Scenario 2 - Northeast U.S. | Game scenarios Railroads Guide

Last update: 11 May 2016

Important! Following hints are based on these scenario settings:

Time limit - 1830-1970; Number of AI Players - 2. Randomize landscape and Randomize locations features have been deactivated.

The game won't force you to do anything. As a result, you will be able to customize the gameplay. For example, you have an opportunity to play each scenario without having to worry about the competition.

Here's the list of main mission objectives. You will have to fulfill them in order to succeed:

LEVEL 1 - The Birth of Rail

You will have to complete all of these tasks by: 1880.

Level one objectives:

1) Connect New York, Philadelphia, and Washington.

As you probably remember, you've had to deal with a very similar task while playing the first scenario of the game. You should know exactly what has to be done here. Sadly, completing this particular objective is going to be much more difficult. The main difference is that there's a large distance separating New York from Washington. Those cities have been located on the opposite ends of the map. As a result, creating a proper connection is going to be very expensive and you'll probably have to spend a lot of game years to achieve this goal. Thankfully, you won't have any problems planning the connection. There are some large cities in this area, so you'll also be able to use them to your advantage. You should start off by creating a connection between Washington and Philadelphia, especially since both of these cities are located in the lower part of the map. Once this connection has been established, proceed with the second part of this objective. It would be best to connect New York with Philadelphia, but I'm sure that you've figured this out on your own. You could also consider creating a separate line that would only help you to fulfill this objective, however this won't be necessary. It's better to create additional tracks and attach them to the main one. You mustn't forget about the possibility of buying parallel tracks. This is going to be very important, especially near big cities. Otherwise you'd paralyze your railroad system. The only exception should be the bridges, however you won't have to build too many of them. You shouldn't have any other problems with this mission objective, however you won't have much time to complete it. As a result, I would recommend leaving less important tasks for later and focusing all of your attention on creating new tracks and expanding the existing ones. Remember that there are a lot of cities and factories on the map. You will be able to use them to your advantage. Extra cash is always welcome and you'll need it to plan your next actions.

2) Upgrade your depots in New York, Philadelphia, and Washington D.C. to terminals.

This is a very obvious objective, so I guess I won't have to go into details. You will have to upgrade three different depots to terminals. It's going to cost you a lot (250000 dollars for each city), however doing this will allow you to earn extra profits from ongoing connections. I would recommend that you complete this objective as soon as possible. You should also take a closer look at your other major cities. It would also be wise to expand depots in these cities, however you shouldn't spend all of your money on this project.

3) Deliver 50 carloads of immigrant passengers from New York to Washington D.C.

The task itself is very obvious. Sadly, completing this objective is going to be very difficult. The most important thing here is that you won't have much time to fulfill this task. As a result, you will have to connect Washington to New York as soon as possible. Shipping 50 carloads will take a lot of time and that is the luxury you don't have. I would recommend buying several different locomotives in order to speed up this process. Additionally, make sure that the trains won't make any unnecessary stops. It's very important that only these two metropolitan areas have been connected. The objective here is to make sure that a single exchange isn't going to take too much time. You should also consider placing parallel tracks, so you won't encounter any unwanted delays. Setting a higher priority for the locomotives is equally important. You could also try and modify other connections in order to minimize the risk of slowing your trains down. Remember that once you've completed this objective, you will be allowed to cancel these connections, however for the time being they must have the highest priority.

Completing the third objective is going to be quite difficult. Make sure that the trains are taking only passengers. As for Washington, you will have to make a choice here, however I'd recommend having a very small number of carriages. You should be looking for huge profits elsewhere. Finishing this task is more important than everything else.

 

LEVEL 2 - The Robber Barons

You will have to complete all of these tasks by: 1930.

Level two objectives:

1) Create an economic empire by attaining a net worth of $20 million.

Once again, you will be dealing with a very familiar type of objective. This time you will have to increase the overall value of your company to 20 million dollars. Thankfully, you won't have to worry about completing this mission too much. Instead, focus on finishing the second objective of this level of the scenario. I guess you already know what should be done here. One of the most important things is to spend your money wisely. This means that you will have to be on a look out for the most profitable connections. Plan all of these actions thoroughly. You can also try and participate in a number of auctions. The objective will be to win some of the nearby factories. Most of these building will be able to turn high profits. Leave the rest of the objectives for later, especially since some of them are going to be very easy. I'm sure that you won't have any other problems. Just make sure that you fulfill both scenario objectives within the given time limit.

2) Expand your financial horizons by purchasing a 50% stake in another railroad.

