Arizona Open Range

[Stoneman]

Range Rat, et al: I have just spent many delightful hours playing this map scenario. Wow! It is really mammoth! I sure appreciate all of the effort you have put into creating this and I look forward to your release of the full effort. It is quite a stretch to connect with Yuma, as the pickings are pretty sparce in the southern part of the map, although it is possible to make the connection by St Patrick's Day 1880 with a lot of bonds and a line between Tucson and Phoenix via Casa Grande and with a spur to the distillery in Mesa and produce farms in Chandler. I wonder what other surprises you are planning to give incentives to buld elsewhere on the map. Will there be Indian raids, sandstorms, Mexican banditos, bonus connections to cities on the borders with whom other off map RR's join, water shortages and cattle ranches? It is a huge map and has great possibilities!!! I bet you will have fun figuring out what the silver and bronze criteria will be and how to bring Yuma into the game more. Well, in any event, please let us know when you are ready with THE MONSTER. Thanks again for all of your wonderful work. Cheers! Stoneman.

[AZ Rail Rat]

Stoneman,

You are the first to say anything for several weeks. Even Beta testers of the full scenario seemed to have dropped it.

I see Mobius went ahead and published his Trans-Siberian map. Perhaps that will inspire me to finish mine.

Problem is, wife wants me to move my office AGAIN :evil: :evil: :evil: . Second time in as many months. Will have to see how that goes. I can't even find my latest bugs list from the last move.

Hang in there. Next week is Labor Day when I said I would have it done. So much for that. Halloween :?: :?: :?: :?: No hurry as most people are not bored yet running expansion maps. That will pass soon and people will want something new.

I'll put you on the list as a tester for the next version.

If you want to enhance your experience, go to my home page: http://www.users.qwest.net/%7Egreames/ and read about each of the railroads and many cities on the map.

[Gwizz]

Just be glad you don't have to move the whole house like I'm doing.

I haven't forgot your map just have not been able to do any playing.

[AZ Rail Rat]

Neither have I Gwizz . . . Neither have I. :( :( :( :(

[Stoneman]

Rail Rat: First, let me thank you for referring me to your home page. It is quite a piece of work, and I can see that it inspired you as you worked on the AZ map. I appreciate your offering to let me be a future Beta tester; I will enjoy doing that!
Of course, I did not play this version of AZ Open Range on down through the years, so I dunno what you have in store. But, one observation I had was that it seemed that most of the good starting positions (assuming you dont actually get $6 million to start with in the "real" game) were in the same area. I ran it a few times only with the full complement of AI and it seemed to bear out my feeling. All of the RRs it built were between Tucson and Phoenix with the exception of one goofy line built to the top of a mountain, where it could not possible operate feasibly. This led me to thinking that there need to be more opportunities on the other parts of the map. I suppose this is complicated by the possible desire to make it historically accurate, so I dont know how you will work out that balance. For example, in the efforts I played through, just observing, I did not get any RR to start in Prescott (even tho the state capital, as it were).
Perhaps one way to address that would be to have greater supply and demand at the edges of the map where other RRs join in. Of course, again you might be challenged by the years in which it historically happened. Similarly, the Yuma connection seemed incomplete to me. It seems that, due to the story line, it ought to be a grand supply/demand center but it seems almost like a desert island, with nothing nearby, even remotely nearby to connect to. Again, however, I guess you would say, Well, that is historically accurate. Hmmmm. Perhaps you will balance that by some huge prize for connecting Yuma to Tucson but, at the early stages that I played, there is not much (any) incentive to connect there (aside from the opening headlines to connect there by St Patrick's Day 1880 to qualify for bronze) (I imagine you will be revamping this as you get to a more final version because I dont think one could connect Yuman to Tucson by that date without a $6 million stake).
In short, the more I goof around with the Open Range map, the more I like it. It is beautiful. But I would like more incentive to play all over the map.
I look forward to seeing the next edition.
Thanks for pointing out the Trans Siberian map. I have downloaded it, but have not tried to play it yet. Right now, I am playing Alternate USA and am not having much success. :D
Cheers. Stoneman.

