Super Bowl Express! Deliver goods to the Super Bowl.

[universum]

Hallo choobacca, great map, great terrain, great scenario, had great time with it.

It took me several tries and many CTDs but I have finally managed on Investor/Medium. At first I though you went crazy thinking that such a big amount of passengers and goods can be transported in such a short time but since it is in late game with powerfull and fast engines, it could be done). I have also started few times until I got good starting position (Indianapolis)

Battle plan:

1) Get some money making local routes, preferably near Chicago and Indianapolis, stimulate growth of both cities to ensure they generate enough passengers (hook up food).

2) Hook up passenger transport from Chicago and Indianapolis first because there is only one source. Beer, Footballs and Food could wait a little because I can hook up multiple sources. I have ended up buying some industry closer to Miami too.

3) Once the money stop being a problem, double the tracks to allow for two trains on the same dedicated line, by this time, cities should generate enough passangers for two trains to be fully loaded. Make sure that all cities have Terminals to speed up loading/unloading. Especially busy Miami.

Map worked fine at the beginning, but when I got to 2004, it CTDed on me. I tried to load save from 2003 but it must have already been corrupted because it run to the same time and then crashed again and again. Went to 1995 saved game and just run it fast forward to see if it will finish or crash. It also crashed around 2005. Decided to try avoid the crash by scrapping trains as soon as condition was met (scrap all trains from/to Indianapolis once the Colts fans are all there, scrap all trains from Chicago once the Bears fans are there and so on). This actually worked and I could finish the game. I believe that with better planning and hooking up more resources, it could have been completed by 2002. It really sucks that game is so unstable .

I have actually complicated my game by accident by having ultra expensive tunnels (see my post in Roundtrip in the mountains: Test Case (mountains, no bridges) topic) so I ended up building no tunnels at all.

[Big Papa]

bhendrix69882, snoopy55 & all other scenario writers,

There may be others here willing to make terrain for maps. We would need to know what size you would want 100, 121, 144, 169, 196 or 225. Maybe an idea of what type of terrain you desire. We can try to hook you up (keep in mind that it usually takes me a few days to make one). Terrain creators could also create what they think is good too. Then we just upload the tga. file for the scenario writers to use, right? You could then say I like this one, I'm gonna use it to let others know? We could start a new topic on this? Also I have no problem with anyone re-using any of my terrains. If you like the "Rockies" or "Super Bowl" terrain, use it. Just remember to give me or others if "oked", credit 'cause there are lots of hours invested in these terrains.
We're off to watch the Superbowl. Thank you again to all who have participated and for all the compliments. We appreciate it.

Big Papa


[/quote]

[snoopy55]

Yes, that is what I have been seeking. I have a map of Wisconsin outlined with cities placed, I even have found maps for Terrain and wooded areas, but I'm no good at doing the Terrain Editing. One thing that might be needed for some Editing is the SMR_Scenario file that the Terrain Editer makes. This puts the cities where they should be. Otherwise we would need a list of each city and its X Y corrordinates. What you put into the Editer and what you see in the XML files are different. Someone with LOADS of time needs to figure the calculations for that.

[edbangor]

I'm getting very close to cracking this one, even though i know nothing about US football.

Todays attempt was just too close too call with just ten footballs short - thanks to a starting position on the wrong side of Atlanta - and what should have been the last load of beer stuck outside Miami - I could blame the AI routing for that but should ahve noticed it wasn't moving.

Everything else just as universum said. Set up local money wherever you start then head for Chicago as fast as you can and then down to Miami building, if possible, seperate routes for each cite / connection to Miami - I had all eight possible tracks - four each side of the terminus - going into miami all coming from different places!

However, I will add that if things get clogged up in Miami - and they probably will - near the end of the game. Just delete every train that's unload and build a new one from the source station. It takes some watching but it prevents the AI routing from getting too "creative"...

FInally, this is a GREAT map. Didn't crash on me once!
Might try it next on the radom settings??

[gczobel]

Good Map!
I have a question about the industries.xml...
What are the "Animation Event Codes" that I see in the file?
It's something needed to make custom animations or industries for the game?

Thanks!

[choobacca]

Good Map!
I have a question about the industries.xml...
What are the "Animation Event Codes" that I see in the file?
It's something needed to make custom animations or industries for the game?

Thanks!

gczobel,
My guess is they are numbers defined by the game that are sent to the graphics model files (.kfm and .nif) when an event occurs in the game. Then the model performs an action or animation.
I haven't figured out if map-makers can use these or if it is possible to create your own for new animations. I did not add these but they are included in the game's xml and should probably have been removed from my map's files to avoid confusion and problems.

[drank]

Just want to say that this was a great map! Definitely the most fun I've had with a SMR map. Kudos to Choobacca and Big Papa!


I've now beaten it 3 times on Robber Baron, Hard routing, starting from Washington, Indianapolis and Atlanta, finishing between July 2004 and October 2006. Indianapolis was the fastest, and seems to be the easiest starting location.


For those who are still struggling with it, here's how I played it...

1. At the start, sell all your stock, buy the longest track you can between your starting city and somewhere in the direction of Chicago. Run a GP between the two cities with 4 passenger & 4 mail cars. With the speed of the GP, you'll make a lot of money quickly. Set up similar runs between pairs of cities as you hook them up.

2. Once you have some cash, connect Chicago and Indianapolis. Run a passenger train between them to raise more money.

3. Deliver food to both cities. In this map's economy, food deliveries generate more passengers.

4. Save up enough money for the Chicago to Miami track. Start running passengers. Repeat for Indianapolis. Double both tracks to move fans more quickly.

5. Organize your track around Miami. You want to run 16 trains to the city. 4 tracks to the left, 4 to the right. Each of the 8 tracks can then split to two destinations. Try to use long, straight runs from Miami to your other cities, so your trains can run at maximum speed.

6. There are 3 livestock resources and 3 grain resources on the map. Use them to generate footballs and beer, and get all 6 hooked up to Miami ASAP. Buy whatever industries you're missing to complete these chains.

7. Fill the rest of your incoming tracks with food trains.

8. Change to fast speed, watch the trains roll in, wait for everything to get delivered.

[choobacca]

Just want to say that this was a great map! Definitely the most fun I've had with a SMR map. Kudos to Choobacca and Big Papa!

drank,
Thanks for your comments. I'm glad you are enjoying it.
This looks like a sound strategy. I had completed all the objectives on my 4th attempt but with only a few months to spare. I'll have to try your strategy and see how fast I can win.
Thanks again.
choobacca

[drank]

I had completed all the objectives on my 4th attempt but with only a few months to spare. I'll have to try your strategy and see how fast I can win.

Starting from Indianapolis, my best times to date are:
Investor: April 1999
Robber Baron: October 2003

Is it possible to do it faster?

[ZanzerTem]

This is a great map! As a die hard Colts fan I particularly enjoyed it I made the mistake of running all of my trains to miami in the same direction, so I was unable to complete the objectives. I'll give it another try though! The economy is CRAZY in this map! I simply love it; why didnt firaxis think of this

Anyway, I give this map a 9/10. I would give it a full 10 but the terrain is a little wacky. The Ohio River is HUGE in this map, and too close to Indy IMO.

Regardless, beautiful work, keep it up, I look forward to playing more of your maps!!

EDIT: Finally beat this one on Mogul, Hard routing. I had the most trouble making footballs. SPOILERS: My strat was to build a power plant in Indy and ship all coal there to stimulate passengers. Milwaukee was my main source of beer, and the Fromagerie created food to send to Chicago to stimulate passengers growth. I built a Tannery in Nashville, and sent all leather to Atlanta to be made in to footballs. Food came from New Orleans and Charlotte Canneries, and some other various scattered towns. Later in the game I created another link for Beer on the West coast and another football manufacturer in DC. You really need multiple trains shipping the same thing, even from the same city. For example I needed three trains shipping passengers from Indy just to meet the deadline. Keep that in mind when planning your rails.

[Slappy Da Clown]

Installer with the new installer. Plays well right up until I try to take beer to miami then ctd. I have crashed it several times to make sure. It crashes every time I try to take beer from my brewery ( that I built, not placed there by the game ) at Charlotte ( which was the starting city ). It will keep running as long as I dont try to haul beer. Any ideas ? Otherwise a gr8 map.


Slappy

[snoopy55]

Slappy - it's using both a Beer Car and a Beer Cask Car. You might want to check and see if you have both in your Global TrainCar XML. I've had that happen with a different car when I tried to ship something.

[Slappy Da Clown]

Got a wine cask car snoop. No beer car or beer cask car. Any help ?

Thanx as always
Slappy

[atani]

Got a wine cask car snoop. No beer car or beer cask car. Any help ?

Thanx as always
Slappy

sounds like the installer for this map is missing the CreateTrainCarIfNeeded call, you can manually add this to the RRT_TrainCars.xml file:

Code: Select all

<TrainCar>
         <szName>Beer Cask Car</szName>
         <szGood>Beer</szGood>
         <szModel>Cask_Car.kfm</szModel>
         <szDummyModel>Cask_Car_dummies.nif</szDummyModel>
         <szGroundClackSound>AS3D_CLACK_PLANET_GROUND</szGroundClackSound>
         <szBridgeClackSound>AS3D_CLACK_PLANET_BRIDGE</szBridgeClackSound>
         <RunLength>30</RunLength>
      </TrainCar>

Add the above around the Wine Cask entry, save and restart Railroads! and the map should play.

Mike

[Slappy Da Clown]

That worked Mike


Thanx


Slappy