Re: Panama Canal
Posted: Fri Jul 18, 2014 1:03 pm
I was noticing that Machinery demand was orange-red over the entire map the years I was supplying the canal. I guess I was watching it a little more closely as I have been thinking about the 1.06 cargoes over in the fixes thread. I am on the lookout for if those particular cargoes behave strangely, that's why I asked.
The idea you had for the Platinum medal is really ingenious. I love it. I am trying to get ideas for making a map and am tempted to incorporate this one. It is much better than having a Super Gold medal. Is that ok?
I found this scenario a lot simpler and more enjoyable by setting up my routes as 6-car wait-to-fill right from the start and not going back through the train list and re-doing consists. I think there was one or two trains that I had to run with less to meet the first year's requirement, but after that it was all 6-car consists. Half the reason for stopping any extra just before they arrive at the canal is that some allowance needs to be made for breakdowns and variations in economy. This means that later in the year one needs to watch the trains arriving to that area and stop those required, but it is far better than the bunching that will occur if a second wait-to-fill train arrives at the cargo source before the first is finished. The second train will often jump the queue and fill in preference to the second. Often the first train will have 3-4 cars full and will fill relatively quickly once the second train is full and departs. This causes a gap when there are no trains waiting which will likely cause some cargo to escape that stations capture area.
Simple, efficient routing and planning can make lots of things enjoyable. I did this also in my most recent play of Alternate USA. In this case I built enough demand for whatever product I was hauling at one city, for example 4 Upgraded Breweries on one cell just far enough away from the source that it wasn't attracted on its own. Corn was the only thing I couldn't do this for. Together with wait-to-fill, I left most of the routes throughout the game on auto-pilot instead of the desperate efforts I had used in my first attempt. I even had a list on paper for deliveries and was so pedantic that I was stopping and checking every train. I never did finish that play. I guess watching exactly what happens with price and demand is necessary to understand the game mechanics, but, after the learning phase, use them as your best helpers.
The idea you had for the Platinum medal is really ingenious. I love it. I am trying to get ideas for making a map and am tempted to incorporate this one. It is much better than having a Super Gold medal. Is that ok?
I found this scenario a lot simpler and more enjoyable by setting up my routes as 6-car wait-to-fill right from the start and not going back through the train list and re-doing consists. I think there was one or two trains that I had to run with less to meet the first year's requirement, but after that it was all 6-car consists. Half the reason for stopping any extra just before they arrive at the canal is that some allowance needs to be made for breakdowns and variations in economy. This means that later in the year one needs to watch the trains arriving to that area and stop those required, but it is far better than the bunching that will occur if a second wait-to-fill train arrives at the cargo source before the first is finished. The second train will often jump the queue and fill in preference to the second. Often the first train will have 3-4 cars full and will fill relatively quickly once the second train is full and departs. This causes a gap when there are no trains waiting which will likely cause some cargo to escape that stations capture area.
Simple, efficient routing and planning can make lots of things enjoyable. I did this also in my most recent play of Alternate USA. In this case I built enough demand for whatever product I was hauling at one city, for example 4 Upgraded Breweries on one cell just far enough away from the source that it wasn't attracted on its own. Corn was the only thing I couldn't do this for. Together with wait-to-fill, I left most of the routes throughout the game on auto-pilot instead of the desperate efforts I had used in my first attempt. I even had a list on paper for deliveries and was so pedantic that I was stopping and checking every train. I never did finish that play. I guess watching exactly what happens with price and demand is necessary to understand the game mechanics, but, after the learning phase, use them as your best helpers.