RRT STRATEGIES, TIPS AND NOTES.
MicroProse's "Railroad Tycoon" is a fun, complex game which will bear many 
playings and considerable study along the way.  The following notes are from 
my own experiences with the game, and those of the other GAMERS forum members.

MAP CHOICES AND DIFFICULTY LEVELS
Each of the four maps is quite different from the others and presents unique 
challenges.  Eastern US and England are similar in that they are both small 
areas and begin in the earliest time period.  Because of the weaker, slow 
locomotives available, it is more difficult to generate large incomes.  This 
is compounded by the smaller, less numerous cities, especially in the East US 
map.  This will make freight traffic an important revenue source.  The 
European map begins in the latest time period, has many large cities and has 
good locomotives available soon.  It is consistently dominated by mail and 
passenger traffic with freight being much less important.  Western US has a 
large map and a good mix of medium-to-large cities.  Good locomotives are 
often available immediately, and always very soon.  Freight traffic and 
passenger/mail traffic are both important and a balance of each is important.  
This map is unique in its bonus ($1M) for a transcontinental RR.  For each map 
choice there are four choices of difficulty level, with the further refinement 
of being able to turn on/off several difficult factors.  The lowest is 
intended as an introductory level to get into the game.  The next level would 
be rated as "easy", with revenue per carload set high, the computer opponents 
aren't too aggressive and the rate of bad events is quite low.  The next level 
could be called "normal", with revenue rates down somewhat, nasty events more 
common, and formation of slums is introduced.  Opponents will now be more 
aggressive and with 'cut throat competition' turned on, will commonly attack 
you.  The highest level, "Tycoon", would be rated as "hard" with revenue rates 
much lower, nasty events still more common, and opponents who now routinely 
cooperate to stifle your expansion and attack at every opportunity.

My personal preference is Western US, "Mogul" level, with no collisions, 
complex economy, and cut throat competition (70% level).

INITIAL SETUP.
Regardless of the map chosen or the level of difficulty selected, the final 
outcome of the game is heavily influenced by your initial choice of location.  
A good location is one that will generate lots of revenue quickly in a compact 
area, and have good expansion paths out of it.  If playing Western US, look 
particularly for expansion paths on East-West lines (these pay far better than 
North-South routes), preferably with a good path all the way across the map.  
Look for an area with at least three good cities that can be connected with 
two routes of not more than about 20 track squares each.  Mail and passengers 
will be your primary revenue source to start with, but finding a city with a 
power plant is a big plus for eventual freight hauling.  Put your first 
station as much toward the middle of your planned expansion as possible, that 
way you may be able to delay the need for another engine house for a while.  
If possible, avoid routes that will require bridges, your limited funds now 
should be conserved for revenue producing items.

OPENING TRAIN BUILDS.
Once the initial two stations are in place, build your first train.  If 
playing on the Western US or Europe map, this first train should have 3-4 
passenger cars assigned.  Let it run to the other end while you attend to the 
stock market moves noted below.  It should set a speed record and become a 
named train.  Start another train with 1-2 mail/pax cars and let it run, it 
should set another record and become a named train also.  Adjust the number 
and mix of cars to suit the locomotive and traffic requirements.  If using the 
"no collisions" option, double track this segment to keep the trains moving.

OPENING STOCK MARKET MOVES.
Your initial goals are to buy up enough of your own stock to protect against 
takeovers, get control of an opponent and generate the cash to expand.  There 
are lots of ways, but here's one that works.