[kriss]

AZ
My birthday tomorrow & the monster PC arrives next Tuesday, I promise to make Open Range a high priority along with checking the Tower of London records for traces of your ancestors :)
One question, one of my quirks is to find appropriate music to play with each scenario but I'm blowed if I can find anything relating to Arizona, unless you count "Phoenix on my mind" Is there anything there worth singing about?

[AZ Rail Rat]

Don't know how it goes across the pond, but here are a few that come to mind:

Roy Rogers and The Sons of the Pioneers
Gene Autrey
Hey - A GOOD ONE - Sound Track to The GOOD, The BAD and The UGLY
Frankie Lane - Rawhide and Blazing Saddles
Alice Cooper :P :P :P - Don't Laugh! He was born, raised and still lives in Phoenix.
Glenn Cambell - He just spent ten days in our Sheriff Joe's Tent City for drunk driving. He was at a Phoenix resort and slammed into a guys car.
Santana - We got LOTS of Mexicans
Why not the Beatles? Paul's ranch is in Tucson
America - Horse With No Name
Johnny Cash - Ghostriders In The Sky - Ballad of Ira Hayes
Kenny Rogers - The Gambler - "On a Train bound for NOWHERE" - Nowhere, AZ is on the AZ map.

Remember, there are both kinds of music, Country AND Western. Lean toward the Western side. :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:

And HAPPY BIRTHDAY :!: :!: :!: 8) 8) 8)

[kriss]

Cheers Buddy, confirms what I thought, nobody sings about Arizona much :lol: I've rarely seen such effort to make a connection.
I'll just play The Desert Song :)

[AZ Rail Rat]

WONDER OF WONDER, MIRACLE OF MIRACLES :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:

Loaded up my latest AZRR saved game. Even found my bug list, but it's been so long, I can't make heads nor tails of it. Got to play a couple of years before the wife yelled at me.

Taking a four-day weekend. Feel MOTIVATED about it again. Hope to sneak in lots of playing time even if I do have to move my office. 8) 8) 8) 8)

[AZ Rail Rat]

OK!

Finished my latest test run on AZRR. This time got deeper than ever, 1932. Will make a few "adjustments" and plan to post here in the TEST area for all to try.

No hurry. If you are still playing new maps from THE THING, trying your hand at skinning, making your own map, or just chasing girls, get to it when you can.

I'm publishing no README hints, just a synopsis and known bugs list. Also will include new logo files for the seven (if anyone gets that far) railroads. Since I only have two and have to make the rest, it could take a while. If anyone runs across or wants to make a logo for the following railroads, email them to me or post in the SKINS area:

Phoenix Street Trolley
Arizona & California
Magma/Copper Basin
Tucson, Cornellia & Gila Bend
Arizona Light Rail (brand new) does not exist yet

Shooting for a Colunbus Day release of this next map. Would really only take a good weekend or two, but you never know the wife :twisted:

Wish me luck.

[Stoneman]

Rail Rat, I will mark my Calendar for Columbus Day (or Halloween!) and look forward to riding your rails then! .... I played Victorian Railways 1870 and found that it suffered both from the bug of 2 supplies for one industry (coal and iron for steel mill) resulting in no production and, also, from one of its target items to deliver (furniture) not appearing. Otherwise, a cool map.
Cheers. Stoneman.

[AZ Rail Rat]

Don't know how, but I got the latest bug "fixes" in over the weekend. Next I need to make two logos (found a herold for the Arizona & California). Final step will be to type up a readme file with known bugs and latest fixes and it will be ready to upload here.

No promises, but C-Day is looking better and better. Might even make it before 1 October. Just need one good weekend. :lol: :lol: :lol:

[kriss]

C'mon Ratty, the new PC is waiting to be seriously tested, it's sitting there casting a blue neon glow across the room & it loads the CtC map in 30 seconds. Eat your heart out :lol:
You might consider it worth cancelling all the family birthdays as well as Christmas for a bit of this :D

[AZ Rail Rat]

:lol: :lol: :lol: Kriss

Things are progressing at warp speed. Got all my logos made tonight. Go to my AZ Rail Rat Home page and see them. I found all on line except for the Tucson, Cornelia and Gila Bend. Made up my own. It's a color arieal view of the Corneilia Mine just outside Ajo, Arizona.

