Making the Grade - a map for Railroad Tycoon 2 - v1.0 - by Sirian Map size : 240 x 240 Date Released: March 3, 1999 Single Player: Yes Map Goals : Yes Map Events : Yes Multiplayer : Yes Max Players : 5 Max Total : 8 Default Start: 1883 Earlier Start: 1878 Latest Start : 1908 Making the Grade is an all-mountains map, perhaps the first of its kind. It is also one of the most challenging maps you will ever play. This map has complex victory conditions. There are eight map goals, for a combined total of nine Victory Points. In single player, you must earn one Victory Point within 40 years to earn Bronze or you lose. If you qualify for Bronze, you then get extra time (up to 80 years) to try and earn the Silver. You need four of the nine Victory Points for a Silver Medal. If you manage that, you will have up to 120 years to try and earn the Gold. You must earn ALL NINE Victory Points to win the Gold Medal. Earning even one point will be a challenge. The terrain is unforgiving. In multiplayer, you may choose between a Short Game or a Full Game, by playing either the original version or the "Short Multi" version. In the Short Game, the first player to score any Victory Point is the winner. In the Full Game, the first person to earn five Victory Points will win, or the player with the most points once all nine have been earned will win. Players may of course choose to play for other points totals, but you will have to use the main version and then keep track on your own if, for example, playing until someone earns two points. And of course, on a map this challenging, it won't be uncommon for players to go completely bankrupt in multiplayer. If you go bankrupt, obviously you are most likely finished. The map's only restriction is that you cannot start multiple companies. If players are going bankrupt, the last one still standing will be the victor. You may check the Briefing at *any* time to see how many total Victory Points have been awarded so far that game, in single or multiplayer. Victory Points are awarded for the following accomplishments: * Connect Diva and Happy Valley and haul 12+ loads between them - 1 point * Connect Happy Valley and Waterloo and haul 12+ loads between them - 1 point * Connect Waterloo and Walrus Island and haul 12+ loads between them - 1 point * Connect Walrus Island and Serpent's Hold and haul 12+ loads - 1 point * Connect Serpent's Hold and Diva and haul 12+ loads between them - 1 point * Haul 100+ loads in a single year - 1 point * Personal Net Worth of $30,000,000 or more - 1 point * Company Book Value of $100,000,000 or more - 2 points! All train running costs are set to Low. All revenues are set to +10%. All mountainous track building has been set to cost 25% less than normal for the first 30 years, and 20% less than normal thereafter. Engine maintenance has been set to 10% cheaper than normal. Only the powerful locomotives that perform well on grades will be available for purchase. There is an economic depression set to go off at a certain point fairly early in the game; ignore the warning notice at your own peril. When nuclear plants eventually arrive, they will provide some very lucrative opportunities. The economy is set to start at a VERY low level, meaning many towns won't even have the minimum 4 houses required to create demand. Be careful. However, the economy is set to grow at a HIGH rate, so hang in there. Town size will grow eventually, and any towns receiving rail service will grow at a faster rate. You may even see a large abundance of industry in a busy town, or see a village grow into a metropolis, over the decades. The AI players will tend not to purchase rights to the five nations, so you will likely only have to compete with them in the rest of the region. This open-ended Victory Point system allows you, the player, to choose your own approach. You may tackle these goals in any order, and you only have to reach ONE of them (any of them) to consider yourself a success on this map. Good luck! Sirian ... aka ... Robert B. Thomas ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Advice, Tips, and Suggestions for playing this map. Making the Grade is a truly challenging map. Even with the aid of low costs, you will be hard pressed to turn a profit, much less expand your rail network. If you are having trouble getting started, or just looking for some tips to improve your performance, here are some things to consider. I recommend you either connect two cities, or one metropolis with two towns. There are numerous places to start. Silver Star and Arcturan. Qaid to Torment or Qaid to Northumberland. Peace Cross to Sussex or Badlands to Sussex. You can go from Arcturan to Equinox, or Equinox to Riverbend. You can start in Forsaken IF there are at least two towns with 4 houses nearby, but you have to connect to more than one town right away. You can go from Essex to Eastwick. Or you can hire a manager that boosts goodwill and lay out for rights immediately and dive into yet more opportunities like starting in San Angelino, Somerset Lakes, Walrus City, Serpento, or Barkman Plateau. RUN ONE CAR PER TRAIN!!! This is absolutely essential for all but the very best grade performers. You can run any number of cars you want on a leg that is downhill-all-the-way, but if there are any grades to be climbed (and there almost always are) then it's one car max