I always end up making a thread like this after playing a game for a couple of hours, as due to my autism I tend to get stuck in certain ways of playing.
My main problem lays with how to properly make the game feel like you're progressing and making your empire grow.
I've read that setting up a coal mine to power factory train route is a good first business venture. So I will create a map, zoom out a little and go look for a mine and a power station relatively close together. I'll build a simple track and setup a couple of trains to do a route to keep the mine station empty from coal as much as possible. Now what? Conditions are of course always random, but what if another mine lays also in the region. Connect that to the same power station and deliver even more? What if there's only 1 mine in the area, but 2 power stations, do I split the loads and deliver to both stations? Or do I only deliver to the one closest, or the furthest? Do I try to copy this coal->power track on all mines and power stations, so I end up with 20 singular tracks delivering coal, or do I try to feed this 1 power as much as possible by keep connecting the next nearest mine to it.
Basically background game mechanics wise, should I try to make everything as realistic efficient as possible by making sure every resource comes from as close as possible, as if the people of the game world are waiting for me to connect them up, or can I play "evil economy god" and "shape" the world by not connecting certain buildings to my network of logistics to "force" companies to pay a lot of distance fee.
Alright, how do I play this?
Moderator: OpenTTD Developers
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planetmaker
- OpenTTD Developer
- Posts: 9432
- Joined: 07 Nov 2007 22:44
- Location: Sol d
Re: Alright, how do I play this?
You can play that style which you like, they're all equally valid; the purpose of a game is to have fun and desires and ideas of 'fun' vary by person.
As a general advice, it's not 'best' to connect two very close industries; you're a transport company and you're paid for _transporting_ stuff. Thus it's more profitable to transport things over longer distances. Given that coal in real life is shipped half around the world, there's no need to ship coal to the nearest power plant.
This is what I most often do and which serves me well: I start with a coal route which is of intermediate length. It will return good profit then. And you then can connect other coal mines, when the map allows, making use of already existing tracks, gradually building a nice network. When I have connected a few coal mines and have good money I start to connect other ressources, too. Like servicing farms and shipping their goods to a factory... depends. Or if you're into growing cities, start to transport passengers. Try maybe to grow one city to a true metropolis...
Or in arctic and tropical climate: try to have every city grow and provide a good inter city service; some towns will require food and / or water in those climates, so it's slightly higher challange than in temperate climate.
As a general advice, it's not 'best' to connect two very close industries; you're a transport company and you're paid for _transporting_ stuff. Thus it's more profitable to transport things over longer distances. Given that coal in real life is shipped half around the world, there's no need to ship coal to the nearest power plant.
This is what I most often do and which serves me well: I start with a coal route which is of intermediate length. It will return good profit then. And you then can connect other coal mines, when the map allows, making use of already existing tracks, gradually building a nice network. When I have connected a few coal mines and have good money I start to connect other ressources, too. Like servicing farms and shipping their goods to a factory... depends. Or if you're into growing cities, start to transport passengers. Try maybe to grow one city to a true metropolis...
Or in arctic and tropical climate: try to have every city grow and provide a good inter city service; some towns will require food and / or water in those climates, so it's slightly higher challange than in temperate climate.
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Re: Alright, how do I play this?
there are lots of ways to play after the first successful route is established, but this depends more on philosophy and personal preference than on game mechanics.
As a few viable rule of thumb: separate routes are boring, one big network delivering everything to the same destination is more challenging in terms of network layout. the game rewards longer routes more than shorter ones, so the first route should be as long as possible with the money you can afford with the initial/maximum loan.
As a few viable rule of thumb: separate routes are boring, one big network delivering everything to the same destination is more challenging in terms of network layout. the game rewards longer routes more than shorter ones, so the first route should be as long as possible with the money you can afford with the initial/maximum loan.
Re: Alright, how do I play this?
Alright that helps me a lot. (I get that you -could- basically run 100 separate straight train lines from one side to the other and make a lot of profit, but where's the fun of that).
What about the amount of delivery though? Is there a certain cap at which point a city won't accept any new passengers, or a factory no longer any resources, or does the price gradually reduce?
