The 1700-2050 Ships & RVs Thread

[leifbk]

Here is a screenshot covering most of the world.

1975_full.png

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The canal network was reworked in the 1960s and will now allow large ships to go at full speed all over. The only old-fashioned waterway left is the old Svalstua canal which is trafficked by fruit barges going between the Svalstua fruit plantations and the Østøra brewery, and farming supply barges going from the Fjøshol machine shop to the south (not shown) to the same fruit plantations. There's also the Laskebekk canal to the sawmill, which I'm anticipating eventually to be replaced by road vehicles. Alternatively, the company will finance another sawmill located at a more convenient place.

The Mjølby Bridge is a wonder of engineering, and I doubt if a longer bridge will ever be built on this continent.

If you look closely at the twin towns of Kollevang-Rekhella, you may be able to spot 4 buses going back and forth. This is a legacy from one of my ancestors, who in 1827 set up a horse-cart route for the convenience of the people of Kollevang, enabling them to visit the hospital at Rekhella. At the time it was a pitiful service; once there was noted that more than 1500 persons were waiting for the carriage at the Rekhella station. That is three times the combined population of Rekhella and Kollevang, and it sounds rather improbable.

We have one mail route between Stavskår and Enghall; originally there were 16 4-horse carriages, proudly carrying the vehicle numbers 1-16. I reduced it to 12 vehicles some years ago, and today there are clearly too many of them. The current Tipler mail truck carries 26 mail bags at 88 km/h which is 11 times the capacity of one of the original horse-carts. The towns of this world are not growing, so the demand is about the same as when my family started this business all those years ago.

The company is also running one mail ship, a minuscule Harbour Point vessel able to carry 30 mail bags between Laskebekk and Gurplass.

Those three routes constitute the sum of services that we are offering to the public. As my ancestor F. Fommel I succinctly put it: "Humans were created with two legs; let them walk." Despite this, they seem rather content with the company:

towns.png (421.74 KiB) Viewed 5013 times

We have no interactions with the towns of Farhei, Onshall, and Samskåsa, but I'm certain that if we ever need to approach them, they will be just as friendly as the others.

[leifbk]

1987: The iron ore and the wood are now delivered by trailers to the iron work.

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The new generation of large articulated vehicles is running at 64 km/h. That is also the speed of this awesome wood truck, the Cascade C10, hauling 81 tons of wood. I purchased 19 of these monsters for the wood transport from Stutsjø forest, replacing 6 Marstein ships. The big hopper is the ATP MGA with a capacity of 61 tons. There are 30 of them taking the iron ore from the Høysund mine.

The iron is still delivered by ship to the Laskebekk forge. The farming supplies go by barge to the Stutsjø forest, while the engineering supplies are delivered to the Høysund mine by 4 small and fast Mettler Promethius trucks.

[leifbk]

Now the Lobonn iron is delivered by truck:

1994_laskebekk.png (485.75 KiB) Viewed 4956 times

The trucks make a better profit than the ships. We're also seeing a more even output of farming and engineering supplies, which helps the production at the forest and the mine. When the iron was brought here by Marstein ships, the production at the forge occasionally went below the threshold needed to keep the mine going at quadruple output.

The beer is now being freighted from the Østøra brewery to Laskebekk by two container ships, running at 48 km/h. I've also deployed a few of those large ships for the paper and cardboard from the Stavskår paper mill. The Marstein is sufficient for most other purposes.

Some years ago a grain mill was established at Laskebekk, but as all the grain goes to the brewery, I can see no use for it. Busy places like Laskebekk seems to attract other industries. The iron ore mine to the right delivers ore to the Flisholt steel mill. Apparently, there's an excess number of trucks there right now. The livestock from the milk farm goes by barge to the Finhella stockyard. (The milk presumably goes unprocessed to the Laskebekk grocery store.)

By the way, I never got around to tell that the Laskebekk sound is in reality a short canal. It was dug across the narrow isthmus in the early 1700s and has been of immense economical value.

[leifbk]

A somewhat belated report from the 21st century:

2002_stats.png (234.46 KiB) Viewed 4929 times

I plainly forgot which year it was

The Road vehicle income over running costs is now well above 14:1, the same ratio for the ships is about 5:1. The income from the RVs is now in the same order of magnitude as from the ships, providing more than 20 % of the total income.

There's a lot going on; some years ago an offshore oil field was found. It doesn't yield a lot, but the additional oil did push the gasoline production up, thus we're getting more engineering supplies from the Fjøshol facility, and the old Lobonn oil well is going Gung ho most of the time, with a montly production exceeding 700,000 liters. The oil goes to the refinery by 6 Hopetown tankers. This is the only route where the Eddystone is considered a bit too small for the job.

A new generation of trucks is available, running at 72 km/h. This means that the Cascade wood trucks will have to be replaced by conventional flatbeds; else they would slow down the other long vehicles.

