[OTTD] Two5Kid's Screenshots

[Raichase]

Sidestory: The first manmade disaster occurred at Fulda, when the local authorities unsuspectingly lowered the land near the Fulda Mines station, resulting in a flooding of the area. Fulda Mines is also famous for its longest train bridge.

I can see the resulting land being resold as "ocean views... and living... at it's finest... and dampest".

Some more nice screenshots - I like the little shunting diesel hauling the three autoracks around, it's a nice touch .

[Two5Kid]

Yeah, I thought of some variety to the locomotives in my game. Before I get to know of this forum, I used to play with the best locomotive around. Doesn't matter whether it is realistic or not, but I have come to enjoy the game with 'realism'.

Oh man, you (Raichase) beat me to it. I was going to post my version of UKRS Network Guide later on. It's okay, I will try my version and you on yours. Probably rename mine to Network Suggestions. Not sure about you, but I can't seem to earn enough if there weren't any industries. For the UKRS, I mean.

[Two5Kid]

The completion of the Essen Airport heralded the arrival of the jet-age. The supersonic Yate Haugan was used to ferry passengers across the map and back within a few days. Within days, all passenger flights out of Essen Airport for the next 6 months were fully booked.

Passenger travel received a boost with the introduction of the Turbotrain Rail Services, which replaced all existing DMUs with the faster and sleeker Turbotrains. With an average speed of 164kmph, it has reduced the travelling time by half while tickets still cost the same.

The early 70s also welcomed the conception of the Shipping Division at the company. The first route involved was the Hahndorf-Wolfswald, connected by a fleet of 8 hovercrafts. Citizens from these 2 areas has been separated by a mountainous region, now with the hovercraft service, they will be able to travel to and fro.

[Two5Kid]

The 70s were filled with upgrades and the electrification of tracks. Half of the industries have been changed into electrified tracks, leaving only the passenger/mail services still running on diesel-powered locomotives. A couple of favourite electric locomotives were the E60C and GG1 model.

My Shipping Division expanded its hub in the late 70s around the waters near Hahndorf with the introduction of 2 spanking new oilrigs. They were served by the ‘Mitsui’ LNG tankers whereas the finished goods were transported by the ‘Daewoo’ carrier.

50 years into the game and Essen Transport is worth £600M. I own 95 trains, 98 road vehicles, 32 aircrafts and 21 ships. Urbanization is at its max; my largest town is Bamburg with 38,000 inhabitants. Even the smallest, Lorheim has 5,000 townsfolk. I will end my story here despite the fact that I’m still completing the game.

[Two5Kid]

Most of the gameplay in the future is focused on improving ratings by providing more services, thus increasing the number of transport either by rail or by air. The latter part of the game doesn’t have that many latest train/airplane design variety, so it’s pretty boring just showing the same locomotives over and over again. Not much of a change in the station design too. I think I will break the £1 billion barrier in 1993. (24th Apr 1993)

[Two5Kid]

*Since I'm unable(disallowed) to post in Raichase's and singaporekid's threads, I guess I'll just post in mine.*

Drat, both of them beat me to presenting a feasible transport guide for the UKRS. But this is healthy competition. I might be a tad slow, but be prepared. I'm going to post my own guide.

[Two5Kid]

Here we go:

Sounds like a copycat of Raichase’s/singaporekid’s Network Guide. Anyway, this is my attempt at suggesting how to connect a good passenger/mail service in the game. Constructive suggestions and brickbats are welcomed. I hope this would be a precursor for more screenshots/guides from the other forum-ers.

I haven’t played with a lot of GRFsets, the most is the US Set and the UKRS. First of all, I would like to say that in terms of providing a stable platform for us to expand the network, the US Set with its cheaper train models is the best choice to start of with. As for the UKRS, the high running costs will limit the early expansion. But it’s going to be a challenge and that’s what we want.

