From: prb@chinet.chi.il.us (Paul Botts)
Subject: Re: RR Tycoon - strategy suggestions, please!
Organization: Chinet - Public Access UNIX
Date: Mon, 14 Sep 1992 16:53:17 GMT

In article <BuKGuJ.KGJ@unx.sas.com> sasdrf@daedalus.unx.sas.com (Dave Frederick) writes:
>
>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?

No offense, but....eecchh, I don't think that opening is going to get
you too far. First of all, there's no way a couple of resources (like
two or three oil wells) is going to justify the expense of a refinery.
Also, you really shouldn't be building industries early when cash is
dear, if ever (I never do, myself, but I know some folks swear by them).
Also, you don't need to buy 70% of your stock, 50% will do to hold of
hostile takeovers.

>
>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?

God, no - you mean keep a train just sitting around draining maintenance
money??? No, what I do is focus on passenegr/mail service all along, so
I've always got a high-speed train handy when a good priority delivery
pops up, and if it's gonna get me a couple hundred grand I'll just
pre-empt its next delivery.
Now, I should note that I've never been able to make a freight-oriented
railroad really pay off (that is, become really profitable and end up at
or near the top rating). My brother, on the other hand, has done very
well with such railroads and can't get the hang of a
passenger/mail-oriented system. So there is no one clear winning
strategy (one reason this is such a great game).

>
>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?

They are fixed rate, but I dunno the answer to last question.

>
>3) Do you tend to expand your pike towards your competitors (to 
>antagonize or start a rate-war), or away from them (to strengthen your
>line)?

You cannot win the game (reach President or Prime Minister) by playing
defensively. On the other hand, with rate wars, my feeling is, either
fight them all out to win, or don't fight them at all. I will sometimes
start a rate war into a competitor's biggest station with no intention
of trying to win it, but just to weaken him for a stock takeover, or
just to keep him on the defensive. If there's a nearby competitor who
you think will try to go after your stations, go after him first, either
with rate wars or in the stock market. If you lose a rate war in one of
your major stations, you will probably not win or even do very well, so
make sure you don't.

>
>4) Is it worth taking over a weak (almost out of business) competitor
>just because the price is right, or should you go after the big boys
>and forget about the small fry?

Go for the strogest opponents, because even if you can't get enough of
their stock to take them over you will make profits as their stock
rises. There are differences between the opponents: some are stronger
players than others and so are better bets to buy stock of. I recall
that Jim Fisk and Morgan are strong ones in the U.S., for instance. This
is explained not in the manual but in a hint book I have; send me a note
to remind me and I'll look em up when I'm at home.

>
>Any answers, tips, or suggestions would be greatly appreciated (other
>than the "edit the save file and give yourself megabucks", as I would
>prefer to win within the bounds of the game itself).

Bravo! I find it utterly puzzling why people would pay good money for a
well-written, entertaining game and then just cheat their way to an
infinite high score. Why even waste your time? Is there some form of
satisfaction from that? Not that I think it's somehow "unmanly" or
something, just silly.


> Since this game
>is suddenly cheap, I would imagine many others are just starting out
>now, so perhaps we could begin a new thread regarding this game (or
>you can email me, I don't care).


Paul Botts
prb@chinet.chi.il.us
Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc.games,kw.forsale,uw.forsale,misc.forsale.computers