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What is the formula for the amount of money you receive for a delivery in the original Railroad Tycoon?

The manual is clearly wrong when it says bulk goods produce the same payment no matter how long they took or how far they travelled, because an actual game shows varying amounts.

I saw a formula in a book once, but by the time I returned to the bookstore the book had unfortunately been sold!

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    I'm assuming you used the railroad-tycoon-2 tag because a tag for the first one didn't exist. I created that tag for you and retagged the question. – DJ Pirtu Aug 26 '15 at 9:11
  • Correct assumption, thanks. Not many players of the original game now! I looked everywhere to see whether a newbie could propose a new tag, without success. – Robin Forlonge Patterson Aug 27 '15 at 14:58
  • Unfortunately, no. But high-rep users are often quick to correct this, as long as the intended game is clear and the question shows your best effort. – DJ Pirtu Aug 27 '15 at 15:08
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Calculation of Revenues:

There is a series of four calculations that are run on each commodity on each delivery. They must be done in the order listed in this chart. The total revenue for the run is determined by adding the results of the calculations below for each commodity. To that will be addad any station-specific modifiers such as restraunt/hotel income for passenger deliveries.

Variables:
DIST = # squares between stations (* .5 if E. USA or England)
DISTB and DISTC = Interim variables in formulas SPEED = Mph/2.5 (i.e. 20mph = speed of 8) CLASS = 0 for Ma, 1 for Passenger, 2 for Fast Freight, 3 for Slow Freight and 4 for Bulk Freight)
DIFF = Difficulty level (0 for investor ... 3 for Tycoon)
REVENUEA = Interim variable in formula
FIRST YEAR = The first year of the scenario
REVENUE = Revenue for cargo

Calculation #1: Effect of Distance
DISTB = DIST*(5 - CLASS) + (40*(CLASS+1))

Calculation #2: Effect of Speed
DISTC = (DISTB/8)*(SPEED + (2*CLASS^2) / (((YEAR-1790)/10) + (2*CLASS^2))

Calculation #3: Effect of Year
REVENUEA = TONS*2*DISTC / (YEAR - (1170 + (FIRST YEAR/3)))

Calculation #4: Effect of Difficulty Level
REVENUE = REVENUEA * (7 - DIFF) / 6

I've found these formulas here and here,both quoting "The Official Guide to Sid Meier's Railroad Tycoon" as their source.

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  • That should keep me quiet for a while. Great! However, the manual says that in the Western USA scenario north-south trips earn much less than east-west trips. Am I right in guessing that "DIST" would be calculated accordingly? So a ten-square trip due south would have DIST=5 and the same due west would have DIST=20? – Robin Forlonge Patterson Aug 27 '15 at 14:54
  • The only negative factor given is -50%,so I'd assume that "much less" equals "you get half the DIST".That would mean that a ten-square trip would have DIST=5 for the south and DIST=10 for the west.I'm not entirely sure,because the only zones that are written to have this malus are eastern USA and England,so I guess you have to check this for yourself by calculating your estimated and actual result. – teair Sep 4 '15 at 12:42
  • The actual wording says that prices are doubled for east-west trips and halved for north-south trips. Where is the "-50%" you say is given? – Robin Forlonge Patterson Sep 6 '15 at 22:40

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