- Once your first train is running, sell $1.5M of bonds, which should leave 
  you with $1.2M - $2.0M in cash.
- Buy up as much of your own stock as you can without going below $1.2M in 
  cash.  At least 20K shares should be possible.
- Do a game save.  Now wait for the first opponent to pop up.  IMMEDIATELY hit 
  the "A" key and select the broker.  You may get there before he can buy up 
  any of his stock or you may not.  What happens now is a tough choice.  
  Generally, if the opponent is a "Builder" type, then I want to control him!  
  If he's a mix and I got to the broker first, then I'll control him.  If I 
  got there second, or if he's a "Stock" type and I got there first, I may go 
  after him or I may wait for the next opponent to show up -- depending on 
  where his initial city is.  If he's a "Stock" type and I got there second, 
  I'll usually ignore him and target the next one to pop up.  See section on 
  controlling opponents.

- Once I have control of an opponent, I now have a "cash machine"!  Using the 
  buy-sell-loot strategy (below), I'll drain off $1.5M - $3.0M, then dump him.

- The resulting cash can be used to expand & improve your RR, pay off your 
  bonds, and/or get control of another RR -- this time as a "keeper".  Now's 
  the time to add that third city and/or put in a raw materials pick up point 
  or two.  Add the needed trains to service everything and let it run while 
  you tend to keeping your controlled RR alive and expanding.

STATION & ROUTE SELECTIONS.

- Don't fall for the temptation to put a station at every city and resource 
  area you see -- you'll run out of stations too fast.  Except very early on 
  or during a rate war, resource areas with less than 3 active areas aren't 
  worth going out of your way for.  Make sure you have both a way to process 
  the raw material (e.g.: wood) AND a demand for the finished product (e.g.: 
  paper).  Areas with 2 active squares are ok if right on or very near the 
  main line.  Resource areas which are well away from cities with a demand for 
  the raw materials and/or the finished products are only worthwhile if very 
  rich and nothing else is better placed.

- Plan your routes across rivers carefully.  Minimize the grades on the 
  approaches to both sides, but elevation changes across the bridge don't seem 
  to matter.  For cost reasons, use wooden trestles at first.  But if you can 
  afford it and its available, if a trestle washes out even once, replace it 
  with an iron bridge.

- Place your stations very carefully.  Think about the possible need to build 
  out of this station from the other side.  Place it to include as many 
  city/village squares as possible.  Consider whether you will want another 
  station nearby so you can keep them from overlapping.  Consider whether you 
  want to include or exclude any resource areas and industries.  Both are a 
  mixed blessing -- great if you can carry the cargo away or satisfy the 
  demand the industry generates, but bad if you end up with lots of 
  unsatisfied demand and wasted cargo (both seem to contribute to the 
  formation of slums at Mogul and Tycoon levels).  If you can afford it, use 
  Terminals or Stations even if a Depot would do; on a cost per square of 
  coverage basis, they're cheaper and will take care of any later growth.  
  When building into a rich resource, don't worry too much about any upward 
  grades -- the locomotives should climb them 'caboose only' and the grades 
  don't hurt going "downhill" while loaded up with cars.

- Plan for how your controlled RRs will expand.  They aren't bound by the 32 
  station limit, so don't lock them out of all possible expansion routes.  Let 
  them build into a key city first, then build into it for a Union Station.  
  That way the two RRs can cross over each other.

- If using the "no-collisions" option, double track virtually all mainline 
  track.  Most spurs to small cities and resource areas can be left as single 
  track.  Any track segment used by three or more trains should be double 
  tracked unless very lengthy.

COMMODITY TIPS AND NOTES
Each map's economy is different and you must adjust your strategy to that 
fact. 

- The single best commodity is coal.  Commonly available in quantity, a coal 
  mining area often grows over time.  Coal can be processed into steel at a 
  power plant, steel mill, or a port; it can also be sold at a river landing, 
  but will not produce steel there.  Because of the coal-steel-goods 
  (armaments in Europe) chain, a train of coal will generate revenue three 
  times and stimulate economic growth in at least two cities.  However, it is 
  not always easy to find the needed chain of demands within a reasonable 
  distance.

- The food group (grain, livestock, wine, grapes, etc), can be useful early on 
  when carload revenue rates are high.  However, these sites are likely to 
  disappear or change industry type.  They rarely appear in groups, so putting 
  together large "unit trains" is unlikely.