Now all I have to do is type up the bug list, zip and publish. If I'm REAL lucky, THIS WEEKEND :?: :?: :?:

Broke down today and bought the wife her Early Christmas present. It's a 36" Maganvox. Was on sale at Circuit City for $399. All six stores around Phoenix were sold out, so they had to order it. Will be in in 7 to 10 days, or at least by Christmas.

Computer is next. Going to do a bit more research on this one. Big question now is, should I wait for the latest child of Bill Gates, Windows Longhorn, to be released "sometime" in 2005), or should I go for a system sooner with Win XP?

What did you get Kriss? How much (if I may be so bold)? Was it a package deal with software, or custom built and you had to buy op system separate?

So many computers . . . So little time :!: :!: :!:

[kriss]

My deal was thru my company, I lease it from them at $40 a month for 3 years & at the end I buy it for a maximum price of $90. The lease is deducted from my salary before tax & health deductions are made saving a further 33%. Fujitsu Siemens made it & give on site warranty for the 3 years.
I horse traded a bit & the spec ended up.
Pentium HT Prescott 3.2 Gb CPU
1 Gb ram
160 Gb Hard drive
ATI X800 Graphics card
1 DVD/CD drive
1 DVD RW drive
6:1 on board sound
A slot for every kind of media made.
19" LCD TFT screen
It comes in a big flashy case with blue neons on all the vents just to round it off.
XP home & all the software you could need come installed & all the discs (including recovery disc) are included
Most important it flies & RRT3 is a new game for me now, I lied about CtC loading in 30 seconds, timed it last night & in fact it takes 22 seconds!
I have already started my first serious map, it will be based on the geography & economic system of ancient Egypt. More on that later.

[AZ Rail Rat]

Let me know how it runs with AZRR, all SIX companies and about 300 trains :!:

[kriss]

I've downloaded your beta version which gives me 2 maps to look at before I return tomorrow afternoon, I assume you're burning the midnight oil to get the final product out.

[AZ Rail Rat]

Nay fair mon fraire - I'm letting all youse guys do the work. So far isii found a stupid error. IN THE FIRST BRIEFING for Christ's sake. It should read connect Prescott to Phoenix by 1895, not 1885

I started a new run. This time I'm running on Medium difficulty for the first time. I'm also using Americans instead of Consolidations. Found out they are much cheaper (by 80K) and their slower speed is MORE than made up for because they seem to need only half as much water.

Good thing in the desert - what :?:

[kriss]

Right! I loaded her up last night & shock horror! is my new rig too good or what? Nobody else has mentioned this so I hope I'm not just being hyper critical. I can't see the detail because of all the detail, what I mean is the labels designating regions & mountain ranges etc seem to over power everything else on the map, consequently it's very hard to pick out the detail I want to see. This is especially so in the scheduling window where it is a struggle to pick out the stations. (worse if you are changing a train schedule as that window is very small)
I know textboxes are too limited in number to create all those labels & anyway you'd lose the auhentic map effect so I tried a bit of editing, painting out the white backrounds & sharpening the letters. This had the desired effect but boy would it take some time.
Question, is this just my rig or is it so but I'm being pedantic?
If it isn't just me do you want me to attack it as a paint job, the wife says I do boring stuff really well!
If I'm out of order everybody kick my butt & I'll return to my Ancient Egypt map :)

[Stoneman]

I don't know the answer to your question, but I am very much looking forward to seeing the Ancient Egypt map! Cheers. Stoneman.

[AZ Rail Rat]

Kriss,

There are those who will HATE the overlayed map features (labels, roads, etc.) But like you say, it is sort of an "authentic map effect".

I'm having a little trouble noting your trouble. Look here at three screenshots from my system:
http://www.users.qwest.net/%7Egreames/AZRR2

First one is a wide out shot. City label seem to be very distinguishable from the map labels. Second is a closer in shot where stations and houses show up.

