Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!swrinde!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!cis.ohio-state.edu!sei.cmu.edu!fs7.ece.cmu.edu!o.gp.cs.cmu.edu!andrew.cmu.edu!pb1p+ From: pb1p+@andrew.cmu.edu (Peter Glen Berger) Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac.games Subject: Railroad Tycoon Message-ID: Date: 27 May 91 19:55:04 GMT Organization: Class of '90, Carnegie Mellon, Pittsburgh, PA Lines: 50 Ok, so I bought it. Observations: o At least initially, it is *infinitely* more profitable to create several short, straight lines between cities close together than to go for long-distance hauling. o If you have a hub, build a switching yard. This goes double if the hub is one end of a line which is currently in a rate war. o If you can, avoid building depots just for one commodity; try to at least have some villages so there will be passengers and mail to carry: When a resource runs out, that way, the line won't become a dead weight on your system. o You may as well buy your stock early, since if you're successful, it will increase your net worth, and if you're not the extra cash probably wouldn't have helped you anyway. o In boom times, "Roll over" your bonds to decrease your interest payments. Paying back bonds as soon as you have a steady income (say of 2-400,000 per year) helps boost that income considerably by eliminating interest payments altogether. o Get priority shipments if you can, but if doing so will screw up your finely balanced system, ignore them. (question: has anyone figured out just how priority picking up and delivering works? It seems to have very little to do with the "priority" slot on the train scheduling chart. In my opinion, this is the weakest part of the game.) o If you can help it, don't build near a lake, because it will reduce the possible industries/resources/cities within the radius of your terminal (for instance, I build a really nice route connecting Green Bay, Milwaukee, Chicago, and another town, with Milwaukee as the hub. It's extremely profitable, but not a good as it could be, since the lake takes up a good portion of the Milwaukee terminal's radius). Any other RR Tycooners out there? Let's correspond. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Pete Berger || ARPA: peterb@cs.cmu.edu Professional Student || Pete.Berger@andrew.cmu.edu Univ. Pittsburgh School of Law || BITNET: R746PB1P@CMCCVB Attend this school, not CMU || UUCP: ...!harvard!andrew.cmu.edu!pb1p ------------------------------------------------------------------------ "Goldilocks is about property rights. Little Red Riding Hood is a tale of seduction, rape, murder, and cannibalism." -Bernard J. Hibbits ------------------------------------------------------------------------