[OTTD] Two5Kid's Screenshots

Two5Kid · Post by **Two5Kid** » 17 Apr 2007 15:03

Been transferred to a new department and busy playing a game with DBSetXL. Hopefully, will be posting some new screenshots soon.

*Man, my thread is just 4-5 threads away from being Page 2 stuff!*

Edit: Meastro44, it comes with one of the nightlies. My bad though. I thought it was already in the working copy of OTTD.

DeMoraatz · Post by **DeMoraatz** » 17 Apr 2007 15:48

huh? PBS in OTTD? have i missed something?

anyway, i really like your story, the pictures are awesome, and really inspiring. keep it up!!

regardds

Meastro444

Zavior · Post by **Zavior** » 19 Apr 2007 07:38

It is not in the nigthlies - its in Mini-In, which contains other patches aswell.

Two5Kid · Post by **Two5Kid** » 19 Apr 2007 09:23

My bad. Haha! Yes, it's in one of the Mini-In that I've downloaded. I'm a bit confused with the nightlies and with Mini-In. Anyhow, this is the new game that I'm having fun with at the moment.

Here is my 4th attempt at a decent game. There are a few changes to my usual routine, I’m starting the game in the year 1920, with Swiss towns and focusing on cargo transport rather than the quick deal of passenger/mail services. The map is 512 x 512, not the usual 256 x 256 that I normally play. For the first time, I’m also playing as a female managing director. Haha!

1920-1925: Getting a Foothold
I started my company in the lesser known region of Baden, transporting coal. The earliest engine available to us was the BR92 Steamer. It was just good enough for us albeit being painstakingly slow.

Within a year, I’ve increased by trains to 4 and began supplying Langenthal Power Station with coal from nearby mines at St Moritz and Lyss. My main aim was to earn a positive income by just transporting cargoes. The downside to my idea was that the profits were seasonal and erratic based on the production values of the primary industries, in my case, the coal mines.

Lucky for me, production values went up in the early 1920s, pumping cash into my coffers. With the increased coal produced, I expanded my trains to 8 from the initial 4. The BR92 engines proved to be reliable in the long run and I expanded the Langenthal West station to 4 platforms. The company was slowly carving a niche for itself in the transport sector.

Two5Kid · Post by **Two5Kid** » 19 Apr 2007 09:27

The BR 75 engine was introduced in 1923, and was then put to good use as the company diversified itself into the lumber mill business at Basel. With 2 forests supplying lumber, we created a handful of job openings for the people of Basel.

These early projects used up the £200K loan available to the company. But with the steady income generated by the coal and lumber industries, we were back in the business of building. First up on the agenda, doubling the trains supplying the Basel Sawmill.

When the calendar rolled into 1924, the company had repaid half of its debt and were on the verge of signing a new agreement with the BR engine makers for a test of their latest model the BR38 steamer. This 1,200hp engine is used in the transport of lumber at Thonex Forest to Kloten Sawmill up in the hills. The year also saw the expansion of platforms at St Moritz Mines and Lyss Heights.

To smoothen up transportation of coal, and ease the bottleneck at the junctions, I expanded the lines from double tracks to quadruple tracks. This would surely cut down the time and costs incurred with delays.

Two5Kid · Post by **Two5Kid** » 19 Apr 2007 09:29

One of the main problems that we faced in this early phase was the lack of diversity in the engines. We were left with 3 choices for steamers and 2 for electric. One of my engineers came up with the ingenious plan of sticking 2 engines to obtain a higher horsepower. Thus for the latest venture at Rorschach Forest, we placed 2 BR75 engines to create a unit.

5 years on, we have repaid our loan and have £240K in the coffers, with a stable of 19 trains. Not too bad. Time for some scouting around whilst waiting for newer engine models to be available.

Two5Kid · Post by **Two5Kid** » 21 Apr 2007 02:27

1926-1930: Expansion
The company diversified itself in the later part of the 1920s by involving in the iron ore industry around Chiasso. We have come to rely on the BR75 for most of the transportation and that was the case for our iron ore service. There were 2 other iron ore mines in the same area that would require road vehicles, of which; we do not have at the moment. I hope that they will still be in operation when the road vehicles show up.

There was a short connection for another industry – the farming industry at Prilly. The train complex was built for the future and thus it has 4 lanes instead of the usual 2. Since farm produce has a limited shelf life, the trains used were the BR38s, the fastest steamers we had during this era.

