Raglanshire - A First Attempt At A Real Career.

[Didz]

Having gone as far as I could career-wise on NewComer difficulty without competitors on my Liverpool map I decided to start again and try a proper Career Game on Normal with a few competitors.

The difference is scary. I've already gone bankrupt twice and been forced to reload and restart. Whilst trying to deal with the traffic is frustrating.
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2571942251
Raglanshire seems to be a farming area. It has three stores (Hardware; Farmers Market and Grocery Store) and its main resource is Wood.

So, I figured having built the required Lumberyards demand by the Career Assistant that I would start with Wheat and then expand into Chickens and Flour once I had the spare production.

At least that was the plan but I had issues almost immediately.

My first attempt was based upon the Farm Industry Layout I had used successfully on the Liverpool map, with the farms clustered around a central warehouse and water wells.

It was making money but the traffic problems around the warehouse were appalling especially due to all the water trucks as I hadn't yet researched the Irrigation Tower or Urban Roads.

I gave up on that idea in the end and after watching a few 'Hints and Tips' scrapped the warehouse and went for a direct delivery system which eased the traffic issues somewhat but rapidly became a night mare to micro-manage.

I also tried to phase my investment this time rather than build everything at the 'Get Go' and have buildings standing idle and costing money whilst raw materials were produced.

So, I built the Wheat Farms and waited for them to build up a stock of spare wheat before investing in Chickens and more Water Wells and then waiting again before buying the Flour Mills. Well that was the plan but it seemed to take ages and I went bankrupt before it was realised.

Lessons Learned: I've gone bankrupt twice so far.

The first cause was my research policy. I came up with this in my last game and it basically says 'Always research the investment efficiency option before you begin the research.' and it does work, but at a price. So, on my second attempt I decided to unlock both the Tier 0 and Tier 1 Research Investment options with the intention of trying to speed up my research of Urban Roads; One-Way Roads and possibly even Irrigation Towers to try and improve traffic flow. The problem is of course that you end up paying out $1M a cycle on research and whilst I cured my traffic problems I ended up starving my business of capital to invest in income producing buildings. In fact, I never got past the Wheat Farms and slowly went insolvent. (See screenshot above)

The second cause was a bit more dramatic and predictable and was triggered by the 'State Buy In' event which still appears on the screenshot. Colonel Failure has a policy of always ignoring Contracts and Events as he reckons they always lead to Bankruptcy. But I figured I take the bait and see if it was worth it. +50% income on all Raw Materials delivered to the state sounded good and I was short of cash. But its not good when the state line in over 750 tiles away and the combination of the long delay in your trucks getting there with no income and the fact that even at the inflated cost I was still selling at a loss finished my business in very short order.

The problem now is that I seem to be between a rock and a hard place. Do I live with the crippling traffic problems or expend my capital on research to try and stop it and end up with no money to expand my business.

Time to watch a few more Hints and Tips videos I think.

[Didz]

Making Them An Offer They Can't Refuse.
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2591468562
So, after careful thought I finally decided that I would buy the permit for Barney from my competitor Family Wares. Apparently, I don't need to go through an auction process I can just make Family Wares an offer they can't refuse and its mine.

In this case the offer will be $32.67M, which is a lot of money but will give me two clear benefits.

• Barney has two Coal deposits and so might help relieve the shortage of Coal in Rochdale and perhaps even allow me to make Bottles for my Brandy.
  
• Because its one of only two regions owned by Family Wares, taking it off them will seriously reduce their assets and hopefully their stock price. If that drops significantly I might just go in a finish them off.

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2591475244
DONE! It made a bit of a hole in my bank balance but nothing that can't be replaced with a few months income.

First thing to do is to see what I got for my money.

• The Barney Farmers Market is nothing special. It wants Chicken Meat and Mutton but doesn't want the other products from those farms, and it wants Milk but not Beef. So, it's not going to be profitable to invest in livestock to satisfy a partial demand. Likewise it wants Fish but there is no Fish in the area so that demand can;t be satisfied. Which leaves just four potential demands to exploit Vegetables, Grapes, Sugar and Potatoes none of which are particularly high value products.
  
• The Barney Hardware Store is slightly better and six out of eight of its demands could be met locally. But there is no Oil or Gas available to meet the final two. I could build Diary Farms to provide the Leather and the Milk demanded but would have to waste the Beef.
  
