How do YOU start?

[DonRazzi]

Hi everybody!

There's one question I ask myself since I've started playing TT in the mid nineties.

What is the best way to start a game?

I have tried around a lot and think it's the best way to start with a passenger rail at the beginning. Ships with coal also work very good as it's not neccessary to build any track to expand. But I don't know wether I found the best way to start till today. So how are your experiences?

[CMircea]

Coal! Coal on long distance! After you invest 500k you'll earn lots if you design a good network.

[BBoy Symm]

I start with looking for farms that sorta surround a factory. And connect them. Once made me millionair in 2 years.

[Pookey]

Coal is your best bet as even if it's production drops, there's still heaps of other coal mines, it's selling price at the beginning of the graph is above average and it loses hardly any value even if it takes you ages to transport, thereby assuring you of a steady income. Passengers is good if you connect up only big towns to start with. ie. town A has 780, town B has 60 and Town C has 900. you would connect from A to C as B would be a waste of money in the early days (but connect it up later of course )

[DonRazzi]

If starting with passenger lines, you never should connect cities with population less than 600-700, as larger, as better. Then you also will recognise the fact, why I think starting with passenger lines is better: Sure, a single coal train earns more money than a slow and small passenger train in the beginning, but on a passenger route you'll start your second and third train in no time - without building a new line.

[Two5Kid]

Coal mines might be the best bet to reach millionaire status and pay back all your loans, but the real money comes with Passenger/Mail services.

You could always start of with a couple of buses, buy the surrounding land near the bus stations, once passenger travel exceeds the bus capacity, switch to locomotives, voila! Instant cash cow!

[Hyronymus]

You could always start of with a couple of buses, buy the surrounding land near the bus stations, once passenger travel exceeds the bus capacity, switch to locomotives, voila! Instant cash cow!

But that's hardly a strategy to start with. As you say yourself, you have to "develop" the cities by busses first. Coal and oil trains however can be exploited right from the start.

[aahz77]

I start with cargo rail, as I usually begin the game without any industries. This makes the game much more interesting and challenging; you have to connect to the existing network when a new industry pops up - and that creates much realism, too!

But before I changed to realistic building, I always connected every coal mine on the map to the power plants (first 10-15 years). After that, I connected all other industries to make even more money (another two decades) to finally create a px/mail network with very fast trains between the biggest cities in the second half of the 20th century. But then I often got bored by the end of the century (having nearly everything connected) and started a new game quite soon; with the no-industry method I often play up to 2030 and sometimes even longer, improving the existing network more often than expanding it!

[Samwise]

Coal for the world! But I figured out that you have to build a bus service in each city where they know you, just to keep the local authoriy happy (Thanks to Raichase, who used that trick in his screenshots-thread)

[DonRazzi]

@all the miners: Never forget that a passenger service will make money both ways - if a city has grown enough to fill your train each visit with no waiting, a passenger train is almost driving, while most coal-trains have to wait at a station...

[Dave]

Both. One coal one passenger service. Then it builds up and builds up.

I keep my networks separate for as long as possible, but if the opportunity to use existing metals arises I go for it.

[Crazybar]

I will set up a long distance plane service, and with the remainder of cash I will be able to get a good bus route and train route...
Normally at the start I like to get the annoying debts away and then it's all MINE!

[GooGooDoll]

I always start with a couple of coal trains over long distances to build up a bit of cash, with a few bus routes between towns and cities as well to make the towns grow, then I'll start on the passenger and mail services, with a couple of airports thrown in for good measure. This strategy has always worked for me over the many years I've played this game, both TTO and TTD.

[KevinR]

I usually start with coal. Nice and simple, no need to get goods or iron ore going from the desination. Then usually move onto farms, iron ore mines etc, with passenger trains being the last thing I start. Basically I get my rail network up and runnig then look at road transport, and possibly air transport.

[Herr Bert]

I force myself to start with passenger rail.

I use DBset and always play with these own settings:
- few cities (8 or so)
- no industries at all
- low credit (800.000 DM max credit)
- hilly landscape

Starting in 1921 no bus/plane/ship is available. I concentrate the first 10 years to build up a decent passenger network. As soon as this is finished and needs only expansion from time to time usually some matching industries exist to start several industry networks.

Mostly I spend some money into industry foundation to get all my goods/food produced in a single place. I simply love to spend hours and hours and hours in optimizing my food/goods network to handle a huge amount of heavy loaded trains. Besides a "cht:tracks 1" in the early 40s I do not cheat at all.

Yes. this is how I start since a couple of years ...

[Jezulkim]

Besides a "cht:tracks 1" in the early 40s I do not cheat at all.

If you have enabled the "cheats cost" you'll have to pay so then it's not really cheating.

[Herr Bert]

Of course I pay for this one. Ususally 1-2 mio DM

Count me a stupido but I do not want to get any presents. I even do a "real ground digging". The ground i dig does not disappear. As soon as I remove somewhere some ground I add it elsewhere next to it and vice versa: if I need some somewhere I'll get it from the next hill.

[Dave]

Of course I pay for this one. Ususally 1-2 mio DM

Count me a stupido but I do not want to get any presents. I even do a "real ground digging". The ground i dig does not disappear. As soon as I remove somewhere some ground I add it elsewhere next to it and vice versa: if I need some somewhere I'll get it from the next hill.

Bloody hell... That's realism in the extreme

[m3henry]

Of course I pay for this one. Ususally 1-2 mio DM

Count me a stupido but I do not want to get any presents. I even do a "real ground digging". The ground i dig does not disappear. As soon as I remove somewhere some ground I add it elsewhere next to it and vice versa: if I need some somewhere I'll get it from the next hill.

Bloody hell... That's realism in the extreme

lol, thats a feature that I thought about once but regarded as impossible (to dump/take from the right places)

[DanMacK]

I'll normally find 2 towns that can be connected via passenger service and an industry close by. For some reason, my Train No. 1 almost always is a passenger train. I love using coal as a starter, but most bulk cargo works well.