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****************************************************** *** FAQ for Transport Tycoon by Microprose *********** *** Version 1.1 ************************************** ****************************************************** *** compiled and edited by Peter Elfers ************** ****************************************************** *** please send additions, corrections, hints etc. *** *** to elfers.pad@sni.de ***************************** ****************************************************** With additions from: Mark Dobie (mrd@ecs.southhampton.ac.uk) Orin Thomas (orin@werple.apana.org.au) [who made the Reunion FAQ] Dave Calvin (calvid@rpi.edu) Martin Nilsson (d90mn@efd.lth.se) David Skreiner (david@htu.tu-graz.ac.uk) Robert Court (robert@court.cityscape.co.uk) Ben Blaukopf (jbb1003@hermes.cam.ac.uk) Chuck O'Toole (otoole@chuck.enet.dec.com) David Leadbetter (davidl@cs.uq.oz.au) [writer and maintainer of the Theme Park FAQ] Chuck Jones (cej@ccsitn.att.com) Bert Paul Rauhut (hz262ra@rs1-hrz.uni-duisburg.de) Dave Budd (budd@bnr.ca) Edmund Stephen-Smith (stephens@solartron.com) Chris Smith (csmith@convex.com) Markku Tuovinen (mjtuovin@cc.Helsinki.FI) [mentioned in arbitrary order] Many thanks to all and special thanks to the FAQ writers mentioned above. TABLE OF CONTENTS 0 Introduction 0.0 Sorry 0.1 Abbreviations 0.2 This FAQ's version 0.3 About Transport Tycoon 0.4 The demo 0.5 Cheats 0.6 Patches 1 Installation 1.1 Hardware requirements 1.2 Software requirements 1.3 Problems during installation 1.4 Problems during gameplay 1.5 Serial link with TT 2 Options 2.1 Difficulty level 2.2 Other game options 3 Gameplay 3.1 Building stations 3.2 Connecting two stations 3.3 When to use what type of transportation 3.4 Changing train layout/selling vehicles 3.5 City menu 3.6 How trains and signals work 3.7 Reliability of vehicles 3.8 The monorail system 3.9 Disasters 3.A Anything becomes more expensive 4 Strategies 4.1 Starting strategies 4.2 Strategies during the game 4.3 Fighting against opponents 4.4 Cities growth 5 Tables 5.1 Resources 5.2 Trains 5.3 Road vehicles 5.4 Ships 5.5 Airplanes 5.6 Limitations ============================================================================ 0 Introduction 0.0 Sorry Sorry for not so good English. I am German and using a German version of Transport Tycoon. So please send me corrections where translation is incorrect or language is *+%&$&. 0.1 Abbreviations RMB Right Mouse Button LMB Left Mouse Button TT Transport Tycoon MS Microsoft FAQ Frequently Asked Questions 0.2 This FAQ's version This is now version 1.1 of the Transport Tycoon FAQ. Anything added since the last version is marked on column 1 with a '#'. Creation and administration by: Peter Elfers (elfers.pad@sni.de) Any hints, corrections, and additions are very welcome. 0.3 About Transport Tycoon Transport Tycoon was programmed by Chris Sawyer inspired by Railroad Tycoon as mentioned in the manual. TT is distributed by Microprose. The main idea of TT is to develop a universal transportation system in a randomly created world using road vehicles, trains, ships and airplanes. The games time range is between 1930 and 2030. The game is 'real time' so the speed cannot be changed (but it can be paused). Is it worth the money? Well I think you will need about 120 hours (depending on your machine speed) to complete one game. If you pay 60$ / 100 DM / 330FF for the game you are entertained 120 hours for only 0.50$ / 0.83DM / 2.75FF per hour. Than you can start a second game. 0.4 The demo # There is an official Microprose demo available on several ftp-sites. # The demo should be on ftp.std.com in the /vendors/COMPUTER_EXPRESS # directory. # Filename is ttycoon.exe. # The demo works only with trains (no airplanes, ships or road vehicles). # You never find oil wells. The number of years you can play is limited. 0.5 Cheats "[...] Start a new game, and before you build anything else, go to one coast and try to build a tunnel all the way through to the other. It doesn't have to go all the way, just has to be really expensive. Instead of telling you that you don't have enough money, it gives you about 400 billion! I've tried this a couple of times and it worked, but I didn't try messing with my settings to see if that made a difference. [...]" provided by Dave Calvin (calvid@rpi.edu) In my German version that doesn't work (perhaps its better this way). 0.6 Patches There are rumours about a patch available from MicroProse but as far as I know, nobody is really informed what it will be for. I send mail to Brian from MicroProse to get information about a possibly existing patch. If I get an answer I will post it and write it down here. 1 Installation 1.1 Hardware requirements IBM PC AT min. 80386DX25 with 4 MB (as said in technical guide) # Bert Paul Rauhut (hz262ra@rs1-hrz.uni-duisburg.de) told me that even # a 386SX with 16 MHz and 4 MB is possible (for patient players :) ). You will need about 6 MB on your HD and perhaps lots of additional space if you want to store lots of saved games (they take up to 250K each). A mouse is also required. The game is in 640x480 256 colors so you need a SVGA card. [T On a normal ET4000 (1MB) the game runs without any VESA-driver and using TLIVESA the mouse cursor leaves trailers on the screen. 1.2 Software requirements MS-DOS 5.0 or higher (I'll never tried other DOS versions like Novell or IBM DOS). MS mouse driver 8.2 or higher. (requirements taken from the manual of TT) # Further notice from Bert Paul Rauhut is that TT is playable with OS/2. 1.3 Problems during installation There are no known problems. # "TT will not install if you haven't a mouse driver installed." (Bert # Paul Rauhut, mentioned above). 1.4 Problems during gameplay During the game the mouse pointer can leave trails behind. Some people mention that a VESA driver works. Especially that one coming with SimCity 2000 should do well. Mark Dobie (mrd@ecs.southampton.ac.uk) wrote: "I have also had one solid lockup. It happened when two of my trains collided in a station. The game froze during mid explosion..not even ctrl-alt-del would work." And at one time I had a cold reboot during the game without any noticable reason (which means: the game reboots my PC without any action from me). 