• https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2591482815
  As far as existing industry is concerned it looks as though I have inherited a rather small Sugar Plantation and an industry making Glass Tubes and Bottles. (Oh! Interesting I also inherited the research to make Glass Tubes, which is a bonus. So when you buy out a rival industry you automatically get any research associated with it. That's worth knowing.)
  
• https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2591486341
  There are also two rather small Coal Mines that are obviously just being used to supply Coal to the Glass Smelters.

So, I think the first thing to do is maximise the value of what's already in place.

• Complete the Sugar Plantation so that it is making the maximum Suger crop possible, Any excess can eventually be shipped to the Raglan Drinks Industry which is always running short of Sugar.
  
• Switch production of the Glass Smelters to Bottles only, as I have no use for Glass Tubes and the Bottles can then be shipped to Raglan and filled with Brandy.
  
• The two Coal Mines just need to be brought up to maximum production and any excess can be shipped to Rochdale to help improve my Steel and Can Production.

Once that has been done it will be just a case of expanding the local industry as far as possible to meet the needs of the local Farmers Market and Hardware Store and obviously putting in the rail links between Barney, Raglan and Rochdale.

[Didz]

Spent this evening developing Barney as planned.

• https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2592207623The Local crops farming has been established and is supplying the demands of Barney's Farmers Market and Hardware Store.
  
• I haven't provided any of the Livestock based products as Barney only wants one product out of the three so it would not be profitable and I'd just end up dumping products again.
  
• https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2592208150The Bottle Production has been brought up to full efficiency ready for my Brandy Business.
  
• https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2592209947The Coal industry has been maxed and the excess Coal produced is being shipped to Rochdale for use in the manufacture of Cans for the Canned Mutton.
  
• https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2592211752Barney has been linked to the HABIT UK rail network so that it can ship Coal and Bottles to other counties when required. Also because Barney is such a large area I've also added some internal rail links to make long distance deliveries such as the Coal for the Glass Smelters which are at opposite ends of the county.

I think the next objective will be to take over Family Wares completely ass they are down to one permit now and their Stock price has drooped to just over $30.

[Didz]

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2592230436So today's project will be to make use of all the Bottles I have produced in Barney by filling them with Brandy for the Raglan Liquor Store. They claim to be willing to pay over $110 per bottle which sounds promising. Though I may need to produce more grapes as at the moment my Wine Factories are reporting a shortage.
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2592232917
I have unlocked the Showroom in Raglan. So, I have scheduled the research into the TV Dinner and will start looking at that once the research is complete.
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2592231692
But the main target at the moment is to buy out my rival and competitor Family Wares. As I stated above their Stock price has plummeted following my hostile take-over of their operations in Barney and at the moment they are trying to buy a permit and expand into Crowland. Which quite honestly they are welcome to as it only produces Fish, so I'm not even going to get in their way. The more money they waste there the less they have to stop me buying their stock and when I buy them out I will get it anyway.

[Didz]

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2592264402
My Brandy Distilleries are built and delivering Brandy to the Raglan Liquor Store. I'm a bit disappointing with the profit margin of 84% but its early days. Perhaps once the Raglanites develop a taste they will buy more.
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2592266365
I now own 30% of the stock in Family Wares.

I'm being careful not to over-commit capital to the purchase of stock as I don't want to go bankrupt just by spending too much. So, I'm keeping $25M back for development. Also as you don't seem to get any return on stock purchases there is no advantage to over-committing by purchasing them.

[Didz]

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2592508190
Rochdale has levelled up and I opted for and Ironmongers Store which gives me a market for my excess Steel and Cans.

Also I now own 40% of Family Wares.

[Didz]

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2592510596
Not far to go now and then I will own Family Wares.

I'm also researching Wooden Barrels and Beer. Vodka and Whisky.

[Didz]

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2593101377
The deed is done and Family Wares has now been subsumed into the growing HABIT industrial empire. Time to send in the accountants and analysts and see what we got for our money.

• First of all we acquired two Building Permits as part of the Family Ware assets. The one for their main county of Llandaff with all its existing industrial development and the second for Crowland. So, it seems that Family Wares won that Permit Auction for Crowland and paid just over $12M for it, but then as far as I can tell they did nothing with that permit as I can see no signs of investment in that area at all.
  
