Arizona Gold V2.4 PcMac

karsten · Post by **karsten** » Tue Mar 06, 2007 11:38 pm

Arizona Gold Scenario:

1871 - The Civil War has taught the nation that if it wishes to hold the Pacific Coast firmly to the Union, efficient transport will have to be provided, to limit the chance that some foreign country might annex California. Due to concerns of the Indian Reserves, construction is slow up to 1881, but then the Atlantic Pacific Railroad is rushed to completion with princely subsidies of land and money.
1930 - To counter the Great Depression, the U.S. Government finances Hoover Dam Project. Las Vegas receives thousands of depression-weary job seekers, who help build the world's largest gravity dam.
1970 - Tourism comes of age as major economic activity, in Las Vegas and in beautiful Arizona.

Version 2.4 (March 2013):
* Update for Mac users. Version 2.4 file posted at end of this thread.

Version 2.3 (October 2012):
* Expensive tunnels fixed. Version 2.3 file posted at end of this thread.

Version 2.2 (April 2007):
* Mail Cars fixed. Thanks to Slappy Da Clown for nailing this problem.

Version 2.1 (Improvements mainly by Universum):
* More realistic mountains around Flagstaff, better vegetation generally.
* Phoenix added as starting location for Robber Barons, Barstow is winable by Investors.
* Overpass bridges enabled.
* Events file localized, events improved.
* Universum has provided two small batch files: one to enable expensive tunnels, and one to disable them, so that Arizona Gold and all other scenarios have regular tunnels. Simply copy the unzipped AZCanyonV2 folder into your UserMaps directory. Run the appropriate batch file in the AZCanyonV2 folder by double-clicking on it.

Version 1
*16x16 map. Topography derived from digital elevation model (DEM) data.
* Realistically priced tunnels and bridges.
With thanks to all the dedicated people providing insight and new ideas in the wiki and forum. Special credits to Universum (scenario ideas), Dr Frag (large maps), gforce (realistic tunnel and bridge prices), Stormfather (redefined industries).

ZanzerTem · Post by **ZanzerTem** » Wed Mar 07, 2007 12:24 am

Yay a new map by karsten <claps hands>

Off to try it out

Post by **Warll** » Wed Mar 07, 2007 12:41 am

This is truly a great time for Railroads! For while maps may be taking longer to make. The maps that are being completed are of a much higher grade.

stormfather · Post by **stormfather** » Wed Mar 07, 2007 12:46 am

Wow... just wow.

A simply beautiful map. Great job! I've just started a game, I'm racing the clock to connect Needles. Can't wait to see how it plays out.

ZanzerTem · Post by **ZanzerTem** » Wed Mar 07, 2007 2:03 am

DISCLAIMER: These are my opinions take them with a grain of salt. Your mileage may vary.

I cant see anyone beating this map on anything other that easy/very easy. 75% of the cities dont demand or produce ANYTHING, and all of the resources are on the east side of the map. I knew this map was gonna be uber difficult (your Manchester map taught me that) but this map was annoyingly difficult.

The first two times I played this map I got screwed with Barstow. This city is located in the south west corner. Its demands are

assengers, Food, Wood, Gold. Heres the problem: you have to build almost 1/3 of the map to get to any of these things. On Robber Baron it is literally impossible to build far enough to get to any resources. Even after selling all of my stock I could only build rails about 2/3 of the way to the closest city that created a resource that I demanded: Passengers from Kingman.

The third try I got Williams and thought I was slick creating a paper mill since there is a nearby wood node. But, no towns on the map demand paper so that was pointless, nor can you build a newspaper. I should have built a furniture plant, because at least later down the road I can send manufactured good to developed metropolises.

Fourth try got me Williams again, and since wood didnt work out for me last time I built a Furniture Plant to stimulate growth. I also built to Flagstaff and ash fork for passengers. Now I'm getting somewhere. I ended up not being able complete the missions though because multiple lines to needles/barstow to avoid stuck trains costs a ton and train maintenance killed me. I didnt make the Passengers objective.

Additionally I did not make the Las Vegas objective due to the high prices of the Bank/Hotel.

So here we go:

Pros: Interesting resource concept. The Hotel is a novel idea, turning Passengers into more Passengers. Great for back-and-forth passenger lines. Beautiful map as always from karsten.