I understand that keeping a coal mine over 70% delivered will make it slowly over years generate more, do factorys/cities have a similar system for intake? (And do they go away/reduce if they don't receive anything for a while?)
Another "aren't you asking a lot of us " question while I'm at it; Understanding that there's basically no real "goal" in to making it difficult for yourself, it will be sorta difficult for me to play, as I need feel some sort of gratification of fulfilling something difficult to make it interesting. (stupid autism
) ... Is there a list of addons (GFsomethingpacks, can't remember it atm) for OpenTTD people tend to install to make it more difficult/interesting/feel campaigny?
I'm one of those people who for example in a game like Anno 1404 plays the game for an hour to understand what the perfect build would be for a single play map (not campaign of course), then spend 2 days randomly generating -that- perfect map, and then quit 20% done to my ultimate dream city as I've spend the last 2 days imaging it that once I know I can do it, the pleasure has already been had.
So totally perfect would be if there's something that adds a lot of random difficulties to overcome while expanding and growing your logistical network.. Maybe this could be achieved by adding an AI? But from reading the forums, I think most people just use them for random track laying?
What about the amount of delivery though? Is there a certain cap at which point a city won't accept any new passengers, or a factory no longer any resources, or does the price gradually reduce?
I understand that keeping a coal mine over 70% delivered will make it slowly over years generate more, do factorys/cities have a similar system for intake? (And do they go away/reduce if they don't receive anything for a while?)
Another "aren't you asking a lot of us " question while I'm at it; Understanding that there's basically no real "goal" in to making it difficult for yourself, it will be sorta difficult for me to play, as I need feel some sort of gratification of fulfilling something difficult to make it interesting. (stupid autism
) ... Is there a list of addons (GFsomethingpacks, can't remember it atm) for OpenTTD people tend to install to make it more difficult/interesting/feel campaigny?I'm one of those people who for example in a game like Anno 1404 plays the game for an hour to understand what the perfect build would be for a single play map (not campaign of course), then spend 2 days randomly generating -that- perfect map, and then quit 20% done to my ultimate dream city as I've spend the last 2 days imaging it that once I know I can do it, the pleasure has already been had.
So totally perfect would be if there's something that adds a lot of random difficulties to overcome while expanding and growing your logistical network.. Maybe this could be achieved by adding an AI? But from reading the forums, I think most people just use them for random track laying?
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Simons Mith
- Transport Coordinator
- Posts: 326
- Joined: 14 Jan 2010 23:45
Re: Alright, how do I play this?
OpenTDD support several radically different styles of play:
1. If you want to treat it as an electronic model railway, a good way to do this is to use the Ctrl-Alt-C cheat to give yourself millions, then model either a section of real-world railway that interests you, or treat a random map as 'real-world' and try to serve it in a credible manner. In fact, it's often not very practical to follow this approach without using the cash cheat.
2. Another way is to play the game according to its own internal rules, which differ greatly from reality. For example: Imagine you've got coal mines A and B and power stations C and D, arranged roughly thus:
A,C <---------a long distance ---------> B,D
In the real world, you'd expect power station C to get its coal from A, and D from B. In the game, because you control what goes where, you can make a fortune shipping coal from A to D, and use the same trains for the return journey from B to C. All industries in the game have some maximum production cap (a few thousand tonnes per month for producing industries, a few tens of thousands for e.g. factories), but it takes years to work up to it.
Variants on this involve choosing any number of self-imposed targets or restrictions; do a complete coal chain on a map (serve every coal mine and every power station), get every train to 10,000,000 a year profit, build a single station capable of handling some very large number of trains, make a profitable air/sea/tram/passenger/mail/whatever network, make a profitable network very early in the game calendar (e.g. pre-1900) etc. Some people seem to enjoy building preposterously complicated junctions.
Some of the extra downloadable content changes the game in major ways; the FIRS or ECS industries, for example, or the CargoDist/Dest patches. Combinations of the many available newGRFs allow you to change the appearance of the game and its gameplay in a wide variety of ways. So if you start to find the basic game unsatisfying, there's various ways it can be tweaked. With FIRS, for example, industries won't grow unless served with engineering/farming supplies. There are patches that restrict town growth unless the town has a good service for food/mail/passengers/water etc. depending on the climate.
