challenging Eastern USA

[MaglevForever]

I'm not moving the mountains or building extra stations because you didn't design the map with that in mind. It's also quite difficult to move mountains especially for diagonal cuts with the "no unconnected track" condition. Doing the major cuts is a real cheat in my opinion, but it's quite tempting on this map because there is no good solution to get traffic out of the Boston area: Bottle-neck at New York or face stiff grades heading west. I did level a few sections near Burlington (why doesn't the city name show on the map?), but that was only to place a station covering all 4 houses without eye-watering grades.

 

Have you fixed the Milk demand in your exe file? Without that Milk is almost completely useless as demand never recovers. I've been playing this with the standard Platinum exe file so haven't hauled a single car. BTW, Jeffry's exe file which has this fixed can be installed alongside the original using a slightly different name. Then just run the version you want. I'm not using it here because there are changes such as a Goods demand at houses that probably make things easier. When you get to play US History you wont have much challenge for profit as train operating costs are much closer to normal, but other events like taxes, wars, etc.. might still challenge you. Also, the other maps I recommended in the other thread are going to be really easy for you. This map is up there amongst the hardest I have played. Congrats on that.

 

I very much like that you have culled passenger profits a lot on this map. RTII was always needing that in my opinion. What are you changing for the hard mode? Like I said, automation is my weak point. Automation is inherently inefficient. I don't know if I will be able to automate much if costs rise more. Without automation I may never finish a 170 year map.

 

Yes, I definitely try to cover two cities wherever possible. But I always try to get at least one "(CONNECTED)". I believe this helps city growth. If one is "(CONNECTED)" that one seems to grow more than the other. I think it's legal to use two stations such as Madison and Milwaukee, but I'm also unsure whether splitting the traffic between two cities will mean that overall there is less growth than putting all the traffic through one. Because it doesn't seem that we pay for station maintenance, the second station isn't a major long-term cost.

 

PS.

I didn't put the full formula for my calculation of 12.5% in my last post. It's 1/(5/40).

[jeffryfisher]

I use villages to add pax to trains that start half-full from cities. I sometimes start "short" trains from cities that face mountains, and then I add pax cars in villages above the climb.

[jeffryfisher]

My hex-edited demand for goods at houses has no recovery, so what it does is provide a bunch of one-shot goods demands at villages that are normally too small to create demand.

I don't think that cutting mountains is cheating. I see it as compensating for the lack of tunnels. It's just another way of paying a steep price to avoid a steep RR.

If a city name does not appear on the map, then its city-center is probably in water (e.g. Lake Champlain). If you open the map in the editor, where is Burlington's town-marker? I had this problem with SF in my map, so I had to add a label to the map. If you look closely in US History, SF's name is a different color than a natural city name. That's because the actual city name is invisible, so you're seeing only a manual label.

The AI keeps a record of every town/city that gets "connected". No AI company will ever build a station in any such town, even if the original connecting station is subsequently demolished. (Even worse, the AI may build to where a station was, even after that station has been destroyed by an event). In maps allowing disconnected track, you may use this "feature" to claim cities in single-player. Just drop small stations in cities you want for yourself. You can hook them up and expand them later.

 

[letsdance]

you get out of boston over the sea to allentown. i just loaded my last game, i also have a track through the N.Y. area, with no grade higher than 3.5, but it does have some corners. since the boston area is likely your main source for rubber you'll have to find a way out of there. though in my last game i solved it differently: the best usable tire plant was in burlington and i had different stations for rubber delivery (on top of the mountains) and even 2 for tires pickup (downhill across the river). not sure if that was cheating, but there was no way to do it with less stations.

i don't remember fixing milk demand and my notes say nothing about that. but i just checked: milk demand is recovering. i have one milk train in my last save and the demand recovered after delivery. i did fix demand for ports, autoplants and cannery. my exe does have a different name, too.

it always bothered me that RT2 is mostly about shipping passengers, while following long production chains (like automobiles) doesn't pay off. in v7 it doesn't pay off either, but you have to do it for the victory conditions *lol*

the only change for hardmode is that engine purchase stays at +100%, while usually it drops to +60% (for gold medal) in 1950. that doesn't sound like a big change, but i think it actually is (especially since maintenance is tied to purchase price). i think you get the choice if you have 30m+ company cash in 1945.

version 7 is pretty much done, i'll wait to see if i find anything more that i want to change, then i'll upload. altough v7 has many changes that satisfy me alot, there's nothing gamechanging.

