[OTTD] Two5Kid's Screenshots

[Two5Kid]

How do you set up AXIS so that your cement plant needs 4 products and mine only needs 2?

Last I checked, it needs 4 if you are playing Extreme Classic or Tropical Paradise. 3, if you are playing Steeltown. The only settings that can be changed is in the NewGRF section, in which you choose whether you wanted Extreme Classic, Tropical Paradise or Steeltown. Or maybe you are confusing it with FIRS?

[gravelpit]

I thought I had AXIS like you, but I have XIS

[Two5Kid]

This is what the current company has managed to build so far. Playing with AXIS is really challenging, as a lot of industries require the same cargo, and you need to plan as to which industry needs to be connected. Because down the road, all of these industries are interconnected. You cannot be doing it halfheartedly, or the cargoes would be wasted. For now, my problem is that I do not have any industries that require timber near my sawmill or at least within the "district" in which it is located. I know I can fund one, but that would congest the district.



A new milestone after 12 years in-game, the company finally set foot on the other side of the peninsula. With its first copper and scrap metal connection. Guess what? The only copper smelter is located on an island. This is a logistical nightmare.



Another industry to provide a small income on the other side of the peninsula.

[Two5Kid]

The right side of the peninsula project was mainly focused on the biorefinery at Orve. This refinery alone is generating enough supplies for all the subsequent by-products. Not only that, but it receives the main bulk of primary industries within the district of Fourches. But because of the geographical limitations, it is located near the border of the map itself and next to the mainline; the train station is a bit cramped.


The town of Coupray receives both the fast regional train and the slower local train at the same time.


The same scrap metal service meeting each other at the junction.

[Two5Kid]

Don't have much to show yet, as a lot of the lines are beginning to start transporting cargoes, some of the engineering supplies and farm supplies have yet to reach their intended target, but here are some screenshots to whet the appetite.


Here we have what appears to be depots build onto the main tracks, these depots are dotted throughout my transport lines, usually after a junction, so that the trains could check in and then have their servicing done before moving on, to their destinations. If you are wondering why is it setup this way, I am playing with JGRPP and apparently, I can make the depots as a "passthrough".


This is what I meant that most of the lines are still under construction, as I now have 'unlimited money' (sort of, when you have 53 million in the bank and that number keeps increasing, despite double-tracking and landscaping the surroundings.

[Two5Kid]

One of the ways to redirect Engineering Supplies to a few nearby industries to boost them. Set up a helipad and airlift some supplies for the feeder trucks, which will then go and support the primary industries. Make sure none of the stations have overlapping coverage; if not, the nearest industry will receive twice the needed amount, leaving the other without.



This is the kind of station I like. Platforms packed with passengers, and the trains are already doing their jobs.



When you have fulfilled all the requirements, look at the number of items produced. This is the beauty of playing with AXIS. The station might need some additional platforms in the future but for now, we will make do with 2 platforms for 3 trains.

[Two5Kid]

How to start an AXIS game, IMHO.

When you have played enough vanilla OpenTTD and have your fair share of earning millions or even billions of moolah. It is time to take the next step: challenge yourself with either FIRS or AXIS. These two industry sets will push your transport planning to the max.

On a new game of AXIS, pause the game and have a quick look around. My suggestion is to start supplying a simple to-and-fro industry. Usually, my go-to choice would be a coal mine to the power plant (which was also the starting point of all my vanilla OpenTTD games). The reason for starting with this is that you need a base to earn money, without having to worry about what to supply further down the chain. The power plant does not produce any by-products, and in the case of AXIS, you can also feed it with biomass. But in my game, this connection was a bit too far for my resources. Another note about resources: depending on your loan limit, you usually start with 100k and an upper loan limit of 400k. My rule of thumb is to spend only 200k for your first connection.



So, I decided to start by supplying fish to the fish market. The first few years will be very slow as you try to earn profits from your supplies, and it takes time for your orders to fill before you receive payment. Most of the payment is either used to refinance the loan or to find other industries to connect. But no worries, most of this extra time is put to good use for planning further down the road.



These fishing shoals only provide 192 tons of fish, but I would supply it with a ship that can carry slightly more than that, say 250 tons, but don't go overboard by attempting to carry double/triple the amount stated as it would prolong the filling and delay your earnings. If you follow my original advice, you'll notice a production increment; in my case, just after the first delivery, it shot up to 216 tons.



And there we have it, our first profit for the fisheries department! When you receive this first amount, you may decide to double the trains or, in my case, purchase another trawler. Or you could wait for a few more deliveries before starting on the next connection.

ADVICE
You might see a couple of AXIS industries, for example the aluminium plant, which requires bauxite, coke, acid and scrap metal. You might have a bauxite mine very near to it, tempting you to connect, but as time goes by, you might realise that you aren't able to really supply it with the other components, as coke and acid would require another step prior. You might also come across a situation in which this said bauxite mine, if you were able to send it across the map, or at least double the distance to another aluminium plant, would be able to fulfil all 4 of the prerequisites for aluminium and would be the better choice.

