Frequency of Subsidies.

[mauried]

Been playing with the Extreme Industries Set and when game started in 1950 subsidies would appear randomly but every year or so.
Its now 2000 and no subsidies have appeared for around 10 years.
Can Industry sets alter the frequency of subsidies to where there arnt after a particular date, or is this the way subsidies always work.
ie less and less subsidies as the year goes up until there are none.
tnx

[jfs]

Are you playing with any of the Cargo Distribution settings set to something other than "Manual"?
Using any Cargo Distribution setting disables subsidies for that class of cargo.

[mauried]

Cargo Dist is disabled hence why the subsidies worked as normal when the game started.
Playing multiplayer and one of the other players is a subsidy addict.
Previously played on the same map but using the ECS industry set and the subsidies behaved normally regardless of the year.
Its no big deal as the game is fine without the subsidies.
tnx.

[LaChupacabra]

Yes, there is a problem with subsidies. The first ones often appear late, sometimes only after 1,5 years of the game. There are also very few of them (1-4, but rarely more than 2) even on large maps with a very high concentration of industry. Often the subsidies are monothematic: mail, passengers and nothing else.
Recently, I did a little test: on a 2k x 2k map with with extremely high density of enterprises (9999), in 20 years, only 2 grants appeared. The game doesn't seem to be trying to offer anything at all.

There is also an issue with the subsidy time being different from the setting (e.g. 105 instead of 100)

[mauried]

I have seen this pattern before where the subsidies die off fairly quickly after the game starts, but never die off to none hence my question as to whether the Industry sets can affect how they work.
|ll have another dig into the subsidy code and see if I can find anything obvious but its not simple code and my C skills dropped off after I retired a long time ago.

[Eddi]

i remember distance being an issue, where on large sparse maps no subsidies would show up because most pairs of industries are too far apart.

[odisseus]

I have always thought that subsidies are intended for new companies only — as a kind of life saver if the player is unable to make profit otherwise. This is why subsidies are offered only for towns or industries that are close to each other; an established company can achieve much better profits just by building a longer route.

Therefore, it seems natural to me that subsidies cease (or just become much less frequent? I'm not sure), when there are no new companies in the game.

[mauried]

Subsidies help a lot for players who arnt good with simple economics, as they spend too much on infrastructure without thinking about how they will make money, and then they end up maxing out the loan they can get to stay in the game.
In Multiplayer games with high inflation or with recessions , subsidies can be the only lifesaver for a player who is going broke.