The American Transcontinental Railroad- Version 1.2a Final

Dr Frag · Post by **Dr Frag** » Thu Feb 15, 2007 10:16 pm

Very nice stormfather, I look forward to playing this once the final touches are in and I'll post it to the Wiki as well. I'm wondering if you are a graphic artist cuz as karsten mentioned this is one good looking map. That was real slick using the Tints map for the state lines, how did you get those in there if you don't mind me asking??

But what I really want to know is what karsten has in his machine that he can run this at 1280x1024?

aureo11 · Post by **aureo11** » Fri Feb 16, 2007 8:43 am

Excellent map!! I was hoping someone would make a USA map. I just wanted to give some resource placement ideas as I noticed in the map posted and in my game that some areas werent being used.

I would place some of the resources in specific spots.

1. Corn in Iowa
2. Wheat in Kansas
3. Cattle in Texas, Wyoming, Montana
4. Gold and Coal in Colorado, etc

THen just make the industries random so that you have to pull to different spots.

These are my first impressions.

Again, very fun map!

stormfather · Post by **stormfather** » Fri Feb 16, 2007 3:13 pm

Dr Frag wrote:Very nice stormfather, I look forward to playing this once the final touches are in and I'll post it to the Wiki as well. I'm wondering if you are a graphic artist cuz as karsten mentioned this is one good looking map. That was real slick using the Tints map for the state lines, how did you get those in there if you don't mind me asking??

But what I really want to know is what karsten has in his machine that he can run this at 1280x1024?

Believe me, I'm no graphic design artist, I'd actually label myself as computer illiterate. I taught myself how to edit .tga and .xml files for Civilization IV, so I came into railroads with a little bit of background knowledge.

As far as using the tint map for borders, I first used it on my now-defunct New York map as a guildline for yaying mountains and rivers since I like to do most of my work by hand in the terrain editor. I simply got an outline of the political borders and pasted it in on the tintmap section of the .tga, then make sure it's centered. After editing the map, I delete the coastal borders so the beaches don't turn black and there you have it, a geo-political map.

aureo11 wrote:Excellent map!! I was hoping someone would make a USA map. I just wanted to give some resource placement ideas as I noticed in the map posted and in my game that some areas werent being used.

I would place some of the resources in specific spots.

1. Corn in Iowa
2. Wheat in Kansas
3. Cattle in Texas, Wyoming, Montana
4. Gold and Coal in Colorado, etc

THen just make the industries random so that you have to pull to different spots.

These are my first impressions.

Again, very fun map!

Unfortunately, whe the game randomly places resources, it doesn't use the outer parts of the map. In my first map, this was a game-breaker as I hadn't planned for this, but I aligned America to cope with this fact. Most of the resources should appear between the Rocky Mountains and the Appalachian Mountains, while most of the 'cities' fall outside those two ranges. The only 'dead zone' seems to be Nevada and Idaho. I considered distorting the map a bit by pinching the great plains and moving the West a bit east, but decided against it because corn fields and lumber mills have no business popping up in the middle of the desert.

If and when I release the aforementioned expanded version of the map I will most likely pre-place industries to ensure that resources get placed in the right areas and that the 'dead zone' gets some resources, too (such as lumber mills in the Idaho/Oregon/Washington area.)

I don't think you can place resources in static locations and have industries be randomly sorted, though I'd love for someone to tell me I'm wrong.

And Karsten... wow! Those are some incredible graphics that your machine is putting out! I just took a closer look at the detroit picture and I'm pretty jealous!

Thanks for the feedback, everyone!

dwax · Post by **dwax** » Fri Feb 16, 2007 8:29 pm

I see your original post was updated, can you please tell us when you update the zip? Thanks for all the fun!

drsnooker · Post by **drsnooker** » Fri Feb 16, 2007 10:06 pm

After renaming cattle to livestock in scenario.xml, I managed to at least complete that part. Still can't get the commute time requirement. The best I have managed is 62 mph average with the final train you get which goes 90 mph.
Has anybody managed that one?

Never mind, I figured it out, as soon as I realized it is not travel time between NY and DC, but average speed.....

CeeBee51 · Post by **CeeBee51** » Sat Feb 17, 2007 10:14 pm

I think the speed condition in Railroads is busted. Not only in this map but others. Last game I had a speed in the low 50's with the consolidation but as I advanced to faster engines on a special track between Washington and New York my record speed's began to drop into the 40's, even with the F7 and the 4-8-4 with 1 passenger car. I'm probably going to remove the speed condition because it drives me crazy to have an unattainable goal

. Other than that, it's a great map and very replayable as well.

drsnooker · Post by **drsnooker** » Sun Feb 18, 2007 12:27 am

Just leave the speed condition in. It's really not that bad, I've now done 84 mph! (I've done the Italy one at 167mph. )

Remember it is not travel time, but average speed, thus the larger the distance traveled (on straight track) the less and less the acceleration/decel around the stations adds to your average. In other words, go for a tour around the countryside, rather than a straight (short) shot, where the train barely gets up to speed before breaking again.

karsten · Post by **karsten** » Sun Feb 18, 2007 1:06 am

Hi Dr Frag, stormfather. I use a Core Duo 6600, 2 GB RAM and a GeForce 7950GT. Used to be committed to AMD, when the core duos started to be priced very reasonably, I could not resist, but nothing exotic. I am now starting on a new project, CanyonRR, experimentally using MapSize 16 (uncovered by Dr Frag, of course), limiting the number of textures etc. So far it runs rock solid on my machine, but wider stability tests will be needed once the project has progressed.

