Need Help with game mechanics

[SharonJKnuth]

Hello everyone,

I am new to Simutrans and am excited to start exploring. However, I have a few questions regarding the game mechanics that I hope you can help me with.

Specifically, I am having trouble understanding how to optimize shipping routes and manage supply chains efficiently. Does anyone have any tips to help me with these issues?
Thank you in advance for your support

[FLN]

Welcome SharonJKnuth

Essentially I'd say, work from the end towards the start of the chain, in order to manage it and optimize it.
This is a really basic approach but it's also simple and efficient.
Is this of help to you in any way?

Concerning shipping routes, what means optimizing them to you?
Do you mean increase delivered goods per month? Do you mean increase the lines revenue? Or you rather think of what's the right choice of transportation, as truck, train, ship or plane?

I hope you continue to enjoy exploring the Simutrans-world =)
And you're welcome to ask for tips and clarifications, as I do too 

[Isaac Eiland-Hall]

I might suggest starting a game and enabling freeplay, which I believe is found in the player menu (the menu where you can switch which player you are). That way you can build and experiment and not worry about money.

It takes a while to understand Simutrans enough to make much money. The problem is balancing things because once things are set up and profitable, they tend to remain profitable, so eventually if you wait long enough, you will have large amounts of money. So most packs have been adjusted to minimize excess money.

I see no reason not to play with beginner mode or freeplay.

Frankly, I've been playing this game for around 25 years and I play on freeplay - because I make it my goal to just connect everything and transport everything, or even just set it up as a virtual model train/highway set.

That said, it's easier to start making money with industry. Find an end of a chain, usually in a city, and work your way back to find the base suppliers of the suppliers. Start with the lowest level producers and work on connecting the entire chain. Try to make direct connections and not use more transportation than you need, which takes experience to learn.

I think I tend to like to use more trucks than most players who I assume tend to like trains the most. But definitely experiment with connections.

You can even make multi-modal transportation connections, but this is risky as if you don't set it up right, it might not work and it can be hard to troubleshoot why something isn't working as you thought it should. Another reason I like starting with trucks - they are easier to manage, and you can use existing road networks.