{NEW BETA} fix/update South Central British Columbia 1898

[RulerofRails]

Update:
I somehow (probably a memory fault again, I had 4-5 instances running) had a save that lost all coloration. The manual bmp2gmp application to restore painting also didn't work. This discouraged me a little and progress stalled for a bit. I was worried maybe I finally had (after hundreds of saves) hit a physical limit as can happen when not using dgVoodoo solution. But after reverting a couple steps I found that I couldn't reproduce the loss whether I repeated the same or tried some other things (after computer restart etc.). So it's not much but there is a little more progress.

I got the bank done. There were various tweaks along the way. Jay Cooke no longer has a majority. The bank doesn't start with a pile of cash making it far less attractive for a very early merge. Early merge is still possible, it's just not attractive as a strategy compared to before. The player has freedom to merge whenever he/she wants but if done once bonds are maxxed there is the option to take more debt at a fairly high interest rate. Bonus is now a -10% merger premium, +1 credit rating, and -1 prime rate.

The idea here is that the bank is something that will actually help you with some other mergers. The cost of merging the bank should be consistently $5M or a bit more. As the game progresses it's cash pile will slowly build (quickly to $1M, then much slower from there due to interest rate caps). It will become a more attractive target as time passes. The extra debt available could also help finance some mergers. (FYI, each company you merge with gives you one tycoon point, so there is incentive to merge any companies that you can.)

I also put what I believe is a sufficient deterrent to the detour from the Petain route out to Merritt area coal.


Tunnel building mechanics:
As I said, I'm not looking to redo the existing track building allocations. JSS spent simply too much time near the start of the map testing and tweaking how that will play out.

However, for the tunnel building I'm looking to do something which at least to me seems a bit similar to what Gumboots suggested. That is, tunnel construction will be abstracted, it can't be another way. But the time for completion will be variable.

I'm thinking to have a couple factors defining completion progress (%),
1. A base increment each month, maybe a small (<10%) random chance to fail.
1a. A cash component to this, each increment will be accompanied by a cash reduction. If you are running low on cash that might cause a delay.

2.
You can deliver Lumber, or Food (Meat/Alcohol) which will lower your supply/building costs. With sufficient quantity of deliveries, a boost to construction pace as well.

There will be a warehouse at the eastern portal for construction deliveries. Once completion is reached, the warehouse will be removed and you will be granted the track allocation and cash to enable physically building the tunnel.


The idea here is that you need to keep some cash in reserve all the time, which is one of the key strategic elements of limited track in most cases, rather than the typical "save-a-lot then build" play.

I decided to put this up for ideas, because I see this as being similar in some ways to a dynamic track allotment plan, one that retains the cash-reserve principle while letting the player build in bigger chunks for less tedium (Italy redo would be good one for this). Past performance (prob. aggregate of last year?) would be determinate of amount and price of track in next shipment.

[Gumboots]

Update:
I somehow (probably a memory fault again, I had 4-5 instances running) had a save that lost all coloration.

My brain isn't up to strategising at the moment so I'll skip that for now, and just mention something about loss of colouration.
I've found it always happens if you save a map with a special character in the save name.
For instance, something like #Autosave_1 would do it because of the hashtag. I've never had it happen if I avoid special characters.

[RulerofRails]

I've found it always happens if you save a map with a special character in the save name.

That's what it was. I put a "%" sign when trying various adjustments for the bank stock prices. I read that before and just didn't remember.

Anyway, good to know the cause and not have a worry about it happening again.

[RulerofRails]

Just working on the tunnel events. I thought to post the explanation text here, in case somebody can tell me if it's understandable. Thanks.

Tunnel construction has started. Construction is projected to last up to 8 years and cost up to $8M. The cost will be deducted from your company balance in monthly installments. The cost will vary a little: $80-120k per month. If you don't have sufficient cash at the end of the month you will miss a payment.


You can increase the speed of construction:

1. If you didn't miss more than 2 payments in the last year
2. If you delivered at least 7 loads of Lumber to the supplies warehouse last year
3. If you delivered at least 3 loads of Meat and 2 of Alcohol to the warehouse last year

Each is worth +33% speed: combined effect is double speed.

In addition, cost savings of 10% per item: combined could be more than $2M savings.

[Gumboots]

Ummm, nope. Not quite.

If cost savings are 10% per item, and total cost is $8M, why would saving 10% save you $2M? That's a 25% saving. And if you are cutting timeframe by half under optimum conditions (all deliveries, etc) then doesn't that also cut your total payments in half?