Notice on the Navigating shot, if you did not know they were there, you can hardly tell in the Radar map. As for the consist map, expand it out and see if that does not help.

Hardest on the consist map is other company railroads, as they are a smaller hotspot dot and gray. You just have to hover carefully and don't select until you see the city name text at the bottom. Otherwise, explain a bit more or send some shots.

I was thinking of painting a pure map without the 1881 overlay. If you want to bring it out and either improve all those labels, or eliminate them all together, be my guest. I'll give you artist credit on the optional map. 8)

Then again, I think a new map such as Egypt would be a much more value-added placement of your talents, don't you :?:

[kriss]

Right, it's a very busy map for sure & probably to my disadvantage that I know zilch about Arizona whereas you can navigate to a town with your eyes shut. The real pain in the butt is the rescheduling window as it's so small. I may experiment a bit with the labelling as I have vowed to become an expert on The Gimp & what better way to practise :)
On the plus side I ignored all goals & raced to 45 engines to see if there were any adverse effects. None at all! Everything was still smooth, no hanging no jerkies. So it really is all about processing & graphics power. Get yer upgrade!
Editing is now a joy so I've made a good start on Egypt but it would be so good to be able to edit buildings, industry chains etc. so much better if the furniture is authentic.
Maybe I can steal some graphics from Civilisation :lol:

[Gwizz]

I must agree with Kriss. The black and white signage overpowers the map detail. The yellow and orange colors make it hard to see the station dots when routing. I may replace the two colors and add some game labels then graying the signing or blending it ?????.

I have a screen shot of a loco stuck in a flash flood. I'll see if it is possible to post it here. ( I guess I can't do it)

Crossed AZ in the first year and have been fooling around for the next 2 years waiting for orders to build another RR. I've made a few changes as I'm playing these last few years. Removed connected track plus some other tweeks. Added 6 AI players so I can work the stock market. Of course they can't build a RR at this point in the game. Gererally just having some fun with the map.

Well the wife wants the phone line so later.

This site is so slow for me; waiting between 1 and 2 minutes after each click.

[Gwizz]

Took me about 9 minutes to send the above post and have it appear for proof reading. Don't know what is wrong. None of the other sites I go to take even a minute to navigate each step.

Played the map another 2 years. I was losing so bad I gave up and added 3 million to company cash with a cheat code. Then I lost it. Time to start over.

Part of my problem is as I unpack boxes I will stop for a while for a break and play a little more on the map then go back to unpacking. One time I was placing water towers from a great height and then zoomed in to find what I hade planted was service sheds. Another time I ran a line to a warehouse on the edge of the trolley territory and built a station. Then I discovered it wasn't a supply but a demand warehouse and later noticed I already had one of those warehouse on the main line.

Having no problems with the map and I operate a marginal system.
I do still have crashes on all maps if I move the mouse across the map too fast. The computer can't render fast enough to keep up and crashes.

Time for a restart on the map.
I'm maybe 20% unpacked now. Now 12:03

[AZ Rail Rat]

Must be a GOOD sign if you have to use cheat codes. Thought you were being smart crossing into my trap? Were you the one GWIZZ that said $6M at the start was TOO MUCH???

HEY MAAAWWW, WE GOT ANOTHER ONE!!! :P :P :P

I'm sorry, desert is YELLOW boys. One of the hazards of the map. And don't tell me your Egypt map is going to be GREEN there Kriss. I still disagree the "signage" as you put it affects either the radar picture or the consist map at all. Are you expanding the consist map Chris? If it makes youse guys feel any better, I could include a clean painted bmp in the zip file for people to insert if they prefer. You even offered to paint it Kriss.

Yep, knowing the territory is an advantage. Must be a real nightmare if you are a manual consist freak. Sadist ain't I:?: :twisted: :twisted: :twisted: Might have helped a bit if you brushed up on history at my web site. Then again, maybe you don't like history.