1.5 Serial link with TT # Bert Paul Rauhut tried to connect two machines via a null modem cable # but failed. # I never heard of an existing connection controlled by TT so if anyone # did it, please email me. 2 Options 2.1 Difficulty level There are three preset and one custom difficulty levels. The following difficulty settings are possible: Custom Custom Option Easy Medium Hard easiest hardest ======================================================================== number of oppon. 2 4 7 0 7 opponents start aft.6 mon. aft.3 month immediatly aft.9 month immed. number of cities normal normal many few many number of firms many normal normal many few max. start. loan 1,200,000 600,000 400,000 2,000,000 400,000 interest rate 2% 3% 4% 2% 6% vehicl.work.exp. low medium medium low high opp.build.speed medium fast fast slow vy fast opp. intelligence low medium high low high vehicl.breakdowns reduced normal normal never normal subsidies x3 x2 x1.5 x4 x1.5 building costs low medium high low high area flat hilly mountain. flat mount. numb.of lakes/sea low low medium low high economy constant uneven uneven constant uneven Train change dir. station & end o.track end o.track end o.track end o. end o.track & station track disasters off on on off on # Description of the options: # Number of opponents: # This value indeicates how much opponents will try to make a bigger # transport empire than yours. # With this value increasing you harder find a good area to build a # station. Furthermore you will sooner reach the vehicle limit. # Opponents starts: # This is the time you have to find a good place to start before your # opponents crowd the map. But even if you select 7 opponents starting # immediately they won't. They need time to search for good place, too. # Number of cities: # Few cities are about 17 or so. In normal condition there were 29 and # many means about 40. # Number of firms: # This indicates how much facilities there are. If you select 'few' you # will hardly find two facilities to connect in the beginning (because # of the big distance between them). # Max. starting loan: # This value will change depending on the currency option. I saw it on # a minimum of 400,000 DM and 200,000 $. This option is a heavy one # because in the beginning you will need lots of money and (like in real # life) the bank won't give it to you. Later on you have enough money # but could take loans of x millions. # Interest rate: # Well, the interest rate? # Vehicle working expenses: # How much you have to pay to keep your vehicles running. # Opponents building speed: # Here you can decide whether you want to can see the opponents laying # track after track (so you can hinder them building) or fast enough # to build (for example) their stations just on that place that you # have prepared to build a statioin (but you can't because they were # faster). # Opponents intelligence: # Uhm. All selections are synonyms for: _really stupid_ # I know AI is hard work for a programmer. But I would never sell a # game with such a crappy AI. # Vehicle breakdowns: # Tired of burning or smoking vehicles? This option reduce breakdowns. # Subsidies: # The first player connecting two facilities/cities mentioned in the # subsidies messages gaines an extra profit for delivering goods. # This option is the factor. # Building costs: # You have too much money? Don't care. Set this to the maximum and your # tracks, roads etc. are very expensive to build. # Area: # Number opf lakes/seas: # These two options are for the area layout. The amount of water on the # map is of course increasing if you select a flater terrain. A hilly # area has more and bigger land masses as a very flat area even on equal # lakes/seas-settings. # Economy: # The only noticable thing turning this switch is that sometimes # facilities decide to close (without a reason). So all your stations # addicted to these facilities are very needles. The faclities declare # their closedowns a few days before so you have time to react. # Train change direction: # It can be very hard to build tracks so that trains never need to # change their direction except at track end. You should try that out. # Changing direrction in stations is very useful but only at track end # is a _challenge_. # Disasters: # Look at chapter 3.9 for details. 2.2 Other game options There are some options for the game. Some can be set before AND during the game and some must be set before a game is started. Here is a short description of the options: Option Description bef dur ======================================================================== city names switches the signs with city names on and off x x station names switches the signs with station names on and off x x signs switches player signs on and off x x animation level can alter the level of animation x x (I cannot see a difference) buildings switches between solid and transparent buildings x x to see what is behind them details switch between high and low details x x the only differnece I notice is that you can see the colored fence along the track or not <unnamed button>what the heck is this button for? x x road vehicles let them drive on the correct [right:)] or left x - side currency switch between pounds, dollars, francs, marks or x x yen (of course the game will not convert really) distance units miles or kilometers x x city names switch between english (or british?), european x - that means german in the german version) or american city names 3 Gameplay 3.1 Building stations There are six different types of stations that can be build in TT: - railway station (passenger, mail, all goods) - bus station (passenger) - lorry station (mail, all goods) - dock (mail, passengers, all goods) - airport (mail, passengers, all goods) - oil platforms (act as airport + dock for passengers & oil) On some stations it is not possible to pick up some goods because there are no suitable transportatiopn units available (at that time). For example early in the game you can only pick up passengers and mail at airports because the planes can only transport them (and no goods). For efficient use several types of stations can be combined. For example you build an airport to make fast delivery of passengers. Your airport is near a coal mine and the coal at your airport is up to 1000 or so and your rating in coal is down to 11% then just build a train station next to your aiport