Sabotaging the competitor
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Sabotaging road vehicles
I'd like to add some words to the topic.
I don't like to wait for computers vehicles, so, I looked for increasing of probability of destroying road vehicles. And I found a solution. The key is the distance between the trains. If it's one square, the road vehicle has only one chance to pass the trap - if the train has a breakdown. In other case it's doomed.
To guarantee such a distance between trains and to minimize the required timed, such two-phase algorithm can be used:
- You build a loop from two long and four short rail tracks. You build train with four or five waggons (four if you use quick train and five if slow) and let it out from depot. When it comes to the rail-road crossings, stop it. Wait, until road vehicles crowd at before the crossing.
- Let the train go. It will destroy ALL vehicles with a high probability. Turn the train and send it to depot. Remove the train - the work is done.
Sabotaging ships
In TTD competitors use ships very seldom, thats why most sites and FAQs do not cover this topic. But there are some tricks too.
Picture 1. The ship is surrounded with depots
Locking ships with depots
The most inexpensive method is to block the ship with depots. It can go through your depot as your ship do, but it can't go through depot's walls. So, first of all, you build two depots before ship. Then two along the edges. And after all you lock it from the last side with one more depot (Picture 1). Now it is in the trap, surrounded with the walls of your depots.
The ship, trapped with depots, will go up and down between depots, incurring running costs, losing their reliability, and depreciating in value!
Picture 3. The ship is surrounded with owned land
Picture 4. The ship is surrounded with land
Locking ships with land
Picture 2. The ship is surrounded with land in a harbor
But the number of depots is a limited value. So, if you don't want to waste depots for sabotaging the competitor, you can use land instead.
The cheapest place for locking the ship is a harbor (Picture 2). You have to pick up only three (and if you are lucky, than only two) squares of water.
You can also catch the ship in the open sea. You can lock it with depots, and then replace them with owned land (Picture 3). Or, if you are rich enough, you can surround it with land (Picture 4), but it costs more, than a new ship, if you will not use depots, of cause.
Locking ships in depots
Picture 5. The competitor's ship is locked within your depot
Picture 6. The competitor's depot is locked with depots
Picture 7. The ship is locked in the locked depot
Competitor's ship can be locked in depot with only two depots (or two land blocks) (Pictures 5, 6 and 7). It can be his depot, when it is on a service (pictures 6 and 7), or your depot, built on the ships way. Ships can pass through any ship depot, so it can be used for trapping them.
As with trains, competitor doesn't sell a ship, which is in the depot for a long time, but not stopped there.