OpenTTD – 1830 Early Start & Extended Play NewGRF Combo

Disclaimer

 
I’ve not yet played a full extended game with this combo, and I’ve only got as far from 1850 to the 1980s. But I’ve done some thorough testing (starting the game on different dates with the “Vehicles Never Expire” on and off to see what’s available, when, and what stays availble), and there’s no reason this shouldn’t work, as long as you poke and play around with the NewGRF parameters first. This is a combo which shows potential, but yeah, be prepared to spend ages tweaking stuff. 🙂 
 
Fancy being a pioneer and you have more free time than me? Let me know in the comments how your game went! 
 
You should be able to play from 1700 to 2100 but boats stop being released after 2008, and there are no new aircraft beyond 2045. eGRVTS combined with Hover Vehicles keeps on giving though, as does the VacTrain set which releases its last vehicle in the 2090s. 
 
 

NewGRF List

 
Designed for an 1830/1850 start, but you can start earlier – Just you’ll be waiting around ages for new technology. Your choice! 🙂 And it works with most of the aesthetic mods too which I won’t list here – That’ll be up to you. 
 
I also suggest you change the “Scoring End Year” setting under “World Generation”. 
 
The List: 
 
* FIRS Industry Replacement – One of the few industry mods which stagger when some industries become available – And it’s fun too, with many different options! Of course you can swap it out for a different industry grf, or simply use the default. But having power plants around in the 1800s makes no sense, IMO. 
 
* Total Town Replacement Set 3.14 – Early Mod – Get the “Early Mod” version, a tweak of the original mod for gameplay from the 1700s. Also tweaks the population of some buildings. 
 
* Country Roads – Allows you to build unpaved dirt roads! Though it seems like a hassle to replace or upgrade them later. Be sure to play with the mod parameters. 
 
* UK Railway Set (UKRS2) + the Addon set – You can swap this out for what train set you like, but UKRS 2 offers trains from 1830. “Iron Horse 2” is also a really good candidate as it also offers a wide selection of vehicles over a long time, but its earliest train is released at 1860. 
 
* Old Wagons New Cargos – Keeps vanilla Monorail and Maglev enabled alongside UKRS2 and other sets. You can swap this out for another Monolev set, but I’ve not yet found one that’s on par with the TTD originals in terms of gameplay. Note that it’ll also keep the TTD rail vehicles too with no way to turn them off – But they don’t conflict with UKRS2 apart from default rail wagons appearing as a “?” symbol – You can ignore them, though. You can have the vanilla locomotives haul UKRS2 wagons. Maglev and Monorail work fine. 
 
* eGRVTS v2.0 – Comprehensive collection of vehicles between 1700 and the 2070s. 
 
* Hover Vehicles – Released during the 2080s, these seem fun! 
 
* Vactrain Set + “Vactrain Companion” NewGRF – New trains until the 2090s! If not used with other bridge replacement mods, the companion mod gives a faster endgame Tubular Silicon Bridge. The Vactrain works alongside the vanilla Maglevs and runs on the same track, but the wagons aren’t compatible: It has its own wagons. 
 
* av8 Aviators Aircraft Set – Better aircraft than vanilla, but they stop being released after the 2040s, and I’ve not found any sets which offer planes beyond then. 
 
* Sailing Ships 0.62 – Gives old ships. 
 
* Squid Ate FISH – A better variety of ships for the “normal” era of play. 
 
* redFISH – Compliments the above NewGRF, but you get some duplicate vehicles with higher capacity. 
 
NOTE: I’m also using the “City Growth Limiter” script – You’ll want this or another similar script to stop cities from growing wildly and taking over the map, especially during extended play. 
 
HONORABLE MENTION: Try the NUTS Unrealistic Train Set, which focuses on gameplay and offers trains from 1920 to 2099. 
 
I’ll perhaps update this after playing a full game – Feel free to suggest other combos of NewGRFs in the comments, too, especially if you’ve tested them. 
 

I hope you enjoy the Guide we share about OpenTTD – 1830 Early Start & Extended Play NewGRF Combo; if you think we forget to add or we should add more information, please let us know via commenting below! See you soon!