[Two5Kid]

There is also another way to earn money without having to worry about by-products and the industry chain. You can transport passengers and mail. To make this even better, you are being paid for the return trip too. In most industries, you are being paid for only one half of the journey; the return journey is an empty carriage. I am playing with CargoDist for the passengers and mail in this game. Being the boring old me, I tend to always start around the area that I am already invested in.



I like to build three platforms, or at least two immediately, for the passenger/mail system. You might be overwhelmed later when the city builds itself around your stations. Or you could also switch off the "town build roads" option. Anyhow, the cost difference is minimal between a 3-platform and a 2-platform station. You can also play around with the length of the stations, but I like them compact, so I am going for the 4-tile. Longer trains have a longer wait time when loading, and at the start, you might not have enough passengers or mail to fill it up, but don't be fooled; later on, you might have 1000 passengers and 500+ mail waiting at your stations.



Another trick that I like to use is to add bus stations and goods stations to increase the coverage of the train station. As I am playing with the Renewed Village Growth script, town growth is not dependent on the old "5 bus stations" rule of city growth. In RVG, you need to establish a good enough passenger/mail service before you unlock the further levels, as noted in the town description label. You would have to either transport cargoes specified by the town or actually build those industries yourself.

ADVICE
Usually, I would try to connect towns where I can use the train tracks for my cargoes too. For instance, in this case, both of these towns are along the way for my coal mine-to-power-plant industry. Having these tracks and earning some money whilst waiting for the company financials to stabilise for the expansion is a good idea. But for this to work, you must have a general idea about passing loops and the use of signals. This is useful for the early game, as you do not have enough money to double-track the full journey. Bear in mind that in the future, both the passenger service and the cargo service would preferably be on separate lines. (This is because I play with realistic acceleration and weight restrictions turned on, so my cargo trains will travel slower than their passenger counterparts)



This is what I meant as a passing loop: make sure the tile length is the same as or longer than the train itself, and place the signals properly so that trains can wait on their respective side. I am from a right-sided-drive world; hence, I have my trains facing that side. Be ready to scatter these around the line, especially before and after a junction; these will slowly be replaced with double tracks when you have the money. But for now, you can run two or maybe up to four trains without any fuss with these passing loops.

[Two5Kid]

I am playing with the game clock stopped at 1995. But the time still ticks by and is showing up as 1,2,3 etc. So I am taking the number 1 to signify Year 1. Looking at the finances, since we started with the fisheries, obviously the boat income would be the highest. This would also be your company's fixed income. I have not met a scenario where you earn less with each passing year, even if you don't build or expand on your services. If you are playing a slow and realistic game, this amount or somewhere near it should be your target. I usually take 300k or higher as my annual financial aim for the first few years of the game, as this would ensure that you have enough to pay back your loan and to refinance for further expansion if you needed the extra cash.

But don't be fooled by what I have earned here (443k); if you go down further, you will see that the operating expenses (-350k) are almost the same as my income. Any further expansion might need to wait or be put on hold. But since I started the rail services halfway through the first year, the train income annually would make sure that I will stay just afloat of the annual expenses. To put it simply, make sure you don't overexpand or buy some higher-powered vehicles/train engines/ships/planes if you cannot afford it. Or you could also play with the settings (I have mine set at a harder difficulty).

The first few years are for slow planning, checking, and double-checking the maps for industries that you can connect. Plan for future lines; imagine train tracks all across the map. Planning would make your life easier, as AXIS can be quite challenging, especially if you intend to supply all the prerequisites for the secondary industries.



This is what I meant with the city info panel. By clicking on the city/town's name, you will get this window (if you are playing with the Renewed Village Growth script). At the start of the game, the only information you get is just the population and a request to ferry passenger/mail. Once you have the passenger and mail services set up and reached the town's limit, it will show the secondary information as shown in the pic above. You will get to see Category I and II (sometimes III or IV) for the cargoes. For example, in this instance, the city of Himesaki has supplied enough Category I (passenger and mail) cargoes to ensure the town continues to grow (take note of the 1800 seconds town growth limiter). You will need to make sure either you send or receive enough Category II cargo. Any one of the coal, iron ore, livestock, produce and or sugar beet (cargoes are randomized) can be either transported away from the city limits (any of the relevant industry under the Himesaki city limits) or transported into the city limits.

For example, if Himesaki has a coal mine within its city limits (usually indicated by the town's name in the industry info panel), if you managed to transport coal from Himesaki Coal Mine to any of the industries (either within Himesaki or outside) that accepts it, you would have unlocked Category III cargoes. Or, vice versa, you can transport coal from outside of Himesaki to the Himesaki Power Plant (receives coal and has the Himesaki name in the industry), you would have fulfil the requirement for Category II.

