Managing managers

[Gwizz]

I think I have the managers list half figured out.  Using the Chicago's Railroads map.

This map has a limited number of the better managers (about 20) and 14 of the better Chairmen that should start A Railroad.

The managers to be hired are hidden except for two managers.  If I have 10 RRs, I start with the bottom RR #10 and move up, each RR moves up the list of managers by one manager.

#9 RR will have one of the managers that #10 has to hire.  #8 will have none of the managers that #10 has but one of the managers that # 9 has to hire.

I was able to move a manager I wanted to hire who was down the list 4 railroads below mine. 

Of course I had controlling interest in the four AI Railroads.  Taking control of the 4th RR I fired this RRs manager that I wanted, by hiring the top manager of the two waiting to be hired.  I took control of the RR above #4, #3 and hired my manager from the bottom of #3s list and then fired him by hiring the manager on the top of #3s list.  I did this for each AI until I had the manager I wanted on the bottom of my RR's list of managers waiting to be hired.

Normally the cost of doing this is not worth it.  But it gives a general idea of how the managers are sorted.

What I have not figured out is sometimes when I hire another manager, about 25% of the time, the manager fired does not aways end up replacing the manager hired from the list.  So there must be some random in there. 

While doing this I was playing the Chicago's Railroads map giving myself a new goal: to merge every AI. RR. on this 10 year map.

Completing 4 years of game play, I have merged over 14 AI RRs.  I have 4 AIs still running.  Out of 15 chairmen I have only 4 that can now afford to build another Railroad.  I'm 22 million in bond debt most of it inherited with the merging with any above 10 million not repayable. I have over 40 million in Company Book value.  I thought the interest would kill me: but I am still making a good profit even with a track blockage.

Near the end of year 2, I had a break down on the busiest part of my RR where two important main lines cross.  I caught it too late and ended up with a major traffic jam.

I built Shoo-fly tracks to by-pass the problem and used routing dots for the following trains that still had time to use the run around tracks I built.  Other trains were rerouted away from traffic with none using the cross over track since it was so tightly blocked.  I didn't use a bridge crossing and should have. I even used AI money to build a new line between two of my end of line now isolated stations.

I merged this line to make these two cities usable.

After 2 years I still have 4 or 5 trains trying to get out of this major jam-up.  I had 2 more break downs  But they were not at a busy part of my track and that track is now clear.

4 years complete with 6 years to go. 

One problem that may keep me from merging all AI RRs.

5 or 6 chairmen have bought controlling stock in a profitable AI.

I'll have to wait to see if they will accept a higher offer.

[akuenzi]

I'm 22 million in bond debt most of it inherited with the merging with any above 10 million not repayable.

Everything you said in here was interesting, but this particular line caught my eye. I'm not a very good player, and haven't ever explored the possibility of merging any rail companies. But I did know that the maximum limit on borrowings was twenty bonds, or $10 million. So, when a merger occurs, and you inherit debt, it is possible to go over the $10 million figure, but why isn't the amount above $10 million payable? It shows up in your books, but must not show up in the bond list? Is this just a programming bug, where there is no mechanism to pay them off? Maybe by the time you got the company the size it was, it didn't matter.

[Gwizz]

The code had this hidden bug in the program code and it was never fixed.

The Poptop team didn't think a company could end up with more than 20 bonds

Forgetting about merging,.

[jeffryfisher]

Even after paying off some of the bonds, the others don't become visible?

[Gwizz]

I believe there are only 20 slots in the code for bonds. You are correct the rest don't show. To repay a bond somehow one slot is removed for each paydown of a bond. at 20 payoffs it shows no bonds left in the code to pay off.

I have never tried to click on the empty bond spaces to see if there are any hot spots open that will allow pay off of a 21st bond and so on.

I have found hot spots left by programmers that work in odd ways. Such as placing in the editor a produce farm, then making part of the farm a lake. Then bulldozing the farm. In this, during a game, by placing track over the old farm that was previously under water in the editor, crashed the game.

Some how that part of the farm that was under water before bulldozing, remains in a game even after bulldozing.

I used the spot saying don't build here, owner of the land will blow up you Railroad.

[RSimpkinuk57]

I'm guessing there is an eligibility test for hiring managers. Work out a list of them in salary order. A small railroad (as at the usual start) gets offered men from the bottom of the list. As it gets "better", more expensive managers will apply. What I don't know is whether this goes by revenue, by profits, or by book value. One game I played, the AI who got Pullman had just registered $1million annual profits. Sack a small-salary man like Diesel when you are the right sized company for him, and he'll take the vacated slot in your current applicants pair. Sack him when your company is bigger, and you'll get someone else instead. That's my hypothesis.

If there are lots of companies all about the same size, and not enough managers at the matching salary level, then obviously the game has to reach further down or up the pool. Which way does it go? ...... Richard

[jeffryfisher]

Well, at the beginning of the game, it has only one way that it can go, so if you don't like your starting manager or the early applicants, then keep looking after every new company starts.

In my US History map, George Pullman is "not available". Instead, at the end of 1894 (a few months after the famous "Pullman Strike"), there's a one-time choice event offered only to the company having the most track. The event text ties it into the recent strike to lock it into players' memories (i.e. teach a bit 'o history).