With the corona-virus lockdown, the company I work at decided to spend a little funds on setting up a gameserver for the employees to hang out in instead of having watercooler talk (strictly off-hours only, of course). And after a wonderfully chaotic game of Factorio, it was time for another epic game of OpenTTD. We started out with a simple Netherlands setting using all the dutch sets and BSPI, so people could get used to how this game works again (for some it has literally been 9 years). However, now it's time to get dirty with some proper hard settings again.
This is an After Action Report (AAR) on our game being played on a multiplayer server running JGR's patch pack (0.34.2). We're using only a small part of the patch features, but daylength is mandatory for us so what's a gamer to do?
This thread will contain many, many pictures. But given that this is the screenshot forum, I'm assuming that won't be an issue.
Table of Contents
Pre-game plans
Session 1: Fishing for a start
Session 2: Broke for rails
Session 3: A passing grade
Session 4: New blood, old troubles
Session 5: Highs and Lows
Session 6: Plans and medals
Session 7: Generations
Update 8: Stebbins or Bust
Game Settings
The settings are cranked way up, in order to make a hard game. The normal game settings are almost as hard as they go and we're using the Basecost newgrf to make everything more expensive as well. Building on water is entirely forbidden, so no massive landscaped bridges in the endgame.
We're playing with the wonderful Silicon Valley gamescript to give everyone in the game their own goal, which directly defines the red line of this AAR. Our theme is 'Alaska', using alaskan town names in the arctic climate, with a very mountainous height map. We're playing with FIRS 3 on extreme mode. That is a lot of industries, but on this massive map it balances out. No gold mines unfortunately, but plenty of oil to fit the theme.
World gen: These are the newgrfs we're using. I messed up on the configuration for the Chips docks, but it's running on the dedicated server now so we'll have to live with it. NARS doesn't have a lot of endgame, so we added the maglev sets. The only activated railtypes are the urban maglev and transrapid. With NuTracks, that's already plenty enough tracks to clutter up the interface.
The settings:
Code: Select all
[preset-Alaskan]
454E0202|AC1ADFB1CBF3066671DE6D454C7B43AF|maglev_track_set_v2-2.2\maglev_track_set.grf = 1 4 4 2 2 0 1 1 0 0 1 0 1 2 3 4 5 0
444A5401|E198910FBF02F96A14C70B2E61D43B68|nutracks-r283\nutracks.grf = 0 0 0 0 0 0 80 131 180 230 350 56 56 37 0 56 56 37 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 50 101 1 3 1 2
F1250007|997B31233DCFC059D343EB90E046D7EB|firs_industry_replacement_set_3-3.0.12\firs.grf = 5 0 0 0 0 0 16 150 80 300
50430303|38558CC62E283687C5CD56F2D3596B64|alaskan_town_names-1.0\alsk_names.grf =
415A0301|8667797182D6F6C670D7BE5D677ACB45|american_road_replacement_set-2.0.0\americanroads.grf = 1940
47474705|6D9D5B2E44D9EFE3EEE35BB92E971EC8|auzfreightstations-8\auzfreightstations_v008.grf =
47474709|B2871F0F49743A1098D2F6F855DAEC1B|auz_stations_platforms-1\auzstationsplatforms.grf =
44440A80|D032A9394BD1679CDB74E7B1067CD04F|av9.8-0.95\av9point8.grf = 0
44440502|9B2267C916691C45A2C85BE1FF54F7C3|combined_american_signal_set.1.1\ussigzw.grf =
52571203|7CE88A25DDB058C1BE577B88D049B274|egrvts2-188\egrvts2.grf = 0 63 2 0
474A0001|C1772ED819AC0A4303B2813A8CFF0C76|total_town_replac._set_early_mod-modified23.14\ttrs3w-early_mod.grf = 0 0 0 0
524A4501|5FAD80637E4DD13F7997EA2F7C5F707C|north_american_building_set-v0.6.6.8\re_nabs.grf =
44440302|C2A2CE006D0F3BC2E44122A9358EC999|north_american_renewal_set-2.51\newnars.grf = 0
4D50006A|3A797B1A7E3968A91CB45199BCF52520|ore_unloader_station-0.1\iorestat.grf = 1
4A4D0101|AFE4E75999A3FF92D4B01DBEE9A803E9|sailing_ships-0.62\ss.grf =
414E0201|0DA3A80B986BC3C17C20CA4CE9CA26AA|fish_2-2.0.3\fish.grf = 1 1 0
415A0501|37F4A01391FE088BD22740A89E22F78B|total_bridge_renewal_set_arrs-1.0.0\total_bridges.grf =
54570200|3DEB9B30A6254AE8606A5A9A99A9A696|us_stations_set-0.86\usstatsw.grf =
4A430002|93EAC5F5396584B92D4C5F0AAAF3F6C5|industrial_stations_renewal-1.0.2\indstatr.grf = 0 1
5043A010|1B83986FEE421A06589FFB66D5364E11|isr_rail__road_depots-0.2\isr_depot.grf = 0
444E0400|735D3D74D5DCADBF1FD6EF7A9C5A3519|vast_station_tiles-0.2.0\vast.grf =
504A0013|8C19753CB66905E869534611828C2654|isrdwestyle_objects-1.1\isrdwe_objects_v1_1.grf =
47474708|CF484D1DA7816918320F33BD3B2A4735|auz_more_freight_stations-1\auzmorefreightstationsv1.grf =
50430901|C3AE624A4F431B28FCB52CDB7F7867FA|chips_custom_docks-1.0\chips_docks.grf = 0 0 0 0 0
43485053|107210078AB4C22C7D83BA65ED9AF16F|chips_station_set-1.8.0\chips.grf =
454E2001|EB36821EDDFAAC0E5E18CD296E55D7FA|real_international_maglev_set-1.5\rims.grf = 1 4 4 0 4 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 1 1 0 1
454E1901|E84F4875E7EBC3B7DB5379746A0AD563|future_reality_inspired_maglevs-1.3\frims_maglev_set_1.3.grf = 1 4 4 4 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 1 1 1
524A4502|01EB35953EF4A72B12523CAE046BCD36|basic_stations-v0.6.6.7\re_basic.grf =
43530103|0B216C6FFB7FF95D01EC0CC22AFEA340|country_roads-1.0\countryroads.grf = 20 1 1 12 1
4D470305|2E96B9AB2BEA686BFF94961AD433A701|basecosts-5.0\basecosts.grf = 9 10 10 12 9 10 9 8 10 10 10 13 8 8 10 9 9 10 9 9 12 15 8 12 12 11 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 14 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 9 8 9 13 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 10 7 13 8 7 7 8 8 12 8 8 8 8 8 11
- Everything is really expensive. Including blowing up farmer's fields.
- cargo weight 4 (all cargo weighs 4x as much for the purposes of required horse power. We tried 5, but it was too harsh with the current heightmap.)
- asymmetric cargo distribution for passengers and mail
- highest possible interest
- hostile town authority
- no building on water, this does allow docks, ship depots, buoys etc. Including water-based objects for eyecandy.
- daylength is set to 13
- 90 degree angles for trains and boats is disallowed
- recessions are on
- primary industries can be prospected. But they're really expensive and on this massive map, good luck getting one anywhere near you. Still, it may be used in the end-game.
- no x4 growth cities, only normal growth.