Hawk & Badger Railroad

Some tips for the player

1) The service towers can be set as a waypoint. When a train is forced to stop at a service tower or maintenance shed it forces the engine to top off at the building. Thus, you may spread out your service centers and get more distance between stops for service.

2) I am not positive but I think AI engines will avoid long lines where there are no service towers. Putting them on a spur off the mainline may prevent the AI from using your lines.

Bugs

The game has a several bugs in the industry system. A particularly bad bug is when an industry can use one of two cargoes is supplied with both cargoes. The production of the industry actually is cut in half and uses only half as much as it does with one. These industries are the distillery, the brewery, tool & die, and textile mill. I'm not sure about the weapons factory but it could happen to it to.

Thanks to the C-to-C patch, some of these have been eliminated.

Kenny Blankenship's most painful bug list

9) No way to type in lake level of lake tool in editor.

8) Counting loads hauled to or from can be fooled by picking up the cargo and manually rerouting train back to pickup station, thus counting as 'delivered'. The problem is exacerbated because cargo is not consumed immediately on delivery (as it was in RT2).

7) Water towers built too close to switches are missed by waterless trains headed in one direction.

6) AI's can buy industries in territories that they have no rights. Human players cannot do this.

5) AI's will sometimes choose the same logo. Not serious but could be confusing at a page break.

4) Cost of electric track is wrong. On a test map, bare track between two sections was $100K. Electric track between them was $152K. To electrify the bare track using the upgrade button was $77K. To electrify the bare track by using the track tool set to electric track 'On' was $102K. Which is right?

3) Trains in need of service do not stop at service tower for water refill. Placing service tower too close to track intersection?

2) Limited track bridge incomplete - Running out of track in the middle of building a bridge doesn't allow one to finish the bridge when the limit of track is raised.

1) Terra-form fix now doesn't let farms to be placed where the land is not flat. This limits things like coffee, sugar, rubber, and maybe wheat.

Finding New Industry

Here's a method to locate new industries when they show up. This way you can nab them when they are cheap. The game maintains internal lists of all buildings. Actually there are two lists. One is of all the buildings you own and the other is all the buildings (including houses) you don't own. These are ordered by when they are built. When you select an industry by clicking on it, you can see information on that industry including the date. This puts you at some place on the list. You view the list one building at a time when you page down or page up. To go back in time page up on the list. To go forward in time, page down. New industry will usually be placed at the end of the list. However, if an industry or house has disappeared it leaves an empty slot and a new industry will fill that slot and be out of order.

To get the list started you have to click on the building and get the arrow floating above it. Now just page down to get to the most recent industry.

To save your place at the end of the list click on the building to select it. Actually, it is best to go one past the latest building and mark the very first one. Then all you have to do is page up and you are always at the newest one. Then press Shift-0 or any number 0-9. This saves the view of the industry. (The Camera Control Setting must be set to Center on Stations for the shift-# thing to work.) Then you only need to press the number along the top of the keyboard and it returns to the view of the building. Then click the building (to start the list memory) and page down to find if new industries have been built since last time you looked.

Map Hints

The Trans-Siberian Railway map is a difficult start map. The player must connect Moscow and Chelyabinsk within 5½ years with limited track. More yearly track can be gained by delivering wood and steel to Chelyabinsk. Thus, if there is wood or steel near Perm it would of benefit to start there and run the first connection to Chelyabinsk.

The first step is let the game run until February to see if I can get a manager that will help me buy industry at a discount. Longer than one month and the price of the industry might go up. Next is to find a good industry or two to buy right off the bat. Spending all $1.5 million on industry at start will pay off down the line. I usually avoid building any track the first 2.9 years. In this period, if my industries are making money and have stacks of raw cargo I might just upgrade instead of buying another industry.

It depends on my cash flow. But, in December of 1888, I stop the game. I take over the Ussurian Railway and set its dividend back to 0. Every year you have to do this as the AI Chairman sets the dividend at that time. Then I regain the chair of the TransSib. Beware, every time you leave as manager of Trans-Siberian the AI will change your train priorities. This even happens on pause.

If there is steel or lumber in Perm, I run a line from there to Chelyabinsk. A straight line from Perm to the Urals and a tricky bend there, the rest of the way can avoid any steep grades. This must the practiced as it is not easy to find. I haul steel and lumber to Chelyabinsk and anything back to Perm. One thing to remember especially if you own a steel mill or lumber mill at Perm is never to haul anything other than steel and lumber from Perm. Chelyabinsk as well as other cities demand coal and you don't want to starve the steel mill of coal.

So, use custom consists. I generally will let the game run until the following December (1889). Stop the game here and lay as much track toward Moscow as I can. Some time in there a new manager can be hired. I would go for one with track cost benefit or bridge building benefits. I don't know which would be best. Also, take over the Ussurian and reset the dividend to 0. This has to be done each December.

December of 1890 stop the game and lay as much track as you can. After the start of the next year, before May 1891, the last section of track can be laid all the way to Moscow.

Once the official railway establishment ceremony happens take over the Ussurian railway. Here laying track triggers the manager selection so lay a few sections of track. If planning on laying track get a track manager. If you want to buy an industry like I do get an industry manager. Once you have both railroads running you can either look for some good industries to buy or take care of the grain challenge or even connect to some cities that are not in Siberia to make some money. You have a little leeway time wise before marching eastward and westward.

One thing to worry about is having too much money in the hands of your railroads AI chairman. You don't know what they may do with it. They may buy a farm or when Manchuria opens up lay rail to a city there. So, I try to keep the Ussurian in debt. Use any surplus money of the Ussurian to build more track.

Still, the major obstacle in meeting the bronze will be getting enough troops to Vladivostok. Weapons and tea may be rare but not as rare as troops. So, give yourself 7 years to ship all your Trans-Siberian cargoes as it takes about 2½ years with the fastest engines to get from Moscow to Vladivostok.