Age of Industry Replacement Set (AIRS)

[andysine]

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Age of Industry Replacement Set (AIRS) is another fork of FIRS 4, based on specific regional and historic economies. AIRS starts with simple cargo chains, and as time progresses, gradually more complex flows are added to create a semi-realistic economy.

As the map evolves, players will need to adapt their networks to to handle the changing demands brought on by concentrated production centres and ever-larger quantities of cargo. Secondary Industry creation are important parts of AIRS. Costs for funding these industries are reduced significantly.

Key Features:

• Simple cargo chains available initially and more complex flows available later.
• Players choose where to locate many secondary industries. Funding costs for these are very low.
• Boost primary industries later on with supply feedback loops.
• Development of the economy occurs in distinct stages.
• New industries including Container Port, Grain Elevator, Inland Container Terminal and Inland Grain Terminal.
• Farms as eye candy only (do not produce or accept anything).

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The first economy in AIRS is a rich mix of industries is loosely based on Northern USA / Southern Canada. Plains, Trains and Steel includes industries spanning the fertile prairies, through the mineral rich mountains to the important coastal trading ports.

1860 - Industrial Age
With the start of the Industrial Age, a large number of smaller industries are ready and waiting to be serviced. At this time, industry chains are basic and production quantities will be low. Servicing as many industries as possible here is the key to success.

1895 - Golden Age
New metallurgy production processes allow for increased Steel production culminating in the assembly of Vehicles. Food production increases significantly with the mass-synthesis of fertilisers.

1930 - Boom Age
Oil dominates with the mass production of petroleum fuels and chemicals. New technologies spur huge increases in primary mining and food industries through the Engineering and Farm Supply feedback loop.

1965 - Modern Age
Intermodal Goods are produced at multiple industries and accepted at even more. This dramatic shift revolutionises cargo transit and large-scale Cement production adds a new cargo chain.

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Coming soon, Black Gold and Fire will be the second AIRS economy based on steel working in the South Wales valleys.

Available on Bananas - https://bananas.openttd.org/package/newgrf/4e445903

Updates and Changelog
v1.1.0 - Simplified Steel chain to make the gameplay more balanced.
v0.4.0 - Pre-release version.

Many thanks to AndyTheNorth and everyone who contributed to FIRS.

[andysine]

A preview of some of the new industries.

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Reserved for later...

[andysine]

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Prairies and Mountains Scenario now available!
Requires JGRPP 0.40.0 or later.

An epic 2048x4096 handcrafted map.

[chujo]

Hi, great set, I'm looking forward to playing with it.
I like the organic evolution of available industries.

One question, is this me or is it a bug?

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[Argus]

Farms are not accepting or producing anything yet, either by mistake or omission.

[andythenorth]

Gotta love a FIRS fork

[rotterdxm]

This looks super interesting, planning to try this out when I get home from work. I might have missed it but should I expect cargo issues with stuff like HEQS, Iron Horse, EGRV2 (or whatever its called), SHARK etc?

[andysine]

Farms are not accepting or producing anything yet, either by mistake or omission.

This is intentional. In AIRS, farms act as eye candy only.

Personally, I find servicing farms in OTTD tiresome and somewhat unrealistic. In AIRS (Plains, Trains and Steel), farmers deliver their produce to Grain Elevators and Inland Grain Terminals. I've modelled the Grain Elevators on the beautiful preserved examples in Inglis, Manitoba.

Thanks for the feedback. I've updated the information above to make this clear.

[andysine]

This looks super interesting, planning to try this out when I get home from work. I might have missed it but should I expect cargo issues with stuff like HEQS, Iron Horse, EGRV2 (or whatever its called), SHARK etc?

This should work with any vehicle set that works with FIRS. Some of the cargos have been renamed, but there shouldn't be any breaking changes. I've been using NARS2 myself for that authentic North American feel.

[rotterdxm]

This looks super interesting, planning to try this out when I get home from work. I might have missed it but should I expect cargo issues with stuff like HEQS, Iron Horse, EGRV2 (or whatever its called), SHARK etc?

This should work with any vehicle set that works with FIRS. Some of the cargos have been renamed, but there shouldn't be any breaking changes. I've been using NARS2 myself for that authentic North American feel.

Thank you for the prompt reply! Will report back if I encounter any weirdness

[andysine]

I accidentally uploaded a testing version (v0.4.0) in my excitement to get this out there. The steel flow is a little unbalanced in this version.

v.1.1.0 is now on BaNaNaS. Please note: Savegames are not compatible between v0.4.0 and v1.1.0.

[Argus]

Ah, so far I've only been interested in the farms, but I can already see the mistakes.
Why do blast furnaces accept grains? And mill fertilizer?
Edit: Sorry, version collision on my computer and your scenario. Openttd said they are compatible, they are not

[train_apprecianado]

Very cool idea, excited to try it out, and looking forward to it's development!

[rotterdxm]

Been testing it out a bit and I got some feedback!

Having played FIRS for years and recently.dipping into Axis (XIS2), I see some interesting differences.

