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Standard settings are Small Map Easy Hilly. Unless you changed anything yourself, you are playing easy.
I made my own system that works for me. It is as follows.
Intercity = IC-B-City name-# for instance it would read. IC-B-HAR-1 That tells me it is intercity bus route 1 for Harwood. I also use trams, that would read, IC-T-HAR-1. For city city I would use.. CC-TR-HAR-DOV-1 That would mean, City-City Train route 1 for Harwood to Dover. FRT-R-G-HAR would mean Freight Resource, goods going to Harwood. FRT-R-O-1 would be Freight Resource Oil route 1. Just find something that means something for you.
It works for me. As to the replacing issue, I solved it by having each of the vehicles being replaced every 5 years. So, 1900 I replace all bus’s, 1905 all trams, 1910 all trains. Every vehicle of that type gets replaced at the same time, saves time and headaches. Note: I always replace any line when a new vehicle is on line. 🙂
Traffic AI is horrid in this game, no 2 ways about that. However, 1930 you can upgrade roads with bus lanes, trams and bus’s use it. This pretty much solves any issue you should have with traffic. Though upgrading to that sucks the big one!! Very easy to miss just a little chunk of road. I also place a tram and bus station next to each other at every major stop.
Why would you not have an upgrade the whole network button? This is 2014 not 1989!!
I do not think it is the other cities fault at all. You take the same path I tend to do, I do not have that issue.
One thing I did find that helps me maintain steady growth thru out the whole game is… On your small map, do not open a factory until you have all 7 cities with their own intercity bus routes. Then open up the 6 city to city connections to your hub city. Just an FYI here, I do not even have a factory open until 1885- 1890. But doing this, I can still hit 1000-1100 by 1930,
Wait for a little growth, then open up your middle most factory, feed all 7 cities with that. It will grow kind of slow at this point. But it will expand and feed all 7 cities for quite a while. When that plant hits 380ish production, find a north or south factory, open it and feed one of city’s near it. After it expands, feed a 2nd city.
When your main factory gets back up to 370-380ish, open your 3rd factory, with one city being fed, when it expands feed 2nd city.
This gives me constant growth thru out the game,I tend to hit 1000-1100 in hub by 1930. 2-3 other cities will be at 550-600. The rest either high 400’s or 300’s.
What I noticed for me was, if I open a factory early in game, 1850-1855ish, that the factory expands rapidly. Then my cities stagnate, even with 3 factories running. Not sure if it is in my head, but after doing this, I have not had stagnation in my games.
Also note, that doing to much cosmetic road work in hub city can and will hurt your growth. So, if you like a ring around the city, make it huge. Also, the cities will grow towards your bus stations, use that to your advantage.
Yes it is Train Fever, but the developers have left out the fever inside the game. At any rate, I enjoy making a nice road network over the train aspect of this game. That being said, several people do the same thing I do with trains, so either works.
As to the laying of roads to grow your cities, not needed at all. If you have a half way decent intercity network and you deliver the goods, the cities will grow. The only city I redo roads are is for my hub City. That city I rebuild quite a bit, I like a N-S E-W main roads right thru the center. I also have a large road that rings it. Then I draw 6 roads out from that ring to all the cities on the map.
1 road to each city, with 0 overlap.
There is no doubt that early game you can run one factory out to all 7 cities on a small map. Central location is preferred for this. No trains needed, you can run horse’s and make it work. Just have a good road network.
It is counter productive to have 2 oil wells feed one refinery. However, there are no issues running 3 oil wells to 3 refineries. Not sure where you heard it was a bad idea to run more then one of the same type of factory. But let me assure you, it is false.
My current game I got real real lucky, I have an oil refinery up north, middle and south. I ran the one in the middle until it reached 380 production. Running to all 7 cities, then opened a new one for 2 north cities. When the 1st one reached 350 goods used, I opened the one in the south.
