Hi folks,
I think Woody is under a bit of stress right now and he's asked me to step in and help a little with Rule making etc. Before you all go off the handle, I hope you've noticed that the starting date is 15th December, or about three weeks away. If we were to tell you what the rules are today, many of you will jump in and start modelling immediately.
Thus the final rules are being held back until the Dec 15th. After that you may break out the shovels and start digging.
So far you know that your route must consist of:
- 3 to 8 baseboards
- A port theme which sounds great to me.
- And the competition finishes on the 2nd of April next year.
What comes next is something you'll have to wait for closer to the starting date. In the meantime, I'm going to have my ten cents worth:
The Trainz Resources Directory will be supplying two prizes in the way of First Class tickets. First Prize will be awarded a 12 month FCT and second Prize will receive a 6 month FCT. I may increase the prize pool from my side, but as the TRD doesn't generate any income, the money is coming out of my pocket.
Jointed Rail has also offered prizes. I've contacted them but haven't received a reply as yet. Thus I have no idea what's being offered.
There will be a special web site devoted to the competuition because I hope that it will be the start of a new era. I'll announce the URL of the web site in a day or two.
The web site will have a gallery and each competitor will be given a password so that they can upload their screenshots. More on this later.
It's impossible for the judges to physically judge the routes because there are more incompatible versions of Trainz out there than there are judges. Also, several prospective competitors have demanded if you like, the right to use personally designed assets or assets downloaded from the DLS. How can we possibly expect a judge to download those assets just to evaluate a route?
What we need to do before December the 15th is this:
We need a show of hands to see who wants to enter the competition. Before you start waiving your hands in glee, wait a few days to see the web site to see what joining in actually means.
The rules aren't going to be stringent, but people who volunteer to start, but don't get past a certain point may lose points in future competitions. A bit like a golf handicap if you like.
The more people we get to enter, the more chances we have of attracting additional sponsors. As of today there is a prize pool, albeit a small one, but hopefully it will grow.
Go ahead and sharpen your pencils and begin designing a route on paper. Whatever you do, don't start anything because there maybe a catch or two.
Here's what you can do for starters:
- Sign up for the competition. I'll let you know how in a day or two.
- Put your thinking cap on.
- Start planning.
Here was my original suggestion for the competition. I nobody has any arguments, lets do it:
- A mainline passing from one end of your route to the other. It does not need to terminate at either end, so you can add more boards later. The mainline can be electric, deisel or steam, slow or high speed. We may ask for this mainline to be one or two track. That's one of the catches.
- There must be at least one station on the mainline. it doesn't have to be big, or even a regular stop for passenger trains.
- There will be a branch or shortline heading to a port. I say shortline, because it may be narrow gauge, but doesn't have to be. The port can be a busy wharf or pier that handles containers, wheat, oil, coal, general cargo, sugar or whatever. We may ask for at least one ship to be present.
- We may ask for loco servicing facilities to placed at the wharf or the station, or we may leave it up to you. That's another catch.
My suggestion:
Keep the baseboards to a minimum. You only have just over three months.
Concentrate on detail.
Look at the screenshots here for inspiration. In my opinion, they are the best of the best.
I'll listen to ideas for a couple of days before submitting my final proposal and getting the nod from the committee, of which I'm not a member.
Please don't ask what if? or why? questions at this stage because I won't answer them. Just stay within the guidelines above and use your imagination.
Please folks, not attacks, personal or otherwise. The competition is being run for the benefit of those people interested in this kind of thing. If it doesn't suit you I'm sorry. Just remember that we're all different and what suits some, may not suit others.
Enjoy.
:wave: