Arizona Gold - Thanks!

[CaptainMidnight]

I just completed Arizona Gold on Robber Baron.
What a challenge! And an absolutely stunning looking map too. Thanks, Karsten - awesome work.


I only managed to beat it by (highlight to reveal)taking over the computer player that built a line from Barstow to the wood supply on the right hand side. So, I don't think I could win with no computer players in the game.

Everything else I tried just resulted in me having to sell almost all my track just to reach the first four stations, with nothing left connecting them. Needless to say, stage two never went very well after that!

One question for Karsten - are your Arizona and Liverpool-Manchester designed for a single player, or are you meant to have computer players too?

[karsten]

He, he, CaptainMidnight, the mark of a true robber baron - use the efforts of the competition to further your own goals: well done indeed!
I used to develop the scenarios without AI, and then during testing I threw them in to make sure that they don't somehow ruin the map.
But in a small way in the Australia map, and if that is a success, in a bigger way in a planned expansion of Liverpool and Manchester to connect to Edinburgh, I will have the AI in at the start of scenario development, because historically, a lot of early railway growth was based on consolidating existing small lines to profit from and leverage scarce management resources. And by the time you are playing at Robber Baron level, you can probably outwit anything the AI can throw at you.
The way Robber Barons (like Universum) won Arizona was by thinking backward - that's my tip for the day. But its super to see a new solution to an old problem!

[CaptainMidnight]

He, he, CaptainMidnight, the mark of a true robber baron - use the efforts of the competition to further your own goals: well done indeed!
I used to develop the scenarios without AI, and then during testing I threw them in to make sure that they don't somehow ruin the map.
But in a small way in the Australia map, and if that is a success, in a bigger way in a planned expansion of Liverpool and Manchester to connect to Edinburgh, I will have the AI in at the start of scenario development, because historically, a lot of early railway growth was based on consolidating existing small lines to profit from and leverage scarce management resources. And by the time you are playing at Robber Baron level, you can probably outwit anything the AI can throw at you.

I'm looking forward to the Australia map. I'm trying the Liverpool and Manchester one, but it's got me beat at the moment - there's just so much to build in the first period of the game!

The way Robber Barons (like Universum) won Arizona was by thinking backward - that's my tip for the day. But its super to see a new solution to an old problem!

Oh no - you cryptic tease! Now I have to play it again, without any AI

To be honest, taking over the AI did feel a bit like cheating, because the AI's clearly have cheaper track building. The line from Barstow was almost entirely bridges and tunnels and would have cost me close to $10m to build myself!

[karsten]

CaptainMidnight, at Robber Baron level, I don't call that cheating, I call that creative lateral thinking!

Who knows, all that time "wasted" in SMR may make you a bundle later in real life, all because you trained thinking out of the box economically!

[Greybriar]

I just finished playing this map and I am very glad. It is the most stable map I've played in days.

Thank you so very much, karsten. Your efforts have helped make it possible for me to enjoy playing Railroads! again.