You could correct for that, so that if construction time is halved by meeting the criteria then monthly payments are doubled (minus 10%) to keep overall cost the same, or correct the doubling by -25% to get that reduction. I'm not sure what you're trying to get across here, because the numbers aren't making sense to me.

Minor point about something else: the explanation for the list of bonuses might be better phrased as "Each is worth a one sixth reduction in tunnel construction time. The combined effect of all three is a halving of construction time."

[RulerofRails]

Good feedback.Thanks.


10% per item is meant to be 30% in total possible savings so optimum cost would be 8*0.7=$5.6M

And yes it's cost versus speed. I'm factoring that in for the application. With faster construction enabled, you will pay more per month (that's why the range of $80-120k possible). But since timespan is reduced total cost ends up lower.

Maybe I should separate the two factors something like:

1. If you didn't miss more than 2 payments in the last year
2. If you delivered at least 7 loads of Lumber to the supplies warehouse last year
3. If you delivered at least 3 loads of Meat and 2 of Alcohol to the warehouse last year

Each is worth a one sixth reduction in tunnel construction time. The combined effect of all three is a halving of construction time.

Faster construction is more expensive per month, but over a shorter time-span. There is an advantage: total cost reduced 10% per item.

[Gumboots]

Interesting. You have to wonder about the ROI benefits. If construction cost is reduced 10% "per item" is that 10% per section of tunnel built, or 10% per successful delivery/payment criteria?

If it's per section of tunnel built, then at maximum build speed you're paying an extra $40k/month to end up saving four years and $800k. But then those $40k/month add up to $480k/year, which might be better used elsewhere if things are tight and you'll be in a better position later. Should have good scope for strategising.

[RulerofRails]

I was thinking 10% per successful delivery/payment criteria. $40k per month over 4 years is 40*48=$1.9M.

Please note that the numbers are rounded a little bit
$80k*96=$7.7M would actually end up $8.0M when coded (-$83,333 per month)

$120k*48=$5.8M ends up $5.6M when coded (-$116,667 per month).

If the total reduction were 10% ($800k), cost per month for 4 years, monthly cost would be (7.2M/48)=$150k.


I'm just guessing these figures when setting it up. I'm open to suggestions on how to balance it. My thought with these these haulage and no-missed-payments criteria are suggested-but-optional tasks for the player in the mid-game. It should probably be worth his while not to just ignore them. But I don't want them to feel mandatory. If it's very hard to source for example Alcohol in a particular game (probably due to train routing patterns not gathering it for shipment) the player can then make a call to not bother with the Meat/Alcohol criteria.

Factoring in running costs for extra haulage trains, will also reduce real "savings." That might be $200 cost per year, depending on what the player does. It would be far more efficient to use dead-headed Coal trains on their way back to Coalmont for these deliveries. In which case impact could be minimal. At least there are options.

Probably the player will get a point for a tunnel construction time below 6 years. Also, the tunnel is a big shortcut for most traffic into Petain, including the Goods trains from the east. Remember that I added a point for each 50 loads of Goods into Petain now. So that can be strategic to gather points.

JSS also said the old Coquihalla pass route was very unreliable IRL which was part of the reason the tunnel was considered IRL. I haven't tried to simulate that for the game. I'm a little tempted to raise breakdown chance there by one level (no crashes in this game). I know it should be done with caution . . . .

[Gumboots]

Raising breakdown chance by one level for a specific section of track sounds fine to me, if you want to do it. It could add some interest without nobbling the whole game. The rest sounds pretty good too.

By "dead-headed" I assume you mean running them empty on the way back, which was often done on some lines IRL anyway.

How are you getting the tunnel laid? Will the game engine allow laying a tunnel by event?

By the way, I was running some tests yesterday with the TGR Class M Garratt. That was originally set up fro 1900-1925 express and no caboose, with a Below Average reliability rating. I ran a couple in a sandbox I was using to test something else, just as a sideline, and found out something interesting.

Speeds were pretty good even with post-1950 express, and the difference in breakdown chance between 1925-1950 express and post-1950 express was only about 2 RT3% (which ain't percent but whatever). That was on a 4 year old loco hauling 8 car consists. It looks like the revised weight scale will allow a long lifespan for express locos, at least with some combinations of stats, and presumably the same would apply to some extent for freight haulers. Most locos would probably be quite usable through two eras.

[RulerofRails]

How are you getting the tunnel laid? Will the game engine allow laying a tunnel by event?

The player will have to do it manually when construction is "complete." He will get cash (some of what he paid already) and extra track to make it happen. It's impossible to do earlier because of monthly track restrictions.