- Oil and nitrates are good choices.  They occur commonly, often in groups and 
  oil will grow over time.  Each can be processed by two types of 
  industry and the resulting products are demanded by all but the smallest 
  cities.  They are somewhat more likely to shrink than coal, but it is often 
  possible to maintain one or more large unit trains from a good resource 
  site.

- Wood is often useful, but not as much as oil or coal.  It commonly occurs in 
  small groups, but the individual resource sites are more prone to 
  disappear.  Paper is not demanded by small cities and not always by medium 
  cities.

- The wool-textile chain is very useful in Europe, but finding a textile mill 
  close can be a problem, and they cannot be built by the player.  Wool is 
  generated by both sheep farms and by sea ports, so it is possible to 
  assemble sizable trains of wool/textiles.
    

GETTING CONTROL OF RR'S AND USING THEM.
Gaining and keeping control of one or more of your opponents is a key to the 
game.

- In the early years of control, it will probably be a financial drain on you 
  just to keep it alive and healthy.  Don't be afraid to transfer the money to 
  him, it will more than be repaid in the later years.

- Controlled RRs are useful for many reasons.  They can build into areas you 
  can't reach so those opponents you don't control can't get there.  By 
  building between you and the others, they can shield you from the rate-war 
  attacks of the others.  During rate wars or late in the game when staying 
  profitable is hard, they can be a source of additional cash.  Perhaps most 
  importantly, there is a large addition to your retirement bonus for each 
  controlled RR, often enough to get you to the President/PM level.

- Basically, there are two ways to get control of an opponent when he first 
  pops up.  If you can beat him to the broker (see buy, sell, loot, below), 
  and have at least $1.1M on hand, you can win the stock purchase race and 
  get 60,000 shares.  If you don't get there first, you should still buy 
  50,000 shares.

- If you won the broker race, (see buy, sell, loot, below) you're now in 
  control.  The controlled RR has high priced stock, a significant debt 
  load, and probably needs to build a second station right away.  Get the 
  station built and wait.

- If you lost the broker race, you'll need to wait until next fiscal year.  
  His stock will drop sharply, making it more affordable to take him over.  
  Use your on-hand cash, sell treasury stock and/or sell bonds to raise the 
  needed cash to meet the buyout price.  Now sell back 40K shares to recover 
  some of your investment.  If he's not built a second station yet, get it 
  built now.

- Either way, at the end of the next fiscal year, the stock will plummet -- 
  probably below $5 per share.  Now buy up all the stock and then sell back 
  40,000 -- be sure to retain control!  Below the $10 price there will be some 
  level (often $10) where the price will stay even when you sell the 40K 
  shares back.  So, repeat the buy up and sell back process until you've 
  pumped it up to whatever the "supported" level is.  In the process you'll 
  make a significant profit as well.

- Manage the controlled RR closely, transfer cash in if you can afford it, you 
  need to keep his stock up and return him to profitability by reducing the 
  bond debt load.  Get him expanding as the cash situation will permit to 
  snatch key cities before the other opponents get there.

- Watch for opportunities to seize control of more opponents.  The guy we used 
  the buy-sell-loot strategy on will probably dissolve a couple of years 
  later.  When a replacement pops up again, you might well have the cash to 
  grab him and certainly if you can, you should do so.  Sometimes you can 
  manipulate an opponent's stock so that it will take a sharp drop at the same 
  time that you've forced him to buy up large quantities of his own stock.  
  This can result in a case of heavy debt, and little or no cash.   Now you 
  can grab him since his stock price is low and he will be unable to keep up 
  you in a race to buy up his stock.  At the end of a rate war, the loser's 
  stock (his of course!) often drops.  You may be able to "help" such a drop 
  along, resulting in the same situation you can use to grab him.


THE BUY-SELL-LOOT STRATEGY.