[letsdance]

4 hours ago, jeffryfisher said:

I don't think that cutting mountains is cheating. I see it as compensating for the lack of tunnels. It's just another way of paying a steep price to avoid a steep RR.

but in that time it was not possible to build such tunnels, especially not within reasonable costs (and time!). at least if playing on a map with the scale of eastern USA. small tunnels are so small that they are not shown in the game and part of mountain tracks anyways, in my oppinion.

[letsdance]

uploaded version 7 which includes a modded exe. it should be possible to use the modded exe with saves of version 6 games. that does make it a bit easier, but i think i'd do it. the only possible problem i see is that your manager may change. i copied details into the first reply in this thread. the OP has the link to the download section of the map. i don't expect any more updates this year.

[MaglevForever]

Interesting adjustments to the manager capabilities. Will use version 7 when I get enough time to play the map some more.

[MaglevForever]

         Strategy is the name of the game. With tweaked managers especially Wooten, options change alot. I've started the map a few more times. I have no idea whether I will finish one of my new plays. The furthest I have played at this point is 1857. 

 

         The following start strategy requires the placement of an 8-house station covering Terre Haute-Indianapolis, for a single-corner run that connects to Chicago diagonally. Only the very center of the track is doubled as the wooden bridge prevents a true double line. Also needed for later: house placement in Wausau-Green Bay and Madison-Milwaukee must allow 6-houses covered by a large station for a straight run. If you don't have those things, you're playing a different game.

 

         I'm only taking 600k of "other investor" money when I start my company. To get 20% quickly I'm trying to avoid a train arrival in the first year. Sometimes this occurs naturally especially if there are only a few express loads available and I hold the trains waiting for loads with the red signal to see if some more will show before about April or May. Part of my strategy requires that both trains pass on the doubled section of track north of the bridge. Sometimes I tweak the throttle to slow one train, but mostly I control their schedule so they leave at the same time. If there is heaps of immediately available express, you may be out of luck unless you have no qualms about slowing or stopping the train on purpose to manipulate stock price. Personally, I normally never use "stop-the-trains" as a start strategy, but in this case a stoppage of 2-3 months is marginally acceptable.

 

         Extra costs in the first year are good, helping stock price drop better. I take out the bond without a credit boost manager. Other actions such as hiring/firing managers and the bulldoze or two that may be necessary to do Chicago diagonally help. Using managers I get express facilities at both ends, with sand/water. I make sure to hire Wooten before taking the game off pause otherwise the AI will probably get him.

 

         The location in which the AI start their companies has a great impact on your game. Specifically if they connect to Detroit. First up, the less companies the better. Also, weak companies which are those with grades or improper connections of only 3 houses can later be caught before their managers are too rich. Very useful if you can merge one to get you out onto the east coast or inside the "Central" area and provide important book value for this strategy. This will impact the mid-term growth of your company.

 

         During the second year some trains will come in with good profit. As that happens start turning up the dividend as much as possible throughout but turn it off for the end of the year to help prevent stock splits. At the beginning of the 3rd year, borrow more money and make the connection up to Wasua-Green Bay to enable a fast train running back down to Madison-Milwaukee. This should hopefully give a stellar 3rd year profit. With Prosperity/Boom times Wooten will allow you to obtain the maximum bonds which we will leave as cash. Then turn up dividends up as high as possible permanently. Warning: do NOT run the game with a manager with stock price reduction as that will attract the AI chairmen to your stock like greedy flies. You want 100%.

