When you are a complete Novice?

[Silverx]

A good idea to join an online game to learn more?

[kierongreen]

You might learn strategy from looking at how other players play the game but you are likely to be outcompeted by them. Try not to be too despondent - it can take a while to get the hang of things!

[DrSuperGood]

Just join in and try your best. That is how I learnt to play.

Some tips that took me ages to figure out and make playing a lot easier...
If payment mode 0 is used (distance between stops) the Manhattan distance between where the convoy starts and stops is used. Even if you ship away from the end destination. This means that if you want to move cargo in a loop you will need a re-direction stop to prevent losing profit. You can also use it to perform the cargo bounce exploit (great to start) but this kind of defeats the purpose of playing so you should avoid it when possible (use at start, then stop when you got reasonable funds).
In Pak64 (the most common servers) do not bother with high speed passenger trains as they will not make a profit (unless non-timeline game, very uncommon sort of game). For long distances use planes, otherwise use Trams or for low capacity routes busses as all of those make high amounts of profit.
In Pak64 you can avoid the slow maximum speed of city roads by bridges or tunnels. This turns unprofitable mail and bus commuter lines into real money earners (far more than the maintenance cost of the tunnels) as they can get the full speed bonus in the middle of a city.
In Pak64 the only way to ship paper is slowly with train. Use cheap to run engines not powerful engines. Always ship paper positively. Paper trucks do not make money.
Hub stations for passengers should be built away from cities with no houses in their area. This allows them to hold a huge number of passengers without causing unhappy passengers and having to use large areas for storage buildings. Obviously only applies to games that allow transferring through overcapacity stops.
Passenger symmetry is important for a profitable passenger network, it is no use shipping 100% of all passengers from one city yet 5% from another since then you will have a 20 times flow disparity (convoys leaving at 100% return at 5%). Aircraft need to be over 90% full to make reasonable profit.
In pak64 avoid rail tunnels as they have ludicrous maintenance costs. If you need underground rails and 90 km/h suffices then build a road tunnel with tram tracks since not only is this cheaper than any form of rail tunnel but also gives you a free road to play with.
In pak64 do not bother with monorail (incorrectly labelled maglev in places). At end game it is impossible to turn a profit using it.
Do not waste your time trying to get industries and consumers running at 100% capacity (especially in pak64). Although possible with some, most will place impossible transport demands on you such as having to move 100s of books across the entire map in less than a week.
Be considerate if you own power, consider leaving power stations to someone who already owns many. There is virtually no direct profit in power (the income is tiny and maintenance high) and the last thing players want is to try and lay a track or rod through a jumbled up mess of differ player's power lines running randomly all over the map.
If you make a mistake at the start, bankrupt your company and start again. It is pointless waiting 6-12 months to recover losses by a mistake you made right at the start.

[Ters]

In Pak64 the only way to ship paper is slowly with train. Use cheap to run engines not powerful engines. Always ship paper positively. Paper trucks do not make money.

Strange. I find paper trucks profitable. Trains only surpass trucks once they get quite long. Trucks are however faster than trains. Profitable paper trains are so slow they need dedicated tracks, while paper trucks can keep up with other traffic.

[DrSuperGood]

Strange. I find paper trucks profitable. Trains only surpass trucks once they get quite long. Trucks are however faster than trains. Profitable paper trains are so slow they need dedicated tracks, while paper trucks can keep up with other traffic.

Using the THC Long-nosed Semi truck (cheapest non-obsolete truck late game) and the TIRpaper trailer (only trailer the truck can use) the result is a convoy that goes at 100 km/h and costs 9 per tile yet only makes 7 in revenue per tile. Basically shipping paper with this combination costs you 2 per tile. Using the more powerful Colin TH5 Flat-nose Semi truck you have a convoy that goes at 130 km/h and costs 11 per tile and only makes 7.98 per tile, this is a loss of 3.02 (bigger) per tile.

