China Ultimate 2.0 for Trainmaster

[thietavu]

Here it finally is. Only 5 months or so late (sorry!) ... Some numbers: 700.126 cells. 186 cities. Almost a million trees. This is the Great China with its surrounding areas. The scenario starts the same year the real first railroad was built in China. Your task is to connect Shanghai and Beijing to 18 other places in Asia, including Trans-Siberian railways. You have time until 2020 and unless you make foolish decisions, you may find money flowing to you more than you can dream of. But don't become careless. ;) This scenario is built to surprise you every single time, no matter what strategies you use. You can also decide not to care about the "goals" but concentrate on e.g. developing Tibetan railways instead. I think I can promise that most of you won't get bored anytime soon...

This time it really is wise to read the "read me" file, too. Due to huge size of this scenario, some technical issues can be expected in some PCs. None too serious, however - during my hundreds of hours of testing, this map hasn't crashed the game even once. Not even when there were over 600 (!) trains running to more than 200 stations simultaneously.

It is also good to know that this scenario will very probably require completely different playing strategies compared to most RRT/Trainmaster maps. Here your enemy won't be time, for example. Your enemy will rather be costs management! Just multiply *any* problem with hundreds of locomotives and insane lengths of track - and you know what I mean! ;) The profits can be massive here - but so can the losses. And then there are certain events in history...

This map may appear very easy at first, once you do some things right. Yet, I can promise some real challenges later in the game. Already getting to Sichuan's Chengdu (surrounded by high mountains) might make you think twice. Not to mention Tibet - and so on.

Imagination and strategic thinking are the keys to win here.

For those of you who tried and were disappointed by the RRT3 section's "China Ultimate 1" map about half-a-year ago: this is not the same map. This has been completely re-made - both the game logic and even the graphics. So, this one should be a far superior experience - and actually work. I have had lots of fun testing this in countless ways. I hope you might like the Great China 2 Trainmaster scenario too!

(p.s: could some of you moderators please put the attached file to the right place in the map archive? Thanks!!)

[edbangor]

Yeah a new scenario....

[Hawk]

(p.s: could some of you moderators please put the attached file to the right place in the map archive? Thanks!!)

I just got this added to the archive. I didn't see this line from you until this morning.
It might be a good idea to PM me when you have something to add, you know - to catch my attention.

Sometimes I get busy and just skim new posts and don't catch every word.

I added the download count from the attachment in your post to the download count on the page so you can delete the file attachment in your post if you want.

[thietavu]

Big thanks! :)

[nedfumpkin]

I just took a look at this scenario and it looks like it will be some decent fun. I should get a chance to play it this weekend. I think I will be making the time.

Good job!

[thietavu]

I just took a look at this scenario and it looks like it will be some decent fun. I should get a chance to play it this weekend. I think I will be making the time.

Good job!

Thanks! Hope you're going to have fun - and don't forget to haul some good Tsingtao beer from Qingdao every now & then... Remember, this is pretty much a real-life simulation scenario. ;)

[nedfumpkin]

I have just gotten started, and I did my trademark opening move which is to build a papermill at Shanghai and supply it. Initial exapnsion is very good and within the first two years I have connected the two cities north of Shangai along the coast, paid down a bond, and now I am going to begin really expanding.

[nedfumpkin]

A good hint on this map is to make use of the terrain levellers!

[thietavu]

A good hint on this map is to make use of the terrain levellers!

Yes, the terrain levelers are very useful here - and they can be crucial when one later in the game expands to some of the more rugged mountain areas of China and elsewhere. Some areas are very, very difficult (as they are in real life) to connect.

The early game around Shanghai (or almost anywhere in industrial, fairly level Eastern China) is relatively easy unless one tries to expand too rapidly. This scenario has, however, its very own, peculiar tricks which can give nasty surprises if one tries to play it in the "usual" RRT3 way. It won't work, I'd bet. But then again, I have found so many completely different ways to win this one that... who knows? :) That's where the fun is, I think: "I wonder if I can do THAT although it seems impossible..." A tunnel through the Himalayas? Feel free to try! ;)

My friend just bragged me about how "easy" this map is - he had made incredible profits and nothing seemed to prevent his victory. Just some hours later he was bankrupt. The reason was actually very simple. He had forgotten that China Ultimate 2 is a real-life simulation scenario. He assumed that things will continue the way they had been for decades in the game. But well, world isn't like that. ;)

A hint: if you want to win this scenario, it is good to plan ahead. Very, very far ahead.