 

         Now is the time to buy, buy, buy your company stock. What will happen is that dividend payments will slowly reduce your company book value as your cash is consumed even while your company is making a profit. After some years (late 1830s) book value will go negative making the last shares you need to buy a fire sale. That's the time to use the rest of the cash to buy rights out of "Lake Michigan" hopefully with a Goodwill manager. Then connect up South Bend(max houses)-Detroit and if finance allows down the western edge of the map to Memphis and St. Louis. Memphis up to Milwaukee, and St. Louis up to Green Bay are now good long runs which should give an all up solid $1-2M yearly profit.

 

         Leaving dividends on, it's time to check out the ownership level in all the AI companies. If it's strategic for your company's growth perspectives and you still have some time left, consider taking out one or two of the weakest ones first regardless of their level of ownership. The merger price of a weak company will probably be similar to its cash, so really a "free" transaction and great to help get your company book value out of the hole fast. Make sure that the chairman in question wont have more than about $250k of cash after the transaction so he will only have 10% initial ownership in the new company he will immediately start. Preferably do this in August so that it's unlikely for the new company to book a profit in the first year in case you want to grab a big chunk of those. A warning that this strategy may back-fire if the new company starts in a spot you want. Consider trying to prevent this as you can, but often I think it will be a risk worth taking.         NOTE: in my current game I took over two companies, Dayton-Cincinnati and Allentown-Philadelphia. New companies appeared with Portsmouth-Boston and Fayetteville-Wilmington. As they are decent companies I bought up 90% mainly for the dividends.

 

         I could go on, but even small differences in gameplay techniques will ensure a large spread in possible outcomes at this point. I have $7.9M in player cash with $64.5M at the beginning of 1857. On a long term map that means nothing. This is about the start which is kind of my specialty. Long term is not. I actually don't understand freight routes very well. And don't have a clear idea of which routes are clear winners and which are not. With the higher engine running costs, they appear to be more sensitive than normal. Being cautious, I am realizing I missed some great returns from them already. Also, I'm realizing that track costs are forever, switching between Mayer and Pullman is a necessity! A rough calculation reveals that a Mayer-built double stone bridge will have a $10k higher yearly cost for the rest of the game than a double Steel one. Now I'm only using stone near grades or corners where speed is extra important.

[letsdance]

well, you certainly did deeper analysis to the map than i ;-) in my last game my shares trippled before i could buy any and it took me a long time until i had 75%, the rest was held by the AI. that game i also noticed they like buying your shares if you have a -share price manager. it took me until 1940 or maybe even later until i had all territory rights.

with such a good start in your game i can't imagine anything going wrong later. the golden times are usually around 1860-1900. just save up 100M until 1900 and then interest alone will keep you alive if all else fails  and remember, in emergencies you can issue stock and buy it back yourself (even raising your PNW while doing so).

if you're not sure about freight routes profitability, don't replace those trains. instead, start new ones (copying the route) and retire the old one. that way you get good information looking at the lifetime profitability. a few years mean nothing in a scenario that long, so you can just test it out.

wooten allows you to issue one extra bond... should i reduce him to credit rating +2 or make him more expensive in v8 (which is probably not due for another year or so lol)?

it's nice to see that you seem to enjoy it. so at last sharing it here actually made sense  

[MaglevForever]

On 02/09/2016 at 7:47 PM, letsdance said:

wooten allows you to issue one extra bond... should i reduce him to credit rating +2 or make him more expensive in v8 (which is probably not due for another year or so lol)?

Well, when I only took $600k from other investors, I could still only issue one bond. Missed out on that one. Didn't even think about the possibility.

I now understand why you set him up like this (to get the 2nd bond). What I did certainly felt like an exploit. Any manager available at the beginning of the game (minimum wage) can always be retained as the company grows. Therefore the player can use this to max out bonds faster. If you want the player to have a chance at an extra bond at the beginning of the game without using a manager, a random event that only lasts for one year with the same effects may be better.

 

To separate ideas, credit rating is a far stronger effect than interest rate. I like the idea of a mid-tier "banking" manager that can lower interest rates (-1%), and maybe even increase stock price by 10%. If it was my pick, I would limit credit rating advantage to the +1 rating benefit Ames Oakes has.

 

Maybe my company is making too much money, but I currently have very little selection in managers. I get Pullman, Debs, Mayer, Willard, Hayes, and Murray. Nobody beats Pullman in terms of revenue for +40% combined passenger revenue with all station upgrades. I hired Mayer on pause for most of my building projects. I did make a couple of unsuccessful attempts at getting a manager to bring engine costs down at replacement time. Also, the -50% industry buying you gave Theodore Judah is very interesting, but I'm stuck cycling endlessly through those 6 I mentioned. The trials of success.

 

Up to 1880 in this play. Yes, I'm enjoying it. Main thing I love is the lower express revenue and greater difficulty in making money. Normally, I struggle to remain interested in long-term maps. Hence, part of the reason that I didn't try it long ago. Now I'm wishing I had.

 

My progress isn't fast. I've been keeping a close eye on my long distance express trains to try to keep them spaced and as full as possible. I think I might make the PNW and CBV goals by 1900. Currently $330M PNW and $350M CBV. About to replace my fleet of Eight Wheelers with Americans still on the short low-value freight hauls since engine price just dropped. Efficiency stats for 1879 in normal economy: 413 loads; 276,690 load-miles; rev. per load-mile $71; fuel cost per load mile $19. 152 trains @ average speed of 23mph.

 

Still being conservative, but have ended up running more low-value freight than I planned in an attempt to keep cities from shrinking and maybe get just a little growth. As fuel costs rise, this service will probably be sacrificed. Growth is really fickle. I see slow gains overall, but also a few loses here and there. Long-distance express services don't provide quite enough traffic to stabilize any growth and I find that without some freight service, some cities slip backwards towards an un-serviced size. For example, Albany shrunk from 6 houses back down to 4 already. I like that growth isn't fast, but it's frustrating to see some cities lose their 6- or 8-house status. I haven't tried it, but the temptation is there to try to bulldoze some useless industries in the hopes that more houses will appear.

 

I have $130M cash before engine replacements. Interest on this is almost enough to ensure a cruise-control situation. An idea for hard mode: when the player has plenty of cash, for example $30M+, use some events that track economic state and fire upon each change to keep the prime rate at the level where no interest is received on your cash balance.

Edited September 7, 2016 by MaglevForever

[MaglevForever]

Got the PNW and CBV in 1890, earlier then I expected, then I automated everything. Even on auto, profit was higher than I expected. The first Auto Plant seeded in Toledo in 1913. I had 16 ports. I bought earlier so they wouldn't disappear. This gave a theoretical maximum of 96 loads of Autos per year in normal times. Decided to organize logistics to supply the raw materials for high production, but short-haul most of those Autos. Had some minor issues with supply such as one port which was cut off when the Wilimington-Fayetteville AI was liquidated in 1922. I have "Liquidate Bankrupt Companies" checked. I had crossed his track diagonally "at-the-point". When his track was deleted I had a tiny gap in mine that I didn't notice for about a decade. I had taken out the Boston-based AI in 1913 to take control of the Rubber supply. Two AI companies remain.

 

I relied on the readme to plan for engine replacements. I noticed that the Eight Wheeler stays available for longer than indicated. Also, the Camelback disappears 5 years earlier than indicated. Overall, the train running costs in the 20th century aren't as bad as I was suspecting if one sticks to the "budget" options of Mogul, Camelback and Prairie. Even with a huge fleet of engines specifically to attempt to maximize Auto haulage, the revenues from industry guaranteed a small profit overall. However, there was no way that I was making enough to cover replacement costs. I also replaced some sensitive locos, anything to do with Rubber/Tires, every 5 year instead of 10. Generally, I was aiming for replacements every 10 years, but sometimes stretched that a little.

