Overwhelmed by a fresh start
I have more than 700 hours in Captain of Industry, almost all of them before Update 3. Back then, whenever my base became really large, my old PC started struggling hard and the game stopped feeling smooth. Now I finally managed to buy a new gaming PC and I’m ready to give the game another serious shot.
The first challenge is… I can’t decide on a map.
I think the problem is that I no longer want my island to become a giant flat square/rectangle in the late game. I’d like to preserve some mountains intact, keep most coastlines natural-looking instead of perfectly straight edges, and maybe leave some smaller islands untouched so I can connect them later with bridges.
At first, I used to enjoy terraforming the entire island into a perfectly flat industrial platform. But now I’m more interested in having some harmony between nature and industry. I’m an engineer, but maybe with age I’m becoming soft… or even worse… I’m becoming an architect. (Just kidding, no offense intended.)
The second challenge is trains vs conveyor belts.
In my two longest saves (one in Update 2 and another in Update 3), I used a “main bus” style layout. Honestly, it worked extremely well. You don’t need that much space to create a giant linear megafactory with almost every production chain included and easily scalable.
In my Update 3 run, I only used trains later on to bring mining resources from distant locations once the starter mines ran dry.
Now I’d like to try a different approach, but I genuinely can’t visualize it.
I’d love to create separated industrial blocks: steel in one area, concrete slabs somewhere else, vehicle parts elsewhere, etc. But I simply can’t figure out how to organize all that in a way where trucks don’t completely lose their minds early game, while still allowing a smooth transition into trains in the mid game.
I just can’t “see” the layout in my head. The amount of space I’d need feels gigantic, and I don’t think I can correctly estimate how much room each block should reserve for future expansion.
It honestly feels like I could only do it if I already knew the exact endgame demand for every product from the very beginning.
I’ve also always played with infinite world mines and barely interacted with contracts. I feel like that should probably change too, but it’s yet another thing that raises a million questions for me.
Anyone else feels this way when starting a new save?
Advice is welcome, and sorry for the wall of text.
Also, if anyone wants to share save games for inspiration, I’d love to take a look at them too.