Guide to improve your game play!

[Warll]

I try it again before I go to bed tonight. Lets use this Topic: http://hookedforums.com/a/viewtopic.php?t=1085
After all it is stickied.

[darthdroid]

There's some good stuff here and I certainly agree with most of....the strategy stuff, I'm not into the wiki stuff

One thing I would disagree with: Upgrading your "highest profit" trains. Upgrading engines should be case by case and not because it's a top producer. I've fiddled with this a lot and a small engine might make a huge profit, then you upgrade it and within a year or two you're in the red, losing money.

Lots of people think you always want the biggest engines possible, this is only sometimes true, and on lots of maps I'd say never true.
Sometimes people load a game with all the engines...so when you make a train it's immediately some goliath engine. I always thought it was a strategy to trick you into spending 200-300k on some overbearing engine you don't need and I thought "hey, that's dirty, I like it." But then I look around and the guy that made the scenario is using all those monster engines....so it wasn't a trick.

Then i go and buy a bunch of small engines, have 8 of them to his/her 3 big ones and I'm triple or quadruple their profit in no time....they spent all their cash on engines lol.

My point is this: You choose an engine based on the following:
-Distance to travel
-Current engines ability to keep up with shipping said resource/s
-Stage of Game

Note, I didn't list "how much $ you have" as a factor as you can always buy an engine and a good investment is just that, regardless if you have the $.

So keep that in mind.

Also, you get the noobies online that start yapping about "stealing" and "thievery" like those little yipper dogs in the cars at the super market.

These people are just confused, as I always explain: You only own: Tracks, Engines, and Stations. NOT raw materials, NOT finished good, NOT cities. This is not really complex. The real issue is that a good player will run out of empty cities quicker than a lousy player and what's he/she supposed to do? Sit there and hope his cities produce more than yours??? lol that's just stupid.
And the game is not designed to be a race to the best cities and first come first serve. It's more like a race to the biggest snowball effect and the most efficient come get the best serve. So understand that "stealing" is a big part of the game and if you don't steal from her, she'll steal from you, so steal first and steal best, and steal the most!

It's like poker, a big part of it is to chop a leg off....cut his/her money in half. Is there any better business strategy than something that BOTH helps you and HURTS the competition? I think not.

With that in mind, get your own stash going and then assuming it's logistically feasible and economically viable, attack your biggest threat, invade invade invade. This will chop a leg off and put him/her on the defense. This is very important.



Take them out of their game, throw off their rhythm, this is the nature of business itself and the game is in my opinion a better business simulation than it is a train simulation.

Food for thought

[Star Ranger4]

Ladies and Laddies, I think we have found the reincarnation of most of the robber barrons mentioned in the game.

Folks like Bob here scare me into not ever considering playing multiplayer on line...

[darthdroid]

By the way,

The best strategy advice I've seen is by Vlada, some very advanced tactics are in his/her post, so read them carefully and use them. I imagine Vlada is someone I know well on the game

-Bob the Lunatic

[CalmDragon]

What effect do various bridge types have on speed?
Do different bridge types have different effects?
More so than a grade or a curve effect?

[Star Ranger4]

near as I can tell, bridges have no effect on train speed... or if they do its negligable compared to the effects of turning radii and track grade.