 

Disregarding interest received, even with 250 or so locos my company was more often-than-not on the right side of profitable on auto-pilot thanks to industry profits. I couldn't earn enough to cover engine replacement costs, but that's to be expected with 100 or so low-value trains that are supplying volume at the expense of profit.

 

Earlier in the thread, I asked about extra stations for demand. I now believe that's a mistake on a long-term map. After realizing that station buildings cost nothing to maintain, I built many extras, even if just to avoid 1 corner, or extra small stations with Roundhouses to keep trains topped off with Oil just to prevent a breakdown/crash or two. Cabooses were only used on Rubber trains. The space that the extra stations took probably blocked some buildings from seeding. My track ended up quite messy, and almost all locos are due for replacement so profits are a bit weak. In summary, even though it's a long-term map, it kept me thinking and that was fun. Thanks! 

East Usa 1944.zip

[jeffryfisher]

Important safety tip: Whenever a bankruptcy wipes track, immediately save under a new name and then go back to the previous save to analyze the track being wiped. Not only can you spot where your own track will be holed (and trains possibly lost), but you can spot opportunities for track realignment and new stations.

[letsdance]

i don't play with bonds alot after the initial 10 years or so. maybe that's why i'm underestimating wooten. but i think i'll keep him for now as he is. it's a choice you have.

i left the 8-wheeler as it is and took its availability stats from an excel file, and never checked if they are correct. will have to look into that one when i make v8. camelback seems to have a wrong date in the readme, it's ony available until 1930. i've changed this one back and forth alot. gonna add a warning in the download site for now. thx for finding those.

i thought about killing interest when the player has too much money - i've done something similar to the AI. but the main problem that kept me from doing it is different interest rates depending on economy state. setting interest to a point where you get none during recession would mean you pay negative interesting during normal, prosperty and boom times. setting interest rate so that you get none during boom times has very little effect overall, because you'll still get alot during recession. as it is i just reduced the prime rate by 1 point to lower the effect. if you'd like to try i can add an event that makes interest = 0% during normal times with payment penalties for cash during better economy state and interesting during worse ones, and send you the file. but i don't think it's a good idea for a general audience.

i never had towns losing size. that seems a bit strange, especially because it seems you've been delivering more than i usually do. i sometimes delete unnecessary industry to increase the chance for some good industry showing up (seems the more industry a town has the less likely new ones come), but i don't know if it also helps for houses.

[MaglevForever]

Here's the idea I had to keep interest on company cash at 0% in your scenario (permanent -1 on prime rate) no matter the economic state. I'm not trying to promote it, just to explain how such a system works. Disclaimer: I'm not very experienced at RTII coding.

This system requires using a variable. It doesn't matter which is used as long as it is called correctly, but just for example we will say this is Game Variable 3 (GV3).

Start of game set GV3 to "10". This can be tacked onto an existing event. Purpose: prevent the following events from checking until required.

Set up a one-time activation event that will trigger in Boom Times (GameEconomicState=4). The effect will be to set GV3 to "4". Conditions could be after a certain number of years have elapsed and/or a certain cash limit has been reached.

Two events that will keep the system active:
1st one:
Testing against human companies at the start of each month for: GameVariable3!=10 AND GameEconomicState>GameVariable3.
Effects: Prime rate +1. Add 1 to GV3.
2nd one:
Testing against human companies at the start of each month for: GameVariable3!=10 AND GameEconomicState<GameVariable3.
Effects: Prime rate -1. Subtract 1 from GV3.

Note: When economic state is changed by event, it can be done more than 1 level at a time. In such case, the system may take two or three months to catch up.

 

@jeffryfisher Good tip. What I don't for-see trips me.

[letsdance]

yes that should work, but i don't like monthly event checks. i had a yearly event that takes cash out of AI companies if they have much (a simple cash > 30 Mio -> lose 1 Mio) but ultimately removed it, i think. i considered doing something similar for human players (call it inflation) but then figured, if you get to save that much money you somehow deserve it.