and pick up the coal with a train. This also saves one station. Saving stations can be very important as your transport empire will grow. +--++--+ AP = Airport |AP||TS| TS = Train station | |+--+ +--+ An additional advantage is that you can use the existing store in an older station. But do not wait too long. The store will shrink if you never start to pick up some of it. Docks can only be built on shore lines: one field on water and one on the shore. All other stations require flat terrain to be built. # Station layout can be very interesting. A station can be spreaded into # two or more areas. Markku Tuovinen & Chuck O'Toole wrote this: # # ">A nice feature is that you can build different stations adjacent to # > each other and get a "mega-station". I built an airport, truck # > platform and bus station all touching. This resulted in 1 station # > single sign with all three services) and then the passengers and mail # > became a pool that the planes and busses/mail trucks could draw from. # > This seems to be better than having separate stations where, for # > example,the bus passengers could get mad and leave because of poor # > service while the airplanes fly with open seats. # # Also, you can build separated single stations with this feature. Build # an airport. Build a long station facing away from it towards the center # of the town (stripmine houses or, rather, a road). Build a bus station # or a truck stop on the other end of the railroad station. Bulldoze the # station. The bus stop is still part of the airport. # # Also, I moved a truck stop affiliated with a farm railroad station about # halfway to the center of the map and put trucks to carry farm produce # (livestock, grain) to a nearby factory (like 10 squares away). An # instant $10,000 per load, since the station sign (and the actual # station) were on the edge of the map, about 50 squares away so the # price on produce was calculated using that figure... I rationalized it # by using the warrior-scientist explanation. One day between breakfast # and lunch my company president just figured out a way (a costly one, # though) to transmit matter instantly... (so I'm a sci-fi buff). Of # course, all components of a scatter station have to be on the same # level, so your ability to develop mattermission is kinda cramped by huge # hills etc." 3.2 Connecting two stations To stations can be connected by laying a track (for trains), a road (for busses and lorries) or using an existing road system laid by opponents or cities (very cheap). Of course airports and docks do not need a special track. If you connect two stations by road be aware of rail crossings. Lots of busses and lorries die every year killed by reckless trains. Building bridges over tracks is cheaper on the long run. On the other hand lay YOUR tracks over roads which are used by opponent players and watch the newspaper for further reports. For ships with complex routes (around a peninsula for example) buoys are necessary. Place them one the turning points on the ship route and insert them in the ship schedule (for both directions of course (!)). But buoys count as a station (someone mentioned that on the news but I can't remember his name. Thanks to him and sorry.) 3.3 When to use what type of transportation That depends on the distance, type and amount of the goods. Use airplanes for very fast and long distance mail and passenger service. Use trains for fast and middle distance mail and passenger service. Use busses and lorries for not so fast short distance mail and passenger service. Ships are only interesting for additional service because they can't carry very much load (An oil tanker can carry up to 220 t of oil. A A train with 8 oil cars can carry up to 240 t of oil). You can make more money using a train. "Ships will sometimes give a more direct route across a river or a bay where a land route would be much longer. Remember that lots of bridges can slow a train down to less than half of its top speed. Hovercraft can be very profitable too." [Mark Dobie (mrd@ecs.southampton.ac.uk)] But if that area is very developed and there is no room for additional tracks a ship service can be added without bigger problems. Ships are very useful if later in the game the first oil platforms are introduced. For those platforms helicopters can be useful too because there is a helipad landing place on it and an oil platform accepts and supplies passengers (also accepts mail). A large lake (distance between shores >16 squares) can't be crossed by a bridge. Using ships can be solve such problems. And bridges with more than 8 squares can't be used with high speed (except from monorails). Since most of the goods can only be carried by train or lorry these two transportation systems are commonly used. Trains are faster a safer than lorries (too many lorries die on level crossings). But be aware of the train limit (see chapter limitations). It is very annoying to replace an existing track because you really need a train on the other side of the map but you have already 80 trains in service. Road service is very interesting for inner city service where a track is not possible (because you cannot clear those fields in the middle of the road). Besides road service is interesting as an additon to an airport or a train station the plane/train service is poor rated (e.g. mail service on airports). Dave's (davidl@cs.uq.oz.au) method: "...it's useful to ferry goods to/from the train station/docks from/to the city by lorry/bus. Kind of a linked service. Obviously the last link in the service gets paid though. I use such a strategy if I have say multiple mines on one side of a refinery. I unload ore from the furthest away onto the closer station, so that I only need a single train going the whole way (the same method can be applied to anything else of course)." 