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the event
Triggers
and
trigger
GameYear = 1875
This trigger will evaluate to false for any year in the game
except 1875. If the trigger evaluates to false, the event will
not occur, and none of the effects or text will happen. The
event will normally be re-evaluated later, depending on the
Frequency setting, and may evaluate to true at a later time.
A trigger is made up of 1or more individual elements, which the
computer will evaluate to resolve the overall statement as true
or false. However, sometimes you want to evaluate the trigger
multiple times, against multiple companies, players, or
territories. That s what the checkboxes on this panel are for. If
the Test Against Multiple Companies checkbox is on, then the
trigger will be evaluated against each company, and if it is true
one or more times, then the events and text will occur one or
more times, to the individual companies in question. For
example, if you wanted to levy a special government tax
against any company that was overly profitable, you might
create the following trigger:
CompanyNetIncomeThisYear > 1000000
Assume the effect is that $50,000 is taken away from the
company. If there are 4 companies in the game when this
event is evaluated, with earnings of $100,000, $1,200,000, $20,000, and $2,000,000 respectively, then the trigger would
evaluate to false for the first and the third company, and true
for the second and fourth, with the effect ($50,000 penalty
each ) being taken from both 2 and 4.
Note that for companies and players, you have the ability to
further limit things by only testing against human or computer
(A.I.) controlled companies or players. A company is
considered human controlled if it s chairman is a human player,
computer controlled if it s chairman is a computer player, or if it
has no chairman.
You can also choose to limit a trigger by making it a one time
only event. If this is checked, the event will be evaluated as
per a normal event, at normal frequencies, but after the first
time it has evaluated to true (regardless of how many previous
times it has evaluated to false), it is disabled and not checked
again. If an event is being evaluated against multiple players,
companies, or territories, it will not continue on down the list, it
will stop after the first true evaluation against a player,
company or territory.
Evaluation order for players, companies, and territories is the
EFFECTS
Again, effects are the gameplay changes that occur in response
to triggers. Triggers are the target and conditions that must be
met before an effect takes place.
There are approximately 250 effects in the game (see Appendix
B). Each have a range or value that can be adjusted by the
slider bar immediately to the right of it's listing in the event
editor under effects. Adjusting the slider bar will display the
value or selected directly under the bar itself. Additionally, a
tally of the number of effects modified for that event is
maintained at the bottom of the effects list box.
Any event can affect any or all of the 250 effects; however
some combinations may be contradictory and invalidate each
other. We recommend writing out your events before you
enter them as means of tracking any problems that may occur
before or after implementing the event.
We divide the effects into three general categories,
Performance, Cargo & Items, and Variables.
Performance
These effects govern the greatest variety of play modifiers and
have the ability to alter play the most at the most exacting
level. This group also includes the Game Over triggers which
naturally can stop a game cold. These effects tend to have the
most dynamic affects on the game.
Cargo & Items
These effect govern all of the cargo values and production
rates. When adjusting these, keep in mind the scale of the
game as an increase of production by just 1 can double the
output of many resources.
Variables
These effects function more as tools for you to create more
complex events. There are 4 categories of variables. 1.
Global, which affect the entire game. 2. Company, which
affect only a specific company or companies. 3. Player, which
effect the player/chairman. 4. Territories, which affect
activities within a specific territory or territories. There are 4
definable variables for each category numbered 1-4 in two
distinct classifications, Add To and Set. Add To works as a
counter allowing the use of positive and negative numbers. Set
works as a defined level or setting. Example. Global Variables
all have a range of -99 to 100 and considered instant, see
Instant below.
Duration
Above the events listbox you will see the duration modifier and
immediately to its right you will see two radio buttons:
Permanent and Temporary. Permanent means that this/these
effects will stay in effect until another effect changes them.
Temporary means this/these effects have a limited duration. If
this is selected you will be prompted for the number of years
and months that you wish these effects to be in effect. You
may respond in months and the program will automatically
divide them into years and months. NOTE: Temporary will not
modify those effects listed as instant, see Instant below.
Instant
An effect that is listed as an instant effect indicates that it can
not be turned off by the program by making the entire event
temporary. Therefore all instant effects are persistent, should
you wish to turn off this effect you must create another event
that performs this task.
e.g. trigger = GameYear>=1880, effect = Territory
Confiscate All. To change: trigger = (can be any legal
trigger) GameYear>=1885, effect = Territory Confiscate None.
The net effect was to confiscate any items that where in or
being built in the specified territory from 1880 till 1885.
Remember that an event can be silent by not entering any
message text.
2) None
3) The number of years elapsed in the game. For the first 12 months, this
evaluates to 0, for the next 12 months, to 1, etc.
1) GameStartYear
2) None
3) The year this game started.
1) GameYear
2) None
3) The current year the game is in.
1) GameMonth
2) None
3) The current month the game is in.
1) GameYearMonth
2) None
3) The current year and month the game is in, handily combined
into a single variable - if the current date was July, 1865,
this would evaluate to 186507
1) GameEconomicState
2) None
3) The current game economy, ranges from 0 to 4, with 0 being
depression and 4 being boom times
1) GameLoadsHauledThisYear
2) None
3) The number of car loads hauled by all companies this year.
Empty cars don't count. The distance hauled does not matter
for the purposes of this and similar functions.
1) GameLoadsHauledLifetime
2) None
3) The number of car loads hauled by all companies since
the beginning of the game.
1) GameTrackCells
2) None
3) The number of cells of track in existence from all companies.