- The game's handling of stock market transactions and controlled railroads 
  has a feature which can be exploited by the player.  Whenever you control 
  another RR you can transfer money to or from it.  If you control a RR and
  then reduce your interest so that you hold less than 60,000 shares, the 
  computer will attempt to regain control by raising cash and buying up the 
  RR's own stock.  Put the two together and you have a way to loot the bank.

- Watch your screen. When it goes "dead" it may be a signal that a new 
  railroad is about to be organized. As soon as the new railroad is 
  announced, hit the "A" key to bring up the ACTION menu and then hit "C" to
  call your broker. If the new railroad has not added any shares to its 
  treasury, you can buy stock and reach 60,000 shares (controlling interest)
  with no difficulty. If the railroad has added shares to its treasury you
  will not be able to gain control but should consider buying 50,000 shares
  as an investement.
  
- Try to gain control of a competitor early in the 2 year fiscal period, 
  if possible.  If you get control late in a fiscal period, you can 
  simply wait until the next period, or continue across a fiscal boundary, 
  tho' you'll lose considerable money when his stock devalues at the end of 
  the period.

- Once you're in control, concentrate on these transactions, the quicker you 
  move, the more money you take in.  First use "operate" to take as much cash 
  as possible from the controlled RR.  Then sell one block of 10K shares.  As 
  soon as the previously controlled RR buys up a block of its stock, go back 
  and rebuy 10K shares -- you're back in control, he's sold a bond and has 
  cash again.  Fine, take the cash.  Now repeat the process until near the end 
  of the fiscal period.  Then dump all the stock at the now inflated prices.  
  His stock will now crash and he's stuck with a huge bond load.

- Normally its not worthwhile trying this trick again on the same RR because 
  he'll soon stop buying bonds when the limit is reached.  Usually this RR 
  will hang around for a few years before dissolving, occasionally it will 
  stick around forever piling up huge debts--but at least then he's not an 
  active competitor!  And if he's close by and you want to eliminate him, just 
  start a rate war and be sure to win it.

- Depending on how "cut-throat" you want to be, this process can be repeated 
  when the computer creates a new competitor later to replace him -- if you 
  keep the required $1.1M to $1.3M on hand to buy him up.  Usually, however, 
  by then I want to get control of him, but keep him healthy to help thwart 
  the fourth guy who I don't control.

LONG TERM MANAGEMENT TIPS.

- Watch out for changes in demand and in resources.  Often an industry will go 
  out of business or change type.  If you're using that industry, then you 
  need to immediately make adjustments in train routings and/or cargoes carried
  so you won't be delivering material the city won't pay for.

- Watch for growth in passenger and mail traffic.  Adjust the length, number 
  and routing of trains so that you capture as much of the available traffic 
  as possible.  Carloads of mail and pax not carried are lost revenue and also 
  seem to influence the creation of slums.

- At Mogul and Tycoon levels you should try to provide each city with more 
  than just passenger and mail service.  A mix will promote the city's 
  economic growth.  Failure to do so will result in slum formation which 
  neither produce nor consume anything.

- Don't be afraid to rip out stations and retire trains that become 
  unprofitable.  As time goes on, resource areas will dry up and no longer 
  generate enough carloads to be worth allocating a train, expect it, watch 
  for it and take action.  Otherwise, not only will you be wasting money on 
  train maintenance, but also on the track and station involved.

- Particularly with the Western US map, you may end up with a continent 
  spanning railroad which has two heavily populated areas separated by a long, 
  unproductive span of track across the central and western US.  Although it 
  will complicate your management, you can tear up this segment and save the 
  significant maintenance cost for this track.

- As the newer passenger-type locos come along, introduce them first on trains 
  which are NOT named trains, so that more named trains can be added when the 
  new locos set speed records.  In the Western US map you should end up with 
  3-5 named trains, a couple more in Europe.