3.4 Changing train layout/selling vehicles If you want to sell a vehicle or change the layout of a train or replace an older model with a newer one click with LMB on the depot symbol in the vehicle window to direct it to the nearest depot. Once arrived in the depot you will get a message. Now click on the depot to open the depot window. Your vehicle is shown there. If you want to scrap it press and hold the LMB on it and drop it to the trashcan on the right. The value of that vehicle should now be added to your funds. "Sometimes it says 'Can't sell vehicle'. I've only ever had this with trains and I haven't worked out why yet. In this case you have to buy the new train and set up route manually. Usually you can sell the old train a while later." [Mark Dobie (mrd@ecs.southampton.ac.uk)] If you want to build new cars for your train scrap the old cars or move them to the next line. Buy new cars and (if necessary) connect them to your engine. If you want to replace an old fashioned model with a newer one scrap the engine leaving the cars where they are. Buy a new model and connect the cars (if necessary) to the new engine. The orders of the old engine should be already transferred to your new engine. Orders can only reused in the same depot. 3.5 City menu By clicking on a cities name with the LMB you will see an information window about that city. Choosing the city government button you gain access to a lot of possible actions (if you have enough money). The available options are: little advertising campaign raises your ratings a bit medium advertising campaign raises your ratings a lot large advertising campaign raises your ratings to the top give money for road improvement look the other players lorries standing in a tangled mass of roadworks build a statue of your company nice, isn't it? I don't know for what it is good for. give money for house building let them build office buildings (mail support and acceptance) buy exclusive transport rights on city terrain for one year you are the only one who gets goods, mail and passengers for one year 3.6 How trains and signals work Because sometimes the computer AI seems to be stupid while controlling a train network, this chapter is added to explain how trains and signals work. Of course I do not know how the programmer did his work, but observation gives a clue on how a track has to be laid. Every train needs a track, two stations and a depot to work properly. On a track there can be only one train at a time (a few exceptions are explained later). A track can be separated into different parts. Signals and depots are valid separators, stations aren't. If you want to use a station as a separator, place signals on all ingoing tracks in front of the station. Trains try to use the shortest route to their destination station. So if two different tracks are possible it will take the shorter one. On a switch a train (A) must choose which way to go. Before it chooses the way the computer is looking for the shortest route to the destination. If this route is occupied by another train (B) it will choose the longer route. If there is no other route to the destination it is possible that it will choose a track going to anywhere but never to the destination. I think this is done to go away from a point where it could block the path of the train (B). When two trains meet each other at a signal on a single track from different directions, they will both stop at signal blocking each other. After a short while one of them is timed out and that one will change directions to go back. To avoid this situation a train can choose the 'wrong' (that means wrong direction) track at a switch. The easiest way is to build one track for one train. Expensive but very effective because even a blonde [:)] train can use a simple track without getting lost. If you are not experienced start with this method. Later in the game you will usually have enough money for experiments. You can also set up two trains on one track using short parts of double tracks. "[...]I build tracks in this way and it works well with two trains, insert more parts with double track if you want more trains. SSSSSS-------<=|========|=>------SSSSSS Where S : Station - : Single track | : Signal = : Double track < : Split one track into two > : Join two tracks into one [...]" provided by Martin Nilsson (d90mn@efd.lth.se). This is also mentioned in the manual: /S-------------S\ - / \ = track -----S-------------S--------- S = signal This will work well with one exception. Both trains tend to use the same part of the double track, the straight one. A better design is: -----S-------------S\ \S-------------S--------- because if one train is after the switch but before the signal while the other train coming from the other side must choose a track on the switch they will both take the same track because the next part of the track is not occupied by another train. But they will end up on a signal as described above. This happens rarely but I saw it more than one time. The method above can be expanded to a system with three trains on one track using stations with three tracks and a part of triple track some- where. Hint1:Its more efficient to place the double/triple track near the station where trains are loaded because on that station they will need more time at the loading station and less time for the rest rest of the track. If they need nearly the same time for loading and unloading place it in the middle of the track. Hint2:(again from Dave (davidl@cs.uq.oz.au)) Also you should build these "overtake" sections of tracks so that trains can use them to turn around (like the computer does), so that a train heading down the wrong track can turn around without having to go all the way to the end. Sometimes train behavior seems to be strange when a train has reached its maintainence date. And they always seek for the nearest depot. ---------------------T>-------------------------------------STATION D-/ So if the train T driving in direction > in the example above reaches on that position its maintanence date it will drive to the station, changes direction and went to the depot. After the maintanance it will go back to station for the daily work. If you set up a network connecting more than two stations together with lots of trains and switches, watch for the locations of your depots. A train will even use other trains track and depot if that depot is nearer. Placing depots on each connected side of a station and near switches which are used from more than two trains give best performance. If your network layout is buggy you will get a mess. And it is very difficult to clean up a corrupted track net. In that case building additional tracks just to let the trains to their own part is useful. Destroy those tracks after use. Sometimes it is useful to tell a train to went on