1) GameSingleTrackCells
2) None
3) The number of cells of single track.
1) GameDoubleTrackCells
2) None
3) The number of cells of double track.
1) GameElectricTrackCells
2) None
3) The number of cells of electric track.
1) GameVariable1
2) None
3) A wildcard variable you can set up as a result of one event
that can affect the triggers of other events
1) GameVariable2
2) None
3) A wildcard variable
1) GameVariable3
2) None
3) A wildcard variable
1) GameVariable4
2) None
3) A wildcard variable
1) CompanyCash
2) Optional - Class
3) The cash on hand of a company.
1) CompanyDebt
2) Optional - Class
3) The total debt of a company (All bonds, plus negative cash,
if cash is negative) For a company with one $500,000 bond
and cash of -$34,000, this would evaluate to 534000
1) CompanyTotalAssets
2) Optional - Class
3) Total assets of a company, including cash (if positive),
track, trains, etc.. Debt is not subtracted from this
number. To get net assets, subtract CompanyDebt from
CompanyTotalAssets
1) CompanyBookValue
2) Optional - Class
3) Company total assets minus debt i.e. the shareholder s equity
1) CompanyRevenueThisYear
2) Optional - Class
3) Company s revenue for this year only.
1) CompanyRevenueLifetime
2) Optional - Class
3) Company s revenue for its entire lifetime.
1) CompanyNetIncomeThisYear
2) Optional - Class
3) Company s net income for this year only
1) CompanyNetIncomeLifetime
2) Optional - Class
3) Company s net income for its entire lifetime
1) CompanyLoadsHauledThisYear
2) Optional - Class
3) Number of car loads hauled this year by this company.
1) CompanyLoadsHauledLifetime
2) Optional - Class
3) Number of car loads hauled in lifetime by this company
1) CompanyTrackCells
2) Optional - Class
3) The number of cells of track owned by this company.
1) CompanySingleTrackCells
2) Optional - Class
3) The number of cells of single track owned by this company.
1) CompanyDoubleTrackCells
2) Optional - Class
3) The number of cells of double track owned by this company.
1) CompanyElectricTrackCells
2) Optional - Class
3) The number of cells of electric track owned by this company.
1) CompanyGoodwill
2) Optional - Class
3) The goodwill of this company
1) CompanyId
2) Optional - Class
3) The ID of this company. Each company has a unique ID that
never changes. In the editor, you can see company IDs on
the listbox at the bottom of the main screen. They are the
number just to the left of the company name i.e. for 2) Union
Pacific the id of that company is 2.
1) CompanyVariable1
2) Optional - Class
3) A wildcard variable you can set up as a result of one event
that can affect the triggers of other events. A unique set
of these variables is saved for each company.
1) CompanyVariable2
2) Optional - Class
3) A wildcard variable
1) CompanyVariable3
2) Optional - Class
3) A wildcard variable
1) CompanyVariable4
2) Optional - Class
3) A wildcard variable
1) CompanyTerritoryConnectedToTerritory
2) Required (ID)
3) Pass in the ID of the territory you want to test against.
True if there is a station controlled by the current company
within each territory that can trace a continuous route of
track to the other territory. Track ownership does not
matter.
1) CompanyTerritoryConnectedToCity
2) Required (ID)
3) Pass in the ID of the city you want to test against. True if
there is a station controlled by the current company within the
current territory and the target city that can trace a continuous
route of track to the other territory. Track ownership does
not matter.
1) CompanyTerritoryGoodwill
2) Optional - Class
1) StationVisited
2) Mandatory - StationId
3) True if the specific station identified by StationId has
been visited by a train by any player in the game.
1) NumberOfStationsVisited
2) None
3) The number of different stations visited by trains in this game.
1) CompanyIndustryProfitsThisYear
2) Optional - Class
3) The industry profits by this company this year.
1) CompanyIndustryInvestments
2) Optional - Class
3) The total level of industry investments by this company.
Appendix B: Effects
Game Over - Win 1 (instant)
on/off
This is the bronze finish.
Game Over - Win 2 (instant)
on/off
This is the silver finish.
Game Over - Win 3 (instant)
on/off
This is the gold finish.
Game Over - Loss (instant)
on/off
This is the loss trigger.
Company Cash (instant)
Variable $
Player Cash (instant)
Variable $
Economic Status (instant)
-4 to +4 levels
4 being the best, -4 the worst.
Acceleration
Variable % -99 to +100
Acceleration - Diesel
Variable % -99 to +100
Acceleration - Electric
Variable % -99 to +100
Acceleration -Steam
Variable % -99 to +100
Bridge Building
Prime Rate
-5 to +5 levels
5 being the best, -5 the worst.
Station Building
Variable % -99 to +100
Station Turnaround
Variable % -99 to +100
Steam Engine Purchase
Variable % -99 to +100
Stock Prices
Variable % -99 to +100
Track Building
Variable % -99 to +100
Track Maintenance
Variable % -99 to +100
Traction
Variable % -99 to +100
Traction - Diesel
Variable % -99 to +100
Traction - Electric
Variable % -99 to +100
Traction - Steam
Variable % -99 to +100
Train Safety
Variable % -99 to +100
Train Speed
Variable % -99 to +100
Train Speed - Diesel
Variable % -99 to +100
Train Speed - Electric
Variable % -99 to +100
Train Speed - Steam
Variable % -99 to +100
Territory Allow all
All or Nothing
Territory Allow Track Build
All or Nothing
Territory Allow Train Run
All or Nothing
Territory Allow Station Build
All or Nothing