Topic: Industries/attractions are being placed too sparsely on larger maps

[sander3991]

Hello everyone!

I have finally learned to make profit with Pak128. But now I have a problem with distances between industries and tourist attractions on maps larger than 512x512 (I prefer square maps), which makes connecting them difficult and expensive. So I become discouraged to continue the game when I understand that I will not be able to complete the production chain using starting money due to huge distances between factories (also there are usually more lakes on large maps to deal with).

I use standard settinngs that automatically adjust by the map scale, but it seems that this is not enough. Also industries and tourist attractions appear too far from cities that makes utilisation of public roads nearly impossible.

What can I do to make large maps more playable?
What map settings do you use when starting a new game (a long ago there was a similiar topic on the forum which did not get much replies, maybe this time the discussion will go further)?

[Ters]

Longer distances should be more profitable than short, since revenue increases linearly with distance, while the overhead associated with stations stays constant. You may also be able to build straighter routes. Your bank account will go negative, but since you own infrastructure of equal worth, you will not go bankrupt.

There are other problems, though, at least with the traditional way industries order supplies. With greater distances, the latency also increases. It takes longer time from when a factory orders more supplies to the time the supplies arrives, which means that it may run out and production stops for a while. This causes vehicles carrying products away on the other side to stand still, while fixed costs still apply.

Industries have a maximum distance setting, but this doesn't always apply unfortunately.

[sander3991]

Thanks for the reply!

I agree that profit grows with distance. This is one of the main ways to make money early in the game when you can't afford large stations and fast vehicles and while the industries have not reached their maximum production rate.

My problem with larger maps can be described this way.
Sometimes one of the factories in the production chain is the only supplier/consumer and is very distant from other facilities (I'm having difficulties adding the screenshot which could show a situation when the only consumer in the chain is literally on the other end of the map). And sometimes I notice it when I have established routes for half of the chain and have almost run out of money. Maybe I should plan the infrastructure more carefully.

With greater distances, the latency also increases. It takes longer time from when a factory orders more supplies to the time the supplies arrives, which means that it may run out and production stops for a while.

To solve this you will need additional vehicles, which will require extended infrastructure sooner or later. I guess you have to keep this in mind while building the initial routes.