OK, you complained enough for another hint:

Goals for this map are NOT to be rolling in wealth. As you see from Bronze and Silver medals and clusters CONNECT is your goal. Money is just a means to that end. However, if you don't have control of EACH railroad, you can't bounce among them to meet your goals. So hint is "Manage your personal cash and stock ownership even more wisely than the companies." At least until 1917. Then, do what the hell you have to to meet SILVER cluster and GOLD hauling goals.

Example: If Collis (you) does not have control of the SP when he leaves in what, NOV 1886 AND if the SP has not made enough money to build out of Maricopa north to the Kyrene border (which means an expensive bridge), then you are pretty well screwed retaking the SP back over after building the PST for the conection to Phoenix by July is it, 1887. You ALSO have to build ANOTHER expensive bridge at the Salt River (but there is a trick to that to).

As GWIZZ has learned what, twice now, you can't go into hock up to your kester in 1876 just to get to Tucson four years early and expect to come out of hock by 1886. Economy is too stale for that for just hauling. Never did try buying lots of industry to boost cashflow. That might do it.

GO SLOW, ride some rails, enjoy the ride. Connect to Tucson just in time (March 1880) else you'll get REAL BORED, then spend next seven years building up enough to leave a good working SP even the AI can't screw up.

You REALLY want a challenge, play it like I test it - NO BONDS - NO STOCK ISSUES. Live off the land and what cash flow you can make. OK, so it's unAmerican . . . do something DIFFERENT!

Once you start P&P in 1893, it's going to take everything you got. No time to nursemaid the SP or PST you left. You'll like it better up in the mountains - - - THEY ARE GREEN.

I return to SP couple of times to change locos (AIs too stupid to do that) and grab cash. Other than that, I don't see the SP again until 1917 when I use it to TAKE OVER THE WORLD!!!:D :D :D :twisted: :twisted: :twisted:

Looks like I'm striking a nerve. Keep up the good testing. If you have more complaints about style and substance than bugs, I fell MUCH better.

[kriss]

Don't worry 'bout me, I'll just connect all the labels :)
Egypt will be singularly lacking in roads & labels & the Nile Valley will be oh so green, the desert will be full of pyramids if I can work out how to do it & it will be sand coloured not yellow.
Ah & by way of revenge I spotted 2 spelling errors, in the intro "plethora"
& one in a newspaper which I will have to check for again as the grey matter is sluggish at this ungodly hour.

[Gwizz]

Well I did better this time. Never went more the one million in debt. I give up at the end of the 6th year.
Built a shorter line. Ran 3 locos; but they were always waiting for cars.

Later

[AZ Rail Rat]

"plethera" corrected to "plethora".

isii reports lots of bad and multiple comects with Crown King and Parker. Also I thought I updated the README, but use the Arizona EASTERN (not Central) logo for Magma and Copper Basin company. Oh, I see says the blind man . . . it's in the dialog. Fixed.

How come youse guys aren't that far along :?: :?: :?: :P :P :P

[Gwizz]

What happened? I loaded the site in about 10 seconds tonight.

Played the map again from day one. This time I played for fun. Unable to make a profit was not fun. I unchecked connected track and lowered the territory costs by 95%. Only bought into two territories to connect to Phoenix. Started the RR in Tucson and ran a branch to Gila Bend. Yuma in unconnected so far. :roll:

Stopped the map at 4 years with a little over a million in cash and 51% control of the SP. :lol:

By the way I didn't get the SP herald. I installed all the files that were with the map. ??? ?? Everything else seems to work OK except I can win under game rules. :(

[AZ Rail Rat]

I guess your operational management is different than mine. Here's how I do it:

1) Build track from Yuma to Well Town and on to Aztec
2) Build station at Well Town - BONUS
3) Build station at Aztec - Bonus
4) Build towers and sheds per my technique (classified).
5) Buy ONE American. (Used to buy Consolidations, but I think I get better value from an American . . . $80K cheaper and fewer water stops.) I always set up with four cars on auto, a caboose and max four, min one.
6) RIDE THE TRAIN to Well Town.
7) When train gets to Well Town, build track to Sentinel.
8) Catch back with train. Add Sentinal to route. Ride to Aztec.
9) Keep repeating this method until track reaches Maricopaville.
10) When station is in Maricopaville, I change train 1 min consist to full (four cars) for return to yuma.
11) Add another American at Maricopa, stopping with four max, one min and caboose stopping at each station going west, then a full load back to Maricopa. By now it's about the end of 1876 and you got a little over $2M cash (no borrow, no stock issue).
12) Add train 3 (Consolidation) running Yuma (3 max), Gila Bend (1 max), Maricopa (4 max),

