Knitting with Iron

**Knitting with Iron** is the ninth mission in the classic campaign of the game Railroad Tycoon II. It is the third scenario of the European act of the classic campaign. The premise of the scenario is the major role that Railroads played in the development and unification of Germany during the 1850s and 60s, led by Otto Von Bismarck. The map used in this scenario is a representation of Germany and the surrounding region.

## Overview

### Introduction Spiel

> *In Central Europe, the blast furnaces are heating up. Talk of nationalization brings hope to some and fear to others. So don't assume anything, because every turn hides a political ambush. The power belongs to the diplomat with the most iron. The German states need your help to see them through troubled times. So get the firebox a burnin', and set the wheels a turnin'...and watch your back.*
>
>

### Victory Conditions

* **Bronze:** Connect 8 territories with Prussia by the end of 1876.
* **Silver:** Connect 9 territories with Prussia by the end of 1875.
* **Gold:** Connect 11 territories with Prussia by the end of 1874, including Bavaria, also haul 70 loads in one year.

A loss will be triggered if the player has not connected 8 or more states with Prussia by the end of 1876.

### Available Bonuses

* **Choice 1:** Manager Robert Gerwig, Bridge Building costs 20% lower
* **Choice 2:** +$80,000, Early access to Iron Duke
* **Choice 3:** +$100,000, +10% Goodwill

The choice of starting bonus is simple. Goodwill isn't necessary, and the Iron Duke is too expensive to operate in the early game. You'll need to build some bridges to link good cities and get to all the territories required for the gold, so the bridge discount will perform best in the long run, especially since there's no real benefit to your company starting with extra cash: you'll be switching companies.

### Starting Situation

* **Starting Year:** 1850
* **Player Name:** Otto Von Bismark
	+ **Starting Player Cash:** $22K personal cash
	+ **Starting Player Stock:** 2,000 shares of Prussian State (20% of the company)
* **Company Name:** Prussian State
	+ **Starting Company Cash:** $302K

The player starts with a single track line between Stettin and Berlin. Berlin has a medium station with a sanding tower, water tower, saloon and roundhouse. Stettin meanwhile has a small station with a sanding tower and water tower.

### Ending Spiel

> *Wow...another great job in Central Europe. You've become quite the talk of the town. Now it's back into the trenches as France is in desperate need of your talents.*
>
>

## Strategy

This scenario is the first in which a key focus is territories, but overall the scenario itself is not challenging once the player gets going. Players only have to connect to 11 territories (only need a station with connection) in order to satisfy victory conditions, no loads need to be hauled to and from the territory. 70 loads in a year tends to the most challenging part of the scenario, as the player will need to diversify into freight operations to complete this particular victory condition.

### Starting Out

This scenario is supposed to be about negotiating with all the various states that would eventually become Germany, but due to an oversight, that isn't actually necessary. Prussian State's stock starts out at a heavily inflated value, and you have 2K shares. Bulldoze all your track and stations, take out a bond, and hire manager Ginnery Twitchell (always available in the starting pool) to deflate your stock price. Use all remaining cash to Buyback Stock to increase the price. Fire Ginnery Twitchell. Sell all of your Prussian State shares, and buy 6,000 shares of Bavarian State. Assume chairmanship of Bavarian State. You now have complete access to every region without spending any company cash. Remember that you still need to specifically connect other states to Prussia, not Bavaria. You'll want to claim Berlin early on so the AI doesn't clog it up on you. You can now focus on making Bavarian State's rail network better to get rolling.

### Connecting the States

A large city that is easy to connect to is Hamburg. The rights to Holstein are usually dirt cheap ($200K or so), and it is recommended for the player to connect to it as soon as funds are available. Another good connection is to Dortmund and Dusseldorf. These two large cities are very close to each other, and so once again building a large station here will result in another station with high passenger supply. The rights to Westphalia are expensive ($3,000K usually), but Dortmund/Dusseldorf is a long distance destination that will pay off this investment through the revenue of only a few trains. Continue adding more trains, having them run long distance between Dortmund/Dusseldorf and Berlin, Hanover, Hamburg. When the Iron Duke becomes available in 1855, one should immediately upgrade all locomotives to this type.

These new trains will generate a lot of revenue, and this should help fund further purchases of territory and expansion of the network. At this stage, 4 states have been connected to the network. The player needs stations in 11 states in order to get the gold, and one of these has to be Bavaria. There are a glut of cheap states to the North and South of where the player's network lies. The best states to connect to are Nassau ($50K), Hesse-Cassell ($300K), Hesse-Darmstadt ($300K), Oldenburg ($400K), Saxony ($400K), Baden ($600K), Wurttemburg ($600K). Once rights are purchased, simply build a station in the state, and connect it to existing track.

### Getting the Gold

In order for the player to win the gold medal, they must connect to Bavaria. Bavaria has extremely high territory purchase costs, ranging between $10,000K to $20,000K depending on goodwill (Choice 3 shows it's importance here). Although this figure initially seems quite high, it really should only take a couple of years of saving profit in order to afford this, given that the player already has a fairly established network.

Once Bavaria is connected, the remaining objective is to haul 70 loads of cargo in one year. To do this, the player needs to purely expand as much as possible, and create as many routes as possible. In particular, connecting primary industries is a good idea here since they generate cargo on it's own. The cargo doesn't even need to be sent to a station that accepts it, merely to a different station (it will count to the 70 total regardless). The player should connect up all the grain and cattle farms in Northern Germany that are close to the player's existing network, and then have trains haul this cargo to the cities. Regardless if this exercise generates a profit, gradually the number of loads hauled per year will increase, and once this reaches 70 loads, the player will win the gold.

## History

"In the mid-1850’s, Europe was struggling with social reforms, empire building, and industrialization. The independent states of Germany were no exception. There were rumors of a unified German Empire. The dominant state of Prussia was leading the way towards unification under Otto von Bismarck.

Involved in Prussian politics, Bismarck was able to purposefully wind his way up the political steps to a position of great power as the Chancellor of the German Empire. The consolidation of the German Empire peaked in the 1880’s when nearly all of the railways in Germany came under the control of the German Empire. Again, this had much to do with Bismarck’s plans, as he was very well invested in railways at the time and naturally knew what "his" government was going to pay for nationalizing the rails. Unlike current times, profiting from government connections or inside information was openly accepted and widely practiced. Bismarck collected the iron prize that became the backbone of German industry and solidified the new empire’s place in history.

In order to form a strong alliance, you need to develop better interstate commerce with the introduction of a unified railway system. Your goal here is to gain acceptance from as many German states as possible by connecting your railway to their territory. Your start date is 1850."

-- Railroad Tycoon 2 Official Strategy Guide