[jeffryfisher]

On 9/16/2016 at 11:27 AM, MaglevForever said:

Here's the idea I had to keep interest on company cash at 0%...
Two events that will keep the system active:
1st one:
Testing against human companies at the start of each month for: GameVariable3!=10 AND GameEconomicState>GameVariable3.
Effects: Prime rate +1. Add 1 to GV3.
2nd one:
Testing against human companies at the start of each month for: GameVariable3!=10 AND GameEconomicState<GameVariable3.
Effects: Prime rate -1. Subtract 1 from GV3.

If you test Econ > GV3, then you don't need to test GV3 != 10 (because econ is always 0-4).

Do not test against human companies unless you have a per-company variable to test and/or set. Both of your variables are game-variables, so you can uncheck the company-test. In the highly unlikely event that people played in multiplayer mode, you wouldn't need the event to run for every player, just once per month.

Don't be afraid of monthly events. The processor cost is trivial, even on "slow" computers (by today's standards). When you sometimes get a lag at month-end, it is the AI trying to plot a route for a RR build. That's the only CPU-intensive feature that can slow the game.

Normal econ changes happen twice per year, I think at the start of March and start of September. However, scenario events can change econ level too (do you have any of those?). I think that testing econ level at the end of each month will catch the changes before interest is earned.

Watch what happens to personal cash when you go deep into debt buying stock on margin. If you keep the prime rate at zero, I think the personal interest rate will always be 2%, which is pretty easy money for those who like to play the stock market.

PS: If you ever decide to rearrange your events to have them in a specific order, never EVER delete an event. There's a bug in the editor that will corrupt the data in the neighboring events (and perhaps all events below the deletion point). Instead, hollow out the event so that it becomes a non-event placeholder.

[MaglevForever]

Reasoning follows. Please let me know where I'm wrong as I'm happy to learn more about coding the events.

1 hour ago, jeffryfisher said:

If you test Econ > GV3, then you don't need to test GV3 != 10 (because econ is always 0-4).

The test GV3!=10, was to add a trigger that will ensure this solution is not active at game start. Must wait for the activation event. A later event to reset GV3 to 10 could be used to disable it as well.

 

Of course, any value for GV3 can be used except 0-4. At game start it's 0 though, so an event is needed to set it outside that range. The number 10 was was just simple for the example.

 

2 hours ago, jeffryfisher said:

Do not test against human companies unless you have a per-company variable to test and/or set.

Testing against human players was intended so that this system will not be applied to the AI companies' prime rate. Is there a correct/better way to do this?

 

This map currently uses a lower prime rate for AI companies. None of the events change the economic state.

 

2 hours ago, jeffryfisher said:

Watch what happens to personal cash when you go deep into debt buying stock on margin. If you keep the prime rate at zero, I think the personal interest rate will always be 2%, which is pretty easy money for those who like to play the stock market.

This map has a restricted stock market. Forget margin buying, it's also impossible to sell any of the stock you own. Part of the challenge.

 

PS. I think there is a work-around to set a particular economic state, but it requires two events and was too complicated for this example. That's why I said to test in Boom Times. Work-around: One event to set economic state +4 to ensure Boom Times, then a second to actually set the level you want. Eg. -2 for Normal.

[jeffryfisher]

Quote

The test GV3!=10, was to add a trigger that will ensure this solution is not active at game start.

Obviously, but since 10 is always larger than all possible values of Econ, it is never 10 when GV3 < Econ, so it's not necessary to test for that. That's just logic.

Quote

Testing against human players was intended so that this system will not be applied to the AI companies' prime rate. Is there a correct/better way to do this?

I believe that prime rate is a game variable, so it will be the same for all players and companies. Having the event run per company is futile at best and inviting bugs if you ever add any other game effects.

Quote

This map currently uses a lower prime rate for AI companies.

I suggest that you test it to see what rate each company actually sees.

Quote

This map has a restricted stock market. Forget margin buying...

OK, then that's won't be a problem.