on a red signal. Use the button in the train information window to do that. This is one exception where two trains can use the same part of a track. Watch carefully for your trains or tell them good by. It is no problem as long as they have enough room. Even this situation works well: ---T>S-------A(with train) \----A(empty) A is a station with one empty place; T a train waiting on the signal S. If you know that the train in the station needs more time for loading than the other for entering the station you can tell the waiting train to go on. It will not use the occupied part of the station. (no signals in front of the station) I noticed that sometimes in the mid game it is difficult to find a place to lay a track. Sometimes lowering the terrain and build long tunnels under a city or lots of tracks and stations of other players can help. The tunnel can even be on sea level without being flooded. "I've also noticed that if you are runnning a line with multiple routes that include lots of stations (using a junction to split the routes), it's sometimes necessary to explicitly include in the schedule the station order for both directions of the route (e.g. a route going from A->B->C->D and back may need to be scheduled as A->B->C->D->C->B. I've seen one such train service where the train refused to take the correct branch of a track junction until I exlicitly scheduled the return section of the route as above! In this case the lines looked something like: E---------------------/-------C-------------D / ! A-----------B--------/ " (from David (davidl@cs.uq.oz.au)) [The section above contains a lot of information from others] There was an interesting posting by Chuck O'Toole in the NetNews which I added without cutting. "Well, I got hooked on the Transport Tycoon (TT) demo during the Thanksgiving holiday. I know what I want for Christmas ;-) I've seen lots of posts about train behavior and I think I have part of it figured out. I hope the manual is more clear about it. What follows is my current (working) theory about train movements, signals, and the like. Please excuse me if I incorrectly attribute a post to the wrong person. First off, signals do *not* work like Railroad Tycoon (RRT). In RRT, signals are places where trains could pass. Not so with TT. Signals indicate a clear or busy path/section of track to the next down the line. Additionally, RRT treated each station as a signal, no such notion in TT. Having two trains meet at the same signal (and stop!) would result in a deadly embrace, each train waiting for the other to move. Apparently, there is some timeout which causes a train to reverse course if it waits too long at a signal. Someone (traynor@bostech.com (Pat Traynor) I believe) wrote: > I believe that the following scenario has be deemed unworkable: > > You have set up two routes. One from A-C and one from B-C. > > +---+ > | A |-- > +---+ \ > \ +---+ > >-------| C | > / +---+ > +---+ / > | B |-- > +---+ > > As I've found out, and then seen other people report, the trains > will just go all over the place. The A-C line will spend a lot of > time at the 'B' station, and so forth. Someone (I forgot who) suggested placing 3 signals in this config, on each track leading to the junction. +---+ | A |-- +---+ \ S +---+ >S------| C | S +---+ +---+ / | B |-- +---+ This would create 4 sections of track, the A section, the B section, the C section (please hold your puns), and the common junction. This arrangement is almost totally non-functional. Should the A-C train and the B-C train approach the junction at the same time, one would wait and the other proceed to C. Once the last car clears the signal leading to C, the other train would enter the junction. There, it would find the signal to C set Red. Here, the B-C train could either wait at the signal or take the A section which is clear. Waiting at the signal would lead to an eventual deadly embrace since the A-C train needs to use the junction to return to A and the B-C train is blocking it. When a train is confronted by a red signal, it appears to take an open track if one is available, stop, or sometimes reverse direction (if a train is on the other side of the signal). Hence, the B-C train would take the A section, which on the surface seems stupid, but is the only open path available to it. Many of the odd behaviors of my trains were due to signals placed close to branches or depots so that the train would turn rather than stop. The B-C train will go to the A station and reverse direction, allowing time for the path to C to free up. You can see how this would oscillate until the A-C train returned to the junction. Which way it went would depend on which section the B-C train was at that time. To correct this route, the C section needs a passing siding, thusly, +---+ | A |-- +---+ \ S +---+ >--S---------S------| C | S \S---------S/ +---+ +---+ / | B |-- +---+ Note the placement of the signals on the siding. The space *between* the signals needs to be long enough to completely capture the train. A section of track is not considered clear until the last car passes the signal. I had two trains pass at a siding and both stop because the last car was on the same square as the signal and hence, not clear. This arrangement will work for the original stated purpose. Until.... Trains become very single-minded when the service date arrives. Regardless of where they are, they head straight to the nearest depot, get serviced, and return to whatever they were doing. It's this obsession with getting serviced that sometimes puts more trains on the section of track than you designed for. In the above example, if the only depot was near B, at some time, the A-C train would try to use the B section to get to the depot, causing the odd reversal behavior until they finally sorted themselves out again. As a general rule, I do not place signals on single sections of track (except for X crossings) and place depots near each station. Additionally, the depot should not be adjacent to a signal as red would cause the train to enter the depot instead of stop (and then it would most likely reverse direction). Instead I place the depot a few sections down the line. Multiple platform stations need signals at the entry to the platform and crossing track to permit trains to enter the "switching yard" and go to either platform