Trans-Continental Gameplay mechanics TL;DR * connect one side of the map to the other, unlocking towns and industries one at a time, whilst maximising own net worth Origin and Destination * companies are given an origin region * for rectangular maps, this is the one side of the map, along the long axis * for square maps this one side of the map, chosen randomly * could (optionally) be somewhere in the middle (not sure why this is better though) * companies are given a destination, this is the opposite side of the map Town placement * most towns (and all cities) are closer to the origin side of the map * the destination side has only a small number of villages and smaller towns * GS constructs towns in response to goal completion Industry Placement * GS controls all/most industry placement * at game start, * most primaries are at origin * all secondaries are at origin * randomly during gameplay, and on completion of goals GS builds new industries * primaries all tend to be placed towards destination side of map, and probably don't care whether there is transport service in the town * secondaries are distributed more evenly, but favour towns that have transport service * GS ensures that tertiaries (black holes) are evenly distributed in towns Land Grants / Rewards * there is some kind of 'land grant' or other reward mechanism * this might be based on town rating (connecting a town increases rating in neighbouring towns?) * this might be cash rewards * this might be using existing subsidy mechanic * this might be using exclusive transport rights * this might be via favourable industry placement Personnel * player can choose a chief engineer at game start * this will modify building costs and town ratings (anything else we can influence?) * player can choose to replace the engineer every 5 years Capitalism / Corruption * player gets a personal net worth (via story book) * some mechanic(s) allows player to transfer company funds to personal net worth * legitimately via owning stock, where the value comes from company value * legitimately via 'dividends' * illegitimately via stealing money * player can be 'fired' by GS bankrupting the company, or using deity funds to take it over Micro-challenges * similar to Busy Bee Anti-trust / taxman * GS has triggers for removing excess company profit * something like public sentiment, which is improved by completing goals * player can also 'bribe politicians' but may get caught (map-wide version of bribing towns) Check map dimensions If rectangular:
 - choose long axis If square - choose random axis For each end of axis - find 3 towns nearest to axis end - if town size parameter is 'favour larger' - choose largest of the 3 - if town size parameter is 'favour smaller' - choose smallest of the 3 - if town size parameter is 'random' - choose 1 at random from the 3 Primary goal is then to build a route providing continuous service between the two towns. Secondary goal is to connect n subsidiary towns. Unknowns - how to measure continuous service? Can a cargo monitor detect origin of cargo on delivery? - how to select towns for the secondary goals.