Steemit Challenge Season 28 Application - SteemTTD Express - OpenTTD Server

Last time, when I was thinking about what topic to choose for the new SLC27 — math, programming, or something else — I suddenly decided to teach how to play this wonderful classic game from the late 1990s, which later became the open-source project OpenTTD and is still being developed by the community.

I believe this game, as a strategy, teaches logical thinking just as well as math or programming. I even taught my son to play it. But back then he couldn’t read yet, and because of the financial part of the game, we had to pause our lessons. Now he’s in middle school (and can read 😁), so I’m teaching him again — this time to play online and compete with other players.

Just as spontaneously, during SLC27 I got the idea to create a server — first for learning, and later for weekly competitions. I’m still thinking over the details, but roughly it would work like this: the server restarts every week, players compete there and share their results in posts. This game is so creative that there can be countless tasks and ways to complete them. The winner would receive a reward from me, for example 50 STEEM. But that’s for later — these are still just plans. To make them happen, I need to find more fans of this game among Steemit users.

During SLC27, I discovered that many participants already liked this game. Some found it complicated at first but gradually learned it step by step. Others thought it was “just a simple game” — until they realized it wasn’t that simple. It was great to see everyone’s creative and non-standard approaches to solving the tasks I gave.

At this link you can see how many servers exist:
‘There are 131 clients, 148 IPv4 servers, and 27 IPv6 servers in this list.’

It’s nice to see our own server among them, which we used for week six homework.

In SLC27 we only learned the basic elements of the game, but the main focus — trains — we haven’t explored yet. We didn’t look at different types of stations and rail junctions that can handle hundreds of trains without traffic jams, or the main types of multiplayer competitions.

a simple four-way railway junction	this type of junction allows more trains to pass through without stopping

In SLC28, I propose to continue exploring the game so that both former students and especially new ones can take part — and so the game gains even more fans.

I plan to make two homework tasks each week:

HW1 (for beginners): for new participants who are just starting to learn the game,
HW2 (for advanced players): for those who already mastered it during the previous season.

Prize places will be divided proportionally between the groups — for example, 2+4 or 3+3, depending on the number of participants and which tasks they choose. This way, the competition will remain fair both for new and experienced fans of the game.

After this course, I plan to launch a weekly competition server, as I mentioned earlier — independently of SLC.

Program and tasks for 6 weeks (draft)

Week 1 - Subsidies

From time to time, the game offers subsidies for transporting certain resources (for a limited time, profit is 2–3 times higher). This is especially useful at the beginning of the game.

HW1 (for new players): Get familiar with the game — accept any subsidy (local play).
HW2 (for experienced players): Accept two subsidies and win on the server (online play).

Week 2. Stations and rail types

Stations with shared entry-exit points, and through stations where trains from opposite directions don’t block each other. Introduction to simple signals.
Other types of rail: monorail and maglev. Upgrading an existing rail network to newer types.

HW1 (for new players): Build a railway with different types of stations; the company must be profitable.
HW2 (for experienced players): Use various stations and signals when building; win on the online server.

Week 3. Signals (all types)

Using one track per train is inefficient, so signals and junctions are used to prevent collisions.

HW1 (for new players): Deliver cargo by train (local play).
HW2 (for experienced players): Build a junction where 3–4 routes intersect — win on the server.

Week 4. Shared orders and vehicle groups

When the number of vehicles grows, managing them becomes harder. The game allows grouping vehicles, coloring them, and setting auto-replacement for worn-out or outdated vehicles.

HW1 (for new players): Show shared orders, vehicle groups, and auto-replacement.
HW2 (for experienced players): Do HW1 and grow a successful company on the server — win.

Week 5. CityBuilder mode

Some servers run a “CityBuilder” script that gives players tasks to deliver certain goods to cities for them to grow. The winner is the first to reach a target city population (1000 / 2000 / 3000 / 4000).

HW1 (for new players): Play on our desert server where cities need only water and food to grow.
HW2 (for experienced players): Play and win on a public CityBuilder server.

Week 6. Other game modes and final game

Examples: best player within 24/72 hours, or until the company reaches a certain level — company value, profit (10/20/100 million), or total deliveries (1000/2000).
We’ve already covered almost all key aspects of the game, so we’ll now explore a few smaller but useful features that make playing even more efficient.
Final task HW1&HW2: A joint closing game on our server with all participants.

After this course, I plan to launch a weekly competition server, as I mentioned earlier — independently of SLC.
This server will be visible to all players in the game, so it’ll attract some attention to Steemit too 😁

About me

It’s been more than a year since I started taking part in SLC and the curation teams of our community. My previous goal of reaching 50,000 has recently changed to a new one — Orca level: 61,000 (100 MV). 😁
Even after that, I don’t plan to leave Club100 — probably not until I reach 100K STEEM! I also hope the STEEM price will rise again more than once.

Right now, my STEEM POWER is about 49,000, of which 10,000 are delegated to the Ukrainian community and 18К some to Steem-Atlas as an experiment. But I still see delegation as an exception — because it reduces your own voting power. After all, we’re not only authors — we’re also curators.