Cons: Really difficult mission objectives. Poor distribution of resources across the map. Barstow should not be a possible starting location. Undemanded resource (paper). Even the little towns need to at least produce passengers or mail.

I rate this one a 7/10.

Im interesting to see other peoples strategy for this map.

snoopy55 · Post by **snoopy55** » Wed Mar 07, 2007 2:34 am

Karsten - you seem to be one of the players who wnat the higher priced Bridges and Tunnels. While I haven't played this map yet, I did try to play around with a couple of things, and if this has been done before, I've missed it or forgotten it.

Bridges will allow a "Global" type file, while Tunnels won't. This is something that would be nice to see changed. (Someone should make note of which "Original" RRT XMLs can be changed, either with experimenting or for the forum info) What would be good and allow multi player with the higher prices is a file called RRT_Bridges_high.xml (or something of the sorts) with prices agreed upon by several of you and put it either in the original XML folder or as a Global. It could then be used by anyone. One thing that might add to it is research as to the cost of the different types in different years. Of course the newer types would have to be jacked up as money 'value' changes with time.

I played with RRT_Tunnels.xml and got a nasty loud static noise when the file was copied and the name was changed. Only restarting my computer got rid of it.

Train engine prices could be changed this way also, along with industries. I think a Steel Mill costs a bit more than a Newspaper.....

Post by **Warll** » Wed Mar 07, 2007 3:03 am

I have now added a Arizona Gold page to the wiki. I know it does not do the map justice but please check it out away: http://www.hookedgamers.com/wiki/Sid_Me ... na_Gold_V1

Big Papa · Post by **Big Papa** » Wed Mar 07, 2007 3:20 am

Karsten,

Nice map! I'm a big fan of the Southwest style. I tried and got slaped in the face. It's gonna be a good challenge! Great job on working in the historical objectives. Thank you for creating this map.

Big Papa

universum · Post by **universum** » Wed Mar 07, 2007 3:41 am

Yey! "my" scenario is reality.

Looking forward to giving it a shot.

Thanks Kersten

PS: I cannot imagine this being less than 10/10 in my book.

EDIT: just finished looking at the map, it is looks like a lot of fun to play, terrain is magnifficent, there could have been more forests around Flagstaff (you can actually ski there in winter http://www.south-of-flagstaff-arizona.c ... kiing.html) and saguaro cactus in the south around Phoenix (http://www.desertusa.com/july96/du_saguaro.html) and small trees or bushes in places around Grand Canyon Village and in higher elevations or on the northern slopes (that's what 1.1 and 1.2 is for

). Also I could not find Sedona, the mecca of New Age fans south of Flaggstaf (http://www.visitsedona.com/ and for weird stuff: http://www.sedonanewagecenter.com/) but all in all, great work.

Just found this link: http://www.verdecanyonrr.com/, check the photogallery for pictures: desert, trains, all you can ask for

atani · Post by **atani** » Wed Mar 07, 2007 6:33 am

attached is an installer for this map. This gives you the option to install the RRT_Tunnels.xml or not since this can (and does) effect other maps.

I think it is a bug in RR that the scenario tunnels xml file is not fully read in, I checked over other maps that use it and they only use the szName entry. Hopefully Firaxis will get another patch out and maybe include a fix to this as well..

Btw, from what I have tinkered with this map so far, it looks good!

Mike

G3mInI · Post by **G3mInI** » Wed Mar 07, 2007 5:34 pm

Nice map. Used the installer on first go around = CTD after 4 months. Reinstalled railroads because I have been trying to mod trestle bridge for a while now and figured I jacked something up. After complete removal (including the My Documents custom content) and reinstallation, still same result, CTD after 4 months. Uninstalled Arizona, downloaded from Karsten's post, installed into the UserMaps folder, worked like a charm. Expensive tunnels and all worked perfectly.