or the depot. E.g., P1-S--------------[and later down the line]--S-------------S----- X [depending on how near ] \S-------------S/ P2-S----Depot [you need the siding ] (the arrangement for 3 or more platforms is an exercise for the reader or for when I get the real version and have more time to play). Once I had some basic observations and a working theory of how the trains work, all the behavior makes sense. When I saw something unexpected happen, I looked for problem with my signal setup and have been able to correct everything so far. I've been going under the assumption that the game is working correctly and that I just have to deduce the rules of operation. Something I hope the manual will clear up. Hope this helps folks out there. " This article is mentioned here ignoring some review of previous stuff in this FAQ because it was the first posting I think which fits computer AI in TT best. And the auther has only got the demo(!). Good work Chuck. An example: Building a 4-track station and use it for 8(!) trains without getting confused On some places there are so many facilities near to each other that you want send lots of trains to the same station. I tried the following and it works well. XXXX XXXX XXXX X = airport (optional) D XXXX D D = depot ----S*S[STATION]S*S---- S = signal ----S*S[STATION]S*S---- - = normal track ----S*S[STATION]S*S---- B = bus station (optional) ----S*S[STATION]S*S---- L = lorry station (optional) D B L D * = track system looking like: /|\ (all on one square) -+- \|/ Don't build further depots in the near. All eight trains can share the four depots in the picture. And don't connect a track going to the left in a big circle to a track coming from the right. If you decide to add an airport, a bus station and/or a lorry station all those together are of course only ONE station. And be sure there si some traffic in that area. 3.7 Reliability of vehicles As time goes by (sounds sentimental, eh?) newer vehicles will be available. But never trust a 1.0 version you know. The first ones are so susceptible to breakdowns that you should wait a year (or two) before you start using it in your transportation system. Look in the 'build new vehicle' window where the technical details are mentioned. You will find a value of reliability. Than you can decide whether you want to buy a vehicle which is 45% of its time out of order or stay using your older model. But do not wait too long. Don't build vehicles which are introduced 30 years ago because of their high reliability value. Lots of vehicles can be used 20 to 30 years. If the design is old fashioned it will become less reliable in the following years. After a vehicle was maintained it gains its maximum reliablity back. But this maximum can change with the years. You will not be informed! Best performance have models which are designed ca. 5 years ago (+/-2). 3.8 The monorail system In the year 1998 the first monorail will be developed. Monorails are something completely new. A new submenu is available under the 'build track' button in the menu line. Of course you cannot use the normal track to run monorails. And you cannot use the old stations, signals, depots etc. After playing for 68 years there are normally no more vehicles available. I started to rebuild my complete railway system to use only the monorail because of its advantages. Top speed is now 255km/h (railway: 249km/h). The X2001 monorail engine has got 10000PS (railway: 8000PS). More important is the maximum bridge length of 16 squares can be crossed with a top speed of 241km/h (railway: 112km/h) and new cars are available usually carrying 5t more than the ones of the railway (see tables below). The disadvantage: no more level crossings. 3.9 Disasters In the options you can set the parameter 'disasters' either on or off. Disasters are not normal accidents like plane crashes or traffic accidents. The following disasters I saw in my game: - The land under a coal mine collapses. When this is happen, the terrain under and around a coal mine can be affected. Normally lots of roads and tracks are destroyed in that area. - Collision with an UFO From time to time a little UFO flies over your cities searching for a road vehicle of the human(!) player. When a suitable vehicle is found the UFO goes down and destroys the vehicle. - Factory or Refinery was destroyed under mysterios circumstances In this case a flying military object (helicopter or conbat aircraft) destroyed a factory of refinery. I saw no other facilities destroyed by them. Don't bother about your trains or other vehicles going to the ruins. The production rate remains and the facilities will be rebuild soon. - UFO landing near a city A large UFO lands somewhere in the area. Sometimes the only thing happening is the start off of the UFO going to where it came from. But sometimes a combat aircraft attacks and destroys the UFO leaving a 4x4 (or was it 5x5) square of wasted land. If there are no facilities or tracks in the adjacent squares you can ignore it. - Zeppelin crashes on an airport A huge zeppelin is flying to an airport of the human player and than goes down, exploding in a tremendous fire. 3.A Anything becomes more expensive Like in the real world (ther is one outside your monitor) anything you wish to buy becomes more expensive in TT. I think there is an inflation model included in TT. Remember the 'starting interest rate' in the options? And the constant or uneven economy factor? You will notice soon that your engines, cars, stations etc. and building tracks and roads become more expensive. In my opinion an econmy factor is created by chance so your interest rates and price increases are calculated. If you choose constant economy this factor won't change. You can see this on the amount of payment of interest for 400,000 (for example). You have to pay the same every year. 4 Strategies 4.1 Starting strategies To make lots of money fast watch for subsidies. Build only those connections and wait until the next subsidy is published. After two or three years you have a basic transportation system which can be expanded quickly. To start with a transportation system based on railroad transporting only passengers and mail between nearby cities needs more time at first but later on you will receive lots of money for those trains, the cities love you and they will grow extremely fast. And you never have the problem finding a good site in a big city where you can build a railway station (that can be difficult). To add a lorry station or a bus stop should never be a problem. 