Stormfather's Germany

[stormfather]

It is 1835, and Germany consists of the kingdom of Prussia, as well as almost 40 other sovereign states. The next quarter of a decade will see the unification of these diverse regions under the banner of an empire, but such unification will be impossible without the rapid industrialization and improved economic markets brought about by an efficient network of rail.

The year is 1871, and by blood and iron, the German Empire has become a reality. Although the young nation boasts a healthy economy, it faces increased economic competition from France and Britain. Yet Germany boasts vast reserves of both coal and iron, and the growth of a mighty steel industry is destined to forever assure Germany's position among the european powers.

The year is 1901 and Germany has become the dominant economic power of continental Europe. And although Germany has carved out a place for itself on the world economic market, troubled times lay ahead as the world superpowers race to colonize the third world. Germany has become entrenched in an arms race with her neighbors. The Russians and French, ever distrustful, are poise ready to strike, while the mighty British Royal Navy poses a severe threat to Germany's trade routes and overseas interests. Thus, it is imperative that Germany embrace her Prussian military tradition and prepare for the times to come.

This map covers central Europe, from Amsterdam in the northwest to Bucharest in the southeast. The map follows the industrialization of Germany in the years building up to the first world war. This is a relatively easy map, suitable for players of all skill levels.

This map requires the current version of my America map to run; specifically it requires resources contained within America.fpk and changes to the XMLs executed by the America 1.2a installer, which can be found in the maps section of this website (American Transcontinental Railroad).

Thanks to Atani for the installer!

[karsten]

The map file posted on our Maps Database is complete, no need to combine files as was envisaged earlier by stormfather in the text above.

At the easier levels, this map is quite straightforward to complete. Just make sure that there is at least some iron, steel and coal on the map when starting. Since the resources are distributed at random, a crucial resource may sometimes be missing and you need to restart the map.

It is at Robber Baron difficulty level that this map really starts to shine, with tremendous replay value. Suddenly, all those rivers become a worrisome cost factor, the hilly landscape has to be contoured to save money - and you need a nailbiting effort to earn the tons of money required for the Era One goal of $10 million.

For this, a good money machine is absolutely essential. In my experience, one needs to connect three towns with passenger and mail traffic right from the start, with level 3 stations, to maximize early revenue, even if this means no other activity is possible for the first couple of years. In the screenshot example, the game dropped me in far-away Poznan in the East, which seemed hopeless. But I managed to connect Poznan with Berlin and Hannover, and that passenger-mail traffic produced enough funds to develop the local economy. Buy back your shares, don't waste funds on long routes at this time. Ideally, have some early food, iron and coal transports in the vicinity of Berlin.

Once you have made those $10 million, you can morph into Big Spender, selling all your shares for investment funds. Now is the time to connect that long stretch between Strasbourg and Bucharest, and the remaining towns. The sooner you were able to start your food and machinery deliveries to Berlin, the better. And voila, early success!