I say this because I personally believe all custom maps should go into the UserMaps folder and not the CustomAssets folder. I know Firaxis put their Holiday scenario in the CustomAssets folder, but that is them. That UserMaps folder is created for a reason and it's not just for the editor. It's where custom maps should go in my honest opinion. I seriously believe that putting custom maps in the CustomAssets folder is going to lead to nothing but conflicts all over the place. When you use the UserMaps folder, you can have cities with the same name as long as they reside in seperate folders under the UserMaps folder. Try this with the CustomAssets folder and you have issues. That is just for cities, nevermind custom goods. Any scenario I ever release will go into the UserMaps folder and any scenario I ever download will go into the UserMaps folder (except official Firaxis mods of course). I feel as though the only content that goes in CustomAssets should be modifications to the game itself, not scenarios. For example, custom bridges, custom buildings, custom trains, etc.. Nothing else in my opinion.

Back to the map, Karsten you need to include an overlap bridge in your bridges.xml. If you build an overlap track no bridge is drawn. Choices are Stone01 Overlap and Masonry Overlap. I personally like the Masonry Overlap. Also, there is no bridge drawn for anything with a height less than 100. So any of those low bridges across a river are drawn with no bridge. Again the choices are Stone01 and Masonry, or you could just edit your Wood2 trestle bridge, <nDepthStart>100</nDepthStart> from 100 to 0. Then at least a wooden bridge would be drawn.

I have only played the map one time, failed the last two objectives (passengers to grand canyon village, and 30million net worth. I had 17 carloads of passengers to Grand Canyon Village out of 20 and 25million net worth out of 30. All in all great map, great detail. I know where I went wrong with the first go around. I did not develop Las Vegas to accept the building of an Air Force Base quick enough and spent too much time getting food there to increase its size. Now that I know what I need to do I will make it a priority to send food to Las Vegas on the next go around.

I welcome the difficulty in this map. A good map to me is one in which I fail the first time around and looks pretty

. That peaks my interest. It happened on Liverpool, and Superbowl. And I played them both till I got it right, as I will this one.

In conclusion, a minor fix in bridges.xml is needed so there is no track drawn hanging in mid air, and, in my honest opinion, all custom maps should reside in the UserMaps folder to avoid conflicts. Let Firaxis use the CustomAssets folder for scenarios if they choose. The modding community should use the UserMaps folder.

Peace out,
G3mInI

G3mInI · Post by **G3mInI** » Wed Mar 07, 2007 5:39 pm

atani wrote:
I think it is a bug in RR that the scenario tunnels xml file is not fully read in, I checked over other maps that use it and they only use the szName entry. Hopefully Firaxis will get another patch out and maybe include a fix to this as well..

Mike

No bug in my opinion. Put the map in UserMaps folder and it works perfectly. Put it in the CustomAssets folder and all kinds of issues arise.

See my post above.

G3mInI

Dr Frag · Post by **Dr Frag** » Wed Mar 07, 2007 6:04 pm

Before this thread gets hijacked with talk about folders and not karsten's map I am going to create a new thread about folders in 'Talk'. I think this is a worthy topic but don't want to see this thread sidetracked.

DF

karsten · Post by **karsten** » Wed Mar 07, 2007 11:06 pm

Thanks everybody for encouraging and helpful feedback!

Warll, your great wiki page makes very effective use of the Las Vegas screen shot!

G3mInI, I confess I really dislike overpass bridges, because they look like nothing you would ever see in real life (they also remind me of the inelegant bridges in RRT3). But they are hardcoded in the game and so you are right, I need to bring them back. I avoid them myself by using the terrain for overpasses, like in the picture, but that is expecting a bit much from other users. I am really pleased that you welcome difficulty in a map. That is exactly what I try to achieve. Interesting, tough, but fully tested to be doable.

ZanzerTem, I am sorry the game dropped you in the wrong place (Barstow) twice! The likelihood of that happening should be only around 6%, but I guess you were unlucky. On the design issues, let me explain why I made those choices. The essence of railroading is transporting stuff over long distances efficiently, so resources and uses need to be far apart to give you a sense of purpose in transporting them. I did not want the small towns to grow into megapolises, that does not happen in real life, just compare real Las Vegas with real Peach Springs. And yes, I could have renamed the paper mill to something like steamboat wood storage, but I thought the objective makes it clear enough that the wood for Needles is not going any further in the production chain.

Cheers all!

Big Papa · Post by **Big Papa** » Thu Mar 08, 2007 5:48 am

Just completed all objectives on Investor/Hard with about 4 years to spare.

Though I had a nice screen shot but Railroads! wrote over it with a different one