All 3 factories are running great, my cities are having insane growth at the moment. 🙂
Expect loss’s on some intra-city routes are my thoughts. I generally have 3-4 intra-city routes for my hub city. They hover at a loss or just at the profit line. Their only job is to move people to my intercity stops. My intercity routes are my gravy train. Though, I use trams rather then trains.
The more routes into a city the faster it can grow. I tend to make a hub city as my county seat. Each city has route into the hub. That is 6 connections on a small map. Then, make sure you deliver the freight it needs. Have 3-4 bus routes feeding your people moving stations.
Just a note here, I have 6 hubs in the hub city that act as main stops. I try to keep these on the outside edge of the cities. A hub will consist of a large bus and tram station. I used to use just Tram Stations, but every game had to be restarted at some point due to traffic lockup at station. With the bus/tram station setup I have not had this issue.
You want that main hub to have 75% or higher people using your transport. By about 1930 ish, you should be sitting at about 1000-1100 pop. I have no idea how people get to 1000 by 1900, I know I cannot do it, the best I have been able to do was about 800.
I have to limit how many routes I setup in game, just because this is a chore and not fun. Not sure how this would have missed live release.
Well, you do not need every factory to be working. I am not sure I agree that people need to go to work at the factory, I have seen nothing in game to suggest it is true at any rate. You need to have a station by the factory and a way to deliver goods, for sure. But that can be train track or road. NOTE: I will have to relook, the goods may need a road to get to the station.
You seem like you know what you are doing at any rate. Just embrace your micro management more. Constantly check the cities for goods delivered. With goods being delivered, and intra city network to move people, the cities will not stop growing!! It gets quite insane.
Growth requires a few things. Getting goods into a city is the 1st. Giving people routes to other cities is the 2nd. And to me the most important.
Try this, make a small map. Pick the center most city as your hub city. Connect every other city to that one. Setup a city to city route from the other 6 to it. I design that middle city myself. I will have 4 tram/bus stations there. 1 NW 1 NE 1 SW 1 SE. Then design a bus route in each city to move the people to your stations. This gives everyone access to each city.
Then, I worry about freight. I find the most central industry on the map. That one factory will supply all 7 cities for many decades.
If you set it up right, that middle city will grow like crazy. I have went from 117 to over 500 in less then 10 years.
Later if you grow right, you will need to add another factory or 2 to keep up with demand.
Cause’s for factory not growing is simple to trace. Turn on the freight overlay, it shows where the freight is moving. If you see freight leaving your truck stations and going to town or industry by themselves, you do not have enough capacity. Keep an eye on auto delivery, it can ruin your chance to upgrade.
Always check what your cities need for carrgo, setup right they should all grow quite fast.
Just an FYI, I have no issue’s taking out a 10 mil loan at start of the game. You can easily run med roads from each city your hub city and setup basic people movers. You will be rolling in cash to be quite honest. I average paying off the loan by 1857.
I also destroy almost every road the AI makes since it does such poor job of it. Some people claim it is cheating, but I paid for the game and cannot stand ugly roads.
The way the game works, you would be hurting your self by making those 2 factories work. Over work one, you can use 1 factory for 7 cities on a small map for a very long time. When you use 2, they compete with each other.
You also have to look to see if anything else is competing, like oil or lumber.
You have to look over the whole map. An oil refinery that is auto producing could be faster. What determines output is, a willing partner to receive the goods. For instance..
Steel Mill – Iron Mine-Coal Mine. This chain can produce up to 400 Tons of goods. Depending on how may cities it is shipping to determines the output. For instance… City A needs 45 Goods, City B needs 37 Goods, City C needs 55 goods. So, you have those 3 cities hooked to steel mill. They can take up 137 Goods. That means the max output of that factory will be 200, until you have more outlets for the goods.
Now, as the game progress’s the auto chains can interfere with your shipping. If the roads can get the freight there faster. I suspect this is your issue, look at all of the auto chains.