Now what does this do? You build track SLOWLY so all your profit is not eaten up by track and station maintenence and you are not paying ANY interest on bonds. As you saw, economy is not good enough to keep more than two trains loaded anyway. This slow pace gives the economy time to charge up.

13) 1877 - Build track from Maricopaville through Casa Grande to Eloy. Add stations and things.
13) Start another American, train 4 at Maricopaville, usual consist heading east.
14) Ride to Casa Grande.
15) Build from Eloy to Picaho, and on to Redrock, blah blah.
16) here is where I start getting low. Once I get to Marana, I'm down to about $400K with a $600K bridge and finishing track to Tucson bill in front of me. By now it's end of 1878 or early 1879.

OK, I'll confess, here is where I "CHEAT' (for testing purposes only you understand). I issue stock and/or borrow ONE bond and finish to Tucson.
The bonus is enough to pay it off immediately. If I micro managed a bit more and maybe add one more train, I might have enough time just to wait until January 1880 and have enough cash to finish the line without "cheating".

Once the line is finished, as cash allows I set up three trains on the Maricopa-Tucson leg and two long haulers stopping only at major stations, one Yuma-Tucson, the other Tucson-Yuma. My cash rule is ALWAYS have enough cash after a buy to replace a train if it crashes, i.e. $120K to buy another Consolidation.

I spend 1880-1886 adding taverns, restaurants and hotels in big towns, again only as cash allows. I also . . . well, I've said enough. After that you are on your own.

I guess this non-aggressive play is not everyone's cup of tea. It is enteresting that I made AZRR where aggressive is not always the best now is it? :? :shock:

[Casey]

I did enjoy the antique look to the map. I have not had time to play it, but I will be doing it with a pad and pencil in order to keep up.

Even though I do not have a paint program ( and so will not be skinning) I was pleased that I was able to load the new Railroad logos. Thank you for creating them. I was a lit bit leary of how to get the new materials into the game but it was easier than I thought. (I actually have Scrooge McDuck running the Great Pumpkin Railway!).

Thanks for all the hard and very creative work that went into it.

(note to GWIZZ: having moved a LOT, my wife now HATES "brown" boxes. All the best as you sort them out...)

Casey

[Stoneman]

Rail Rat, you are awesome, indeed. Finally, last night, I downloaded the latest version of this great work of art. I am happy to report that I did not have the same problems kriss and gwizz had in reading the map. Perhaps that is because I have a very large screen upon which to play. I could see and read all of the detail on the map just fine. I did not have enough time to start playing yet, howsomeever. I just noodled around and love a lot of the tweaks I can see that you inserted since the earlier testing version. This is a HUGE map. I am looking forward to having a few days to just close the door and PLAY. Thanks again for all of your hard and creative work. Cheers! Stoneman. :D

[hawkdawg]

the Great Pumpkin Railway
In memory of Cindi ( BNSF Lady), I presume?

[Gwizz]

Gee Wizz, If a town had less than 4 houses I passed them by. Few had 4 or more. A bonus. You fooled me. I thought about looking at the editor but told myself no. I'm playing at the end of a day when I'm very tired.
Well it is an excuse.

I blacked the SP route using the next to largest brush. Now I can see the dots for the stations without enlarging and sliding the routing screen each time, I do have a small montor set up. The bigger montor is still packed. I played another 4 years tonight. (1882) Enjoyed making a profit for a change. I now have 14 trains running on almost all double track. Owe one million in bonds. Tomorrow I will connect those little cities and see what kind of bonus I get.

Took 14 minutes to get to this thread tonight. Last night, that 0.5 minute time must have been a fluke.

