Adjusting economy for semi-realistic play with FIRS/AXIS?

[Davie_UCF]

Hi all,

Occasionally I get the itch to play TT again and here I am...
I've always been a player who likes making believable networks, (I rarely make single end to end train routes ).

I'm playing with realistic braking, acceleration etc. AXIS industries and a few other settings I've forgotten about.

I started in 1930, with a limestone route, with trucks transfering the materials to the train stations. And a few other truck routes for the produce.
I'm really struggling to make decent money so I can expand.
I feel like I get punished for my playstyle, or is it because of AXIS and my routes?
Is there any settings that would make it a little easier but still not a walk in the park?

[Argus]

I don't know, I never have problems, but I usually start with passenger transport, including ships, I don't just play with trains. This is really the path to a debt trap from the beginning.
In the beginning, I only do a small local train for people and mail.
You don't say at all what other graphics you use, it's not easy to give advice.

[dol422]

Smaller, point to point routes will yield more profit quickly.

[kkidslogin]

I play with FIRS (Usually Temperate Basic), not AXIS, but my best guess is that Limestone does not pay very well. It will take a long time to expand, especially if you're playing with a GRF with more "realistic" prices rather than more OpenTTD-balanced prices (UKRS immediately comes to mind).

It also just takes a while sometimes. I played a FIRS game with NARS, 4096x4096, and it took a long time to get going. It's likely that, under this single route, earning money is taking a while. My best advice, rather than playing PTP, is to keep playing as you are and take out a loan to be able to add a few more routes. If you hit the loan cap, common on OpenTTD games with default settings, you can always turn it up---at some point the devs changed the maximum loan cap setting limit from $2,000,000 to $20,000,000,000, if I remember correctly.

I also don't play PTP. My playstyle is a mix of experience learning the game from scratch and the influence I got watching LugnutsK's OpenTTDCoop style. Sometimes it just takes a while to get started.

[kamnet]

There's nothing wrong with your play style per-se, but in general OpenTTD favors movement of cargo for long distances as quickly as possible. There's a variety of settings under "Advanced" or "Expert" configurations that you can adjust to make shorter routes more preferred and profitable.

Also, of note, there isn't anything unrealistic about point-to-point lines. Most railroads started this way to provided limited service to very specific areas where there was a demand. Later those railroads would be bought and merged into a conglomerate with the hopes of morning a more united and expanded operation. Many small, non-nationalized railroads still operate this way today. One of my favorite operators, RJ Corman in Kentucky, operates several such rail lines across the eastern US.

[kkidslogin]

There's nothing wrong with your play style per-se, but in general OpenTTD favors movement of cargo for long distances as quickly as possible. There's a variety of settings under "Advanced" or "Expert" configurations that you can adjust to make shorter routes more preferred and profitable.

Also, of note, there isn't anything unrealistic about point-to-point lines. Most railroads started this way to provided limited service to very specific areas where there was a demand. Later those railroads would be bought and merged into a conglomerate with the hopes of morning a more united and expanded operation. Many small, non-nationalized railroads still operate this way today. One of my favorite operators, RJ Corman in Kentucky, operates several such rail lines across the eastern US.

OpenTTD is going to encourage shorter PTP with 14.0 a lot more. A PR was merged whereby the cargo decay will no longer cap out at a relatively high value, meaning that long-distance routes will no longer be very profitable.