Speed vs. Quality

[keking4]

I just recently purchased SMR and have played several of the scenarios, usually with 3 competitors and on Mogul. I win some and lose some.

I often find myself extremely rushed, building and expanding like a madman. Choosing rapid expansion over organization, aesthetics and intelligent routing/track management. I am not sure if it is the numbers ticking away on the stock screen and cash counter, or the sound of money pooring in. But I feel like if I am not increasing market share and profits and a higher rate than my competitors I am destined to lose.

Does anyone else feel this pressure? Has anyone has success with a more intelligently managed, planned and deliberate approach? I assume the most effective approach is somewhere inbetween complete choas and perfectly planned.

[Kroguys]

Since this game plays in real time, it's a race to expand and make more money than the competitions. I find simple routes(A to B) works best for this game, especially against other people online. Don't just look to connect the resources, but also plan ahead and see where to deliver the goods produced by the resources. The real money is in shipping the goods. Although large resource caches is no doubt a good income supplement, especially if you win or buy the industry.

[vancouverexpress]

my advice would be to play online to get an idea of what works and what doesn't, and to see how other players organize their railroads. What I've learned from that is basically what Kroguys said: you look around your cities to plan out how you want to link to resources and other cities, buy the industries you will use a lot, and keep a balance between buying stock and expanding. Good luck - hope to see you online.

[karsten]

Has anyone has success with a more intelligently managed, planned and deliberate approach? I assume the most effective approach is somewhere inbetween complete chaos and perfectly planned.

Hi Keking, I think it depends on the scenario. Why dont you have a look at the Scrooge scenario and tell me what you think

[Mulligan22]

There is a sense of urgency in online play. But the one thing you can't control is where you start. They guy who starts in a town with little or no resources nearby is at a big disadvantage. I've seen where people will leave within a minute of the game starting because they were at such a situation. At the harder levels it's impossible to catch up.

[keking4]

I have not yet ventured into online play. However, last night I discovered a temporary solution to my anxiety. Every time I was about to embark upon another expansion, connecting a new resource and linking the industuries, I would pause the game and plan my expansion in a detailed manner. I would then unpause and execute. It worked well, but this would obviously not work in online play. Perhaps it will serve as a good way to practice effective expansion for use online.

Thanks for the help everyone.

[snoopy55]

I would tend to agree with the planning ahead except that sometimes either you can't or your plan is wasted. Gold or Autos or Weapons are a high priced item and a place to send them takes a while to show up. I've had a place to send them show up 5 towns away and I no sooner get the track going there and the first shipment made when a place to ship to shows up right next door! Or you just get the track run and an AI pops in and grabs the product and ships it to a spot further off. Frustrating , but still fun

[RedKnight]

I and others are researching the basis of the way important things in Railroads! work. We're posting this on the wiki (the link to the wiki is on the bar in upper left). It's in its infancy now, which is good and bad. Bad because there is much unknown... good because everybody can join in and discover something new. An example of practical application can be seen in my message, 4th in this good thread.

Everybody please stop by the wiki and contribute. It's brand new, and lots of folks can add lots of things. Wikis are very easy to learn, and to contribute to - you'll be surprised. And please don't take my ponderous style as a guide. It takes a village to make a wiki. And at 41 carloads, a Village becomes a Town, lol (Railroads! insider joke... see the wiki).

RK

[darthdroid]

There is a sense of urgency in online play. But the one thing you can't control is where you start. They guy who starts in a town with little or no resources nearby is at a big disadvantage. I've seen where people will leave within a minute of the game starting because they were at such a situation. At the harder levels it's impossible to catch up.

I'm gonna have to go ahead and disagree with you there Mulligan. True I cannot control my starting point, but I CAN quickly invade YOURS. River's Run is perhaps the best example of this issue. I'll caterpillar track all the way to you and start taking your lucky resources from you. Now if we are equally good, I'm still screwed cuz you'll have more $ (mind you I deleted all that track i used to get to you and got most of my $ back) than I will thus still an advantage... but most of the time, the other guy isnt as good and doesnt see it coming, and the guy with the good starting point quits, not me with the crappy one. And thats rich....cuz you know he was all salivating when he started with a steel city next to 4 coal mines.....but I saw that too and knew that if I didnt get there immediately hed leave me in his dust. This fact means that there is really no such thing as "lucky starting points" UNTIL you start doing random cities...but still this trick can be utilized to minimize the imbalance. Good luck

-Bob the Lunatic

[darthdroid]

I also wanted to add a little more (although quite late) to the original question:

I think the longer you play, the more chaos becomes minimized. I used to be very frantic, kind of like you described and made a lot of mistakes as a result, I still won a fair number of matches behaving this way. But now, I think I'm very methodical about it, you do this enough times and you get pretty good at making your decisions, and making them wisely.

The posts I've made about "thinking like a pirate" are very crucial here in my opinion. Point being: You better set up everything maximized from the start or it will hurt you later. For example, I'd rather sit and wait and get the extra $30k to get my track at the grade I want it instead of the grade that is cheapest. Sometimes I also don't plant a train until I've put in 2 or 3 parallel routes. I won't explain why but believe me... there's a method to it.

Ultimately I find that I'm the complete opposite now. I'm not frantic at all, I'm very calm and patient. And the last word is the key word. Patience wins this game. The long term strategy will almost always beat the short term frantic strategy in this game.

I do other things I never would have done before. For example, I was playing a game yesterday and near a city with a steel mill next to a coal mine. But regarding the finished goods (cars in this case) I wasn't satisfied with where the nearby cities were (mind you, there was NO car factory nearby, it was a given that I'd have to build one). So even though I knew I was going to need 500K for the car factory, I ignored the steel town completely, went to another town near the mine, and built the steel mill there instead... Most players wouldn't do that, as they would think it's crazy and a waste of 500k.

I also find that in late game, many players relax. Unfortunately for them.... all my long term plans begin to kick in. Another example for you: Someone talked about thinking ahead (ie where to ship the finished goods). I know most players typically look for the nearest town that accepts that good. I don't, I could care less about TODAY. I'm thinking about tomorrow. So instead I would find a nearby city (and mind you all this happened before I even built to the raw materials....I typically set up the route TO the end city that receives the finished good BEFORE I do the route to the resource that provide them...also crazy?) that I believe I can BUILD up to the level that it accepts those goods. Now this is a good example. Another player may very well come in and pirate me, and steal my cars, goods, whatever and ship them far away to a big city. But shortly enough (one or two of his stops) the city I chose has grown big enough and now I'm shipping 95% of it and his train is quickly losing money.
Short term vs. Long term. And more importantly: Long Term Efficiency.

Just some thoughts as there really are mental stages that one progresses through in the game. It really doesn't matter where you start or what map you're on, at a certain point you begin to approach them all pretty much the same, with calm, patient method. And it usually pays off in the end.