I throw down the Gauntlet!

[bill2759]

I say it can't be done. I speak of the last campaign, "From the Cape to Cairo". I've been to the Blue Baron site. He says he made Gold before 1902. I say, He's a big Fibber. If any of you Tycoons have done this before 1902, Please give this Old Guy a clue. This scenario seems to start out OK. Then both Trains and Revenue slow down to the point where I can't generate enough to lay all the track and build stations I need. Damn you Cecil Rhodes.

Bill, Rotting away in Portugese East Africa. ??? :P ;)

[nod2003]

Been a couple of years since I beat that, but I remember starting in Egypt and going through the German territory.

[bill2759]

A few more details Man. My level of Frustration with this one is making me Nuts.

Bill  :P :P :P ::)

[Gwizz]

If I remember correctly I built toward Egypt. 

I used the best locos and did have to do a couple of restarts.

[loco_motive]

Cape to Cairo starts 1/1890 and requires 8 loads to be hauled between Capetown and Cairo by 12/1902, 13 years.

I have not read the Blue Baron postings but I guess the challenge here is: Is a gold win possible a year early, ie; before 1902?

No mention of my stronger claim in my fewest trains thread, that it could be done with 1 train, on Hard setting.

For the 1-train solution, I started by flipping through managers to get Oakes; $12K in signing bonuses so probably 3 or 4 managers before I got him. Took out a bond, issued stock, connected Cairo and Khartoum (7 houses), with sand/water halfway between. Ran a Consolidation from Cairo into Khartoum, back into Cairo, back towards Khartoum. Stopped outside Khartoum 10/1892. That is, after a mere 2 deliveries of likely 6-car passengers and mail. Both stations were fully equipped, which I would have done asap, and it looks like I might have only issued stock twice, 44K shs o/s, so I might have missed once. No matter.

At this point, 10/1892, I was able to increase my bondholdings to $4M, giving me $4,578K cash. Built track, steel bridges, and suitable servicing stations to Capetown, even did some track leveling north of Kampala around (157,177) area. Then continued the stopped train on to Capetown with its 6 cars. Returned with 2 cars and arrived at Cairo 10/1898, for gold.

I ended with a 2-year-old Mogul, so I imagine I upgraded the Consolidation to a Mogul as soon as I could, then replaced it with a 2nd Mogul on the return trip instead of buying roundhouse, sand, water in Capetown. This probably also means about 4 years down with 6 cars, 2 years back with 2 cars.

Starting 2 trains between Cairo and Khartoum, and a 3rd train from Capetown, cutting both the initial money-making time and the final delivery time in half, a win in under 5 years seems within reach. Actually, even more improvement might be possible if you start a train to Capetown before you can afford to build track all the way there, and run 4 2-car trains for the 8 loads.

Below is a jpg showing my track and station layout.

[bill2759]

Your statement about track leveling has me confused. This is not something I am aware of. My version RR Tycoon II does not make any allowances for track leveling. If as you say I can raise enough cash by selling bonds and issuing stock, I'll have to experiment with this. My problem has always been waiting for the cash to roll in from operations before I could lay track and build service facilities. Another thing seems to be as your Tracks expand, your track maintenance rises so that your profits shrink. "Catch 22?"

Bill, moving to Air Transportation.  ;D ;D ::)

[bill2759]

Okay! I got the Gold in June of 1901. Up to my Ass in debt tho. All the previous scenarios asked you to be the Richest Guy of the Bunch or send the other RR Barons Packing.  Now where do I go Gentlemen? Should I move onto RR Tycoon III or just shift from Easy to Hard. Lord knows the easy was difficult enough. I do have a copy of Sid Miers Railroads, but this bogged down my old Pentium 4 Computer. I'm sure it will run much better on this new Intel dual core. Should I skip RR Tycoon III  and jump into this or wait? 

Bill, now Kickass on RRTycoon II   ::) :P ;)

P.S. I like to think of myself as pretty intelligent Guy. I've looked at and tried solving these scenario's from all sides, including bottom and top. When it looked to me as if the game Creators were imposing unsolvable situations, a different perspective provided by others restored my Sanity.  Thanks!

[Hawk]

Now where do I go Gentlemen? Should I move onto RR Tycoon III or just shift from Easy to Hard. Lord knows the easy was difficult enough. I do have a copy of Sid Miers Railroads, but this bogged down my old Pentium 4 Computer. I'm sure it will run much better on this new Intel dual core. Should I skip RR Tycoon III  and jump into this or wait?

Hey Bill,

Most folks found Railroads to be a bit of a let down. I don't think sales were very good for it either so I doubt Sid will try again.

You could move on to RRT3, or just keep playing RRT2.

There is another game that might possibly come to light in about a year or so. This one will be called Rail Mogul and it's fan produced - open source.

You can read more about it at my forums. Just scroll down to the Rail Mogul forum.

You can also read a bit about Railroads at my forums, as well as at the HookedGamers forum.  http://www.hookedgamers.com/forums/viewforum.php?f=29

[Lefty]

Stick with RRT2 as long as you can. 

I found RRT3 a bit dissapointing.  It required a better video card than recommended, & still would crash too often for my liking.

Folks are still making new RRT2 maps regularly, and this "fewest trains possible" concept shows that the fan support and game possibilities will last for a long time.

[Gwizz]

I enjoy playing RT2 better than RT3. 

Some people are the other way around and enjoy RT3 better.

I enjoy building maps. 

I seldom play any map to win unless I need to test it.

I use the cheat code (slush fund) a lot to get extra money so I can stitch track to reduce grades.

If I am testing a win map then I don't use the cheat code. 

[bill2759]

The Popular Consent seems to be, Stick with RR Tycoon II. How would you recommend I do that?  Having acheived Gold in all Scenario's, what options are left for me?  Funny thing is, I found a copy of RR Tycoon III on E-bay for Five Bucks with Seven Ninety Five for Shipping and Handling. Already ordered it. Ain't that a Bitch?

Bill  :-\ ;)

[Gwizz]

There are about 500 RT2 maps on this site and a few at other sites.

You are saying you have played them all.  Congratulations. 

I have not done that yet.

You might like RT3.  Some people do.

[loco_motive]

Probably most of us have put in our time with RT3 and come back to RRT2. Most who started with RT3 will probably swear it is the better game though. That seems to be the way things go. For me, I found RT3 to be slow and pretty much an industry game rather than train-running game, but that's running on the hardest setting. It may be more of a train-running game at the lower levels. The actual economic concept is interesting but works poorly as a game. For many it was more for the art of designing stuff that held their interest, I think. Anyhow, too much said on this.

I would say go ahead and play RT3 but also try and pick up Rairoad Tycoon II Platinum or Gold as that will give you another campaign and a whole bunch of additional stand-alone scenarios over and above the 13 with the RRT2 original. Also, playing stand-alone scenarios on Easy is a bit of a strange idea, for me anyhow, and doesn't open up the game at all. I strongly recommend playing on Expert. These original scenarios are just too basic and simple to be played on Easy and take only 6-10 years to win even on Expert.

Getting RRT2 Plat or Gold will mean you can play all the TSC (.MP2) maps on this site and not just the RRT2 (.MAP)ones. Also Plat has a bunch of player-made maps, all of which are on this or Hawk's site, about 10 extra Pop-Top maps and extra music that gets old very fast.