• https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2593109304
  Llandaff has a small industrial area making a diverse range of wood and sand based products.
  
  Checking the industry in more detail..
  - 1 x Plank Factory producing 2 x Plank per month.
  - 3 x Paper Factory's producing 8 x Paper Rolls Per month.
  - 1 x Glass Factory producing nothing recently.
  - 2 x Wall Panel Factories producing 2 x Wall Panels per month.
  - 1 x Bottle Factory producing nothing recently
  - 1 x Smelter producing 2 x Copper Tubes per month.
  https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2593130469
  It looks as though most of this production is aimed at satisfying the demands of the local Construction Goods Store. The only puzzling item is the Copper Tubing as I can't see anything that needs it. But they seem to have built up a decent stock in their warehouse.
  
  Checking the Warehouse in more detail it currently holds:
  - 2 x Chemicals
  - 2 x Copper Ore
  - 28 x Copper Tubing
  - 18 x Copper Wire
  - 13 x Iron Ore
  - 4 x Oil
  - 2 x Plastic
  - 6 x Sand
  - 3 x Water
  - 1 x Wood
  - 3 x Wooden Planks
  I have no idea where the Chemicals, Oil and Plastic came from as I can see no evidence of a petro-chemical industry in Llandaff though it has to potential to create one. Likewise the purpose of the Copper Tubing is a mystery but most of the other items are either components or sold in the local Contruction Goods Store.
  
• https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2593112276
  Llandaff also has a very small local farming industry. But the major problem is that they chose to develop their farming industry right next to a Coal Mine and deposits of both Oil and Gas. I can't think of a whose place to grow crops, so I'm probably going to have to relocate all that production elsewhere.
  
• Llandaff itself has the usual Farmers Market and Hardware Store, plus a Construction Goods store and a Clothing Store. The Clothing Store might act as a secondary outlet for Raglans Clothing Industry and the Construction Goods store might provide some incentive to start producing my own construction goods.
  
• Llandaff is already connected to my rail network so I can begin shipping products to its retail depot immediately. Crowland will need to be added to the network but as it only really provides access to Fish it's not a high priority. Except that it would allow me to add Canned Fish to the diet in Raglan.

So, my rough plan then is to:

1. Leave the existing industry in place and let it continue to feed the Construction Goods Store as best it can merely trying to improve its efficiency if I can.
   
2. Relocate the local farming industry somewhere away from areas of pollution and invest in satisfying local food demand.
   
3. Ship in any excess Clothing Production from Raglan. I may invest in local Clothing production later.
   
4. Start exploiting the local Oil and Gas resources more effectively. Possibly beginning to manufacture electric goods for the local Construction Industry.
   
5. Link Crowland to the HABITRAIL network and set up a basic fishing industry with the aim of producing Canned Fish and Perhaps Fish & Chips.

That should be plenty to keep me busy for the time being.

[Didz]

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2593292158
The new Llandaff Farming development is complete and I've sold off all the old farms that were way too close to the Oil and Gas fields. The new farms on on the top of the hill overlooking the town about as far away from any pollution as I can manage.
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2593295667
The Building Permit for Winksworth just came up for auction and this time i decided to buy it just to deny it to Thing Industries. So, that two counties that need to be analysed and developed now (Crowland and Winksworth). I'm going to have to get busy.
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2593325385
Liquor production has increased significantly in Raglan with Vodka and Brandy being added to the product list. I'm just waiting for the research on Whisky to complete and then we will be supplying the full range of alcoholic drinks.
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2593331550
I had to build two more potato farms to cope with the increased demand for potatoes to turn into Vodka and will also need to increase Barrel production.

[Didz]

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2593109304
Coal is the bane of my life on this map. There simply isn't enough to meet the demands of every factory that needs it. Now the Glass Smelter on the small industrial park producing construction goods for Llandaff is complaining that it short of Coal and I'm having to sacrifice some of the precious Coal from Rochdale's canning industry to keep it functioning.
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2594113432
On a more positive note both Crowland and Winksworth have now been connected into the HabitRail network and so can begin to receive excess product. My initial plan being to use them as markets for some of the excess Beef being produced by Raglans clothing industry which is causing a major problem to my Leather supply chain
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2594127832
Unfortunately, neither of these locations has any Coal. So they are no help in alleviating the Coal shortage.