[banest]

Hmm, i think that warehouses ruined game. I started with several warehouses(i think it is number 4, supply with meat) and after that built 10-15 creameries. When i reached 30M profit per year it was GG. I had 3 trains in the end... After 21 year got gold. Too many farms... Map is too easy...

[Wolverine@MSU]

I have to agree on the "challenge" aspect. I built Meat Packers to intercept Livestock flowing to ones on the map and was making huge profits. I've played about 10 yrs without laying any track. I did build Taverns to block the ends of AI tracks, and some of them are making almost $100K profit per year, even though there appear to be few passengers in the cities.

It is a beautiful (if over-bountiful) map, although the terrain seems a bit "over the top" in terms of the elevation of the mountains. A 50% reduction in overall elevation (accessable from the terrain tool in the Editor) makes a better map IMO.

[thietavu]

Thanks for feedback! To me, this feedback is a bit surprising, since I have personally found this map rather challenging. But then again, I have played it with hundreds of locomotives, trying to connect about every town... ;) I'm not too interested in the business side of RRT3 - only railroading - so I never tested some business-oriented ways to win the game.

So, it's obvious that this one isn't for every RRT3 player. I love trains and thus this map reflects my own interests: trains, trains, more trains. :)

Anyway, the goal was to make a different kind of a map. A huge one, too. I hope some people find it as nice variety, maybe best played at most difficult settings.

[nedfumpkin]

Currently I am at 1903, and still have some ways to go. I am going slowly and investing in a lot of industry, as well as laying well planned double track. I'm making oodles of money. I have about 105 trains. I'm also paying a lot of attention to grades and keeping all my track below 3%. I'm using the terrain levellers a lot.

No AI has shown up so far that I've noticed. But I haven't really looked for them. Also, no events so far either.

One thing I would suggest is to fix the rivers on the map. I had to do this on CA01, and it is a long tedious process, but some rivers go up and over mountains and others up the side of it. There's some breaks as well. When I was making CA01, I super-imposed the river system on the tga in black. This put all the rivers beds at almost sea level. Ten I adjusted heights and really worked on painting the rivers in the gutters that were created. Doing this would improve the map, although I know how tedious a task it is, and I hate doing it myself.

[thietavu]

What's in common with the experiences described here is that people seem to have concentrated on building businesses and winning the game as soon as possible? That's not what this map is all about. :) This is all about developing a railroad system into a huge country, during a long, long time.

Winning with only 3 trains hardly sounds to me like a new "China Railways", does it? ;) I had at maximum 600+ trains running simultaneously. That's railroading then - not building business empires. But it is, of course, everyone's own choice how to play this game - and that's one of the beauties of RRT3, I think!

Anyone who wins or quits this map very fast (I mean: before ca. 1930) will miss some events and challenges which might prove challenging even to some hardcore RRT3 players. So, although it certainly is possible to end this map very quickly, even before year 1900, that's not very much fun, I think. It is much more fun to try to connect every Chinese etc. city in a meaningful way and maybe later in the game to build high-speed passenger routes using bullet trains, etc. The stuff that happens in real China right now...

Originally, there was not a winning condition at all. This was built to be the "ultimate train playground". But since many people wanted a more "game-like challenge", I added events and winning conditions there.

Btw, the rivers are ugly and there are many things to fix, that is true. I just wanted to get this "forever" project out before hell freezes over - even this version has taken hundreds and hundreds of hours. If some people like this, I can improve it. Right now I'm finishing another big scenario: Scandinavia, Nothern Europe and parts of Russia etc.

[Nilmadae]

Right now I'm finishing another big scenario: Scandinavia, Northern Europe and parts of Russia etc.

Looking forward to that one since I live in Karlstad, Sweden. Will it be for RRT3 or TM?