Croissants and Crumpets

[Paul Kersey]

Hi, nice to see a relatively active place to talk about RRT2. I'm trying to get gold on the India map but it seems like an impossible task. How do you achieve a majority amount of shares in Indian Railways? At best I can match the primary shareholder and of course you can't merge like that. After a while all the shares are bought and all that is happening are stock splits. Just to match the primary shareholder you have to buy a ridiculous amount of shares on margin and hope your broker doesn't call you in the meantime. Any tips? I have no problem buying out the British company or buying up industries before 1880.

[Paul Kersey]

Ok, I just figured out how to get more shares than the Indian guy. I had to sell all the shares of my company at the beginning and use that buying power to get over him. Something else happened though. I don't know if it was map conditions or what but the British guy got pretty powerful instead. I was able to take over Indian Railways this time but the British railroad presented a new problem. The Indian guy bought into it heavily and with his stake plus the British stake they were able to block me from taking over. Looks like I have to do some major margin buying next time.

[loco_motive]

I don't know what you've tried, but you can often merge a company by offering the maximum amount for it if you have less than a majority holding. If you have a suitable save just reload and try that several times until you get it. It might not work if there is only 1 other shareholder, but works well where not everyone needs to vote on your side.

[jeffryfisher]

I don't know how the economy is controled (or random) in that scenario, but economic conditions greatly affect investing outcomes. You can play the same scenario several times in a row and find that in one the economy is strong, stock prices are hig, and it is impossible to control everything. The next time you play, the economy dumps into the toilet, the AI players get margin calls, and you can buy everything for a song.

Watch the economy. Never do heavy buying during a boom. If a depression hits, look at which computer players are way out on margin and what company is he deeply invested in. If someone is vulnerable, the try a bear-raid by selling his biggest position short as far as you can go. If you can push him off a cliff, then he will be forced to sell all at $1, and then you can scoop up all of the shares at rock-bottom prices.

[Paul Kersey]

Interesting idea. My understanding of the stock market in this game pretty much consists of buy stuff and hope you don't get a margin call. I've never tried selling short yet so I'll have to experiment with that. Anyway, I ended up playing that scenario again and getting gold this time by making sure I was way ahead in shares. It's not too hard on this map because it seems like stock splits happen all the time so the odds of you getting a margin call after the first year or so is pretty slim if you know what you're doing.

[outofmage]

You can merge them in the first day of the game if you want.

[profas]

The goal (gold) in this scenario is among other things to be the sole surviving railroad.The secret is it doesnt matter which.All you have to do is get majority of shares in Indian company at any cost (i think i sold most of my company in the process) and let the AI build it up.Once theres loads of cash you take over the chairmanship and buy up everything else(including your starting company :D ) It might take a few restarts to get it right but once you do its easy ;) I think i didnt even connect to Bombay :)