In general, we're very pleased with the Generic Road Vehicles. They are doing their job well, and for most purposes the capacity of 60-70 tons is ideal. There is hardly a need for trucks with capacity above 100 tons, as at most sites they would take more than a month to fill up. And monthly deliveries are generally considered good for production. The same goes for ships: We have no need for big hulks taking the better part of a year to fill up. If the big ships had considerably lower running costs than the small ones, they might be worthwhile for a few routes, but the fact is that they are just as expensive to run as the smaller ones per ton. However, this may change in the future. I have approached their designer about these statistics, and he has promised to look at the problem.

Here is a breakdown of the current list of ships and their numbers:

2002_ships.png (41.79 KiB) Viewed 4929 times

The dominant ship type is actually the tiny Whitgift barge. We are extraordinary lucky in this corner of the world with our constantly calm weather, being able to run those tiny barges across open water without losing any of them in the waves. I'd rather see a small seagoing vessel with a capacity of 100-200 tons for most of this trade.

[Marshy]

Great screens leifbk! Nice to see a game using primarily road and sea .

[leifbk]

The Lobonn iron work, now completely served by trucks:

2003_lobonn.png (474.27 KiB) Viewed 4886 times

When you're using road vehicles, it is absolutely required to separate the ingoing and outgoing traffic. A temporary roadblock hampering the ingoing traffic will very soon cause a buildup of vehicles waiting for load. If the latter gets in the way of the former, you're in for a horrible deadlock.

The dock and the ship depot at the site are now obsolete, and will presently be removed. The canal is no longer in use, but I won't spend a fortune on removing it. Maybe there will be other uses for it in the future, like an oilfield.

[leifbk]

A current map of the world.

2003_map.png (55.72 KiB) Viewed 4883 times

[Supercheese]

This has been a great read thus far, thanks for taking the time to describe your setup for us.

[leifbk]

It's 2011 and a new branch in transport has opened, the recycling business.

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Three towns have opened Recycling depots, and at the Gurplass promontory a Recycling plant has been established. The latter takes materials from the recycling depots and converts them to manufacturing supplies and farming supplies. I have purchased a few ships for the transport of recyclables, mainly Cadizes, which despite their poor performance over running costs are about the right size for this kind of transport, amounting to 200-300 tons per month from the larger towns. The Finhella stockyard is getting a double advantage from this business. Firstly, we're shipping the Manufacturing supplies there. Secondly, the two nearby livestock-producing farms near Gurplass and Laskebekk are receiving farming supplies, and have increased their production to such an extent that the two barges that were sufficient for the livestock transport from each of them have been swapped for Marsteins. Thus, the number of Grindaviks carrying food from the stockyard to the town of Høysund has been increased from 2 to 3.

I have pondered the possibility of bringing these farming supplies to the grain-producing farms in the Gurplass hinterland, but so far there's too little of these supplies to make any great difference. It will also mean that new roads will have to be laid across the farmlands, and certainly a lot of micro-management.

[leifbk]

It's 2025, and here is the penultimate quarter-century report:

2025_stats.png (282.27 KiB) Viewed 4768 times

The company's annual net income has increased with about 70% since 2002. This is partly due to growth in the oil industry, where yet another two offshore fields have been found; and partly to another recycling depot having opened. The main reason, however, is because the company finally has yielded to public demand and set up a few passenger routes. There are now three such routes between six of the most populous towns; one between Daskegrend and Smedplass, one between Enghall and Omgrunn, and one between Stavskår and Høysund. Each route is serviced by 5 Pegwell Super 4 Hovercrafts, carrying up to 400 passengers at 112 km/h. They are seldom filled entirely up, yet these 15 ships are paying off millions in profit each year.

The road vehicle fleet has recently been completely upgraded. The current generation of the big trucks has a capacity of 82 tons and is running at 80 km/h. The small ones carry 32 tons at 104 km/h. The Road vehicle income over running costs ratio is approaching 18:1.

Ship income over running costs is up to about 5.5:1. The increase should mainly be attributed to the great incomes of the Hovercrafts, as no new ship type has become available since the Nieuwpoort container ship was introduced in 1979.

[leifbk]

Once I mentioned that I had financed a coal mine to increase production at the steel mill.

2040_coalmine.png (533.24 KiB) Viewed 4722 times

It doesn't have a great yield, slightly less than 100 tons per month. Until recently it was served by large trucks, but I have now replaced the 2 82-tons Locus Axons with 3 50-tons Link Junos. This is because the big trucks simply took too long time to fill up. We don't want to lose one third of the steel production from a shipload of scrap metal because no coal has arrived for more than a month.

The steel mill gets iron ore from 3 different mines by Locus Axons. The chance that one of those won't have delivered during the last month is very slight. Scrap metal comes from 2 sources: one scrap yard at Smedplass to the north, and two scrap yards at Vingelvoll, at the eastern corner of the map.

[leifbk]

The final stats:

2050_stats.png (468.28 KiB) Viewed 4649 times

I didn't quite make it to £1,000,000,000 but I didn't try very hard either.