This is one of the most difficult objectives of this entire scenario. You will have to plan your each action carefully in order to succeed. The objective of this task is quite obvious. You will have to buy at least 50% shares from one of your competitors. I would recommend that you focus only on one company, so you won't have to spend more money. Sadly, it's going to cost you a lot, so you'll have to start thinking about this problem as soon as possible. Make sure that you don't wait for too long. Otherwise you would have to spend more money on the shares. You will also have watch out for other computer players. AI plays quite aggressively in this scenario, so make sure that none of the other railroads decides to buy shares in which you were thinking about. You must prevent this from happening. I would also recommend that you don't sell all of your shares, because that would attract the attention of other AI players.

Spend your money on the most profitable connections. You could also consider participating in a number of auctions. This would allow you to acquire new factories.

LEVEL 3 - Captains of Industry

You will have to complete all of these tasks by: 1970.

Level three objectives:

1) Ensure the future of your business by building or purchasing a steel mill in New York.

These last mission objectives are going to be very simple. You shouldn't have any problems finishing them. You will also have a lot of time and money to focus your attention on other aspects of your company. This will allow you to increase a number of points which you'll receive after winning the scenario. The only real problem are your competitors. They will be playing very aggressively, so you will have to monitor their movements. The only thing that has to be done here is to buy a factory building. You shouldn't have any problems finding New York. Open the build window and choose a steel mill. Doing this will allow you to proceed with the second objective of this level of the scenario. It's rather unlikely for the steel mill to become built automatically (you would have to participate in an auction). You will have to spend 500000 on this construction, however I assure you that it'll be worth it. You will start receiving additional profits very soon.

2) Establish your dominance in the steel market by shipping 100 carloads of steel from your New York steel mill.

This is also a very simple objective. You shouldn't have any problems completing this task, however you will have to do a lot of different things in order to be able to finish the entire scenario. First of all, you will have to locate all coal mines. It would be best to use the goods window here. There should be plenty of them, so you will have something to choose from. I was able to find three different mines in the vicinity of New York, however only one mine was being used by a competitor. Make sure that you're searching for mines that aren't currently used by other companies. Thanks to that, you won't have to worry about loading your carriages with coal. You will have to start transporting coal to New York. If you have a steel mill there, this object will automatically begin the production, so you won't have to perform any additional tasks. The second important step will be to sell 100 carloads of manufactured steel. I was able to do this in Dover, however I'm sure that you're going to have to deliver it to some other city. Try using existing connections to ship steel. You probably won't have to build new tracks. Also, make sure that you're carrying all the steel that has been manufactured in New York. You could consider buying a new locomotive and ordering it to sell these goods. It's also very important that you provide New York with a large number of coal. You could consider creating connections to other coal mines in the area. The objective here is to let the steel mill operate without any unwanted delays. You should be able to ship 100 carloads of steel without any other problems.

You should be able to find a few coal mines in the vicinity of New York. Make sure that these objects aren't being used by other companies. You will have to begin shipping coal to New York.

This picture shows the most important cities of the region:

1 - Baltimore; 2 - Washington; 3 - Dover; 4 - Harrisburg; 5 - Philadelphia; 6 - New York; 7 - Trenton.

Green lines show three cities that need to be connected in the first place (not necessarily in a straight line). I should also tell you that this map shows only the biggest cities of the entire area, however some of the smaller towns may also grow to a larger size. You will have to remember about that and connect them to your existing tracks.

Additional hints for the entire scenario:

Your first task here will be finding a good place to start the scenario. Just as before, you will be able to choose between several different cities. The game will allow you to start the game in towns like Dover, Harrisburg or Trenton, however I'd strongly recommend that you choose Baltimore. Doing this will allow you to proceed with the first main mission objective much faster. You will also be able to earn a lot of money here, without having to build a lot of expensive connections. The city I'm talking about is Washington. Make sure that creating a connecting with this town is the first thing you decide to do. Start off by carrying mail and passengers. As for the mission goals, you will have to focus all of your attention on connecting Washington with Philadelphia and New York.

You should take a closer look at your surroundings. You should be able to find a lot of industrial buildings in this area - sawmills, farms, mines or refineries. Now you will have to find out which resources should be supplied in the first place. You will probably start off with lumber and coal. Make sure that you have modified your existing connections, so you'll be able to earn extra money without having to buy new locomotives. You should be thinking about your main goals at the same time, so focus only on the most profitable connections. Remember that you'll be able to return to the rest of these industrial buildings later during this mission.

Try choosing the most interesting industrial buildings. They should be located near Baltimore and Washington.