Game Settings:
Terrain: Very Flat with TerraGenesis
Loan: £200,000
Running/Building Costs: Medium
Competitors: None
Towns: Normal
Industries: Low

Background:
The game is set in the year 1935. This year was chosen as there is the availability of a range of trains for the user to choose from. It is also a personal preference following my last 2 attempts of storytelling. The place is England (UKRS) and we hope to have a balanced network of passenger/mail services.

Here is the pre-game map with a sprinkle of industries. In actual fact, I’ve refreshed a couple of times before I got a game map that is suitable for this discussion. For extra challenge, you could just start of with whatever map that was given.

[Two5Kid]

1935-1936: At the Start
First things first, you need to scout around your map for the town to start your empire with. The town must be at least medium-sized and that it is located near to another medium-sized town; preferably with a population of >400 people. This is because the first line would be the backbone of your initial network. Connecting 2 towns with a 200-300 odd population would be hard to generate a profit for further expansion.

Accordingly, I decided to start off my game with a passenger/mail service connecting Guddown (823) and Menway (828). In 1935, you have a few interesting choices of locomotives to choose from. There’s the 4-4-0 ‘Express’ for longer distance travel, the 0-6-0 Pannier for shorter distances or the AEC Diesel Railcar for smaller towns. The choice is yours. If your route requires a lot of mountain climbing, the 4-4-0 is the preferred choice. AEC Diesel is more suitable for flat land travel.

Tip: Build at least a couple of bus stations around town while you plant your station. It will be useful in the future when you are required to be in the local council’s good grace for expansion and terraforming.

Length of the train station is according to your own preference. You could start of with short 2/3-tile stations or you could go for a 4/5-tile station, which would make your life easier down the road but it does increase your property maintenance costs.

Tip: It is cheaper to place depots or tracks around your station rather than to buy the land for future purposes. Until OTTD supports ‘Town Build No Roads’. You wouldn’t want the local authority to start building around your single track station, making expansion harder.

For train orders, I prefer to use 70-80% full loading of any cargo in the initial stages, thus increasing the station’s ratings. Just remember to switch off full loading after 2-3 runs on the track. It took my 4-4-0, a good 2 months and -£2,600 before its arrival at Menway.

[Two5Kid]

Sidestory: In the meantime, I’ve used up £90,000 for the construction of this track. You could scout around for an industry to connect, helping you generate a healthy income. Coal/lumber is the preferred choice. Be careful with the spending, try to have at least £20K for backup purposes.

After a couple of runs, the stations would have a build-up of passengers/mail. The ratings would drop as there is only one train on the track. Don’t worry about that. Your main aim in the initial phase is to generate a healthy profit as this would be your company’s ‘backbone’. My 4-4-0 is running about -£900 per trip (one way), and the profit is around £2,600-£2,900 per trip (one way). Earning me £4K per round trip, this is good business in my book.

Whilst waiting for profits, I scouted around the area. For the next expansion, I’ve decided to let the buses run in the neighbour town of Pruningdore (740) for awhile, promoting my transport services, as I would call it. The year of 1935 is also good towards the passenger bus services. You could either go for the slower but longer lasting Leyland TD Bus or you could try out the faster but shorter lifespan RTL Bus. I would avoid the AEC Regal Bus for now as its capacity is too low for a £7K+ bus.

Tip: If it’s feasible, try to connect lines that offer a subsidy.

[Two5Kid]

Sidestory: Try to plan at least a town ahead of your network. Build stations first before you start terraforming the land and making the local authorities angry. You don’t want to find yourself suddenly shutout by the town council just when you wanted an expansion. If the next town is too small (<400), start by running buses early in the year, by the time you’re ready for expansion, the town would have grown past the 500-mark by year’s end. If it doesn’t grow according to plan, you could still transfer the passengers onto the train.

