Whistle Stops and Promises - Campaign Discussion

[kamyFC]

I just finished playing the fifth mission of the classic campaign of Railroad Tycoon II.
The essence of the scenario is the tour of the American northwest of Teddy Roosevelt in his election campaign of 1904. 

You start on Jan 1st and to get gold, we need to visit 16 stations by midnight January 14 (Jan 15).
We have 3 choices of locomotives 
Choice 1: 4-4-2 Atlantic locomotive.
Choice 2: 2-6-0 Mogul locomotive
Choice 3: 2-6-0 Camelback locomotive

I chose the Camelback, which had great grade performance and i knew going west would be full of grades.

the blue waypoints, show the route i took


A fun relaxed scenario, where all u have to do is watch the train and enjoy the ride!
But i could only visit 13 cities and get Bronze and just managed to do it.  I'm not sure how to get gold here.  Anyone managed to get the gold medal in your first attempt?

Edited May 25, 2020 by kamyFC

[jeffryfisher]

I've never played it, but I'd try the speedy Atlantic and then try to find a route with tolerable grades.

[Gathol]

The Camelback is the correct choice, but the routing was not correct to make 16 stops, and you need to maximize the engines speed.  I can see from your screenshot you did not do this.  First, the route:

01.  Cheyenne

02.  Rock Springs

03.  Pocatello

04.  Twin Falls

05.  Boise

06.  Pasco

07.  Portland

08.  Salem

09.  Eugene

10.  Bellingham

11.  Seattle

12.  Tacoma

13.  Spokane

14.  Missoula

15.  Helena

16.  Great Falls

Forget about the offer early on from Missoula about the firebox.  Don't fall for it.  

To max the train speed (this will increase the chances of a breakdown so I recommend saving each day when you haven't had a breakdown) go to the consist/routing screen at the very beginning of the scenario.  Above and to the right of the water level indicater is the throttle.  You need to click on it, maybe several times and put the needle to the bottom of the red instead of where it is just at the bottom of the black.  If you do end up having a breakdown just reload your last save and try again from there.

 

[kamyFC]

7 hours ago, Gathol said:

The Camelback is the correct choice, but the routing was not correct to make 16 stops, and you need to maximize the engines speed.  I can see from your screenshot you did not do this.  

Forget about the offer early on from Missoula about the firebox.  Don't fall for it.  

To max the train speed (this will increase the chances of a breakdown so I recommend saving each day when you haven't had a breakdown) go to the consist/routing screen at the very beginning of the scenario.  Above and to the right of the water level indicater is the throttle.  You need to click on it, maybe several times and put the needle to the bottom of the red instead of where it is just at the bottom of the black.  If you do end up having a breakdown just reload your last save and try again from there.

 

Wow. Thanks for the detailed reply.  I guess i fell for the Missoula offer took a route that was not optimal! 
Increasing throttle is something i never did.  Interesting tip.  

Edited May 25, 2020 by kamyFC

[kamyFC]

12 hours ago, jeffryfisher said:

I've never played it, but I'd try the speedy Atlantic and then try to find a route with tolerable grades.

Atlantic was awesome at the start but man it sucks on grades, so i did not opt for it.
I guess i could take it as a challenge.

Edited May 25, 2020 by kamyFC

[Silverback]

You can cheat by pausing the scenario as soon as it loads and then change the consist to just the loco before it gets to the first station, Even that can fail if you get a breakdown, so you can use the nowreck cheat.

Doing it properly without cheating then the Camelback is the one to use as the platinum strategy guide says and the best route is also in the guide. The random breakdowns are the killer.

[jeffryfisher]

18 hours ago, kamyFC said:

Atlantic was awesome at the start but man it sucks on grades

Agreed; I haven't played this map, so I don't know what grades there are. I just know that the Atlantic has great overall power. Based on other comments, I surmise that there are no routes that avoid 3+% grades. Oh well... If I had built the track, then the Atlantic would have been the runaway best choice.