3. If you're interested in the game AIs, one mode of play is to write an AI of your own, and then either play against it, or again use the game cheats to play alongside it and assist it. Or pit AIs against one another. Or play against the various AIs others have written.
4. There are cooperative games playable online, where you work with others to build a high-functioning network.
5. There are competitive games playable online, where you are competing against other human players rather than AIs.
6. Scenario and height map design are other interesting areas, whether modelling some real-world place, or producing an interesting fictional setting. Look at some of the available heightmaps and scenarios to see what others have done.
7. Finally, the game provides the means to design your own vehicles and buildings and tracks and etc. The NewGrf 'language' is intimidatingly complex for a beginner, but it's not impossible or there wouldn't be the vast quantity of user-made add-ons available. OTOH, the simplest things, such as drawing new graphic for existing vehicles, aren't too bad, if you have at least a basic understanding of the coding side, or can find someone willing to help.
8. Outside the game, because it's open source it's possible to write your own code and contribute to it. There is the minor requirement that you need to be a programmer, but this is yet another aspect of the game that some people find quite interesting.
As far as random hazards are concerned, there's generally enough going on in a complex network that you don't need external problems as well.
1. If you want to treat it as an electronic model railway, a good way to do this is to use the Ctrl-Alt-C cheat to give yourself millions, then model either a section of real-world railway that interests you, or treat a random map as 'real-world' and try to serve it in a credible manner. In fact, it's often not very practical to follow this approach without using the cash cheat.
2. Another way is to play the game according to its own internal rules, which differ greatly from reality. For example: Imagine you've got coal mines A and B and power stations C and D, arranged roughly thus:
A,C <---------a long distance ---------> B,D
In the real world, you'd expect power station C to get its coal from A, and D from B. In the game, because you control what goes where, you can make a fortune shipping coal from A to D, and use the same trains for the return journey from B to C. All industries in the game have some maximum production cap (a few thousand tonnes per month for producing industries, a few tens of thousands for e.g. factories), but it takes years to work up to it.
Variants on this involve choosing any number of self-imposed targets or restrictions; do a complete coal chain on a map (serve every coal mine and every power station), get every train to 10,000,000 a year profit, build a single station capable of handling some very large number of trains, make a profitable air/sea/tram/passenger/mail/whatever network, make a profitable network very early in the game calendar (e.g. pre-1900) etc. Some people seem to enjoy building preposterously complicated junctions.
Some of the extra downloadable content changes the game in major ways; the FIRS or ECS industries, for example, or the CargoDist/Dest patches. Combinations of the many available newGRFs allow you to change the appearance of the game and its gameplay in a wide variety of ways. So if you start to find the basic game unsatisfying, there's various ways it can be tweaked. With FIRS, for example, industries won't grow unless served with engineering/farming supplies. There are patches that restrict town growth unless the town has a good service for food/mail/passengers/water etc. depending on the climate.
3. If you're interested in the game AIs, one mode of play is to write an AI of your own, and then either play against it, or again use the game cheats to play alongside it and assist it. Or pit AIs against one another. Or play against the various AIs others have written.
4. There are cooperative games playable online, where you work with others to build a high-functioning network.
5. There are competitive games playable online, where you are competing against other human players rather than AIs.
6. Scenario and height map design are other interesting areas, whether modelling some real-world place, or producing an interesting fictional setting. Look at some of the available heightmaps and scenarios to see what others have done.
7. Finally, the game provides the means to design your own vehicles and buildings and tracks and etc. The NewGrf 'language' is intimidatingly complex for a beginner, but it's not impossible or there wouldn't be the vast quantity of user-made add-ons available. OTOH, the simplest things, such as drawing new graphic for existing vehicles, aren't too bad, if you have at least a basic understanding of the coding side, or can find someone willing to help.
8. Outside the game, because it's open source it's possible to write your own code and contribute to it. There is the minor requirement that you need to be a programmer, but this is yet another aspect of the game that some people find quite interesting.
As far as random hazards are concerned, there's generally enough going on in a complex network that you don't need external problems as well.
Re: Alright, how do I play this?
Thanks a lot for your awesome explanation.