4.2 Strategies during the game Build as fast as you can. Always use the credit limit to build more more more. You will soon reach the point where additional building is not longer possible (see chapter limitations). Then you can fight against your rivals (see next chapter). 4.3 Fighting against opponents There are some ruthless methods to sabotage and hinder an opponent. I wouldn't use these methods during a two-player game because it could be annoying to always look at all tracks and roads (but who cares about the computer?). 4.3.1 Building tracks over roads Trains can run over lorries and buses destroying them. So laying a track over opponents roads can cause lots of damage (trains never be destroyed). You can even build a track to the crossing, sending a train and destroying the track after the train arrives at the crossing. No lorry will ever cross that track! 4.3.2 Building tracks over roads and destroying the track This is a (buggy) way to destroy a road of your opponent because after you build the track the square will be yours. 4.3.3 Building diagonal tracks Since diagonal tracks can't be crossed with bridges or crossings building them is a good method to prevent an area or some fields to be used by other players. In earlier years you need an 3x4 field for a small airport. Later when bigger airplanes are available you will need a big airport on a 6x6 area. With diagonal track segments you can keep the needed area clean and later there is no need to destroy the houses or the roads of the city or, let another player use that area. Hint: Two stations of different players cannot be built next to each other. There must be a one square gap between them. 4.3.4 Buy transportation monopols If you have enough money you can buy a transportation monopol in a city for one year (see 3.7). Use this to let your opponents routes become no longer profitable. This seems to decrease your overall performance rating in the stats but I don't know why. 4.3.5 Roadworks for your opponents profitable routes Pay those cities to improve their roads (that means a lot of roadwork without any improvement) where an opponent have profitable road service (see 3.7). 4.3.6 Build depots at rear panel of enemy stations Building depots on the rear side of your opponents stations is a very good method to get rid of his trains. Build a Jinty in your station and wait for an opponents train. Now start your engine...boom. 4.4 Cities growth # It is very difficult to say what things effects cities growth. # All cities start between 10 and ca. 750 inhabitants. They grow even if # they aren't affected from any players station or vehicles. But picking # up or delivering goods seem to increase their growth. # But constant building in the near city area will hinder growth. A city # with the possiblity to develop the area around it without beeing # disturbed by building tracks and roads (or scratching houses of the # city) develop best. The more goods transported from/to the city the more # money the city will get. In end game I saw a city with more than 16,000 # inhabitants. Lots of cities start growing fast a few years after I stop # building new tracks or reconfiguring my transportation network. # In some cases I was able to _see_ the city growing. In two years from # 5,000 inhabitants up to 10,000 - 14,000. # # There was an interesting article in the NetworkNew from Chris Smith: # # "I think I figured out how cities grow. It tends to make a lot of 2x1 # and 1x1 blocks, but you can get much higher densities if you lay out the # streets yourself. # # The rule seems to be that buildings need to be next to 2 road squares, # or one road and bare land. ('next to' as in king moves -- n,s,e,w.) # # If you just let it grow, it will make a pleasing but inefficient city. # If you want lots of passengers, make Manhattan -- lots of 1 x n blocks # to grow skyscraper canyons. If this is too boring, you can do the # same thing with L-shaped or S-shaped blocks, as long as they're # a bent form of a 1 x n strip. # # The roving stadiums are neat because they leave behind 2-wide blocks # which keeps the city density from deteriorating even worse. I have # no idea what makes banks grow, but I think they tend to appear out # in the boonies because they just don't fit anywhere else in a homegrown # city layout. # # I think bus and truck stations count as roads -- this works # # +---------+ # | x x x x | # | x B M x | # +---------+ # # Same idea for tiling around an obstacle like an industry, station, # tracks, lake # # +-----------------+ # | x x | x x | x x | # | x # # # # # # x | # +-- # # # # # # --+ # | x # # # # # # x | # | x x | x x | x x | # +-----------------+ # # Stupid ASCII pictures part 2: if all the conditions are right you # can run double tracks one space apart and make crossovers like this # (RRT-style, kind of) # # ---------------:V:----------- # : # ---------------:A:----------- # # It requires 5 signals but trains can pass without stopping. They # still turn around when blocked but it could be worse. You need a # REALLY long run for it to make sense, and the blocks are pretty large, # and it requires a space between the tracks, but it's useful # when it applies. You have to be very careful with diagonal segments -- # if one side is shorter than the other then all the trains try to run # on that side." 5 Tables 5.1 Resources Resource accepts supplies ============================================================== Coal mines - coal forest - wood oil well - oil oil platforms mail,passengers oil,passengers lumber mill wood goods refinery oil goods power plant coal - city passengers,mail,goods passengers,mails bank valuables valuables factory cattles,grain,steel goods farm - cattles,grain steel mill ore steel ore mine - ore 5.2 Trains Name weight speed capacity power constr. life exp. ======================================================================= Jinty-class 45t 56km/h --- 250PS 1924 14 years Stanier 'Crab' 75t 96km/h --- 600PS 1927 20 years Gresley 'A3' 150t 112km/h --- 1100PS 1928 20 years Collett Pannier Tank 47t 64km/h --- 300PS 1931 15 years Gresley 'D49' 77t 104km/h --- 900PS 