The Hub 1 Pirates

[edbangor]

I agree with Wolverine that neither of those are cheating although I rarely save games because sometimes the files are huge and going back years to when I had a small computer and they overloaded it I stopped doing so now when it scarcely matters I've got out of the habit and only have the last Auto - which can be a nuisance and stupid as here because one poor judgement means I've got to go back to the beginning - at my age should learn and know better

I try to save all the time but usually forget.
What I would like is an auto save system like Civ4 has, for example, where there are four autosaves, used (and over written) one after the other so you would always have four points to go back to, should you need to, especially as nothing but track laying has an undo option (and that doesn't always work).
To try to do this I have save files named Progress1, Progress2 etc so I can have a lot of saves but without an endless, and enormous SAVES folder.

[Hawk]

You can set the auto save to every 3 months, 6 months, 1 year, 2 years, or 5 years - or not at all.

[Wolverine@MSU]

You can set the auto save to every 3 months, 6 months, 1 year, 2 years, or 5 years - or not at all.

The only problem with this is that it overwrites the previously saved file, so you can only go back to the most recent save. With today's large hard disks, saving 100 40 megabyte files is only 4 gigs, small potatoes on a 80 gig HD, let alone a 250 or 500 gig (which are dirt cheap nowadays).

Not only do I save the file each January, as I do bond issuing, stock buying/selling track/station and industry building, I also save intermediate files. I do almost all of that stuff at the beginning of the year, and only do it during the rest of the year when the need arises. My general strategy is to save the file immediately (i.e. "jan02") after I close the ledger (if the AIs have bought/sold stocks that are detrimental to my goals, I reload the autosave file, which gives me first crack at the market). Then I issue bonds/stocks, buy and sell stocks and anything else that I would do anyway, and then save again as "jan02a". I then tackle track building and industries and save again as "jan02b" etc. Sometimes I'll have up to 4 or 5 "intermediate" saves so I can go back to any point and modify my strategy.

Anytime (or almost anytime) I lay new track during the year, I save the game with a short, "top of the list" name, like "aa", and subsequent saves during the build as "bb", "cc" etc. so they're at the top of the saved game list if I need to go back and have a "do over". If I want to go back, say 10 years and replay with a different strategy, I put a "!" in front of the saved game (!jan22, !jan22a, !jan22b, etc) so that these new games are at the very top of the list, and don't overwrite the corresponding saved games from before. It uses up some disk space, but I've got an 80 gig disk just for RT3 (in all three versions, 1.05, 1.06 and TM), so space isn't an issue.

I usually complete a scenario before moving on to the next one and delete all the saved games when I'm done, but if I decide to start a new scenario before finishing, I make a folder in the Saved Games folder and move all the saved games there before starting the new scenario so that the old files don't get overwritten if they have the same name as one I'm currently saving. I can then move them back out of the folder (after deleting or moving the current saved games) and continue where I left off.

[Gandar]

First time around I did pretty much the same as everyone else and didn't send my trains out early enough to get the ammunition and weapons flowing. The second time it was taking so long to get the industry profit, that I scrapped it, and third time around I concentrated on hotels and restaurants, lots of trains, and started steel flowing nice and early to upgraded munitions and upgraded weapons factories, after that I went and bought farms and breweries and such, and connected them together, this was a much better strategy. I hit gold in 1932. I want to try it again and see if I can do it without pre-loading ammo and weapons, but there are all these other scenarios I haven't played yet, never mind Trainmaster, so little time, so many scenarios.
Thanks ed I enjoyed myself on this one and I look forward to "The Hub Pirates 2"

[Gwizz]

I also save often each time with a new name.

One differance is I keep the last save at the top of the saved map's list.

To do this, I use 99, then 98, then 97, etc. or z, then y, then x, etc. in the map titles.

I have also set up this fourm to always place the last post at the top of the list.

I just don't like to scroll.

[Hawk]

I usually use an exclamation mark in front of the saved game name to place it at the top of the list.

[edbangor]

I hit gold in 1932. I want to try it again and see if I can do it without pre-loading ammo and weapons, but there are all these other scenarios I haven't played yet, never mind Trainmaster, so little time, so many scenarios.
Thanks ed I enjoyed myself on this one and I look forward to "The Hub Pirates 2"

Yeh, we have a winner...

The Hub2: Military, will be with you, probably by the end of the week, as I'm just doing the final testing now.

[belbincolne]

Played it right through at last and got Silver. Only got PNW up enough to get into the Military with two years to go and then realised I'd got all those troops etc to transport. No chance. After what turned out to be three years my trains just had 1 complete car between them and none of the Weapons / Ammo plants were producing anything - o/k should have been transporting steel etc to them but I'd forgotten that this was a requirement. Hugely enjoyable though so I'm now off to download number 2 even though it'll be some time before I can play it.