For the next 2 years, we went back to our core transport service – transporting coal and wood. With the increase in profits and customer satisfaction, we were able to afford more BR38s. This engine was used at Chiasso to transport coal to far away Ittigen Power Station. During 1927, the local authority at Riehan decided to award a subsidy for wood transport, it was an offer to good to refuse and a couple of BR38s (again) were used for the long distance hauling of lumber.

Two5Kid · Post by **Two5Kid** » 21 Apr 2007 02:31

With the success of the subsidization process at Riehan, the council at Altstatten did the same for their farm service. After months of clamouring, my company decided to invest in the area despite knowing full well that the industry hasn’t grown much in the last few years, we were taking a gamble with the transport. Moving on to other news, wood production at Carouge Forest (Thonex West) dropped to an all time low following massive lumbering without proper planting measures. The company cut its losses by reducing the number of carriages for the trains.

In the year 1928, BR Engines introduced the BR116 following our request for a higher horsepower engine for hill climbing and long distance travel. Their previous model BR152 was not suitable for the transportation of goods. With this new electric engine, the company embarked on a massive construction project linking 2 coal mines to Rheinfelden Power Station. The project took 2 years to complete.

We bade farewell to the 1920s with £1 million in the bank, 32 trains and the company was worth £2 million.

Two5Kid · Post by **Two5Kid** » 02 Sep 2007 11:28

Well, 4 months out in the cold, and my thread has dropped to an all time low. It has been very hard to juggle managing a decent transport empire and saving people’s lives at the same time. But enough about that, I’m back in business again.

Although I have been away from the game, I haven’t been away from the Forum. Judging by the quality of screenshots here, I think we’re on the up. And I’m facing some stiff competition here.

A word on my new game, I ‘borrowed’ (without permission of Jim Powers) an idea of his, and changed it into an English version, albeit with smaller towns. I’ve downloaded and installed the latest version of OTTD plus a little help from ChrisIN, I now bring you – Squares. A scenario of 36 towns divided into 4 quadrants of 9 towns.

4 months is indeed a long time, I no longer have control of PBS in my new game, I do not have flexible loading and unloading schemes but I gain things like TTRSv3, tram sets and (maybe) realistic gameplay.

Some optional data: I’m using Hiroshima Trams, Modern Tram Set, Industrial Station Set, Canadian Train Stations, New Water and New Tram Tracks.

I’ll be breaking free from the usual year-by-year routine and bring you random screenshots of the empire. Feel free to request for specific towns or areas.

Overview
I skipped the first 15 years of the company as the time was mainly spent on making the towns grow and connecting them. We will fast forward into the future and show you how it looks like in the year 1975.

Two5Kid · Post by **Two5Kid** » 02 Sep 2007 11:35

The busiest place on the map in terms of trains and lines lie at Wolverhampton. The local factory is working overtime with farm produce from 3 farms and transporting goods to 6 towns. A touch of unrealism -- Deltics hauling freight. I bought a copy of Railways Illustrated and found out that they are primarily used for hauling passengers.

No screenshots is complete without showcasing the headquarters, although Ivinghoe Aston isn’t the largest town on the map, but I like the name. The latest OTTD version allows TTRS and I like the new graphics. Moreover, it allows for easy connection/linking of stations, without the hassle of ‘station walking’. I feel that having trams in the game is an advantage. They have higher capacities and provide a city-like feel to the area. Bus stations tend to overcrowd in the future and you will get bad ratings from poor service.

Two5Kid · Post by **Two5Kid** » 02 Sep 2007 11:38

Sea transport is also another niche industry, albeit a rather slow one. But with a map like these, I need some freight to be transported to towns for distribution of goods. My aim is to distribute goods to all 36 towns. The map doesn’t come with industries but I feel that as the game goes on, we will have a ton of cash to spend on funding them. Here’s one of the docks for lumber.

Bridlington is the site of 2 termini, one from the western front, and the other from the east. It is the largest station on the map with a total of 6 tracks side by side. At the present moment it is being served by Metro-Cammell DMUs, slow but sturdy units. I’m actually waiting for the arrival of the HST, but that is a couple of years away. Nice mix and matching of styles for the station. Check it out!

Here is a nice shot of Maidstone Central Station, a combined terminus and through station. The docks receive goods from far off Carlton, I’m actually preparing for transportation of goods via road vehicles, once the faster versions are available. So, in the near future, ships will transfer their goods to the road vehicles here. If the current OTTD had the features of the previous incarnation (+ MiniIN), I could actually decide on how much of goods to be unloaded/transferred, which would be more realistic, since Maidstone need goods too.

