News:

Want to praise Simutrans?
Your feedback is important for us ;D.

Startup in 128

Started by trianglemoon, November 12, 2010, 05:06:20 PM

Previous topic - Next topic

0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.

trianglemoon

I'm relatively new to Simutrans, but was making good progress on Pak64.

I've been trying Pak128 now for a while, and struggling.  I usually start in 1940, and use the timeline.  What I'm finding is that the profit margins are so low (when I'm even able to get one), that to "pay off" my equipment purchases and construction costs, it would take, in one case, 43 years, just to pay off the locomotive!

I feel like I must be doing something wrong.  Overall, I like the balance of industries in 128.  And of course more choices for locomotives, etc., is nice.  But starting a train to move coal or oil 30 squares to a power plant, then letting that auto-run for a simulated 43 years isn't fun.

Is there a primer I can look at, or is there a general flaw in this PAK?

Thank you,

tm

Zeno

Pak128 difficulty is a bit high, but not that much  ;)
Actually not 43, but 5 to 10 years are common payback times for a locomotive. You should start with cheap locos, despite they use to have low power, and that way you can branch your income sources (the cheaper you build, more lines you will be able to build). With time you will get some some money to your pocket, which can be used to improve old locomotives and increase their line income.

Hope this helps :)

trianglemoon

Thank you, I'll give it another try.  It seems to do anything other than oil -> power plant or coal -> power plant, though, is just too expensive.

Take Food Factory.  You need meat, fish, flour, grain.  Plus a supermarket.  That's 5 lines.


Zeno

You are right. Don't ever think of a complex industry chain in your begginings! Btw, also passengers between big cities are a good start, but starting with passengers is only recommended for advanced players.
Planes will give you huuuuge amounts of money in the era of speed increasing from 300 to 800 km/h (that means around 1950s), but you'll need a lot of money to buy the first one! ;)

trianglemoon

Is it possible to make money early by only completing a portion of a supply chain?  (Like, Grain to Flour only), or do you really need to complete the whole thing?

Thanks!

Zeno

If you have activated the just-in-time feature (which is by default) you need to complete the chain: once the grain mill fills its stockyard of flour, which is 600t, it will stop producing until you transport the flour elsewhere (eg. a food factory).

trianglemoon

I noticed that the bakery (I think it was the bakery) could take 6000 units of grain.  Could I transport it, with the intent that later it would get used?

Also, I'm getting the impression from other threads I'm reading that over time, (I'm starting in 1940), prices begin to go up, with respect to payout, etc?

Thank you again for your time.  It has been very helpful.  I'm more convinced to get 128 working for me now. :)

Zeno

Quote from: trianglemoon on November 12, 2010, 07:49:30 PM
I noticed that the bakery (I think it was the bakery) could take 6000 units of grain.  Could I transport it, with the intent that later it would get used?
Bakery is the end of the chain (doesn't produce anything, only consumes goods, like a supermarket). It consumes flour, not grain, and it can store up to 5000 t of flour. It will consume the flour automatically.

Quote from: trianglemoon on November 12, 2010, 07:49:30 PM
Also, I'm getting the impression from other threads I'm reading that over time, (I'm starting in 1940), prices begin to go up, with respect to payout, etc?
Prices are the same all the game. If you have the "obey era" flag enabled, so vehicles do become available at specific dates, you will get a bonus in each delivery income; that bonus is calculated using the max speed of the convoi that does the trip and base the bonus speed of the current year. If the speed of your vehicle is higher than the bonus speed then you will get overpayed. Note this affects more on certain types of goods.
By pressing Shift+G you will see the goods list window, which indicates prices for all goods and the speed bonus as well as the percentage of the bonus (passengers pay a lot more -18%- for speed, bulk goods pays the same -0%- quick and slow). Usually faster means more income, but beware the running costs and maintenance of fast vehicles/infrastructures!