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Pak128 Britian - My first game on this Pak set.

Started by Severous, October 26, 2011, 07:50:08 PM

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Severous

Hiya.

This is my first game on Pak128Britian.  

No mods or addons are required.
This is the standard Pak128Britian set (somewhat dated) and standard Simutrans V110.0.1 r4359

After a year of play I set myself a target of £1million cash in 2 years from start of play.  I just achieved it.  As micro management is my style I think it may prove a challenge for others to match, especially if you don't get lucky with an industry chain spawn.

http://simutrans-germany.com/files/upload/Nov1901_1million_achieved.sve

Here is the starting map/save should you want to have a go yourself:
http://simutrans-germany.com/files/upload/Pak128_Britan_2_Towns.sve

Its a small map with two cities separated by sea. The industry chain is split by the sea and many of the goods will cross the sea twice to complete the chain.

The map and the two principle industries: Steel Mill and the Hardware Shop.

I found this industry chain required careful play.  The potential to oversupply every step of the industry chain is high.  Avoiding this happening was fun for me as a micro manager on a small map like this.  I spent a lot of time looking closely at the vehicles and routes and industry supply status. I felt the atmosphere in Pak Britian was excellent.  Definitely going to be playing some more of this pak set.

Trains:  A small map, not much land and steep hills. Not much scope for train but I had one route to shift coal.

These little tank engines are never going to earn speed bonuses! (121kph) but they felt just right for hauling coal down from the mine high in the hills. They didn't need much power with the weight of the coal trucks pushing them downhill.  I did research the typical consist of mixed freight/passenger (PmG) trains to decide if the passenger coach should be immediately behind the loco or as far away as possible.  Only relevant thing I found was that it was usual to keep passengers away from loco for better ride, except when it was cold and steam heating of the carriages required coupling behind the loco.

Ships: This is where the money was.  I think the running costs are not well balanced - it cost the same to run each type of ship.
Here the three most profitable vehicles in the game, all ships, are near the principle east coast port.

The Clyde Steamer moves just passengers just missing out on speed bonus (27kph). It visits most passenger ports and docks and kept moving. It was never fully loaded.
The mighty Windjammer sailing ship moves 900t of bulk goods - Coal and Iron Ore to the port shown here.  From the dock multiple Steam Traction engines complete the supply to the nearby Steel Mill.  I could have delivered the Iron and Coal directly to the Steel Mill but choose to use the Traction engines to prevent over supply. They struggled to keep up with Steel Mill demand.  As intended the oversupply of iron and coal stockpiled at the port - over 11,000tonnes when I stopped.
The clipper carried 350t of bulk goods but also passengers and mail.  That made it good for worker and mail transport to the industries ensuring % of passenger and mail travels was high.

Road: I spent a lot of time managing small vehicles trying to get the supply into the industries perfectly balanced to demand.  
My favourite for uniqueness was the tiny mail Postal Bicycle shown here. Favorite for flavor of the time was the Steam Traction engines shown in the previous shot.

The cricket ground that spawned was a nice boost for passenger numbers.  The Clyde ferry did extra business bringing fans from the east cost city.
Regards
Sev.