Edited September 21, 2016 by jeffryfisher
Broke quote apart

[MaglevForever]

Don't want to hijack a great map, so last question about the events. If GV3 isn't set to a number outside the "0-4" range, what test would you use to check that the activation event has fired?

 

5 hours ago, jeffryfisher said:

Quote

This map currently uses a lower prime rate for AI companies.

I suggest that you test it to see what rate each company actually sees.

On this map the human player has a permanent -1 on prime rate and the AI a permanent -2. In Boom Times, it's 4% prime rate for the human and 3% prime rate for the AI.

 

But the proof is in the interest rate received on positive cash balances in Boom Times. The human gets nothing, but the AI has a negative (-1%) effective rate, so it actually pays a small amount of interest. If you want to see for yourself, load up my saved game. The economy has boomed for the last 3 years. Compare the interest received/paid for my company versus the AI.

[letsdance]

also the chairman changes prime rate only for the company which uses him

[jeffryfisher]

I still think that RT2 probably has just one prime rate for the whole game. The rate attached to a company bond is prime + credit-rating adjustment (and each company does have its own CR). I think they all earn slightly less than prime without regard to CR. Players pay more than prime on their debts. These variations are built into the game.

I don't know any manager who can change the prime rate. There's one (Oakes) who improves his company's CR. If by chairman you mean a campaign or map choice, please tell me where it is so I can look at the event coding.

I suggest trying a real experiment on a test map. Create two trapped companies where each has the same pot of cash but no way to spend money. Have one event move prime rate up for one company, and another event move prime down for the other. I think you'll probably see the rate adjustments will cancel each other in a shared game-wide variable, and each company will earn the same amount on its pot of cash.

PS: Don't worry about extending the map's thread. We're discussing how to program a feature that the map designer asked about (and this is about the only discussion we have right now). Or, we can start a new thread...

[letsdance]

i've tested the prime rate modifier that comes from events long enough and maglev posted the proof in his last reply (3 posts above this one). there may be a general prime rate, but it's without any doubt possible to change it for certain companies or players only. none of the existing managers can change the prime rate, but it's possible to give them that ability by hex-editing (and i've done so, which is why there is such a manager in my map).

[jeffryfisher]

OK, I've tested it and seen it with my own eyes. Each company has its own "prime" rate. If an event trigger has checked the box per-company, then a prime rate change in the effects will only affect the company that satisfies the trigger.

What that means is that the prime rate isn't really prime. It's more of a "best rate at the bank down the street from your company headquarters".

The reason I found this hard to believe is because each company already has a credit rating to individualize its interest rate. From both a game-play and a programming point of view, customizing prime rate per company makes no sense (and yet there it is).

As a map designer, I wish we had a clear view of exactly which effects could be changed per which game elements (players, companies, territories). Heck, what I really want is the source code so I can go to town fixing some things.

[MaglevForever]

On 22/05/2017 at 5:15 PM, jeffryfisher said:

As a map designer, I wish we had a clear view of exactly which effects could be changed per which game elements (players, companies, territories). Heck, what I really want is the source code so I can go to town fixing some things.

Is it worth making a thread to be used as a list to be updated if and when discoveries are made? I would like to know what combinations of effects could be used to improve cornering speeds. Laying straight lines across the map gets boring after awhile.

[jeffryfisher]

16 hours ago, MaglevForever said:

Is it worth making a thread to be used as a list to be updated if and when discoveries are made?

You could probably resurrect a dead thread. The game hasn't changed since the last patch in 2003, so the nettiquette disdain for "necrotic" threads shouldn't apply here.

As for cornering, each corner acts as if its grade were 2% worse than what it would be straight. To combat that, I level my corners. I don't obsess about avoiding every corner possible. In fact, as my RRs mature, I tend to add zig-zags to create more diagonal-on-point crossings. Powerful engines can handle corners and accelerate out of them well enough, but they can't do anything if blocked by other trains, which is my primary problem when I have ~400 trains (and the trains are much longer than in the early game).

What I really need is the discipline to completely isolate freight tracks from express tracks.