South Australia Scenario: Work In Progress (help required)

[Sabre_Justice]

I've decided to make a scenario of my creatively named state of residence, South Australia, after becoming interested in the strong mining and farming industries in the state and obtaining a heightmap. However, this'll be my first OTTD scenario I make myself, and I'm gonna need a lot of hold to know what to do and figure out how to make it into an interesting scenario.

The heightmap I'm currently using is attached, which covers most of the state. I'm not sure which terrain type to use for it though- South Australia has a rather temperate climate compared to the stereotypical Australian weather, but the northern half of the state is pretty much desert. Perhaps I'm better off splitting up the heightmap and just focusing on the southern Eyre Peninsula/Adelaide/Murray region? (speaking of which, it takes a bit of modification to actually make a functional River Murray, clearly OTTD sees the future the way its management is going)

I'm not entirely concerned with accuracy as long as I make a scenario that's fun to play, by my own standards at least, and I don't plan on making this the maximum size (which would take me forever to make on my own).

However, I think what's gonna be important to consider if the GRFs I use making this thing. I understand that once I've loaded the heightmap, it's set to use whatever GRFs I have equipped and can't change them, so I feel I ought to choose them carefully for both my own sake and anyone interested in playing this. I plan on using FIRS, since there's apparently demand for scenarios with it (ECS Vectors is a little beyond me at the moment, though I figured out Dwarf Fortress so I probably could figure that out too in time), and currently have the Generic Australian Rail Set (GARS) along with some standards like eGRVTS, FISH, Heavy Equipment and Av8. However, I could use as many specialised GRFs as possible to add to the authenticity, and probably a more robust ship set. (the South Australian economy is heavy export-focused, though there's no real representation of that in-game the number of coastal towns and islands will ensure a place for sea transport) Any and all suggestions are welcome.

[NekoMaster]

I would rather have a full sized Southern Australian scenario. You could just cover the temperate areas in sub-tropic grass and leave the desert part IRL as desert in the scenario.

I'll try to add some more trains (especially SAR) to my GARS set but I havent been in the mood lately to sprite. Its just too bad there isnt a broad gauge rail grf since S.A is mostly Broad Gauge

EDIT : You might wanna make a OpenGFX+ Industries and FIRS versions because the latter is a little more challenging then the former what with the millions of cargos and need for supplies with firs. At least OpenGFX+ Industries allow you to have the industries you need in any climate (Iron, coal, livestock, paper in sub tropic)

[oberhümer]

For trains, here's some more specifically Australian ones. There are also some in the "Tropic Refurbishment Set".

[NekoMaster]

For trains, here's some more specifically Australian ones. There are also some in the "Tropic Refurbishment Set".

He's looking mostly for Southern Australian rail stock and the Aussie Train Set doesnt have any SAR stuff. Also, i think TRS covers Queens Land, NSW, Victoria, and Western Australia

[oberhümer]

I'm not entirely concerned with accuracy as long as I make a scenario that's fun to play

[NekoMaster]

I'm not entirely concerned with accuracy as long as I make a scenario that's fun to play

I think that mostly applies to the scenario not being totally accurate in how it looks (climate, towns size and location, industry locations)

[Sabre_Justice]

That, as well as scale.

I would rather have a full sized Southern Australian scenario. You could just cover the temperate areas in sub-tropic grass and leave the desert part IRL as desert in the scenario.

How exactly do I do that? It'd be handy since pretty much the entire bottom half of the state makes more sense as grass. It's kinda funny, since southern South Australia pretty much has a Mediterranean climate, similar to Victoria, while the top half is the stereotypical outback.

I might consider OpenGFX+Industries, I haven't tried that yet. But I think FIRS better represents the heavily agricultural economy around here, on Eyre Peninsula in particular. Though the more north you go, there's less farms and more mines, especially nowadays.

Anyway, as for industry placement, I might go a semi-realistic route with that- the manufacturing and refining industries tend to be centralised close to or in towns, while primary industries are all over the place. (and the areas I'm more familiar with are certainly going to be over-represented) It'll be less about finding the right combination of industries to get an optimal chain, more about gathering all the resources into an optimal route. (feeder systems may be encouraged) But I don't really know much about OTTD strategy, so that's still up in the air.

At least it shouldn't be too hard to get established, my hometown of Port Lincoln has people who got ridiculously rich off fishing for a reason.

[NekoMaster]

You can create or remove desert in the scenario editor, you just have to use CTRL when clicking on desert to replace it with sub-tropic grass

[Sabre_Justice]

Oooh, thanks.

Speaking of which, any suggestions on a good starting date? I'm thinking around 1901 or so (when Australia officially became a country) despite any anachronisms that may be involved, but a more modern scenario could work.

It's kinda funny that I pretty much have to settle stuff like NewGRFs before I start any actual work on the scenario. Oh well, I work with what I got.

BTW, any recommended GRFs besides my default for Australian vehicles? I could probably re-use British vehicles for a lot of it, as well as planes. Not sure about ships though.