I found 2 good books on NV today. Later I may try a map like yours.

[kriss]

Tried a different approach, let the map run for 3 months, to let industry kick off then bought some obviously profitable industries & started building any where on the route where cargo justified it & also other places where quick profit showed up. This made for an interesting game & I connected Yuma to Tucson in 1883, a little late but I did it without borrowing & could have made it by 1880 with a couple of loans & a bit of burn track. Playing on!

[AZ Rail Rat]

the Great Pumpkin Railway
In memory of Cindi ( BNSF Lady), I presume?

What's this Hawk?

[hawkdawg]

Hey Rat,
If I remember right, Casey is also a Microsoft Train Simulator fan.
Cindi Richards (BNSFLady) was a greatly respected, and much loved, member of the Train Sim community. She had a particular fondness for the BNSF color scheme, which she referred to as the Great Pumpkins.
She passed away about a month ago. :cry:

http://www.train-sim.com/dcforum/DCForumID3/24307.html

[kriss]

Hey Rat, been playing all over the map for 3 nights now, got use to the map labels, they don't notice when close in.
A couple of criticisms :)
You need to track along your rivers & fill in the gaps, there are quite a few!
Your river junctions are crap :lol: there is a way to draw them that makes 'em look nice & neat. Let me know if you need lessons :lol:

[hawkdawg]

Your river junctions are crap
Mine too :!: :oops:

there is a way to draw them that makes 'em look nice & neat. Let me know if you need lessons
I could use a couple of them lessons. :D

[AZ Rail Rat]

Kriss,

River gaps are there for two reasons. Main one is because economy is SO CRAPPY in early years, I was trying to limit the unseen competition a bit. I did try and fill in with trees so they are not so obvious. The other reason is, most of these rivers are DRY ALL THE TIME, except like now when a tropical storm comes through.

Yep, never did figure out river junctions. Every time I tried to lay one, one branch or a tuther would flow in wrong direction. Other than that, how do lakes look? Can you tell dams are dams?

Another candidate for those river junction lessons. :cry:

On another note, isii just reported he is up to 2032. Main reason is I have the Gold requirement WAY TOO high, 10,000 passengers. He has 6,000 now and vows to make it or blow up his computer, whichever comes first. Now THAT'S PATIENCE :!: :!: :!:

[BigMac]

Your river junctions are crap
Mine too :!: :oops:

there is a way to draw them that makes 'em look nice & neat. Let me know if you need lessons
I could use a couple of them lessons. :DAnd me!!!!!

[Wolverine@MSU]

Take a look at these posts:

http://www.gathering.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=19249

http://www.gathering.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=15854

Another good resource is the "Surveyor" section at H & P Railroad.

In my limited experience, it's almost impossible to get a perfect looking junction due to the way the junctions are constructed. If you're willing to fudge a little on the placement of the confluence you can get pretty decent results.

A tutorial with pictures, from a more experienced mapmaker would sure be useful.

[kriss]

Right I'll knock up a tute & post it in the next few days, but briefly you leave a gap in your main river where the subsidiary will connect.
Draw the subsidiary to within one cell of the connection point & place a single junction there.
Now complete your main river in one stroke.
Next paint over the last 2 cells of the subsidiary again ending on the junction. that should make a tidy finish but sometimes needs a couple of goes.
Lastly, with the river painting brush selected, click on each branch once to reverse the flow if required.

[kriss]

AZ,
Played to 1950, the economy stays pretty well balanced & I played around with industry chains etc. loads of fun & very absorbing.
Made the mistake of double tracking all over when I had loads of dosh, the right way is to reduce the number of trains as they get faster & only double track choke points.
Don't know what the cars run on in Arizona but oil never appeared, actually that's a fault of the game 'cause petroleum really should be one of the basic cargos as opposed to oil.
Don't think plastic factories appeared either so there'll be a toy shortage this Christmas :) Oh, I forgot, you're cancelling Christmas to upgrade :lol:

[AZ Rail Rat]

If my history research is correct, I don't think there was an oil rush in Arizona. Have yet to hear or see ONE oil well in the state. That's why I think I import through warehouses.