Using the H-Trans Paper Truck with corresponding trailer the result is a convoy that goes at 40 km/h that costs 1.80 per tile and makes 5.92 per tile (4.12 profit per tile). However you could also use the H-Trans Br365 train engine moving at 42 km/h (faster) that costs 7.11 per tile and makes 35.84 per tile (28.73 profit). Obviously if you ship one way you can double the running cost so the truck makes 2.32 per tile while the train makes 21.62. This by itself is meaningless so normalize per unit with truck making 0.145 per unit tile and the train 0.193 per unit tile. End result is not only does the train ship faster than truck, but also makes more profit. Both fast trucks were ignored as they are physically incapable of making a profit. You could use the train at 60 km/h (50% faster than the truck) and still earn 0.163 per unit tile which is still more than the truck.

Factor in that you cannot mix a 40 km/h truck with 100/130 km/h convoys on the road without causing congestion and the clear option is that the only viable way to transport paper is by train. You also cannot mix the 60 km/h convoys with other trains and you need a lot of them (paper mills and printers use a lot of paper) so you will likely need a dedicated line. You will most certainly need a dedicated road if trucks are used due to the numbers involved and speed they go at.

These tests were done in pak64+food expansion at the year 2050 with timeline enabled (typical end game). Obsolete vehicles were not considered as they may be unavailable depending on settings and certainly are not intended to be used after their obsolescence.

On an interesting note the paper container ship can turn a profit in a single direction but only if cargo bouncing is used. Without cargo bouncing it will require at least 58% average load in both directions to break even.

If you are shipping in both directions the train and truck will obviously make pretty reasonable profit (train more so). However the fast trucks (100/130) will never make profit even if loaded 100% in both directions as they cost more per tile to move the paper than the paper earns.

Thus I conclude...

Trucks are however faster than trains

No they are not... As I prove not only can you ship goods 50% faster than trucks, but also make more profit at the same time. Even the rails are cheaper to maintain that roads.

I understand you are probably referring to medium age trucks. However since these trucks obsolete and exist during a time where road speed requirements are lower they cannot be considered part of end game balance and may become unavailable depending on game settings (also when something obsoletes you should replace it, there should be better available). The fact there in not a better replacement after obsoleting is a problem with the pak64 balance.

In fact late game trucks in pak64 have problems. It is stupid that the 1960 car transporter makes more profit in a single direction than an end game truck (the end game truck cannot even reach the 130 km/h top speed when fully loaded?).

[Ters]

Looks like I read the power when trying to read the speed. Yes, indeed, the road vehicle is slower. But it is profitable, even on city roads. As for being old and slow, that goes for the train as well.

At about the year 2000, the pak64 timeline effectively ends. Which makes sense, as that was when it was made. It should have been able to handle a decade or two more now, however measuring it in 2050 is a bit unfair. The pak maintainer can't predict the future. (The past predictions were way off.) There are however other issues, between 1900 and 2000, as well as before that. I'm currently (this year, at the rate I'm playing) evaluating the 1850 to 1900 era, which has recently received a few new vehicles.

[DrSuperGood]

however measuring it in 2050 is a bit unfair.

Prissi's (forgive me if typo) servers were running pak64 with games past the year 2150. More time was spent at the end of the time line than from a reasonable beginning (1900?) to end of the timeline. One could argue the servers should have been reset, but maybe pak64 should be balanced for such late game play as even still the players and I had some pretty fun times on them at that age.

I'm currently (this year, at the rate I'm playing) evaluating the 1850 to 1900 era, which has recently received a few new vehicles.

Hopefully play then is more viable. Even still there is no reason to shaft post 2000 play which often ends up the most played in servers as they can last considerably longer than the time line of the pak depending on how much players want to achieve.

Especially since this player was asking if multiplayer was a good idea, I have to honestly say that since most of the time spent in multiplayer may be post timeline those tips are very helpful.

[Silverx]

Thank you for all the information taking it on board!! Next question how do I join a life game?

Thank You
Silverx