CJ's Adventures in Railroad Tycoon II - Printable Version

+- The Coffee House (https://tch-forum.com)
+-- Forum: Recreation and Media (https://tch-forum.com/forumdisplay.php?fid=39)
+--- Forum: The Gaming Table (https://tch-forum.com/forumdisplay.php?fid=48)
+--- Thread: CJ's Adventures in Railroad Tycoon II (/showthread.php?tid=10782)

---

CJ's Adventures in Railroad Tycoon II - Kyng - 08-15-2021

I downloaded a Scottish scenario a while back - and, today, I decided it was time to give it a try .

My company was the Caledonian Railway, which had a very short section of track between Glasgow and Motherwell. This really wasn't enough to run any kind of profitable rail system - so, I took out a loan, and expanded it further west, to Dumbarton and Helensburgh. This gave me access to a grain silo (which will become important a little later) - as well as enough track to run some decent trains:


(Click to enlarge)

However, I wasn't done. I then started another line eastwards from Glasgow - first connecting to Falkirk, and then to the bakery in Bathgate, so I had somewhere to take all that grain . I was making a tidy profit from this expanded network - so I began buying up shares of the North British Railway, which had a station in Edinburgh. Before to long, I bought out that company, and connected our two networks together - so I was able to run trains between Edinburgh and Glasgow :


(Click to enlarge)

With the Central Belt all connected up, now I should expand north into the Highlands!

---

RE: What was the last game you played? - Kyng - 08-28-2021

I continued my Scotland game from a couple of weeks ago. Since I'd already connected Edinburgh and Glasgow, I started expanding northwards from there, into Perthshire:


(Click to enlarge)

Next up, I'll see if I can run up the east coast to Aberdeen .

---

RE: What was the last game you played? - Kyng - 09-11-2021

Just been continuing this game. I haven't made it to Aberdeen just yet, but I have connected to Dundee:


(Click to enlarge)

Now... my company has $2.3 million lying around, so connecting to Aberdeen shouldn't take too much longer !!!

---

RE: What was the last game you played? - Kyng - 09-16-2021

Just did some more of this. I've not only connected to Aberdeen, but also some of the other towns further north in Aberdeenshire:


(Click to enlarge)

Of course, after spending all my money on those new railway lines, I no longer have a spare $2 million lying around. Instead, I have a spare $4 million lying around !!!!

---

RE: CJ's Adventures in Railroad Tycoon II - Kyng - 09-30-2021

Okay, since these were kinda taking over "What was the last game you played?", I split them off into a separate thread .

And now, another update. After connecting to Aberdeen, I expanded my network westwards, into Moray:


(Click to enlarge)

By now, I was running out of places to connect in the Lowlands... so, I had to start expanding into the Highlands. First of all, I built a branch line to Oban, and started running trains from there to Dumbarton:


(Click to enlarge)

As you'd expect, building in the mountains is quite challenging: it can be tough finding a route that isn't too steep for my poor trains . And it can be quite expensive too... but, fortunately, I'm swimming in cash now !!!!

---

RE: CJ's Adventures in Railroad Tycoon II - Kyng - 10-08-2021

In my previous post, I expanded in two directions: westwards from Aberdeen towards Inverness, and northwest from Dumbarton to Oban. Now, I've built a line to join those two up - and it's quite long, so I've had to zoom out a bit:


(Click to enlarge)

Ploughing through all those mountains cost me a lot of money (I'm guessing at least $3 million) - but even with that, I have more than double the amount of money had in my last update . That's just how lucrative my main network is... I should have no trouble expanding further into the Highlands now!

---

RE: CJ's Adventures in Railroad Tycoon II - Kyng - 12-26-2021

Now, I'm trying another scenario - and it's quite a difficult one .

