particularly large or complex map, and unlike some others (Texas Tea, for example) it tends to run out of things to do before the end of the standard timeframe. This made the last few years of the default scenario rather flat and uninteresting.
1851 was the year of the Great Exhibition, which seemed like a good target for showing off the lovely new national railway system. The Planet locomotive that you have to start with wasn't really produced until 1830 anyway, and the first public steam railway in the UK didn't actually open for business until 1830. So, the "Revisited" version runs from January 1830 to the end of 1851. This gives a much tighter game, and you aren't scratching around for things to do at the end of it.
11/ The game goals are a lot more interesting than the original, but are achievable for experienced players. You might need a bit of luck though. In one test game, I got stuck with an economy that was in recession for a decade. Despite having a good start, the random economic cycle of the code borked my chances of a gold in that game. In other games, no problem. I have won this scenario on Expert setting, without doing any silly tricks like bait and switch loads.
The >= 16mph lifetime average speed requirement for all cargo (express and freight) relies on using the later locomotives intelligently to offset the accumulated slow average of the earlier locomotives.
The 8,000 loads hauled requirement means that using the early locomotives is necessary. Don't be scared of using Planets and Adlers to start getting your loads up, and even of using Adlers in conjunction with Fireflies later on. Adlers are cheap and effective, and you can still make the average speed goal (just). Fireflies tend to be ruinously expensive to run en masse, at least if you want a reliable service (I throw them away when they hit 3 years of age).
The $200,000,000 company revenue and $40,000,000 personal net worth goals require a good balance between building a strong company and milking it for your own personal profit.
The positive personal cash balance requirement means you can't rely on using your purchasing power on margin to save you at the end of the game. You need to get yourself in a strong position early on, and then consolidate. IOW, you can margin yourself all you like as long as you can clear your account before the end of 1851.
The requirement to connect all 44 cities and run a train to all of them could probably be sidestepped to some degree. I haven't bothered to try and build in all sorts of traps to make people do what I think they should be doing. If you want to lay burn track to some towns and just put a train there once, empty, just so it ticks that station off as visited, you can do that. Take it from me though, it's not the most profitable way to play this map. You'll do better if you run a real service on well-laid track.
You can win this scenario on Expert just by running a good solid company, with a sound industry base and a rational and profitable rail service to all towns. Try it and see how you like it.