Now you should start thinking about moving towards the central (it's to the east) area of the map. There are a few larger towns there, so you don't have to worry about having troubles finding new connections. You should also be able to start several production chains. Bear in mind that some of the cities will require you to provide several different resources (wood, oil, grain...). Furthermore, you shouldn't have any problems acquiring these goods. There are a lot of factory buildings in the area and you'll be able to use them to your advantage. You should be able to reach Dover. Now concentrate on upgrading existing lines, so you won't have any problems with having a large number of trains. Concentrate mostly on laying down parallel tracks. They will come very handy, especially near big cities. Once you've filled this section of the map with your tracks, you should start thinking about moving to the north. I guess it's very likely that the competition has taken control of these sectors of the map. As a result, you will have to spend more money, building a lot of bridges and longer connections. Either way, you will have to connect Philadelphia to your grid. Make sure this is done as soon as possible. You should also take a few minutes to upgrade some of the existing connections. Concentrate mostly on the profitable tracks. You could also try and participate in several auctions. This will allow you to acquire a few factories, however you might as well skip these kinds of actions. Don't forget about the possibility of building parallel tracks. This is very important, however you shouldn't spend too much money on this. Also, take a closer look at your locomotives. You should consider upgrading some of the older models. This will allow you to speed up these connections and lower maintenance costs. You will also be able to add more carriages to the new locomotives.

You will probably need to build a few bridges in order to reach Philadelphia.

Once you've reached Philadelphia, you should forget about the main objectives for a few minutes. There are a lot of interesting objects in this area. You will find several towns to the north, as well as some industrial facilities. You could consider creating a larger connection (with parallel tracks) to Wilmington. This would allow you to earn some extra cash, without having to spend too much money on the investment. You could also create a separate line that would connect Philadelphia with Dover, however this is not necessary. Start moving your grid towards Trenton, especially since this town should have already grown to a larger size. Creating a depot station there is very important. Once again, take your time and create several other connections, especially since there are more industrial buildings here and most of them will probably supply your cities with much needed goods.

Keep heading towards New York. Make sure that finishing this main connection doesn't take too long. You should remember about one of your primary objectives. The task here will be to begin transporting passengers to Washington. I've already mentioned before that you should consider buying locomotives in order to speed up this process. Additionally, create parallel tracks, so the trains won't have to wait in line. Thankfully, you should have plenty of cash on your account, so it shouldn't be much of a problem.

Don't forget about the possibility of creating parallel tracks. This is very important, especially near bigger cities.

Now you should try and concentrate only on completing the most difficult objectives. This isn't going to be simple, so you will have to plan each action carefully. Also, observe the traffic, so there aren't any jams. Notice that there are a lot of mines and farms near New York. You should consider connecting them to the rest of the grid. Don't forget about the possibility of winning different kinds of inventions. Some of them may come in handy. You should also take a closer look at your locomotives. Remember that you shouldn't have the older models for too long. It would be wise to upgrade them after 40-50 years. Otherwise you would have to deal with unpleasant delays and high maintenance costs. Just as before, you will also have to be on a look out for additional ways to earn some cash. Mayor of different cities will grant you with such an opportunity. Granting their demands will allow you to earn 100000 dollars (for each city). Notice how the market demands change. In some cases, you will have to modify your existing connections.

Once you've dealt with two levels of this scenario, you will be able to proceed with the less important takes. First of all, you should take a closer look at the farms. Most of them should be located in the northern part of the map. Try and create a larger number of production chains. You would be able to manufacture steel, food or even automobiles. You could also consider building a larger number of bridges, especially in the vicinity of Dover. This will allow you to create new connections there, without having to worry about the trains stopping for no obvious reason.

Building a larger number of bridges and parallel lines is always a good idea.

It's very important that you don't forget about the older locomotives. You should be upgrading them from time to time, especially the steam models. This will allow you to lower the maintenance costs. You will also be able to haul a larger number of expensive and highly demanded goods. Remember that your cities will be expanding. This means that the citizens will demand new types of goods. It would be wise to fulfill these requests.

If you've managed to gather a larger sum of money, you might also consider buying out the competition. It's not going to be easy, however you should be able to acquire at last one company. Doing this will also allow you to use new tracks and reach previously unexplored areas of the map. You could also connect these lines with your standard grid. Try building a larger number of railway tracks near New York. You will find a lot of interesting objects here. Make sure that they are all connected and that the goods are delivered exactly where they're needed.

Take a closer look at the industrial buildings which are located in the vicinity of New York. It would be wise to connect them to the main grid, especially mines, refineries and farms.