This one's based in Switzerland. Here, I need to build the Gotthard railway - running from Basel in the north-west of the country, to Chiasso on the southern border with Italy. I start in the year 1844, and I have until 1882, so that's quite a long time... but, it'll take me over some very unforgiving terrain. And, all the while, other areas of Switzerland will be demanding connections... so, if I don't want to turn the country against me, then I'll need to build a lot of railways in a short space of time !

Five years in, I'd got my basic system set up. It was centered around Zürich - running east to Frauenfeld, and west to Koblenz (on the German border - and not to be confused with the much larger city of the same name that's actually in Germany !)


(Click to enlarge)

That system was making a decent amount of money - but, it only covered a small portion of Switzerland. If I didn't expand fast, then the regions without any rail service would get pissed off with me, and my passenger revenue would decrease. But, of course, rapid expansion would cost me a lot of money. So, I took out as many loans as I could (I don't know if I'll be able to pay them off - but, if not, then maybe some weirdo in a pink jumpsuit will come to the rescue... do they have those in Switzerland ?)

Still, that's a problem for the future. For now, the plan's going smoothly - because, only 18 months after the above screenshot, I'd built a branch down to Olten - and another branch off that one down to Luzern:


(Click to enlarge)

One comment is that the in-game background music isn't really suitable for this scenario: it's all American blues music, but surely some yodelling would be more appropriate ? But, other than that, I have no complaints with how things are going so far - and, once trains start arriving in Luzern, I should make plenty of money!!!

---

RE: CJ's Adventures in Railroad Tycoon II - Kyng - 12-27-2021

About a year after taking the second screenshot, I got a notification that a couple of people had applied to serve as manager of my company. And... this proved to be an absolute game-changer for me :


(Click to enlarge)

Robert Gerwig is THE best manager you can have in this scenario. If you hire him, then your bridges will become 40% cheaper, and your tracks in mountains will become 50% cheaper. Since I'm in Switzerland, I'll need to build a lot of both - and so, having Gerwig on board will radically speed up my expansion, and give me a massive edge over my rivals.

Indeed, by 1854, I'd already built two lines to Bern - one from Luzern (via Burgdorf), and one from Olten (via Solothurn):


(Click to enlarge)

No progress on the Gotthard line yet - but, the system I've built up so far will give me a massive income base, so I should be able to build that line relatively quickly!

---

RE: CJ's Adventures in Railroad Tycoon II - Kyng - 12-31-2021

Well, in 1855, another massive game-changer came along (although, this time, it was one that I was expecting):


(Click to enlarge)

The Iron Duke has become available ! Up until now, I'd been using the 4-2-0 Prussian on all of my trains - and, this was very limited: it had a top speed of less than 30mph, and if it hauls more than two carriages, then it'll slow to a crawl on any kind of gradient . The Iron Duke, on the other hand, is much better: it has a top speed of over 50mph, and it can haul heavier loads without getting bogged down. I immediately started replacing my Prussians with Iron Dukes on my main lines to Bern and Luzern - and, all of a sudden, I was making a lot more money .

As a result, I was able to build up a more extensive system in the north-east of the country:


(Click to enlarge)

At this point, I'm not even taking out loans any more - because my main lines are making all the money I need. It's going rather well !

---

RE: CJ's Adventures in Railroad Tycoon II - Kyng - 01-01-2022

Over the next three years, I largely continued with introducing the newer, more powerful Iron Duke locomotives across my network. By 1860, they were in use on the vast majority of my routes - and only a handful of small secondary lines were still using the older Prussian type.

I'd also connected to Basel (one of the end points of the Gotthard line), and build a small system in the north-west of Switzerland:


(Click to enlarge)

That line running along the top of the screen is actually the beginning of my Gotthard line . It comes out at the other end of my network, in the foothills of the Alps:


(Click to enlarge)

So, I've built the first section of the Gotthard line, from Basel to Altdorf. That's a little over halfway - and, I have until 1882 to finish the rest. (Granted, the second half will be much more mountainous than the first - but, with Robert Gerwig on board, that shouldn't be a major issue!!!)

---