Two5Kid · Post by **Two5Kid** » 02 Sep 2007 11:40

Remembered playing the game of Monopoly? One of the tiles was Reading Railway, here is my version of that particular tile. Electrified train stations use another set to distinguish it from the normal train stations. The electric trains only serve a couple of towns, just for the sake of diversity in my game.

With the lack of PBS in the game, there were plenty of slow junctions, in order to have a touch of realism, I added a switch tower at these locations to supervise the switching of lanes and making sure the junction runs smoothly, below is an example of a near gridlock on a busy junction near Reading. An 8-man team works a one week shift at this tower before getting a rest when the next team replaces them.

beeb375 · Post by **beeb375** » 02 Sep 2007 16:52

Them's some nice shots, well done!

Tom0004 · Post by **Tom0004** » 02 Sep 2007 18:49

Two5Kid wrote:I now bring you – Squares. A scenario of 36 towns divided into 4 quadrants of 9 towns.

after seeing your awesome screenshots, i'd like to ask where did you find this scenario ?

i'd like to have game on this kind of platform, i've search top and bottom of the forums, and just can't seem to find it

also in your sceenshots you have very impressive docks, i've never seen a grf for these, could you shed some light in what grf it is ?

thanks in advance

0004tom

Two5Kid · Post by **Two5Kid** » 02 Sep 2007 23:16

Thanks for the excellent comments.

0004tom: The idea for the scenario came from Jim Powers Savegames thread, it is originally known as TTD-Squares. And as for the grfs, look for docksw.grf. I'm not sure where I found it either but it should be on this forum. If you are talking about the containers, train tracks next to the docks, these could be found in the Industrial Stations thread.

Two5Kid · Post by **Two5Kid** » 03 Sep 2007 11:58

Lumber was the primary industry of the early years, and the Carlton Sawmill is producing far more goods than the ships were able to handle. So it was time to introduce lorries from transportation of goods to the nearby towns. This small piece of business shows the essence of Transport Tycoon, providing supplies to ease demand. Remember Wolverhampton Factory? It underwent uplift too.

Two5Kid · Post by **Two5Kid** » 03 Sep 2007 12:02

Coal mining is another lucrative business in the world of OTTD/TTDP. A couple of well-placed mines and a power station is all you need to ensure a good supply of neverending income. In my game, I prospected for 2 coal mines, a few years apart and yet I got them on the same piece of land. Probably a huge coal seam beneath the floor at Longford.

It is a good idea to invest in road vehicles later on in the future when they are faster and more efficient. No point in letting the slower vehicles pull down your ratings even before the industry has flourished. Let us make everyone happy, especially the town council and the people working in the industry.

Two5Kid · Post by **Two5Kid** » 04 Sep 2007 15:37

Construction plays a critical role in the transport business, you should know where to place stations, which stations to join up, which stations supply, how to transfer goods, all these are important to ensure a smooth journey for either freight or passengers. The placement of the Havant Docks was to facilitate the transfer of goods to the nearby cities of Havant, Littlehempston and Sittingbourne.

Guess where the goods come from? They are from Little Musgrave’s oil refinery, just further up along the coast. A pretty nifty mixed road, rail and harbour station. Thus ensuring that 6 coastal towns and cities are well-stocked with supplies.

Two5Kid · Post by **Two5Kid** » 04 Sep 2007 15:40

Enough pictures of the various industries located on the map. It is time that we focus on the smaller towns in the game and the local transport network in place for town growth. Let us start of with Derby (3,537), the least populated area. Residents here are either in the wood industry or in the train industry and during their free time, they show support for the local football club. There is a local metro tram service provided by 2 Iyo 1000 series trams.

Its neighbour, Eccles (3,573) also fits right in to the pattern of a small picturesque town, suitable for small families trying to escape from the hustle and bustle of a big city. There are no major industries here but most of them work at the Wolverhampton Factory, a couple of miles to the west of the town.

To complete the third in the series of small quaint towns, I bring you Coventry (3,651) right on the southern west corner of the map. It is the home of diehard football fans, whom, during match days, would travel by the AM10 EMU to Coventry station, walk through a few cottages to take a tram to Coventry Central, where they would alight and enter the stadium. Inpatients at the Coventry General Hospital’s West Wing would have a free view of the game, if their hearts could withstand it.

Two5Kid · Post by **Two5Kid** » 07 Sep 2007 03:26

How about another three random shots of various towns in the game? With the latest patches, I have more control on how the town grows, I could have them in 3x3 grid, 2x2 grid, or the one I like most, the town won’t build any roads unless I build it for them. Thus, all the towns in the map are handcrafted by my transport empire. Talk about tyranny.