[.42O | masterSON]

Maybe try to import coal from state? Warehouse near border with Train depot and then request coal in the warehouses where you need it.

[Didz]

Originally posted by .42O | masterSON:

Maybe try to import coal from state? Warehouse near border with Train depot and then request coal in the warehouses where you need it.

Good idea! I've never tried that before. Is the price reasonable?

How do i do that though?

[.42O | masterSON]

The price is relativly high but it may worth it. You have to open "State" menu and set an import route to a border near Warehouse (to save dispatch costs). Be sure you have Train Terminal, thats cheaper to dispatch to the next Warehouse. Now you have two possibilities - 1st set Destination to target Warehouse and a maximum delivery of lets say 18 (the maximum delivery affects any Dispatch route targeting this Warehouse, this will result in random delivery and you may import more than you need). 2nd - in the target Warehouse go to tab Requests and set Coal (this will request coal from any Warehouse on the map which is able to deliver).

[Didz]

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2594565811
Decided to set-up the Crowland Fish Industry, so Farmers Markets will soon be adding fish to their stalls. Also it will give me something else to put in Cans at my Rochdale canning industry as I'm getting a bit of stockpile of Canned Mutton now. Incidently, I've never heard of Canned Mutton in real life is it actually a thing?

Originally posted by .42O | masterSON:

The price is relativly high but it may worth it. You have to open "State" menu and set an import route to a border near Warehouse (to save dispatch costs). Be sure you have Train Terminal, thats cheaper to dispatch to the next Warehouse. Now you have two possibilities - 1st set Destination to target Warehouse and a maximum delivery of lets say 18 (the maximum delivery affects any Dispatch route targeting this Warehouse, this will result in random delivery and you may import more than you need). 2nd - in the target Warehouse go to tab Requests and set Coal (this will request coal from any Warehouse on the map which is able to deliver).

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2594571312
Thanks got it sorted so I should be able to keep my industries running now.

[Didz]

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2596816237
I've made a start on the final challenge of the Career Mode now and begun setting up a Food Processing Industry near Raglan to supply TV Dinners to the Raglan Showroom. In the meantime I'm sending Fried Chicken and Soda Water to the Raglan Diner.

[Didz]

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2598005154
A really busy day yesterday, but I've finished building all the factories needed to produce the Prototype Ready Meal including the Mega Factory itself.

The game has been a pain and trying to distract me with a constant stream of Contracts. As you can see I still have two running at the moment and may probably get another before I finish those.

Likewise, Production Alerts now require constant attention even though I've turned off the notifications on most non-essential buildings such as Water Wells that constantly complain about being full.

In fact, most of the alerts are 'Storage Full' related and it remains a mystery to me why storage s become full when all of the industries I have built were specifically tailored to meet a demand. But it seems that even when a Store claims to have a demand for 15 x Gizmo's per month and you build the necessary infrastructure to provide just 15 x Gizmo's eventually you end up over-producing and getting storage full issues. I can't work that out, as even when you double check the maths it still seems right.
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2598056647
But, it is what it is, and one thing I'm starting to do now is use the Logistic's Tab for setting up trade routes to try and make use of all the over-production. This seems much easier than constantly setting up manual delivery routes. The general approach I've been using over the past two days is:

1. Buy a New Permit.
   
2. Set up an Automated Warehouse that covers all the town shops and link it to the HabitRail network.
   
3. Go through the local Store demands and set-up a Logistical Trade Route Request from the local warehouse for every product I know I am already producing elsewhere limited to two train loads (24 x Units)
   
4. Let the game decide whether to release the excess products to that warehouse.
   
5. If it does then local demand is satisfied and I don;t need to set-up local industries.
   
6. If it can't be met. Either because I don't produce that item, or I don;t have enough over-production. Then I consider building local factories or farms to satisfy that need and provide any excess elsewhere.

So, far this approach seems to be working quite well and for example I have managed to offload the excess production of Hard Cider on another town that happened to come with a ready built Liquor Store and put my cider makers back on full production.
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2598058369
I'm also using the same approach to supply components to the Raglan Food Processing Warehouse that are being manufactured elsewhere. Some of the components needed petro-chemical production whilst others needed wood pulp processing and Raglan does have local Oil or Gas which Llandaff had a small wood pulp industry when I bought it. So, it made sense to have the initial components manufactured elsewhere and shipped into the Raglan Food Processing Warehouse for final production.