The Most Amazing AI Track Build

[jeffryfisher]

I knew something was up when the game froze for the second month running. Game-freeze isn't caused by too-many scenario events, it's caused by the AI seeking to build track for a computer-owned company. And this freeze was really long...

Oh boy did my dual-core 3.3 GHz processor come up with a doozie in that standing eight-count! I am still shaking my head... With all of the stupid track that I have seen the AI build, I can't believe what I just saw (something that mostly makes sense):

An Ohio-based RR just built from Luddington MI to San Francisco CA. It started out as par for an AI, a long single-tracked water crossing of Lake Michigan. From there it effortlessly crosses the great plains, and to my surprise, it finds the natural pass above Cheyenne WY. Snaking up through a reasonable climb to the continental divide, it then stretches west through mountainous but survivable (yellow-grade) terrain. It then hits its worst grades, a handful of red-grades maxing out at 6.5%, but that's a miraculous transition from Idaho to Winnamucca!

What I saw next really chagrined me: It joined my track at Reno to enter my pass into the deadly Sierra Nevada Mountains, and then it branched to a parallel line that copied my grades through the mountains and down the western side! I shudder to think how much each cell of that parallel track cost as it felled the tallest peaks on the map. I tested similar track on the other side and saw prices like 154k and 177k per cell!

The drive into SF from there was then child's play, and the AI even hit the exact mark where I had put reserved cells in this scenario. Why hadn't I connected SF myself? Well, I happen to know there's this earthquake event coming up in a couple years...

It's good to be the human! BWAHAHAHA!

PS: I am looking for a button to upload a file, but I'm not seeing it.

[Gwizz]

I knew something was up when the game froze for the second month running. Game-freeze isn't caused by too-many scenario events, it's caused by the AI seeking to build track for a computer-owned company. And this freeze was really long...

Oh boy did my dual-core 3.3 GHz processor come up with a doozie in that standing eight-count! I am still shaking my head... With all of the stupid track that I have seen the AI build, I can't believe what I just saw (something that mostly makes sense):

An Ohio-based RR just built from Luddington MI to San Francisco CA. It started out as par for an AI, a long single-tracked water crossing of Lake Michigan. From there it effortlessly crosses the great plains, and to my surprise, it finds the natural pass above Cheyenne WY. Snaking up through a reasonable climb to the continental divide, it then stretches west through mountainous but survivable (yellow-grade) terrain. It then hits its worst grades, a handful of red-grades maxing out at 6.5%, but that's a miraculous transition from Idaho to Winnamucca!

What I saw next really chagrined me: It joined my track at Reno to enter my pass into the deadly Sierra Nevada Mountains, and then it branched to a parallel line that copied my grades through the mountains and down the western side! I shudder to think how much each cell of that parallel track cost as it felled the tallest peaks on the map. I tested similar track on the other side and saw prices like 154k and 177k per cell!

The drive into SF from there was then child's play, and the AI even hit the exact mark where I had put reserved cells in this scenario. Why hadn't I connected SF myself? Well, I happen to know there's this earthquake event coming up in a couple years...

It's good to be the human! BWAHAHAHA!

PS: I am looking for a button to upload a file, but I'm not seeing it.

####################################I believe Gobalopper is working on it.###################################

I've never had an AI build that much track. I did have one build through, in or around about 7 or 8 AI to connect two fair sized cities I thought were isolated enough so I could take my time connecting or let the closest AIs, that I controlled, connect them.

[GuineaPig]

In one of my US History play throughs, an AI built a very good track through the Rockies to Boise. The highest grade was a 4.5, and that was one cell; the rest of the track wasn't above a 3.5 gradient. The AI found a pass and built through it.

[jeffryfisher]

In one of my US History play throughs, an AI built a very good track through the Rockies to Boise. The highest grade was a 4.5, and that was one cell; the rest of the track wasn't above a 3.5 gradient. The AI found a pass and built through it.

Was it the S-curve above Cheyenne? That's an historical railroad pass via Laramie. In fact, back in the 19th C when the route for the first transcon was being debated, that pass was expected to turn Cheyenne into the metropolis that Denver has become.

[GuineaPig]

Yes, it was. I was surprised that the AI would deliberately choose such a twisting track arrangement.

[SD45]

Wow, something that is not too bad. I want a moment just like that.