My first attempt will be to make a city as a big as possible. (They don't merge once they touch each other do they?) With just the default game mechanics on the max size map. I'll take any losses and earn it back with secondary factory logistics.
My first attempt will be to make a city as a big as possible. (They don't merge once they touch each other do they?) With just the default game mechanics on the max size map. I'll take any losses and earn it back with secondary factory logistics.
Re: Alright, how do I play this?
Another quick question that I cannot find in the wiki;
Does the range from a station to a building matter in terms of transfer/production rates? Or as long as it's in the coverage area and listed as accept/supplies it will be 100%?
Does the range from a station to a building matter in terms of transfer/production rates? Or as long as it's in the coverage area and listed as accept/supplies it will be 100%?
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Simons Mith
- Transport Coordinator
- Posts: 326
- Joined: 14 Jan 2010 23:45
Re: Alright, how do I play this?
Yes, as long as you have at least a one square overlap, you're eligible to receive/deliver cargo from/to that supplier.
Gotchas:
If there are more than two competing stations who are also eligible, I believe only the best-rated two get any of that industry's cargo.
The precise fraction of the cargo you'll actually receive is reduced according to your current station rating.
Not every square of every industry accepts/supplies goods. Sometimes one corner of an industry will supply material but not accept it, or vice versa. This one still catches me out occasionally.
Cities - when cities absorb surrounding towns, the towns just become suburbs of the city, and they retain their local authorities.
Gotchas:
If there are more than two competing stations who are also eligible, I believe only the best-rated two get any of that industry's cargo.
The precise fraction of the cargo you'll actually receive is reduced according to your current station rating.
Not every square of every industry accepts/supplies goods. Sometimes one corner of an industry will supply material but not accept it, or vice versa. This one still catches me out occasionally.
Cities - when cities absorb surrounding towns, the towns just become suburbs of the city, and they retain their local authorities.
Re: Alright, how do I play this?
The problem with OpenTTD is that there still is no scenario editor what-so-ever, which means that you can't set up any goals. This makes the game very confusing to a lot of people, since they don't know what the purpose is. If the goal was "Deliver x tons of coal to Power Station y" or "Make a railroad that connects 20 cities", it would make much more sense.
Of course, the sandbox option should still be available as the standard game. But a few scenarios with goals wouldn't hurt.
Of course, the sandbox option should still be available as the standard game. But a few scenarios with goals wouldn't hurt.
Re: Alright, how do I play this?
What stops you from stating a goal with the scenario file (or even at a sign in-game?)
The only addition that a goal framework brings, is that the computer gives you a message that you reached it. Do you really need that to decide whether you reached the goal?
The only addition that a goal framework brings, is that the computer gives you a message that you reached it. Do you really need that to decide whether you reached the goal?
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Simons Mith
- Transport Coordinator
- Posts: 326
- Joined: 14 Jan 2010 23:45
Re: Alright, how do I play this?
I imagine there might be a few cases where an interesting goal might be complicated to measure. So, perhaps sometimes, yes.
Besides, if you had a scenario with alternative victory conditions, having a matching 'You Have Won/Lost' message ought to be part of implementing the game properly, and hopefully not that hard to add in.
Hm, an AI could monitor many of the alternative victory conditions one might aim for. I was already mulling the idea of a 'Consultant' AI that just sat there and answered questions transmitted to it via signs. Monitoring complex victory/defeat criteria would be an extension of the same idea. Bear with me, I'll experiment.
Could we have (or is there already) a trigger_message command that allows you to specify a side, a message, a message type and a victory/defeat tag? Then an AI could use the 'newspaper article' popup: 'Foo Station wins prestigious 'Station of the Year' trophy'. Victory/defeat ought to be optional because then you could use the same UI to indicate progress without triggering a win/loss. Likewise, if 'message type' was indicated then you can control whether the news popup appears as a ticker event, or if it's just grouped with other events such as opening, closings, production changes etc.
Besides, if you had a scenario with alternative victory conditions, having a matching 'You Have Won/Lost' message ought to be part of implementing the game properly, and hopefully not that hard to add in.
