Cannot elminate opponents permanently in Slow and Steady

[Tommyteal]

Looking how to end this scenario, Slow and Steady.

I have met all requirements by 1940.

EXCEPT, eliminating all opponent companies.  I merged with them all.  None on the board.  Game does not end.  Then with the money they have, they just start new companies.  And start the process all over again.

Is it too late?  Did I have to do some financial playing around at the beginning of the game, to ensure the opponents never got enough money to start additional companies?  Is that even possible?

Any way to win now?

[jeffryfisher]

The only way I've kept my opponents from coming back is by bankrupting them (though you might slow them down by connecting to all towns on the map). Their companies can take a LONG time to die, but weak AI means that they'll eventually screw up and lose money. Computer players can sometimes be knocked out by depressions / panics hitting when they're heavily margined (and they can be helped along by carefully timed bear raids).

I haven't played that map, so I don't know all of its particulars, but requiring you to eliminate all rivals sounds fishy. Such a victory condition should be combined with a restriction such as preventing new companies. Without such protection, the scenario design is suspect.

Maybe someone who has played it can comment.

[MaglevForever]

I haven't played the map. I'm not sure the setup was well-thought out either. Looking at the events I can see that you can never expand out of your starting territory. All access rights are awarded at the start of the game. If you or the other players start a new company none of them will be able to do anything useful. Also, when you takeover the AI companies you will never be able to do anything useful with their assets.

The premise of rewarding lower speeds is intriguing.  The gold medal is only available in the year 2000, no matter how quickly you meet the objectives. It's a survival theme. Which is really a hard thing to pull off for players of different abilities across different difficulty levels. Too easy to make money and it becomes a survival "cruise", which isn't what I look for in a game.

The only reliable way I know to disable the players is dirty: gain majority ownership in all companies and then manipulate their companies into bankruptcy oblivion. Care must be taken to leave them with a very low or preferably negative cash balance. I don't like this style of play, but just sharing it as an option.

The AI don't tend to do well after about year 30 when they start replacing engines every year, game bug, so you could hope that they bankrupt themselves, but that will depend on the computer revenue setting, and cities are placed so that I suspect it wont always happen. Problem would be that even when their companies are in tatters their personal cash situation will probably be healthy enough to start a new company especially if they were paying dividends.

You can do some pure stock market manipulations to personally bankrupt them, such as bear raid as Jeffry suggested, if you have a large enough position in the market that you can take a personal hit. This is more like an off-chance for experienced players.

The other chance is that you wait till year 2000, then make the mergers in one month and hope that the AI wont start a new company over the end/beginning of month cycle. Gold Medal fires at beginning of month during year 2000. If you save the game at the end of 1999 so you can go back there's a good chance you will get it in a few attempts.

[jeffryfisher]

20 hours ago, MaglevForever said:

The other chance is that you wait till year 2000, then make the mergers in one month

Will the game allow multiple mergers close together? I think there's a prohibition that shows up as a regulatory / stock exchange ruling or some objection from the board of directors.

[MaglevForever]

9 hours ago, jeffryfisher said:

Will the game allow multiple mergers close together? I think there's a prohibition that shows up as a regulatory / stock exchange ruling or some objection from the board of directors.

Yes, the game allows unlimited consecutive successful merger attempts. However, after each unsuccessful attempt there is a "cool off" period of one year in which time no merger attempt can be made. The game enforces this based on the advice of "investment bankers." As long as you have a majority stake in the company in question you aren't chancing the odds for an unsuccessful attempt.