Island Sugar Company Map

[Gwizz]

This map is powered by super Shays.

[belbincolne]

Sorry to say Gw that, by your usual brilliant standards, this map isn't up to it :( The main problem is that you have a clock running (singularly useless in open ended scenario) instead of the Company cash position so to find how much you have you have to go to the Almanac which is annoying and then calculate how much you can spend on a line to leave enough for a station and a train - incredibly frustrating >:(

Also with several ports/piers it's a bit uncertain which you should go to although I think I got it right and it's also hard to know where to run a line to - I finished mine in the middle of several sugar farms - and also one to the workers village so that they could get to the farms quicker but this carried so little that I'm not sure if it was worth it.

Think you should correct the clock fault and re-post. If you can give some extra hints on play people might think it useful.

[Gwizz]

Thanks Belbincolne for your comments.

I have already revised the map. It needs a bit more testing and I will review it with your comments in mind.

The clock problem is a slow time problem that PopTop needs to fix.

[belbincolne]

It's raining so I've now run version2 for about four hours. The time/cash is still annoying but I got used to that. The Almanac doesn't pop up after the Auto Save either.

My plan seemed to work okay until I tried to get to Sea Bird. Got Bronze Jan 4, Silver Jan 10 and Gold Jan 12. Had all the requirements for Double Gold except the Sugar from Sea Bird Island. Assumed this was because the Shays took forever to make the journey but then realised after I'd got 2 Shays hauling six containers each (for the 2nd time?) and an Orca with another 6 so that at least 3 trains had arrived that my score in this respect was still 0  >:( :( ???  Looks like another tweak is needed.

Once I'd got the hang of it I enjoyed the play and know I could improve on my times now I know (?) what I'm doing.

[Gwizz]

That last event calls for sugar from sea bird island.

[belbincolne]

Glad to be of help.  Never got a Planet - do you mean the Shay?  From the start I had Shays and Orcas and the Shay stopped about Jan 11 (I know it was between getting Silver and Gold). I forgot Sugar from S B Island could go anywhere so it all went to the Produce Pier and (as I said) either 3 or 5 loads were delivered but the Almanac still gave 0.

I used Shays exclusively bar one until they were retired. Being so hilly and extra fast I reckoned they'd be just as fast overall as the Orca but i didn't test this in any way. I also had to use them empty on the way back.

Most of my cash came from Fertiliser and I wasted quite a bit of time because I'd got the train set on 1 for the return journey and didn't notice they were stuck in port waiting for even one load! :(

I didn't get D Gold because I hadn't carried enough from SBI anyway but packed in when I saw it wasn't registering anything.

I'm away for a few days so haven't downloaded version 3 yet - I'll wait until I get back in case there's a version 4 by then ;D I normally like competing AI's but not sure if that's too appropriate here. If you took one over would it's past cerryings count to your total? Assume not.

[Gwizz]

Before I added the planet Loco I was getting the Northern 4-8-4 as a default loco when the Shay was no longer available.

[isii]

Gwizz, this is a really really  really fun sim..........I got the double gold on the 10th, and if I hadn't been really stupid and put rails to the northern bauxite mines, it probably would have been earlier.  I didn't see any of the problems that were referenced in the earlier threads, and money in this sim was readily available to build bridges and tunnels to cut down on run times.  And, whatever you did with the Shay's was great, wish I could have them in all the sims!

Thanks again for the wonderful work!

[Gwizz]

Thanks Isii for the kind comments.

Belbelcolne has been helping me debug the maps.

The last version of this map is Island Sugar Company IV.

[isii]

I'm glad he's been able to help you, I'm sure he'll do a great job and I'm just lucky to have time to play, let alone test!

[belbincolne]

I'm replying from my sons so can't check anything but I had the Shay & Orca from the start and then lost the Shay. never got a choice of any other loco. Had the 3 RRs from the start plus 2 (3?) bridges.

The idea that the Brit version of RT3 is different is fascinating - never occurred to me that anyone would go to the trouble of creating a different one. Might account for why other people have found it (relatively) easy to get Gold on Expert on some scenarios when I can't - and vice versa. Will have to look at cheat codes when I get home. Which ones do you think are different?

[isii]

Number IV is a good one too Gwizz, I like the little monetary touches you added.  The AI's were pretty much a non-factor, in fact the one at the Fertilizer Island was a help because I was able to buy him for around $650K, and his bridges, track and units were more than that.

Won the single gold on the 4th, and the double gold on the 9th, with the bulk of that time spent paying back my loans.

I wasn't watching too closely, but it did seem like the slow clock was running slower in the first part of the game (and I know that's not possible, but...........).....

By the way, I had the Shay and the Planet for the whole game.  Don't even know why the Planet was there, given the top end speed of 1.......No Orca ever appeared.  Maybe a nice touch would  be to put a time limit on it, reduce the cost of tunnels by 40%, and increase the cost of bridges by 40%. (?),......But  I'm not a designer!

[Gwizz]

Hi isii

I thought about changing the price of bridges and tunnels.

[belbincolne]

Okay Gw I've now had a bash at Version4

Still only Shays and Orca.  Loads from Sea Bird now counting. After an Auto save the Almanac doesn't appear (never has - forgot to mention before).

Got Gold on Jan 8 but packed in after getting to Sea Bird and getting down to only 2 bonds when I just couldn't make any money and was steadily going further into red (over $5m) with no sugar shipping out of SB at all. Having read the bit about tunnels I made some this game - before I'd always gone over the hills - which was possibly too expensive. Anyway I'll give it another try soon - it's getting to be a nice game but I'm not sure if the AI's add anything because all it means is a tweak in my technique.

[belbincolne]

Okay hit Gold on Jan7 and Double Gold on Jan 12 thanks to better management. Same train etc position as before. Good map now :) :D ;D  Perhaps I should now have a try on Expert? ???

Incidentally I find the latest Beta patch has been installed and seems to be working o/k. Sometimes there's a track flattening when I put in Services (but I always put them on top of a hill because of this) but mostly it seems to be a big improvement and the lighter nights improvemnet is wonderful ;D ;D ;D

[isii]

Gwizz, I like your style with leaving crashes and breakdowns disabled.  The Shay is a great engine for this map, but I think you could make it harder by choosing a different engine that has a higher maintenance and fuel expense, and perhaps a little worse hill pulling.

All things being equal, I just load up on Shays (because that's my strategy) and ignore the other engines.  That doesn't consume all of my money, and I would much rather run four Shays on a route (costing $160K as an example) instead of two other units for $80K each.  As time progresses, I will end up making more money and still winning.