Hm, an AI could monitor many of the alternative victory conditions one might aim for. I was already mulling the idea of a 'Consultant' AI that just sat there and answered questions transmitted to it via signs. Monitoring complex victory/defeat criteria would be an extension of the same idea. Bear with me, I'll experiment.
Could we have (or is there already) a trigger_message command that allows you to specify a side, a message, a message type and a victory/defeat tag? Then an AI could use the 'newspaper article' popup: 'Foo Station wins prestigious 'Station of the Year' trophy'. Victory/defeat ought to be optional because then you could use the same UI to indicate progress without triggering a win/loss. Likewise, if 'message type' was indicated then you can control whether the news popup appears as a ticker event, or if it's just grouped with other events such as opening, closings, production changes etc.
Re: Alright, how do I play this?
Thanks a lot for the replies guys, really appreciate it.
Currently I'm fighting the signals. I don't understand em enough yet to figure out whether what I'm trying to do is even possible.
Maybe someone could help me out with that as well?
Schematically I'm trying to do the following:
Northside
~ (1)
0 (1)
| (2)
b (3)
| (4)
| (/~) (4)
| (4)
p (3)
| (2)
0 (1)
~ (1)
Southside
~ = stations
0 = two loops that have the 2 outward ~ stations in them
b/p = couple train lengths of sidetrack next to the main straight rail
| = long stretch of rail
(#) = indicators for theoretical part.
Theoretically I'm trying to have a single piece of long track, with stations on both ends, (and one in the middle but I'm not sure whether it matters functionality signal wise), where trains either wait at one of the station loops (1) when their nearest long stretch (2) is taken by incoming trains, and move up to one of the side pieces (3) when that track (2) is free. And possibly have some way of deciding whether north or south wins the right over the middle stretch (4) so they always go first. And if it's not too much, the possibility of adding more 3's when the long stretches get really long.
So you could use this on really small short scale, but also on 1000 size maps.
Edit: Quick question about dealing with cities and their assorted stuff. Do I demolish part of the city so my station radius gets everything from the middle? Or do I just start with 1 thing (passengers mostly) and wait till the city grows over my station and that gives it access? or do I use trucks and stuff to haul people and mail and goods and such to the outskirts of the city before training them off to the other side of the map?
Currently I'm fighting the signals. I don't understand em enough yet to figure out whether what I'm trying to do is even possible.
Maybe someone could help me out with that as well?
Schematically I'm trying to do the following:
Northside
~ (1)
0 (1)
| (2)
b (3)
| (4)
| (/~) (4)
| (4)
p (3)
| (2)
0 (1)
~ (1)
Southside
~ = stations
0 = two loops that have the 2 outward ~ stations in them
b/p = couple train lengths of sidetrack next to the main straight rail
| = long stretch of rail
(#) = indicators for theoretical part.
Theoretically I'm trying to have a single piece of long track, with stations on both ends, (and one in the middle but I'm not sure whether it matters functionality signal wise), where trains either wait at one of the station loops (1) when their nearest long stretch (2) is taken by incoming trains, and move up to one of the side pieces (3) when that track (2) is free. And possibly have some way of deciding whether north or south wins the right over the middle stretch (4) so they always go first. And if it's not too much, the possibility of adding more 3's when the long stretches get really long.
So you could use this on really small short scale, but also on 1000 size maps.
Edit: Quick question about dealing with cities and their assorted stuff. Do I demolish part of the city so my station radius gets everything from the middle? Or do I just start with 1 thing (passengers mostly) and wait till the city grows over my station and that gives it access? or do I use trucks and stuff to haul people and mail and goods and such to the outskirts of the city before training them off to the other side of the map?
Re: Alright, how do I play this?
IMHO, the answer to this question should be yes. There is an immense psychological benefit to someone else telling you you have reached a goal, maybe even one you wouldn't have thought of yourself.Alberth wrote:The only addition that a goal framework brings, is that the computer gives you a message that you reached it. Do you really need that to decide whether you reached the goal?
Re: Alright, how do I play this?
As nearly everthing in this game - this will depend as you like it.Jonkel wrote: Edit: Quick question about dealing with cities and their assorted stuff. Do I demolish part of the city so my station radius gets everything from the middle? Or do I just start with 1 thing (passengers mostly) and wait till the city grows over my station and that gives it access? or do I use trucks and stuff to haul people and mail and goods and such to the outskirts of the city before training them off to the other side of the map?