It’s the year 1936, passengers are crowding up at Pruningdore Station, and the expansion has begun. The usage of buses early on at Pruningdore will reduce the waiting time for the train to wait for a full load (70-80%) at the station. Saving us time and incurring huge running costs. In the meantime, Menway is generating too many passengers that my single train could handle; it was time to use the bus service. Since the infrastructure is already in place, it was easy to set up a point-to-point bus service. Unsurprisingly, the town council is unhappy about it.

By year’s end, we have a passenger/mail service between 3 towns (Pruningdore-Guddown-Menway) and 2 buses, giving us a profit of £35K.

[Raichase]

Two5Kid, I don't think of it as "competition" - to act that way would be the complete opposite to what the community is all about. We've long needed more network guides, because there are people out there who are too scared to try, and guides will help them enjoy TTD more.

Your guide is an excellent example of something OTTD players need, as they will look at my TTDP guide, and say "I can't do this in OTTD" or "wouldn't this feature be better suited? Oh, thats not in TTDP".

Bravo I say, you're doing a fantastic job, hopefully I can pick up some tips for when I play OTTD myself (usually multi).

[Two5Kid]

Yes, that's true. I hope a few forum-ers would pick up this 'network bug' and start introducing their guide on the Forum. I would like to learn a thing or two too. As in using PBS/pre-signals for junctions, how to ensure smooth flow while keeping realism in the game.

We have seen those super-duper 20 million tracks junctions/flyovers/tunnel-unders, time to get down to the nitty-gritty of real life networking.

Hopefully, there's something to learn from each other. Onwards, for more screenshots!

[Two5Kid]

1937-1940: Short Network
With passengers/mail going through the roof at Menway, it was time to expand to the nearest town – Old Lewiswood (207). This new extension provides to new challenges. First of all, there would be a certain amount of hill climbing and next, the town is too small for a bus service. The need for this extension will benefit the people of Menway as the train would pass by twice along the station. It would ease the passenger load at the station itself.

Tip: Based on the situation above, the ideal initial network should be small-medium-medium-small (town). Thus the medium-sized towns would get 2 visits per trip as compared to the small towns, which will receive one visit each.

At this point in time, I’ve used up £130,000 of my loan. That is quite okay, for now. I will just sit back and relax for another few months, allowing the passenger services to grow. I have started a bus service in Guddown as the local council are ‘appalled’ at my unnecessary construction, disrupting the natural beauty of the town. The bus service will serve 2 purposes – increasing your ratings with the local authority and promoting town growth.

I reviewed my buses’ orders, changing them to ‘transferring’ passengers, instead of load/unload. Anyhow, it will be pretty soon that you will need to move back to load/unload as the train service isn’t fast enough to handle the passengers.

Sidestory: For those of you who are interested in micro-management. This is the time for town planning. Identify the places of growth (tall buildings) and build blocks of 2x2, 3x3 or 4x3 areas. Try to prevent the town from surrounding your stations as it will impede expansion.

[Two5Kid]

Sidestory: In OTTD, besides load/unload/transfer for vehicle orders, there is also the less used station orders. These include ordering the vehicle to stay in the station for a set period of time before leaving; or to wait until the next vehicle(s) to arrive before leaving the station.

[Two5Kid]

We will sit out 1938, without any new constructions or new vehicles, allowing the small network to flourish. This will be the foundation for our next phase of expansion. It is also a time to pay off our loan, if possible.

Tip: Try not to have more than £20K of cash at hand while you’re under debt. Try to pay off your debt as soon as possible. Bank interests could be a killer.

Sidestory: Based on the amount that I’ve spent so far, if I were to start off with the US Set, I would be running 2 trains already and doubling my income by now. That’s the major difference between the US Set and UKRS. Furthermore, the US Set has its own passenger-specific locomotives, the Doodlebug and the Wood/Steel Interurbans; whereas the UKRS has only the AEC Railcar to show.

We took a major gamble in 1939 by taking out a huge loan for another 4-4-0 Express. Since Old Lewiswood is too small for an expansion, the new train will only be servicing 3 towns. The local authorities for the 3 towns had no objections to the double-platformed stations.