or go bankrupt, until you've survived long enough to reach the Camelback and other power locos. Run one car per train, or up to three on Shays. No more! No cabooses, either, except on the Shays or empty legs. Running more Shays and cabooses helps with goodwill. Another advantage of running one car per train is higher demand levels, on average, for each car that arrives. The demand will have time to recover a bit, in most cases, before the next single-car train arrives. If you have too much trouble at first and you just cannot survive at all, you can start in 1908 after the Camelback arrives. The Camelback can handle more than one car -- it's better than the Shay in *every* way, including costs. Whatever you do, make sure you include industry in your plans. And have ALL your trains ALWAYS wait until full: you can't afford to run any empty trains. Also, make sure you have enough SAND. You have to put a depot with nothing but a sand tower on top of the hill between Silver Star and Arcturan, for example, or on the steep hillside between Somerset Lakes and Nittany. Go there and look! That short distance is TOO FAR to go without a pit stop for sand, with slopes that steep (about 8% all the way up, and worse if you don't pick the best route). On the other hand, you do not need a sand waypoint on the run from Somerset Lakes up to Turkeyfoot. So it's not just about distance, it's about grade. Keep an eye on it. Also, put a sand tower at EVERY station. Running out of sand is like tossing cash out the nearest window. :) If you can keep the grades UNDER 6% for the most part, you'll be OK. Your target on really steep hills is to keep most if not all of them under 8%. Better to have a whole hill of 6.5% than to have ONE spot of 11% and a lot of 4%s. Try to avoid steep curves, those are the worst. 8% on a curve is like glue: the trains stick there for months at a time. Grades worse than 8% are *very* bad, but they are not fatal unless traffic levels are going to be high in that area. Don't rely heavily on the Mogul when it arrives. It's actually not worth choosing over the Consolidation for short runs. The BoBo is not a bad train, but it will cost extra to electrify your rails and the fuel costs for the BoBo can be prohibitively expensive for some runs. You will have to make hard decisions when the time comes. If you can survive until the Camelback comes out, you'll be in a strong position. Your towns will likely have grown a lot in the first 23 years, so you'll be primed with higher levels of supply and demand ready and waiting and eager for more deliveries. From that point on, conditions will improve. Better, more powerful locomotives will become available over time. By the time that diesels come out, you'll be sitting pretty -- assuming you made it through the lean early years intact. :) Keep in mind that there will be a very bad economic period after your first decade of the game has passed. Don't overextend yourself early: just make sure you are turning profit, and try to get your foot in the door on hauling industrial cargo and buying up any industries you have made lucrative. This is a great opportunity to sell short a few thousand shares of competitors' stocks in anticipation of the big crash, and then to increase your holdings while the prices are rock bottom. It is not uncommon for ALL the stocks on the market to be in private hands by the time the depression is over. Don't panic if some of your Shays are actually losing money hauling. They are slow and somewhat costly, but you CANNOT afford to ignore nearby industry. Not only will you earn more than enough industry profits to cover the expense of the Shays, they will keep you afloat through that early depression. Profits from Bakeries, Dairy Processors, Textile Mills and similar industry will remain high even in hard times, and can keep your company from going broke. Just as importantly, Shays will cause your towns to grow, and they will lead to improved goodwill, which will reduce the cost for Rights and improve the availability level of cargo. Passengers and mail are big bread winners in prosperous times. You will make a lot of money off of mail, hauling one load at a time. Buy those post offices and hotels at the earliest opportunity, and double your tracks quickly if you haven't already. Be careful of taking out too many bonds, particularly at high interest rates. Too much interest can back fire on you. Finally, if you have difficulty getting started on this map, you may be playing it at too steep a setup. Try restarting with more of a revenue bonus (or less of a penalty). This will affect the map's value in terms of your high score board, but it will let you have fun playing. This map can be highly addictive once you really get into the swing of things. :) --------------------------------------------------------------------------------- --------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Making the Grade is designed for the seasoned RRT2 player. New players should make sure to learn how to be successful on less demanding maps before tackling this one. For me personally, my test games on this map have been some of the funnest games of RRT2 I have yet played. The map is unlike any other, and it presents a unique and entertaining set of challenges. I hope you succeed at Making the Grade. Sirian ... aka ... Robert B. Thomas