Possibility 1: Inside of town is much place or just some buildings have to get demolished to build a high-traffic station this would be a good solution.
(Possibility 2: ) To get more passengers/mail (PAX) there it is always a good thing to use buses/trucks as suppliers (called feeders). Even an system Bus-> "S-Bahn" -> InterCityExpress will work. But it is mostly easier when the destination station accepts PAX and another service is NOT needed.
Possibility 3: Everything is outside. This needs much more networking and services - so I would use that only with cargodist-patch.
Possibility 4: There is no place inside and you have much money. You demolish everything that is in your way to build your station inside. Be carefull with authorithies - they won't like that - but choping tress (sawmill/dynamite) and replating can help . The city gets smaller too. Maybe ending up in a way that the resultiong town is not interessing for business anymore...
In early started games, when I know I will need InterCity-Stations, I build up some profitable routes and then check out all cities. Building as inside as possible my stations and some rails to get off. Sometimes I leave that for later (using besser tracks) and sometimes this station get connected and trains send early. After servicing cities they grow, so in singleplayer I leave them a while. Later I connect them, build buses and roads for expanding cities. In multiplayer I start expanding cities earlier to get my station inside of a big city and later joining players outside...
Longdistance service:
Sometimes a train has to wait to long untill it is full and then it tooks to long untill the train comes back again (no trains but much cargo waiting). There more trains or an truck feeder system can be great. In some scenarios I haul goods per truck to a train station and then to industry by mammoth-trains. I like those longer (12-15 fields) trains dashing with double-/tripple-head on full-speed across the map. And my truck-feeder system can easily be expanded and adjusted to needs.
Re: Alright, how do I play this?
Don't underestimate the importance of a good victory screen. In fact, one of the biggest complaints about Civilization V is that the victory screen isn't exciting enough. Some actually consider it a slap in the face.Alberth wrote:What stops you from stating a goal with the scenario file (or even at a sign in-game?)
The only addition that a goal framework brings, is that the computer gives you a message that you reached it. Do you really need that to decide whether you reached the goal?
Also, a "goal feature" would hopefully allow "quests" that reward the players throughout the game, such as "A factory need Trendinghall is about to start the production of a new vehicle. Deliver 1000 ton of Steel within the next two years to make the production running" and if you do it, some bonus vehicle becomes available.
But the most important thing is that a good Scenario Editor is that it would let people contribute to the game, even if they don't understand the code or know how to do new graphics.
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Benjaminius
- Engineer
- Posts: 5
- Joined: 07 Apr 2010 14:51
Re: Alright, how do I play this?
I totally agree with Bad_Brett. If there would be more features in the Scenario Editor like the possibility of adding image, sound and video files the game would get a second birth 
Real singleplayer campaigns would pop up everywhere and people like Bad_Brett could create a whole new game out of openttd. Not totally new in gameplay but extremly different in design and feeling. I am an indepentent filmmaker and I would definitely contribute creative stuff to some projects... for free of course
The idea of implementing an AI only causing events sounds quite good. A real scenario editor sounds better though.
Real singleplayer campaigns would pop up everywhere and people like Bad_Brett could create a whole new game out of openttd. Not totally new in gameplay but extremly different in design and feeling. I am an indepentent filmmaker and I would definitely contribute creative stuff to some projects... for free of course
The idea of implementing an AI only causing events sounds quite good. A real scenario editor sounds better though.
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andythenorth
- Tycoon
- Posts: 5658
- Joined: 31 Mar 2007 14:23
- Location: Lost in Music
Re: Alright, how do I play this?
A good goal framework is quite a lot more sophisticated (for example the Railroad Tycoon 3 framework was extensively scriptable).Alberth wrote:The only addition that a goal framework brings, is that the computer gives you a message that you reached it.
A capable goal framework might do things such as:
- construct new industries
- found new towns
- start new AI companies
- trigger disasters
- control subsidies offered
- manipulate town ratings
To make this work in ottd would be a big task though. The handling of edge cases would be horrible (what happens if the site for a new town or industry is already occupied? etc.)