If you went into the editor, I think I have four warehouse types, something like West, East, Northwest and North. These are those from California at Parker and Yuma, Tucson coming from El Paso (the part of the SP Huntington finished for Jay Gould), and from Flagstaff. In-state warhouses I think I just called Waypoint types.

Supply and demand for out-of-state warehouses should have been diesel, steel (until Hayden and Winkelman gear up) and other things the state never had.

At least that was my intent.

[isii]

Kriss, I made the BIG MISTAKE of double tracking everything in one earlier iteration of the game, and I couldn't run enough trains to make any money.

Rat, one other thing I've noticed (now that I have almost $700 Million Dollars, on the way to a Billion), is that there is no model I've tried that makes money with just trains. You MUST BUY INDUSTRY to make money in this sim. But, if you buy all the cattle ranches, the dairy farms, and the fruit orchards, and leave everything else alone, you make boucoup bucks!

Remember the song, "In The Year 6565"? I think that's when I'll get 10,000 PAX.

[AZ Rail Rat]

OK-OK isii, GIVE IT A REST.!!! I'll lower it to 5,000.

I think you must have set some kind of record playing this long. There should be a building in every square on the map by now.

Did you ELECTRIFY ALL TRACK? I like to do that. I'm surprised how cheap it is. Thousands of miles for just a few mill$$$

Before you quit, please go into the editor and look for all those military installations and check if they came up. Which brings up a question: If an event builds something at a certain coordinance, what happens if there is already something there? Better yet, what if track is built through the cell? Does the building appear as close as possible, on top of track, or just does not appear at all? :?:

[isii]

sorry Rat, I haven't reached my wine (whine) quota for the day :lol:

I had so much money I electrified all the track (on the entire board) back in 1920 or so. Man, what a deal. But, the new engines in 2015 are great (only $5K a year in maintenance), so that's the ticket.

My experience (particularly in looking at Gila Bend and a couple of my other 5-star cities) is that the AI editors crams as much into the space covered by the station as possible. It puts industry and houses in at any angle possible. I haven't seen a case where the track was overwritten, but I have seen it where a house is built right up to the right-of-way. But, it's really interesting to see how the AI puts these buildings right on the edges of the influence zone. If you want to see it in action, put a medium station in a city, let it run out to 5-star, and then increase the station size (you might have to doze some stuff). then watch the AI go.

I've had a difficult week in playing (been in LA LA land), but I should be able to hit the 10,000 this weekend. I'll let you know what year. A suggestion for you: Instead of lowering to 5,000, you might want to change your code for 10,000 TOTAL instead of only to the 1 territory. That would defintely make it more interesting. Also, look at the total number of PAX on the board (if you get my drift).

isii

:D

[kriss]

Military installations appear as ordered, no conflict with other buildings so far. I lost sight of the fact you're trying for historical accuracy so I'll live with the diesel cars that do 2,000 miles to the gallon. (well how else could they run?) :)
Really wish we could edit industry chains as there's a big gap in realism sometimes if you don't have the appropriate cargo. e.g. for Egypt I need dates, figs & camel crap :lol:

[AZ Rail Rat]

No SHUCKS SHERMAN errr Kriss. I've hated that too and RSH and others brought it up early on. Seems a few selections could flag if we wanted mines to be coal, iron, bauxite, copper, gold, silver, diamonds or bat guano. They could keep the limit at three types if it was easier to program, or just add them.

For a nominal fee, I'm sure PJay would skin buildings for them. :P :P :P :P

Heck, I would be happy if they had a text editor that would let us change words for an industry to whatever we wanted to call them.

[kriss]

Seems PJay has too much on his plate at the moment, so we'll just have to hope his focus stays on RRT3.
Did you use his bmp utility to create Open Range as I'm just plucking up the courage to give it a try? & if so do you have any advice on using it.
I've found plenty of Egypt maps & it seems the way to go, might even manage a pyramid or two though the Sphynx is probably too much to ask for :)
All the forums have gone quiet for now just when I was hoping some enterprising soul would cry eureka & tell us how to change industry chains etc.