Athabasca 1905

[JayEff]

Actually, I have had some time and I have played the scenario to halfway point. And it looks highly interesting. The fact that most cities are so small makes the gameplay really challenging. The usual tactics getting multiple trains and loading those up to the hilt, doesn't work here. I have to really think.

My start has been sluggish. I overbuilt my track and couldn't get good revenues. And I built a Papermill at Smith, which gave some revenue, but was wrongly located for scenario goals. (so was a Tool & Die at Edmonton. Brought money because of Grain to Aluminium conversion, but doesn't contribute towards transport requirements.)

I got a brainstorm and connected early on to a rival company south of Edmonton. This gave me good early cash, as the company was eager to ship to/off Edmonton, but I got lion share from the revenue.

I have tried my new Mastodon with this scenario. And it is a perfect engine for this scenario. In fact I haven't been using any other engines than Mastodon and Camelback. (apart from one lonely Mogul) Mastodons are great for those long distance connections between Edmonton and outback, and I use Camelback for low profitability local routes.

The early low resource level did make me to stick on South. Not a good move for achieving the scenario goal. I simply don't have enough cargo from the outback. I might make silver, but probably not gold. Still it has been interesting and, let me say, exotic scenario. The managers have been fun too, although I have stick with same one. (one with industry bonus) And I haven't found any bugs or anything. Even the ledger works fine. (Beta 1.06 introduced some problems with the last ledger page)

Great work.

What has worked well for me is to quickly take control of Edmonton. With the 50 starting track it is possible to connect Edmonton and Sherwood Park or Fort Saskatchewan. With the rest of the startup money I buy a few farms. The ones in the south can do really well because they are so close to demand warehouses and factories that they can take care of themselves. There is also extra passenger production in the first six years to account for the huge influx of immigrants around Edmonton. Typically I build the railway in the summer when track laying is cheap, and buy industry in the winter, so there is balanced growth in both components of the business.

In real life, Edmonton continues to be the focal point for most of the map, even Fort Nelson. I have lived in Fort McMurray and Fort St. John, and it is where you go to see medical specialists, for instance, or to see professional sports or concerts. It continues to dwarf the other communities even though Prince George is over 100,000, and Grande Prairie and Fort McMurray are booming.

Many of the communities in the north are small but if there is even one house they will attract some crops that are edible without processing. Also there is a possibility of a railshed-type warehouse or a factory coming in later, so I often place stations at these communities. McLennan is a really good spot for a northern hub.

I have developed a cool strategy for rails around Smith. I expand from Edmonton to Westlock, then continue straight north to the bend in the Athabasca River, east of Smith. I can place a gathering station there, and it will be located on the south side of the river with no risk of bridge wipeouts, but is in the District of Athabaska. So that sets up a flat and fast haul from the District of Athabaska to Edmonton. On the north side of the bend I place a lumber mill, which is strong enough to pull the logs away from the Smith warehouse, and will capture logs from any logging camps around there. Later on I may put in a paper mill too.

All it takes is one or two fan made locos, and you have such good options. A Mastodon would be a great mainstay (I use the fanmade Ten Wheelers and Moguls). And, yeah, the Camelbacks are good for gravel hauls. I also like 8 Wheelers and Atlantics for short runs on busy lines around Edmonton.

I should point out that although the resources are low initially, the growth rate is extremely rapid. If you build a base around Edmonton with all its factories and warehouses, you are well equipped to later pull in all sorts of raw material from the north at a tidy profit.

[JayEff]

Well I've now played this 4 times. First time I got Bronze and knew that I'd do better so second I moved up to Expert and gave up after 5 years - I did make 2 mistakes - started railing too late so an AI also got into Edmonton and laid track before May so paid over the odds - but still .
Third I tried (back to Normal) without any Industry - dismal failure
Fourth I went back to Industry for 6 months and everything went really well all through the scenario. Was able to manage almost without bonds after initial 4 to get started. At end kept selling my own shares to be able to buy the successful AI and took it over with a year to spare so was only left with loads from Athabasca. Didn't even get the minimum for Bronze despite using it as my hub with at least half my 60 or so trains going there Don't know how you could ever get Gold carryings.
Incidentally in first few years the Almanac gave me Nil carryings from Athabasca despite my having carried perhaps 20 loads albeit of small value.
A hint - take a Bond immediately at start of game - if you leave it until May you'll pay 11% instead of 9%!
Anyway it's a really nice scenario and enjoyed playing it.

Gosh Belbincolne, were you trying to haul from the town? The haul is meant to be from the District of Athabaska. Sorry I did not make that more clear. The town, Athabasca Landing, is of minor importance in this scenario.

[belbincolne]

Well I did wonder but now I'm not sure what the district of Athabaska is (Maybe when I next try it will be obvious). Shall report back in due course

[belbincolne]

Yes it is - and Athabasca isn't even in Athabaska so no wonder I wasn't getting correct haulage figures! My next try only got me Bronze again - my fault for trying to expand north too quickly to beat the track laying reduction during WW1. I'd borrowed quite a bit and then three bridges were destroyed which needed extra bonds at 11 & 13% which, coupled with reccession, meant that it was some six years before I got enough money to do anything else by which time it was, of course, too late.

[belbincolne]

I just had a serious problem which I suspected from my last attempt - annoyingly this time I was doing really well.

Always until my last two tries I've connected the first two cities first but these times I've connected Lac La Biche and Fort MacArthur and concentrated more on industry as well. In neither case have I got a newspaper report saying I was connected and last time at the finish I only got bronze instead of silver. This time I was bumped as soon as the first connection date arrived so the game is obviously programmed only to recognise connections in the order given.

Interestingly the raw materials seed at the start is always the same (I've decided a dairy processor in the S-E is best) although it may just be better to buy the farms themselves particularly when they're near a town. BUT what happens afterwards is always different. Sometimes a Lumber Mill in a really good spot pops up first which is great but that's about one in four starts and on the other three it's not so good although an orchard was brill for me last try but one, although thats the only time I've seen it.

I don't know what it is but also whichever AI I buy into always does badly and the one I don't goes from strength to strength. It's happened every try so far!