On the speed condition, I have to agree with CeeBee that the speed condition seems unreliable, at least I have not figured it out. In my second game I had a nice loong run all the way down to Houston that allowed my engine to set a new record in 1925 (127 mph according to the newspaper). The goals sheet registered an average speed of 75, but the game would not acknowledge that the condition (fSpeed at least 70) had been achieved and shortly thereafter dropped the achieved avg. speed to 25. Strange.

mojos · Post by **mojos** » Sun Feb 18, 2007 2:55 am

This is an excellent map and one of my favourite scenarios yet, thanks for posting this! Only minor gripe from me is that I can't seem to complete the one objective of the three-hour train ride between Washington and New York. Is this objective actually possible? Has anyone managed it?

martys55 · Post by **martys55** » Sun Feb 18, 2007 6:37 pm

I have a favor to ask...If anyone has fixed the cattle-livestock file, could you PLEASE email me just the file needed? I, like another poster, am a bit of a pureist and I just don't feel like I've won unless I get all the check marks. I opened the file but got overwhelmed. My email address is martys55@mchsi.com.
Thanks,
Marty

dwax · Post by **dwax** » Sun Feb 18, 2007 6:49 pm

martys55 wrote:I have a favor to ask...If anyone has fixed the cattle-livestock file, could you PLEASE email me just the file needed? I, like another poster, am a bit of a pureist and I just don't feel like I've won unless I get all the check marks. I opened the file but got overwhelmed. My email address is martys55@mchsi.com.
Thanks,
Marty

Post it here

I am the same, i'm scared to mess with the files every time I do the other games give me trouble.

karsten · Post by **karsten** » Sun Feb 18, 2007 7:16 pm

Here you are ...

Unzip and replace the original scenario file with this one.
Cheers, Karsten

drsnooker · Post by **drsnooker** » Mon Feb 19, 2007 12:16 am

Mojos: yeah I managed it, pretty easy actually. The requirement is an average speed of 70 mph, not time, so I took my passengers on a three year long trip non-stop around the US, all straight tracks etc. I could probably have walked myself from DC to NY in that time, but it was the average that mattered, not travel time.

CeeBee51 · Post by **CeeBee51** » Mon Feb 19, 2007 12:28 am

drsnooker wrote:Mojos: yeah I managed it, pretty easy actually. The requirement is an average speed of 70 mph, not time, so I took my passengers on a three year long trip non-stop around the US, all straight tracks etc. I could probably have walked myself from DC to NY in that time, but it was the average that mattered, not travel time.

Which is all the more reason to not include speed records or a set speed for a goal. I have started to remove them from any scenerio I want to play more than once just to ease the frustation and time wasted waiting for a fast enough engine to appear long after I've completed the other goals. I just finished playing the Italia map which calls for a speed of 100 between Rome and Naples. I set a record speed of over 100 with a TVG and one passenger car by making a huge loop of track way out into the ocean and the game still didn't give credit for achieving the goal so thats why speed goals will no longer be attempted on this pc.

stormfather · Post by **stormfather** » Mon Feb 19, 2007 12:29 am

Version 1.01 is now out! The following changes have been made:

Broken victory conditions have been fixed.
- The 'Cattle to Chicago' bug has been fixed.
- The 'Washington to New York Express' bug has been fixed. The required speed has been lowered and is now readily attainable by a Hudson, Golden State, or maybe even a GG1.

Endgame trains have been modified slightly. Please note that these modifications are specific to the America scenario and WILL NOT affect any other scenario you load.
- The 4-6-4 Hudson has lost some pulling power, but remains the fastest of the three, and is ideal for hauling short passenger trains across open flat regions at blistering speeds.
- The GG1 may not have the top speed of the Hudson, but it makes up for it in power. The GG1 is more suited to hauling longer passenger lines, or for hauling mixed loads of passengers and freight from city to city.
- The F-series has unmatched power. Although it does not have the speed of the Hudson or GG1, the F-series is the perfect locomotive for hauling long, heavy loads from place to place.
- The 4-8-4 Golden State gracefully combines high speed and tremendous power, making it an excellent choice for those critical lines where a little extra power can make the difference between victory and defeat.

The 4-4-2 Atlantic has been added. The 4-4-2 becomes available in the 1890s, and like the 4-6-4 Hudson, it is a very fast passenger train that is not very well suited for hauling heavy loads or transversing difficult terrain.

Download the latest version of the map on the first thread!