TSC Campaign, fewest trains

[loco_motive]

Normal Difficulty: This campaign is generally harder than the Classic, so all games are played on NORMAL Difficulty, with ther exception of #4 and #18, played on HARD. I am most interested in the scenarios that require very few trains.

As with the Classic campaign, retiring one engine and then buying another, or replacing a crashed engine before it disappears from the screen, does not increase the train count. But of course even momentarily stepping into another company charges you with whatever they're holding, unless there is some plausible necessity.

Puzzle scenarios: 2, 3, 6, 9, 13, 15. So many of them! Not part of the plan.

Metra scenarios: 8, 11. Ugh. Someone else please!

1-train scenarios: 1, 7, 10, 12.
 

 1. North to Alaska
 7. Super Trains - France
 10. New Daylight Express
 12. The Chunnel

The Chunnel, #12, was surprising. Actually needed some wily play, a good sequence of managers and lots of straight level track, but got finished with over a year to spare. Gold triggers end of year. The 75 load haul is only for silver though; you need 100 for gold. Also removing one up-and-over (2 shallow bends) saves about 1/2 month per year; it adds up. 

 

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#4, Eidelweiss, needs quite a few trains, maybe even as many as 20 if played on hard.

 

Runs 20 years, 1/46 to 12/65, requiring 2000 cargo, $10M Industry Profits, $30M PNW.

 

I believe that, even though lifetime industry profits get updated at year-end, year-end win/lose triggers get tested before that happens, so that Industry Profits of 1965 will not be counted towards the goal. This may require some testing to prove. This is unlike current year industry profits that are clearly incorrect and show the previous year's amount. Using beginning of year 1/66 for non-gold medals and beginning of month for gold would have avoided this issue.
 

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#5 Trans-Siberian: - 4 trains

Scenario runs 1/46-12/66 (21 years). The AE 8/14, Daylight, Alco , V200 make the cross-country trip in 2 yr 7 months on reasonably well-laid track and good bridges. Gold was at 10/64. At 12/66, profits were $26.3 and loads between were 35. There is just enough leeway in profits to make 3 trains worth a try.
 

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#14 Elbow Room: - 1 train.

This requires $45M PNW, $12M Ind Inv, and 100 loads of chemicals to the Geocore. Runs 1/2010-12/2032 (23 yrs).

It seemed clear that this scenario would fall to the same strategy as #17, so that it could be done with 1 train to transport the chemicals. Indeed that was so but it was not as easy as #17. Also, I let the econ go all the way down to depression mid-game, so that would slow things down a bit. By the time I had 100 chemicals delivered, I had started 6 additional companies that were running on the track of my main company and had an honest $53M PNW including $18M cash. Got gold 12/25, in 16 of 23 years, so there is definitely room for a more limiting approach here.

The same rules as for #17 seems like a good challenge for this one too.
 

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#16 Island of Hope: - 3 trains

Needs deliveries of food and goods, some connections, and $5M PNW under fairly heavy play restrictions.

I tried this with 3 trains and came so close that I'm going to declare that it can be done, just not by me and not today. I had a PNW of $4929K. So close!!! Any little thing happening or done at a slightly different time might have been enough (to go either way lol). All the loads were legit between 2 cities with only the odd cargo reconsist, as its hard to completely avoid.

I had the luck of getting quite a good map but unfortunately made a bad choice of options. I had income on 7 different kinds of freight of $14.9M and fuel costs of $8.8M. The right option would have won it.
 

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#17 Remember America: - zero trains.

Pure $25M PNW scenario, 1/2039-12/2059 (21 yrs), gold checked EOY.

djf01 has come up with a method for a no trains solution that blows this scenario apart and is just about as powerful as wide open play for early gold. See  http://forum.dune2k.com/topic/22796-remember-america-tsc-campaign-odd-results/
Fewest trains with no leaving your company and no dealing with the AIs in any way would be more limiting.

 

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#18 Antarctica Rising has succumbed to 2 trains, on HARD, with choice option of +15% coal and iron production.

 

You must be the only surviving company, have $15M CBV and highest PNW. Runs 1/2042 to 12/2072 (31 years) in the most terrible future.

 

Entering or merging an AI company, and immediately destroying its engines, considered plausible necessity in this scenario, ie; irrelevant.

 

Coal, as the first demanded cargo listed at the ports, gets a small bonus in demand for a station covering one port (4,3,3,3) but a huge bonus in demand from a station covering 2 ports, where the other items don't get any increase in demand at all (9,3,3,3), and it sustains its demand level very well. I tested this by switching iron and coal. I guess this is a bug, but certainly to be exploited in this scenario.

 

So the key here is to haul coal, service ports and the relevant industries, and issue shares each year.

 

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[loco_motive]

I have revised the blurb on #17, Remember America to mention djf01's zero trains solution.

[loco_motive]

#14, Elbow Room, has joined #17 in  succumbing to the use of slave companies.

Well, I mean I will be perfectly happy if someone else has a better name for it.

[djf01]

#14, Elbow Room, has joined #17 in  succumbing to the use of slave companies.

How the heck did you do that?

Isn't one the goals the 120 loads of chemicals?

I always thought this one would be next to impossible to achieve with even minimal trains because of that goal. 

When you merge a company, all credit for loads hauled by the target is lost :-(.

OK, so let me think this through ....

You could use a company © to haul chemicals, maybe even the first company.  Set up it's route so that's all it can do, then resign.  Invest elsewhere to achieve the other PNW goals.  With lots of PNW buying up the required industries in a dedicated company (I) is easy.  Just make sure the industries *lose* money.  After it has delivered all the chemicals, reassume chairmanship of C and retire all the AI created trains, and merge in I at a big discount.

Am I right?

[loco_motive]

Oh, I guess I forgot to mention that that post was just to notify that the first post had been updated for scenario # 14, Elbow Room.

The chemicals were hauled in my main company with an E111 from 2 plants in Heulva and one in Valencia that I added 10 or so years later just to keep the E111 busy and to ensure an earlier delivery count. The company had income as follows: Misc $33.9M from the 6 slave companies, Freight $2.3M, Station $0.4M, Industry $1.5M. Expenses were $4.9M.

I only vacated my main company when on pause. Nor of course did any AI have any engines while I was chairing them. Don't know why I would merge any companies. Anyhow that would charge me with their trains if I did.  Except for the chemical industries and a couple industries serviced by the AI's, all the industry investment was made right at the end with available cash and some loans.

[djf01]

I only vacated my main company when on pause. Nor of course did any AI have any engines while I was chairing them. Don't know why I would merge any companies. Anyhow that would charge me with their trains if I did.  Except for the chemical industries and a couple industries serviced by the AI's, all the industry investment was made right at the end with available cash and some loans.

I was under the mis-impression you had won this scenario with zero trains, rather than one.  I really should read more carefully.

The reason for merging is to have an AI company achieve the load hauling goals, then take control of it and retire it's trains immediately (I know, this doesn't really count).  Then merge in whatever vehicle has been used to achieve the industry investment goals.

[loco_motive]

Reserved