[Two5Kid]

The town information panel will show how much of Category I cargo you need to transport before it is considered 'unlocked' or done. In this case, the town of Matsumae only needs 48 passengers/mail. But this will change as your town grows. The more frequently you transfer, the faster the town grows too; in this case, it is now 1050 seconds to grow the town.



The second year in-game is basically a game of patience, as you see your income fluctuate, and you need to balance expansion with maintaining the current transport services. I think the first 2-3 quarters of the second year were spent just slowly adding rails, expanding the company towards Takahara (northeasterly from Matsumae), whilst also expanding the train tracks at Himesaki to include the power plant. It wasn't until the latter half of the year, almost at the end, that I finally had the whole thing connected and inclusive of buying the train engine. I didn't even have enough to spend on adding more coal wagons to the train itself.



You can have a look at the financials at the end of the second in-game year. My coal train is still chugging along, yet to deliver its first batch of coal. But take note: the impressive increase in train revenue (just the one passenger train), whereas the shipping (fisheries) industry is maintaining its output. All you need to do is to just survive the first few years, by just continuing with the fishing ships and that one passenger train, your company would soon be in the black. Don't be fooled by the loan amount; at one point, it was hovering at 300-310k as I was in the red. The company is slowly turning a corner, and I think the coal industry will soon be boosting my company's financials in the near future. As compared to the first year, I only added the coal train, hence construction costs and new vehicles didn't amount to much.

ADVICE
It would also be an advantage if you are playing a patient game. If you noticed, I spent almost 200k on construction and the purchase of new vehicles (coal train) in the second year; this extra 200k, if you just continued with the status quo, would have gone into the loan repayment itself. So, gauge your expenses as per what is suitable in your current game. If there are no nearby industries that can be connected immediately, just let the game run by itself and give yourself an additional 200k for any expansion in the 3rd year.

[Two5Kid]

When I say coal is king, I mean it. This is what you get per shipment (660 tonnes) of coal. A potential money spinner; imagine if you have two of these trains running- you just fast-forward the time, and all your financial worries will be over. But I am of the more adventurous type. Now that I have seen what amount of income it can generate, it is time for you to decide: do you want to add another train, or do you want to add more wagons? Usually, for cargo industries, I recommend a 7-tile station track; to me, this is a suitable and realistic length. But I have seen YouTubers setting up experiments, and if you are playing with monorail or maglev, you could actually build shorter platforms and run more trains.



Here is a poor example of the passing loop; I didn't have the money to expand it to fit a 7-tile-long train, but for the brief duration, this setup will do. Plop this across your lines at the start to save some money, but when you have enough spending power, double-tracking is the way to go.



Remember the previous Himesaki city information panel? In which I described what would happen if you supplied some Category II cargoes. So, this is the reality here: with the connection of the Himesaki Power Plant (which receives coal), you can see that the information panel has updated itself, and you'll realise that the town growth time has been reduced by half from the previous 1800 seconds.

[Two5Kid]

ADVICE
This is totally up to you, as in how you want to play the game. For me, I prefer to transport engineering supplies via helicopters, as you would only need 1-2 full loads to reach the required amount to boost the primary industry. In my case, this is to boost coal production at the coal mine. Bear in mind, your helicopters might be running on negative income most of the time, but it will boost the other industries so it won't matter much in the long run.



Another reason why I prefer to build 2-platform stations immediately is that I have already planned to increase the production (600 to 975 tonnes) down the road. Even if you are not boosting production, usually the trains travel slowly; hence, it is a good idea to always have a train loading at the station to boost the ratings.



Year 3 finances are proof of why you shouldn't overexpand your company in the early years, initially I managed to repay the loan till the 200k mark but infrastructure costs shot up and I had to borrow 100k to cover the expenses. You can see that I am still in the red at the end of the year. I think I will hold back on expanding the services in Year 4 and let the coal mine and fisheries boost my income for a while. On the other hand, you can argue that if I were to play the game at a much lower difficulty, the company actually hit 1 million in revenue within the first 3 years. So, don't worry about the finances, if your company is properly set up, money is the least of your problems.

[Two5Kid]

Years 4 and 5 went by pretty fast. It wasn't until Year 6 that I managed to repay the entire loan. All thanks to these oil tankers, which are generating 120k per trip for the company. The coal mine-to-power-plant service went up to 3 trains. The company is slowly turning a corner and can finally figure out the next phase, which is double tracking.



ADVICE
Another way to increase is to try to connect the subsidies that come up once in a while. Depending on your game settings, they could be doubling or tripling your income for the same trip for one year. Since I had the passenger train service already in place, I just extended the tracks to Takahara, taking advantage of the subsidy.



A reminder that air service might not be a very good idea at the start of the game, unless you are boosting the economy (engineering supplies or farm supplies).