FIRS Industry Replacement Set (released) | HEQS Heavy Equipment Set (trucks, industrial trams and more) (finished)
Unsinkable Sam (ships) (preview released) | CHIPS Has Improved Players' Stations (finished)
Iron Horse ((trains) (released) | Termite (tracks for Iron Horse) (released) | Busy Bee (game script) (released)
Road Hog (road vehicles and trams) (released)
Unsinkable Sam (ships) (preview released) | CHIPS Has Improved Players' Stations (finished)
Iron Horse ((trains) (released) | Termite (tracks for Iron Horse) (released) | Busy Bee (game script) (released)
Road Hog (road vehicles and trams) (released)
Re: Alright, how do I play this?
few more interesting goals to try
1) connect many coal mines to a single power station
2) carry passanger using short trains ( max 6 wagons ).
3) build a metro in a city using only 2x3 tile stations.
4) play with ECC industry and try to keep balance by serving every industry
1) connect many coal mines to a single power station
2) carry passanger using short trains ( max 6 wagons ).
3) build a metro in a city using only 2x3 tile stations.
4) play with ECC industry and try to keep balance by serving every industry
Re: Alright, how do I play this?
Recently downloaded OpenTTD while looking for a game to play natively in Linux.
I enjoy these type of games, and have played the likes of SimCity for hundreds of hours it seems.
I have had more fun setting up rail connections (such as they are), than road networks. I found setting up a road network more expensive, and less profitable, than a rail network, so have been biased towards rail. Took me awhile to work out how to electrify my rail network, but happened quickly once I did, lol. I still need to learn how signalling works (will read the various resources I've found on this forum, and the wiki), and to develop a decent interconnected rail network.
Also tentantively start air services, the first routes started bringing in some serious cash, which has funded the electrifying, upgrading and expansion of my rail network, amongst others. Funny thing is, had an airfield at one city, which I then decided to upgraded to an airport as demand was increasing, however, after I had demolished the airfield, the local council promptly decided that I couldn't build an airport in the exact same spot as where the airfield was (had the same issue when moving a station, but the council changed it's mind after violent riots by the residents who wanted a rail service). So I promptly moved the airport to the neighbouring town, who approved of it, and they have grown into a flourishing city, while the previous one has languished behind a bit as a result. Also chose one city to attempt to develop into a metropolis, so far it's coming along nicely, with air services to virtually all cities, and rail to many cities/towns as well. It also has a fairly decent city and intercity bus service, and helicopter services to key centres.
So far having fun, and definitely have to watch the time while playing, otherwise end up playing until who knows when. The other day had been playing for a few hours, and needed to go do something else, said I will quickly replacing these ageing trains and go.... three hours later was still playing...
B
I enjoy these type of games, and have played the likes of SimCity for hundreds of hours it seems.
I have had more fun setting up rail connections (such as they are), than road networks. I found setting up a road network more expensive, and less profitable, than a rail network, so have been biased towards rail. Took me awhile to work out how to electrify my rail network, but happened quickly once I did, lol. I still need to learn how signalling works (will read the various resources I've found on this forum, and the wiki), and to develop a decent interconnected rail network.
Also tentantively start air services, the first routes started bringing in some serious cash, which has funded the electrifying, upgrading and expansion of my rail network, amongst others. Funny thing is, had an airfield at one city, which I then decided to upgraded to an airport as demand was increasing, however, after I had demolished the airfield, the local council promptly decided that I couldn't build an airport in the exact same spot as where the airfield was (had the same issue when moving a station, but the council changed it's mind after violent riots by the residents who wanted a rail service). So I promptly moved the airport to the neighbouring town, who approved of it, and they have grown into a flourishing city, while the previous one has languished behind a bit as a result. Also chose one city to attempt to develop into a metropolis, so far it's coming along nicely, with air services to virtually all cities, and rail to many cities/towns as well. It also has a fairly decent city and intercity bus service, and helicopter services to key centres.
So far having fun, and definitely have to watch the time while playing, otherwise end up playing until who knows when. The other day had been playing for a few hours, and needed to go do something else, said I will quickly replacing these ageing trains and go.... three hours later was still playing...
B
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