For the last 25 years, it's been business as usual. Apart from this oil well with a 200,000 liters per month production, nothing much has happened. I have set up a passenger route between Laskebekk and Gurplass with 2 Sunk Rock ferries (yes they're still there after 180 years), and another Harbour Point mail ship on the same route. The original 16 mail lorries between Stavskår and Enghall have been reduced to 6. I could probably have reduced the number even further.

After the last upgrade of the long trucks in 2046/47, the RV income over running costs is approaching 20:1. The corresponding ratio for the ships hasn't changed much since the previous report.

I will continue the game throughout 2050, when I shall return with some conclusions.

[Pyoro]

Flishot, so close to being connected, yet half a yard of road is missing...

[Marshy]

Those are some hefty profits leifbk, but yes, does your company have something against Flishot?

[leifbk]

2051_final.png (119.93 KiB) Viewed 4633 times

And it's done.

Seems like I got 900 points this time too. I never get more or less than 900 points. That is, the times that I really have the stamina to pull it through. Usually I'll get jaded at some point between 1960 and 1980. This rating is kind of meaningless anyway.

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If anybody can explain to me what this "Min. profit" is supposed to be about, then maybe I can do better next time. Or maybe not.

I don't consider it a primary goal in this game to get stinking rich. Rather I try to build efficient networks, and try to not waste production. Besides, I don't like micro-management much. That's one of the reasons why I don't use trains: They require far too much attention for my taste. On the other hand, you can set up a horse route in 1700 and it will run without intervention for 200 years, providing a tiny, but steady stream of revenue all the time. I can sit and watch a shipping route for several game years on end, and occasionally sell a ship or two if there are too many of them. Maybe it's like watching paint dry, but hey, I actually like watching paint dry And when you watch a rather static situation maybe for decades, you'll often discover tiny details that may enhance the profit, but would otherwise have escaped your attention.

I've learned quite a lot through this particular game. The regular 25 years reports have enabled me to see the development of the business in an entirely new light, and I've paid attention to many details that I probably would have ignored in an ordinary game.

As some of you may have noticed, I've deliberately avoided the easy cash cows, like mail and passenger transport, until late in the game. I started with one mail route, but then I moved on to fishing and food delivery as soon as I could afford it. One of the reasons why I avoid mail and passenger transport, is the amount of micro-management that will eventually arise. When I got the hang of vehicle groups, shared orders, and shared timetables, I set up a lot of mail routes in the early years. But when the 20th century comes around with ever bigger and faster vehicles, I soon get bored by going through every route, adjusting and recalculating the timetables, and removing surplus vehicles. And then there's the hopelessly inadequate means of passenger transport.

And when you ignore the possible profits of mail and passenger transport, there's no point in letting the towns grow. There really is no point at all in letting the towns grow unchecked for 350 years; the map would probably be totally littered with houses long before 2050.

I haven't cared about anything but grain and livestock from the farms. All the beets, fibers, wool, and milk have been ignored. It isn't because I don't consider them as worthy business opportunities, but because I tend to concentrate on a subset of the possible lines of business. In another game, I might well be involved in for instance a textile production line, but this time it didn't have the looks of a viable pursuit.

[leifbk]

Flishot, so close to being connected, yet half a yard of road is missing...

Those are some hefty profits leifbk, but yes, does your company have something against Flishot?

No, I have no problems with the inhabitants of Flisholt - they're just as friendly towards the company as anybody else in this world, cf. the Town view screenshot above. But as I mostly ignore passenger and mail transport, I simply haven't found a reason to connect that particular town to the rest of the world by road.

[STD]

Thank you so much for the description of their game. With great pleasure I read. Congratulations on achieving the rank Tycoon of the Century

[Kevo00]

Superb. Its great to see all those busy waterways.

[Wahazar]

Very interesting thread.
I was also playing such games (well, start was 100 year later).

Seems like I got 900 points this time too. I never get more or less than 900 points.

It is because this ranking is broken for other than standard game, especially if cargodist is enabled or feeder systems are in use.
I already proposed in another thread, that minimal profit criterion is obsolete (average ranking from 10 stations should be used instread, for example).

one of the reasons why I don't use trains: They require far too much attention for my taste. On the other hand, you can set up a horse route in 1700 and it will run without intervention for 200 years, providing a tiny, but steady stream of revenue all the time. I can sit and watch a shipping route for several game years on end, and occasionally sell a ship or two if there are too many of them. Maybe it's like watching paint dry, but hey, I actually like watching paint dry And when you watch a rather static situation maybe for decades, you'll often discover tiny details that may enhance the profit, but would otherwise have escaped your attention.

OK, now try it on multiplayer server
I'm using trains because introduction of trains give new opportunities to already existing transport networks,
and existing revenues allow to start with not only local railways.

And when you ignore the possible profits of mail and passenger transport, there's no point in letting the towns grow. There really is no point at all in letting the towns grow unchecked for 350 years; the map would probably be totally littered with houses long before 2050.

I prefer game scripts which make city growth a much more challenging.
I will post some details in separate thread.

[Hamilton2007]

How did you make money so early on? Cause i'm in debt all over the place starting in 1700..