From: mitton@dave.enet.dec.com (Dave Mitton)
Subject: Re: RR Tycoon - strategy suggestions, please!
Reply-To: mitton@dave.enet.dec.com (Dave Mitton)
Organization: Digital Equipment Corporation, Littleton MA
Date: Mon, 14 Sep 1992 18:43:04 GMT


In article <BuKGuJ.KGJ@unx.sas.com>, sasdrf@daedalus.unx.sas.com (Dave Frederick) writes:
>Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc.games
>From: sasdrf@daedalus.unx.sas.com (Dave Frederick)
>Subject: RR Tycoon - strategy suggestions, please!
>Date: Mon, 14 Sep 1992 11:49:31 GMT
>
>...
>My typical opening (playing either US scenario) is to find a pair of
>resources close enough to be serviced by one depot (say a couple oil
>wells). I'll select a point between this resource and the nearest city,
>and build the appropriate industry (in this example, a refinery). I'll
>lay from the city to the refinery and to the resource. I'll build a
>slow freight train and send it to the resource, with wait-until-full
>orders, and HOLD it there until the end of the first fiscal period.
>By this time, my stock drops to ~$3 a share. I'll send the train on 
>to the refinery, buying about 70,000 shares of my stock while it's
>en route, and getting a hefty profit for the oil delivery followed by
>the goods delivery. Then I'll start looking to expand to other cities.
>Does this sound like a reasonable start, or am I being too conservative?

	I try to avoid building an industry if possible.  They are very
expensive.  Sometimes it's worth starting the game several times until
you get a respectabily distributed mapboard.


>Other questions:
>
>1) Does everyone else keep an unscheduled high-speed train available
>for priority deliveries/rate-war passengers, etc? Is this a good idea?

	I usually keep a couple Limited class Mail trains bouncing
	up and down sections of my main line.  When a priority cargo
	comes up, then I assign one of them to chase it down.

	I usually keep the Mail car attached at all times.
	I think it's a bug that priority revenues do not get credited
	to the train that delivered them.  With the Mail car, I avoid
	the annoying message at the end of year saying "No Revenue generated
	by train nn".

>2) Are bonds fixed rate or variable rate? The manual hints that they're
>fixed by saying (in the player notes) to refinance during boom times.
>When paying off bonds, does one pay off the youngest, oldest, or
>highest interest bond first?

	Bonds are fixed rate at the time you sell them.  The rate is
	based on the Economic climate and the number you currently have.
	The current rate for your next sale is displayed on the bottom
	of the Broker's screen.

	The best rates are during Boom times. (kinda backwards isn't it?)
	I think (my books are at home) you pay them off in LIFO order.
	It really pays to roll over (eg: Repay all, then Sell again)
	all your non-Boom bonds during a Boom time.  That will get your 
	interest payments to their lowest.

	I cannot authoritively address your other questions...

	I definitely recommend you look for one of the two hint books out.
They are probably making it to the discount racks too.
<included from a previous post>

"The Official Guide to Sid Meier's Railroad Tycoon", by Russell Sipe,
Compute Books, Greensboro NC, ISBN: 0-87455-244-3 	
List $12.95 (purchased for $9.95 @ Electronic Botique, Burlington MA Mall)

"Railroad Tycoon, Master Strategies for Empire Builders", by Shay Addams,
Osborne McGraw-Hill, Berkeley CA, ISBN: 0-07-881728-5   
List $14.95 (~$13.75 Words Worth, Harvard Square)

I prefer the "Offical Guide" over the "Master Strategies".  
	The Guide was written by someone with access to the MicroProse
programmers & designers  (interviews with Sid Meier and Bruce Shelly are
included) and has a lot of factual information on how the program does 
certain things.
	The Strategies was written by someone playing the game, and tells
you how things worked for him.

	Dave.

Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc.games