[OTTD] ACM's Screenshots

[ACM]

ACM Express: Settings

After playing just multiplayer games for years, then getting bored of them, here's my first serious attempt at a semi-realistic game. It's a UK based game situated on a set of small islands. With all these screenshot threads, I figured; why not document the events of my own game if I'm going to commit to it. This is more of a step by step game with challenging settings rather than a pure eye candy one(Although, that doesn't mean I won't try to make it fancy.) If you have any criticism of the manner in which I post these screenshots , please let me know.

Advanced Settings of notable interest which aren't shown:
Weight multiplier for freight to simulate heavy trains: 5
Plane speed factor: 1/1
Allow town controlled noise level for airports: On
Inflation: On

[davidx123]

Hmm,I'd like to see where this will go

[ACM]

ACM Express: 1900 - 1901

ACM Express is founded in 1900, with a starting loan of £500,000. Its first order of business is setting up a passenger railway connecting the two largest cities on the map, Brafingford and Prenthill City, which is run by three Spinner engines. A tram feeder service with three Altwin passenger trams is also built at Brafingford, carrying passengers to the station.

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Brafingford and Prenthill City are seperated on two of the main islands, which are connected by a single rail bridge, a cause for small delays, but it will have to do during this crucial early period.

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The total cost of the service amounts at half the company's starting loan, but the service should provide a steady income.

[ACM]

ACM Express: 1902 - 1904

A basic passenger service is layed down and providing a steady income, however it would cost too much to expand the rail line anywhere else at this point, so work on a freight service begins. The company eyes are set on a long distance oil route, as securing it should land the company in big profits early on, and thus the means to expand quickly.

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However, the company doesn't want to risk spending the rest of it's starting loan on long distance rail infrastructure, so it settles on a shipping route instead.

A basic dock is set up at Lentburg which is directly linked to the oil wells, and with the machine shop right next to it, not only does the company have a ready built return petrol route, but it has easy access to engineering supplies too.

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Because the refinery is slightly inland, a transfer port is built at Prenthill City bay, where a port/refinery rail link can handle the last leg of the journey.

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Two Jinty locomotives and an Oran freighter are built for the service, finaly depleting our starting loan. It took a while before a second Oran could be afforded.

The open sea nature of the map means there'll probably be plenty more ship based activity to come.

To be continued...

[ACM]

ACM Express: 1902 - 1904 Continued

Meanwhile, a bus line with three TBF Mk 1 busses is built in Prenthill City to stimulate town growth.

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ACM Express: 1905 - 1908

With the company's starting loan depleted, expansion grinds to a halt and all effort is instead focused on bolstering the fleet as revenue trickles in. A third Oran freighter is built to handle the excess oil load.

Prenthill City gets an expansion to its road network, while three more Mk 1 busses are built to carry excess passengers from the existing bus line to the station.

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Inspired by the practice at Prenthill City, the tram feeder service at Brafingford is turned into an inner city tram circuit. Four Altwin passenger trams in total run the circuit, and two Mk 1 busses carry excess passengers to the station.

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[ACM]

ACM Express: 1909 - 1912

Production is still slow in this period, but slightly picks up. The petrol and engineering supplies connections are complete. Two Tyskebukta freighters are built to transport the petrol. In order to complete the link, the port/refinery rail line had to be upgraded to handle an extra train. Another Jinty is built to transper petrol to the docks.

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With engineering supplies in production, a single Pitman's box truck is assigned to deliver supplies to the oil wells once a month.

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Another bus stop is added to the Prenthill City bus line to further stimulate city growth. Now four Mk 1 busses in total run the city line, while four others transfer passengers to the station.

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[ACM]

ACM Express: 1912 - 1914

Finaly after twelve years, the passenger network gets its first expansion. A single rail line connects Brafingford to the adjacent town to its north, Petborough, and runs scenically along the north coast. Brafingford station is upgraded to a second platform to handle the new line.

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This intrusion into the peaceful life of Petborough creates uneasy tensions with the local authority however. A bus feeder service is in place with two Mk 1 busses operating. A single railmotor and carriage operates on the line itself.

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Three more Mk 1 busses are built to transfer passengers to city stations; two for Brafingford, and one for Prenthill City.

[ACM]

ACM Express: 1915 - 1918

Petrol was piling up at Prenthill City port, so a third Tyskebukta freighter had to be built.

Industry production numbers are falling everywhere, so a small initiative towards delivering supplies to industries across the map is made. Lentburg port layout is slightly modified, and a road is built to a nearby clay pit to the north. Three Stanley general box trucks deliver supplies to the pit once a month, and the older Pitman's is replaced with another Stanley.

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What's more, there's a brick works and paper mill even further north west and of reachable distance from the clay pit. To take advantage of the newly supplied clay it, a freight rail line is built to service the industries. The current pitiful 30 ton per month production value makes bulding powerful engines unfeasable, so three Industrial shunters work the line instead.

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To be continued...

[ACM]

ACM Express: 1915 - 1918 Continued

Prenthill City's central street layout was slightly changed to allow more efficient use of space. In just a few years, the city's population exploded. Now there's more passengers waiting than the company can handle. To slightly alleviate this, the beginning of a ferry service is established. Unable to afford any large ferries, the company can only spare twin Josephine utility vessels.