Playstyle:

- Axis (and to a lesser degree FIRS 4/5 Steeltown) are more "puzzly" on smaller maps (like 256x256). Often on level start there is only 1 industry of many types and that basically forces what the initial cargo flows will look like until you start funding industries. OTOH with AIRS there are many more points to deliver the same cargo to that are scattered across the map, and that don't need like 2-3-4 inputs each to produce at maximum rate. I like this as I get a nice mix of simple and more complex production chains and cargo networks.
It feels more laid back. I like this a lot. Feels like I have more freedom to try out (semi) decentralized networks.

- Inland terminals are such a great idea. However, I will say that it is very easy to break the early game economy if you manage to connect two container terminals as they will directly boost each other. It's basically a money-printing machine. Now I don't really mind it that much, FIRS basic economies have the same exploit with engineering supplies loops but this is even simpler to set up.

- 32 cargo needed for enhanced production, is this intentional? That's not the default for FIRS/Axis.

- Considering the idea was to have new industries become available over time, I was kinda bummed that there aren't really new ones opening up past 1965. Would love stuff like recyclables or other more sustainable high tech stuff appearing. But hey, it's your project!

- Are you planning to do more economies? Perhaps something around farms/food production? What's next for AIRS?

Stoked to see further development, I didn't really know I was looking for an industry set like this as a change of pace, but apparently this scratches that itch.

[andysine]

Thanks for the feedback, much appreciated. I'm pleased to hear someone else is enjoying it.

Inland terminals are such a great idea. However, I will say that it is very easy to break the early game economy if you manage to connect two container terminals as they will directly boost each other. It's basically a money-printing machine...

Yes, this is true.

I'd highly recommend using asymmetric cargo distribution if you aren't already. This should reduce this exploit somewhat.

I did purposefully enable this powerful flow to represent the boom in intermodal goods in real life, though I had intended it to represent a decentralised chain. The goal here was to encourage players to adapt from the early point-to-point style bulk shipping and think about a more networked system.

32 cargo needed for enhanced production, is this intentional?

This was intentional. Players can use a relatively small source of fertiliser to boost production at multiple Grain Elevators across the whole map, rather than supply being consumed a one or two locations. Again, asymmetric cargo distribution should help.

Considering the idea was to have new industries become available over time, I was kinda bummed that there aren't really new ones opening up past 1965.

Yeah, I would have liked to include at least one modern chain. I actually did consider adding recyclables, but they don't currently feature heavily in the North American economy (at least not in any significant quantity). I would like to add more industries (the year 2000 would be the start of the next 'age') but inspiration hasn't struck yet...

Are you planning to do more economies? Perhaps something around farms/food production? What's next for AIRS?

I'll keep adding quality of life improvements for the Plains, Trains and Steel economy. I am currently working on a new economy based on Cardiff and the South Wales Valleys which centres around coal and metalworking. Most of the new art is done, I'm currently tuning the gameplay (and making a gorgeous new scenario too!).

Here's a sneak peak at the new Coal and Iron Ore Docks...

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Thanks for playing!

[rotterdxm]

Thanks for the (prompt) reply! Yes, I am using asymmetric cargo distribution for non-pax cargo.

From your reply I do gather that I'm "plugged into" the newGRF's intended playstyle. Nice!

Looking forward to whatever else you come up with! FWIW I think you could definitely look into an "idealized" North American economy where stuff like recyclables is a thing. Especially in the post-2000s era. It really depends on where in the US you look.

Anyhow keep it up! Will be following closely

Btw did you design the potash mine gfx? Those are *nice*!

[Oakman]

Locks great, what I'm missing a bit is the offshore stuff, mainly oil and fish.

[chujo]

Locks great, what I'm missing a bit is the offshore stuff, mainly oil and fish.

I agree, it's not a must for me, but water-based industries definitely add a little bit of flavor to the gameplay.

Keeping with the theme of this industry set, there is a timeline to oil rigs (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oil_platform#History) and perhaps deep sea mining (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deep_sea_mining) could be part of a potential "modern industry chain"...

[andysine]

Thanks for the feedback. The real-life economy I based this on (western Canada), doesn't feature a huge amount of shipping trade excepting the Port of Vancouver.

I have a Scottish economy planned. If I get around to it, this will likely include fisheries and oil rigs but that's on the roadmap for the time being.

[MagicBuzz]

Hello,

I started to play some games with this GRF and found an "issue" I have with almost any GRF : after a few years, there are too much industries on the map, and way too much secondary industries : impossible to build a nice network without ignoring 80% of the industries...

Should it be possible to add an option to modify the way industries spawns on map?

Like the "Improved town industries" I would love the secondary industries not to spawn everywhere but would remain a few per city and avoid having at last 1 industry of each type in each city.

Two toggles could be appreciated :
- Secondary industries spawn only near towns (so village won't have secondary industries)
- Limit industry by population : by example a city should be 0-1000 citizen to have its first industry, 1001-2000 do have a second one, etc. The "1000" step could be a parameter.

And possibility to mix both options.

What about it?