[Supercheese]

BTW, any recommended GRFs besides my default for Australian vehicles? I could probably re-use British vehicles for a lot of it, as well as planes. Not sure about ships though.

For planes, nothing can beat Pikka's Av8, IMO. As for ships, if you start earlier than 1870 the Sailing Ships grf is nice, and for games after 1870 FISH is an excellent choice. Newships is great as well, but the first ship there comes out in the 1920s.

[NekoMaster]

You could start it when South Australian Railways started

[Sabre_Justice]

You could start it when South Australian Railways started

When was that?

Update at last (curse me ADD), I've settled on which GRFs I'll be using for the first version of this scenario, at least. Here's the full list in order I've saved...

Aviators Aircraft (av8) v1.81
OpenGFX+ Big GUI v1 (I find it hard to work on OTTD without this)
eGRVTS v1.0
Aussie Town Names (obviously, though I'll probably be renaming towns myself anyway)
Industrial Stations Renewal v0.8.0
Vacuum Tube Train (Vactrain) Set (for long-term fun)
FIRS Industry Replacement Set 0.6.4
FISH 0.9.2
CHIPS 0.5
Generic Australian Rail Set (GARS) r06
HEQS (Heavy Equipment Set) 1.2.0
Monorail Infrastructure Conversion Set
Monolev Replacement Set v0.3.7 (not entirely sure what these do, actually, so they could be removed or replaced)
NewShips (seems to be compatible with FISH so why not?)
Old Wagons with New Cargos 1.1 (since GARS doesn't seem to include FIRS-compatible cargo wagons)
Early Rail Set 2 (see fake edit)
Early Rail set

It's a bit of a list for sure, but doesn't seem to be too insane by OTTD standards. (I'll include a helpful all-in-one list in the releases, with links to download locations. (Is it kosher to offer an 'all in one pack' for download? I mean, they're distributed for free anyway, but do the makers want specific credit for it?)

I'm quite eager for suggestions on what I could add or remove from this list, and I'll be testing it in a game myself. (it's a bit cut down from the list I had before)

Fake edit: Seems South Australian Railways started in 1854... looks like I'll be adding Early Rail back onto the list as well, at least for testing purposes.

[NekoMaster]

In stead of Old Wagons New Cargos you should try OpenGFX+ Trains which can be configured to have no engines and only ECS\FIRS compatible wagons

[Sabre_Justice]

Really? I'll have to look into that.

Considering adding Sailing Ships too- if the scenario is gonna start in 1854 it'll be nice to have some ships to use, the FISH stuff doesn't come in til 1870. (where pretty much ALL of it suddenly appears, a bit odd if you ask me)

EDIT: Yeah, doing some testing, and Sailing Ships is definitely in. Seems like fish and food transport will go a long way towards keeping companies afloat (pun unintended) until more vehicles arrive that make most of the industries easily viable.

[Supercheese]

the FISH stuff doesn't come in til 1870. (where pretty much ALL of it suddenly appears, a bit odd if you ask me)

The current introduction dates in FISH are just placeholders, as the set has not yet released a "1.0" version and as such is still in development-mode.

[Sabre_Justice]

the FISH stuff doesn't come in til 1870. (where pretty much ALL of it suddenly appears, a bit odd if you ask me)

The current introduction dates in FISH are just placeholders, as the set has not yet released a "1.0" version and as such is still in development-mode.

I figured as much. Looking forward to it being finished, NewShips seems to have better-performing and more updated ships but doesn't seem to be refittable to FIRS cargos.

[Supercheese]

I figured as much. Looking forward to it being finished, NewShips seems to have better-performing and more updated ships but doesn't seem to be refittable to FIRS cargos.

Really? I am able to refit Newships in my game to clay, stone, engineering supplies, etc...

[oberhümer]

You'll need many more trains. Have a look at the Tropic Refurbishment Set and also, though a bit unrealistic, NARS if you want to start early.

[Sabre_Justice]

I figured as much. Looking forward to it being finished, NewShips seems to have better-performing and more updated ships but doesn't seem to be refittable to FIRS cargos.

Really? I am able to refit Newships in my game to clay, stone, engineering supplies, etc...

Maybe you've got a better version of Newships than me, in that case where'd you get it?

You'll need many more trains. Have a look at the Tropic Refurbishment Set and also, though a bit unrealistic, NARS if you want to start early.

Good idea.

[Supercheese]

Maybe you've got a better version of Newships than me, in that case where'd you get it?

Here: http://www.ttdpatch.net/newgrf/20/newshipsw.zip
You most likely have this version as well.

It occurred to me that the ship I showed - the 'Austin&Pickersgill' Cargo Vessel - is the special case within Newships that allows refitting to most all cargoes except passengers and mail. The other ships are, as you say, more restrictive. The 'Austin&Pickersgill' becomes unavailable to build after a certain date (somewhere around 1998), and this seems to me the likely reason you found the other Newships unable to refit to certain cargoes.

Also, strangely, none of the newships can refit to plant fibres or wool. I have no idea why this is...