- As the newer freight engines come along, add a car or two to the consist 
  when there's enough traffic to warrant it.  Look for opportunities to 
  combine two freights into one, especially later in the game when profits per 
  carload drop.

RATE WARS.
Rate wars can be useful, but they can be a real problem when used against 
you.  Watch out for an opponent who has stations near your large cities.  If 
he runs out of easy, profitable expansion, he'll probably attack.  You can 
sometimes shield yourself by keeping a controlled RR's track between you and 
the others.  The computer opponents will occasionally gang up on you and 
attack in several places at the same time.  I have had as many as four rate 
wars on-going at once, three (!) by one opponent and one by another.

- The trick to a rate war is to win quickly.  As soon as one is started do a 
  game save, but do not overwrite your last position.  If things go awry, 
  you'll need fall back positions.

- Remember that the fiscal period in which the war is initiated in doesn't 
  count.  Use it to prepare, but don't totally disrupt normal operations yet.  
  Plan your new, temporary trains and/or which ones will be preempted for the 
  war.  If you'll need a new station in the area, build it now.  Get trains of 
  commodities loaded and moving to the city, use "hold" orders, if necessary, 
  to keep them from delivering now and ready for the next fiscal period.

- The key to winning a rate war is understanding the "scoring".

- What counts inbound is the NUMBER of deliveries of a commodity, NOT the 
  quantity.  So, change your freight deliveries to maximize the number of 
  deliveries with as many different commodities as possible.  Consider 
  upgrading to faster engines and change routes to bring in a greater variety 
  of goods.  Consider adding a nearby station to pick up a resource the rate 
  war city demands, but which you don't otherwise have available.  Use 
  "priority" assignments to temporarily route other trains into this station 
  to increase the number and types of deliveries.

- What counts outbound is the QUANTITY (carloads) of a commodity picked up, 
  including passengers and mail.  It doesn't matter whether you deliver what's 
  picked up, just that you picked it up.  So, build an extra train and park it 
  (wait until full order) at the station with a large quantity of mail and 
  passenger cars.  For a large city, you may need two trains (new, or 
  preempted from other routes) in order to keep one in the station at all 
  times.  Similarly, put one or more trains in the station that can pick up 
  all resources that the city produces (whether you want those commodities or 
  not!) and just leave them there with "wait until full orders".

- Segments of RR which become severed from the mainline because of the loss of 
  a city in a rate war will remain operational IF they contain a least two 
  cities.

END-GAME TIPS AND NOTES.
The last 10-20 years of the game can be difficult because profits per carload 
will be way down and you've probably now reached the 32 train and/or 32 
station and/or the 64 station plus signal tower limit.  Lots of work is needed 
to keep profits up and net worth growing, tho' you may have already reached 
the President/PM level some time ago.

- Be ruthless.  Retire trains and rip out stations that aren't making good 
  money.  Use these available trains and stations elsewhere for slow, but 
  continuing growth.

- Watch your engine maintenance costs carefully.  Use diesels and electrics, 
  their maint costs are about 50% of the steam engine costs.

- Thoroughly review your pax and mail routes.  Lengthen them out and use fast 
  engines to max the time/distance revenues.  Use mostly "limited" assignments 
  to control where and when stops are made and to make long runs possible.  
  Speed isn't important on freight runs except that the faster they go, or the 
  shorter the distance, the more runs that are completed in a fiscal period.

- To hold profit margins up, finance a rate war or pay for an expansion, you 
  can transfer money from the RRs you control, but be careful not to hurt his 
  stock too much or your net worth (and retirement bonus) will suffer.

- Watch out for the large number bugs.  There are several bugs in the program 
  that will cause large numbers (e.g.: over $32M cash) to suddenly reverse 
  sign and become negative values.  Invest the cash in stock and/or buy hotels 
  everywhere.  Keep your controlled RRs' cash levels below the $32M level by 
  transferring money to yourself and/or using it to expand.


Dick Knisely
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