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The company's first ferry route takes passengers to Gunborough Bay, a village situated on the north eastern most island, seperated from the mainlands. A bus service with two Mk 1 busses is established here to stimulate town growth.

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Lastly, a bus service with two Mk 1 busses is built in Wrennpool. Wrennpool lies to the west of Prenthill City and is a major candidate for the next expansion of the passenger rail network. The bus service should help with local council relations for when the terraforming and rail building happens.

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[ACM]

ACM Express: 1918 - 1922

The era starts off with the addition of a second railmotor to the Brafingford/Petborough passenger rail line to increase the service frequency. A loop is built to handle bi-directional traffic.

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Since Lentburg was last left off, oil production shot through the roof. A fourth Oran freighter is built to handle the extra load, however the current refinery/port rail line needs an upgrade to handle the increased capacity. The decision is made to electrify the line and replace the two oil carrying Jinties with more powerful NE EEF1 locomotives. One of the old Jinties is now a second petrol train, the other Jinty is reassigned to haul passengers for the new line.

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With a vacant Jinty on hand, construction of a passenger rail line to Wrennpool can begin. Prenthill City station gains a second platform to accommodate the new line.

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To be continued...

[ACM]

ACM Express: 1918 - 1922 Continued

So far the line isn't built all the way to Wrennpool, it currently stops at Invenpool Bridge, a village that lies on the half way point, which is too small for a bus service. Already the local authority isn't happy with us.

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Gunninghall is a town and small landmass located near the center of the map and sits along the oil and petrol shipping route. It will be the destination for a second ferry route. A small bus service and a dock are layed down, however no ferry yet operates on the route.

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Two more small bus services have been built in two frontier towns which won't be shown here yet.

[ACM]

ACM Express: 1922 - 1926

The upgraded port/refinery rail line is handling the extra capacity well. So well, a fourth Tyskebukta freighter is needed to handle the excess petrol. Still unable to afford a larger ferry, once more a pair of Josephine utility vessels have to be rellied on for the new ferry route.

The passenger rail line to Wrennpool is now complete. Three busses now operate on the Wrennpool bus network; two for the bus line, and one to carry passengers to the station. A railmotor is built to run alongside the passenger hauling Jinty.

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The station at Invenpool Bridge had to be moved a few meters away, and some terraforming was required. This angers the local authority greatly, so it'll be a long while before this station can be expanded again. This station is where the two trains cross each other.

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Prenthill City in 1926. It's bus service now totals at ten busses; four for the inner city bus line, and six to carry passengers to the station. Many of the company's busses are starting to age. The station is really overcrowding now, the company will have to deal with this eventually.

In this same shot is a sheep farm which now has a road built to a stockyard located to the far west of the north main island. Mettler flatbed trucks carry livestock to the stockyard, and farm supplies come all the way from Lentburg by Rockall freighters then Stanley box trucks.

acm_express_1926_2.png

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To be continued...

[ACM]

ACM Express: 1922 - 1926 Continued

While building the road for the livestock service, the company also connected Prenthill City, Invenpool Bridge and Wernnpool together, forming the beginning of a road network.

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Lentburg port meanwhile gets a facelift. A north dock is built for supply ships, while the south dock remains servicing oil and petrol freighters.

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And here's Brafingford and Petborough in 1926. The service here hasn't changed much since we last saw it. This area hasn't undergone the same population boom that Prenthill City has.

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[Jarcek]

just wow, i've just learned few things about beauty of small company.

[ACM]

Here's the first pure eye-candy screenshot which isn't related to the company story. A Jinty pulls a passenger train under a brick viaduct which a truck just crossed over in 1926.

[Pilot]

These are great keep up the good work.

[Katve]

Great shots.

[ACM]

I was busy with other things, so I couldn't get back to this. Here's just a small update.

ACM Express: 1926 - 1927

Something the company completely neglected until now was the existence of a sheep farm just south east of Lentburg port and machine shop. A quick road link is built to deliver farm supplies to it. At the same time, a bus service is built between Lentburg and the town further south - Wundingham, to keep the local residents happy.

Because the two Rockall freighters assigned to deliver farm supplies to Prenthill City were hogging them all up, one of them has been refitted to a tanker to help with the oil route.

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One subsidy that keeps popping up is for a scrap metal delivery located in the west of the region. Something the company has been keeping an eye on for some time now. However the scrap yard has a dangerously low output, as do most primary industries by now. A regular delivery of engineering supplies is needed first to ensure the scrap yard can sustain itself.

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However, the canal separating the north and south west main islands wasn't wide enough for ships to pass through. So a hefty cost was required to modify the coastal landscape to widen the canal.

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To be continued...

[ACM]

ACM Express: 1926 - 1927 Continued

Frundwood is one of the previously mentioned frontier towns that's a candidate for expanding the passenger rail network to. It also happens to be the location of the scrap yard. The bus service here was already in place, but now a small port is built here to unload supplies to, where two trucks then move the supplies to the yard itself. A single newly built Rockall freighter services this route.

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Lastly, on the wayside, a short range fishing route located to the south west of the region is spotted and seised. Four Banquereau vessels now provide one more steady stream of income. This is something the company could've done from the very beginning, but failed to realise.

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[Kogut]

Really interesting story!