1931 20 years Stanier 'Jubilee' 131t 128km/h --- 1200PS 1934 21 years Gresley 'A4' 162t 144km/h --- 1400PS 1936 20 years Bulleid 'Q1' 89t 112km/h --- 900PS 1943 20 years BR '8P' 70t 152km/h --- 1800PS 1954 23 years Metro-Cammel DH 64t 112km/h 76 pass. 600PS 1956 12 years EE '37' 101t 144km/h --- 1750PS 1960 20 years BR/Sulzer '25' 72t 144km/h --- 1250PS 1961 18 years Brush '47' 112t 160km/h --- 2580PS 1963 22 years BR '86' 84t 160km/h --- 3600PS 1965 23 years BR '87' 82t 177km/h --- 5000PS 1974 23 years BREL '56' 129t 128km/h --- 3300PS 1976 20 years BR 'IC125' DH 140t 201km/h 8 mail 4500PS 1977 20 years 'Sprinter' DH 76t 120km/h 80 pass. 700PS 1984 15 years 'T.G.V.' DH 180t 241km/h --- 7000PS 1984 25 years 'Eurostar' DH 190t 249km/h --- 8000PS 1993 25 years X2001 (monorail) DH 190t 255km/h --- 10000PS 1998 20 years Note: DH means DoubleHeaded (Engine at front and rear side of train) 5.2.1 Normal train cars Type weight empty/loaded capacity ================================================== passengers 25t / 27t 40 passengers coal 18t / 48t 30t coal mail 21t / 28t 30 mail oil 24t / 54t 30t oil cattles 20t / 24t 25 cattles goods 21t / 33t 25 goods grain 19t / 49t 30t grain wood 16t / 46t 30t wood iron ore 19t / 49t 30t iron ore steel 18t / 38t 20t steel valuables 30t / 50t 20 valuables 5.2.2 Monorail cars Type weight empty/loaded capacity ================================================== passengers 25t / 27t 45 passengers coal 18t / 53t 35t coal mail 21t / 29t 35 mail oil 24t / 59t 35t oil cattles 20t / 25t 30 cattles goods 21t / 36t 30 goods grain 19t / 54t 35t grain wood 16t / 51t 35t wood iron ore 19t / 54t 35t iron ore steel 18t / 43t 25t steel valuables 30t / 55t 25 valuables 5.3 Road vehicles Name speed capacity constr. life expect. ===================================================================== Leyland Lion Bus 48km/h 25 pass. 1925 10 years AEC Mail Car 48km/h 22s mail 1925 15 years Scammel Oil Car 48km/h 21t oil 1925 15 years Dennis Cattles Car 48km/h 14p cattles 1925 15 years Bedford Goods Car 48km/h 14b goods 1925 15 years Scammel Woord Car 48km/h 20t wood 1925 15 years AEC Iron Ore Car 48km/h 22t iron ore 1925 15 years Bedford Steel Car 48km/h 15t steel 1925 15 years Bedford Coal Car 48km/h 20t coal 1926 15 years Leyland Grain Car 48km/h 20t grain 1926 15 years Armored Car (Bedford)48km/h 14s valuables 1926 15 years AEC Regal Bus 56km/h 31 passenger 1929 12 years Leyland Leopard Bus 96km/h 35 passenger 1963 15 years Ford Coal Car 112km/h 25t coal 1975 15 years Renault Mail Car 112km/h 28s mail 1975 15 years Volvo Oil Car 112km/h 25t oil 1975 15 years Ford Cattles Car 112km/h 16p cattles 1975 15 years Fiat Goods Car 112km/h 16b goods 1975 15 years Peugeot Grain Car 112km/h 25t grain 1975 15 years Ford Iron Ore Car 112km/h 25t iron ore 1975 15 years Volvo Wood Car 112km/h 22t wood 1976 15 years Ford Steel Car 112km/h 18t steel 1976 15 years Armored Car (Ford) 112km/h 15s valuables 1976 15 years Volvo Bus 112km/h 37 passengers 1985 15 years 5.4 Ships Name speed capacity constr. life expect. ===================================================================== ferry 32km/h 100 passenger 1925 30 years mail ship 32km/h 100 bags mail 1925 30 years goods freighter 24km/h 100 goods 1927 30 years oil tanker 24km/h 220t oil 1928 30 years coal freighter 24km/h 200t coal 1929 30 years coal freighter 40km/h 220t coal 1965 30 years oil tanker 40km/h 250t oil 1967 30 years Hovercraft 112km/h 100 passengers 1968 25 years mail ship 64km/h 150 bags mail 1968 30 years ferry 64km/h 130 passengers 1971 30 years goods freighter 40km/h 190 goods 1975 30 years 5.5 Airplanes Name speed capacity constr. life exp. ======================================================================== Junkers JU52 476km/h 25 pass.& 4 mail 1929 20 years Douglas DC-3 Dakota 476km/h 30 pass.& 6 mail 1933 30 years Vickers Viscount 476km/h 65 pass.& 8 mail 1948 24 years Aerospatiale SE310 Caravelle 952km/h 90 pass.&10 mail 1955 18 years Sikorsky Helicopter 321km/h 40 pass.&15 mail 1957 20 years McDonnell Douglas DC-8 952km/h 200 pass.&30 mail 1958 23 years British Aerospace BAC 1-11 952km/h 95 pass.&10 mail 1963 22 years Boeing 727 952km/h 170 pass.&35 mail 1963 25 years McDonnell Douglas DC-9 952km/h 100 pass.&15 mail 1965 26 years Boeing 737 952km/h 110 pass.&15 mail 1967 22 years Boeing 747 952km/h 250 pass.&50 mail 1967 25 years BAC Aerospatiale Concorde 2330km/h 110 pass.&20 mail 1968 25 years McDonnell Douglas DC-10 952km/h 220 pass.&40 mail 1970 20 years Lockheed Tristar 952km/h 240 pass.&35 mail 1970 20 years Airbus A300 952km/h 225 pass.&30 mail 1972 24 years McDonnell Douglas MD80 952km/h 150 pass.&30 mail 1978 25 years British Aerospace BAe146 952km/h 80 pass.&10 mail 1980 25 years Airbus A310 952km/h 210 pass.&25 mail 1981 24 years Boeing 757 952km/h 200 pass.&25 mail 1982 25 years Boeing 767 952km/h 220 pass.&25 mail 1982 25 years Fokker 100 952km/h 85 pass.&10 mail 1987 20 years Airbus A320 952km/h 160 pass.&20 mail 1987 24 years McDonnell Douglas MD-11 952km/h 230 pass.&25 mail 1989 25 years Airbus A330 952km/h 220 pass.&20 mail 1993 24 years Boeing 777 952km/h 240 pass.&40 mail 1994 25 years 5.6 Limitations The number of stations, road vehicles, trains, airplanes and ships is limited. player city game Stations 48 ?? ?? Road vehicles 80 NL -+ airplanes 80 NL | not more than ? vehicles trains 40 NL | ships 50 NL -+ NL = no limitation ?? = there is a limitation but I do not know the number. (information taken from news from David Skreiner (david@htu.tu-graz.ac.uk) and Robert Court (robert@court.cityscape.co.uk). Many thanks) If you reach the maximum number of vehicles you cannot build additional cars for existing trains. For the maximum number of vehicles this seems to be valid: 1 plane = 2 road vehicles 1 train engine = 1 road vehicle 1 train car = 1 road vehicle 1 ship = 1 road vehicle So a train engine with three cars is equivalent (number of vehicles) with 4 lorries. Watch for trains with engines at front and rear side of the train. Those count for two vehicles. If you build them if only one vehicle is possible, the back car doesn't appear. If you reach on of the limits, your difficulty options were set too easy for you. Try harder settings. Due to very crappy service a city can prohibit further buildings of your company on its area. Do better service and try again.