There is no need for PBS yet as there is only 2 trains on the track. However, just remember to have one-way signals for through stations, in this case, Guddown and Menway.

The signal settings at Menway would be slightly different. In this case, you would have to understand that the trains will always choose the shorter route, thereby preferring to use the left platform. Remember that one of our trains would be coming in from Old Lewiswood, so we will switch it to the right sided platform with the signals. You could also use a waypoint to direct the trains but I didn’t have the cash then. If the signals were all two-way, both trains from different directions would try to enter the left sided platform as it’s the shortest route.

Sidestory: By the time we reach the 40s, I’m already -£175,000 in debt with a £180,000 loan on my head. The transport company is in charge of 2 trains and 3 buses, netting us a pre-tax profit of £60,000. Is it enough? We’ll find out.

[Ben_K]

The only improvement I would have made would be to use the latest stable version. That way it will appeal to all OTTD users rather than those 'daring' (*ahem*) enough to use the nightlies.

Great guide though Two5kid!

[Two5Kid]

*Ben_K, thanks for the comments. I didn't realise that they have released the OTTD v0.5.0 when I started the game. I did download though and 'surprise surprise', it wasn't able to read my game.

Don't worry though, will probably restart another game later and post the relevant screenies.

[Ben_K]

Ah, no real criticism. Its just you have used some windows that even I haven't seen in my nightlies yet. Some other users may see it and get confused etc.

[Two5Kid]

1941-1945: Expanding the Network
The new calendar saw the company double-tracking its current passenger/mail service from Pruningdore to Menway via Guddown. At this point in time, the demand is more than we could supply, thus we need to increase our train’s capacity. With the new to-and-fro tracks, it was time to change the signal settings at Menway Station. Now, the nearest platform is on the right, we need to switch the train from Old Lewiswood onto the left platform. As always, a waypoint would be useful too.

Money was tight in the early 40s, but with the present setup, it won’t be long before we have enough cash to expand. In order to achieve our target, we employed another 2 buses, 1 each in Guddown and Pruningdore. PBS signals were finally placed at the terminal station of Pruningdore. Just to facilitate easy movement for both trains, in fact it is not a must at such an early stage when we have 2 trains.

The next town that we have set our eyes upon was over on the east side of Menway – Fort Preshaw (1,411). A bus service was started to promote our services and by the end of 1942, our train has finally arrive at the spanking new station.

[Two5Kid]

Pruningdore Station just announced that it is packed full of passengers/mail. A quick lookaround and it was time for another expansion to the line. Now that we’ve secured the extra loan, we could afford our 3rd locomotive. So the line at Pruningdore was expanded to Wrunwich (930) on the western side. We will try to fit in a small train for this 2 town service.

Now that we’ve ensured the company’s future, it is time to have a look around the existing stations. Try to choose those with a backlog of passengers. In this case, Menway, Guddown and Pruningdore fit the bill nicely. Subsequently, tracks have been expanded beyond these towns, increasing the frequency of train visits through these towns. We’re left with Guddown. Frondingstoke Beeches (337) to the north seems like a good candidate but first, we need to increase and appease the town council. Who do you turn to? (Altogether now) Bus service!

Let us go into detail with the buses. As a start, I recommend using a single bus making a return trip between 2 stations. Depending on the size of your town, adjust the load values accordingly. My preference is for ‘half load/50% full’ at each bus station, allowing time for the other to fill up. Give the bus a month or even three, and you will be able to switch off the loading values. If you need more passengers to feed your train service-cum-bus station, just ‘transfer’ the passengers over. At the early stages, you wouldn’t be requiring 3-4 bus stations per town, so just concentrate on placing the bus stations so that they cover the whole town.

Buses are essential for your transport empire as they rarely bring down the town ratings. No matter how poor your service is, it actually promotes well-being among the councillors. And the added effect of town growth.