Problem is, that isn’t really a model for RR economics, is it? UP doesn’t get the difference in commodity price between two locations when they move a box car, they get paid on some type of milage*weight basis.
I don’t know the RE engines is better, mind.
I did pick up RE the week before it went free on EGS, because it was on sale on Steam. That annoyed me a little, even though it’s not anyone’s fault. I’ve enjoyed RE so far.
Well no, not quite. But it does work ok at it. See in theory you have a flat cartage rate per mile and weight. But thing is a company isn’t going to pay you to haul something 2000 miles if the same good is available 50 miles away.
So the pricing gradient, the further you are from production the more it costs. A resource close to manufacturing has a small gradient. Far a usually larger one. And overall though it isn’t perfectly realistic, the end results approach something true. The end result it reasonably approximates the distance it travels, with the caveat circuitous or inefficient routes you make less from because just because you spend 500 miles traveling 50 as the crow flies, doesn’t mean the client will pay for that!
Its a good model to approach reasonable results without becoming a rivet counting simulation.
That’s fair… I did like that in the RT3 model you could see goods moving along rivers and such without your railroad. That was driven by those gradients also.
I wish they would do another or Firaxis would a proper reboot instead of Sid Meier’s railroads.
There’s some expensive but helpful auto-switching platforms. When you’ve plenty of cash, I usually just use these.
So I picked this up on Epic along with everyone else, and I’m digging it, for sure. But twice now it’s lost a bunch (but not all) of my save games. Anyone have any idea what’s going on? I guess I have cloud sync on–does that mean they’re not saved locally anywhere? (I can’t seem to find them.) This is extremely frustrating, and I’m certainly glad I didn’t pay Epic any money for it (I assume it’s Epic’s fault, but I could be wrong).
Never had any save issues with Steam.
I am on mission 4 of the campaign (the Civil War mission). This is the one where @Nightgaunt said he stopped. I am going to guess at what the issue with scenario design is, because I wonder if it is the same as my issue with it.
So my issue with the scenario design is how you have mission objectives that are hidden at the start. For example Mission 4 has the initial objectives of
build a weapon manufactory
manufacture 1 unit of weapons
Simple enough, and I can guess where this is going. I’ll need to make and transport lots of weapons. Buy out every production node for the inputs, that way I can upgrade them as needed. $5 million start so money is not a constraint, I can tell being able to ramp production will be important.
Turns out I am right, as the next mission is deliver 12 loads of weapons. Ok, my network was being built out to support increased weapons production. More coal for chemicals, iron and lumber being funneled in. Increase production capacity for both chemicals after buying, and weapons by upgrading. Just in general really go heavy into increasing raw materials, and use warehouses to stock multiple cities. It’s all good.
And then the final sets of missions come in, and it is all about passengers and population in newly opened towns. Direct passengers to Atlanta, and minimum city size? In a very short period of time even? It is a complete shift in focus that the well developed production pipeline I had wasn’t really set up to deal with. Like if I had known in advance, I could have planned things accordingly. But as it was you get what feels like a surprise focus shift, and a very short window to complete.
I think that is what bugs me about the scenario design. The inability to see all the mission goals in advance. Sure, lock them for completion until you pass the earlier tasks, but a surprise shift.
I think that is what I dislike about the scenario design. I can get along with the design focus on rails and switching. Its a bit busywork, and what I wouldn’t give for a ‘lay doubletrack’ button. Seriously, RRT3 has it, and it greatly speeds up the frequent lay down a single track, then run double track for 90% after that wastes a few minutes each time i plan a new route. But once I knew that was the design intent? I can get along with that just fine.
It’s the not knowing the ultimate goals that bugs me, because that greatly reduces the strategy of line planning.
IIRC the civil war was the only one where that was really an issue. I think I managed to complete it without ever running the money down, so by the end I was just laying these huge tunnels to get passengers to whatever city they called out next.
I have a place on my whitewashing history bingo sheet for “talk about the civil war without mentioning slavery” and boy did they check that box. (I think they at least mentioned Chinese laborers in the California mission, though I don’t remember actually seeing any. It would have been nearly unforgivable to omit that given that the transcontinental railroad is the point of the campaign.)
Chinese Immigrants is one of the techs you can unlock that grants some bonus for… I want to say construction cost?
I think it was termed ‘foreign workers’ or something.
And yeah, it really leaned into the ‘paint both sides as equally at fault and the civil war as a conflict between states’ with their intro.
‘It was a conflict born out of perception of the northerners as cruel and greedy, and the southerners as lazy and backwards’ Jesus wept.
Kalypso must figure there is still demand for new Railway Empire content even a year after the last DLC released and then wrapping everything up with a complete edition bundle. Newly announced Japan DLC releasing on May 7th, almost exactly a year after the Australia DLC released.
Japan 1872: after the successful restoration of the Meiji rule, the Land of the Rising Sun moves on to a promising era of major industrial and economic change. Japan’s long-term ambition to develop its own modern nation-wide railway network becomes a reality. People from formerly feudal regions are yearning to travel to booming metropolises.
In Railway Empire – Japan , use foresight, planning and clever strategy to establish a railway network to facilitate this “great commute”. Will you prioritise the much-desired passenger transport or give preference to the transportation of goods? Think carefully and weigh your profits against the satisfaction of your passengers.
I last played this in July 2019, thought it was pretty solid although I think I preferred Railroad Corporation a bit more. Have there been many improvements to the game in the last several years? I actually own most of the DLC. I think I played one of them and the time restrictions were difficult for me.
Same question about Railroad Corporation - we don’t have a thread for it. Improvements over last several years? Is the DLC good?
I couldn’t get into Railroad Corporation. I need to spend more time with it.
Railway Empire - not sure what has changed or what hasn’t, but there were some QoL changes that I recall were implemented. Last I played was 2021 in November, though that was brief, but I really played it a lot in 2020. Managing staff was still terrible last I played. But track laying was improved. There’s guides now for establishing cross track, junctions, that sort of thing. Also signals can be evenly placed along a line.
I haven’t played the Japan DLC, and only just started the Australia DLC at the time - wasn’t overly keen on the Australian DLC at the time.
Hmmm, not sure we need a Railway Empire 2. First game holds up fine, imho.
Didn’t stop me from wishlsting when I saw on Steam yesterday :)
There is room for improvement. Like they could completely revamp the train staffing which was cumbersome late game. Having some better ways to deal with freight vs passenger would be good too, greater expandability with stations because sometimes the 4 platforms weren’t enough.
I’d have fun with RT in early game, but the micro required for mid-late game caused me to quit everytime. Staffing was an issue, but the micro needed around signalling/track clearance all leading to train traffic jams.
Looks like the sequel will have simplified multi track rail placement.
Thank goodness!
I mean if some players like to solve multi-track layout problems, make it a game option. I do not find it interesting, and in a Tycoon game I should have “people” who sort out such detail.
Thanks for sharing that lordkosc. I haven’t really followed the development for this game, though I’m sure provided it isn’t loaded with bugs on day one, I’ll pick it up.
It remains to be seen how they manage some of the frustrating parts of Railway Empire for me. I really like the game, but having warehouses restricted with the number of different goods that can be stored. Being able to view all my trains in a neat data table was non-existent. 8 tracks for stations is nice in the new game but suspect it will result in more congestion overall. The game swung between being fairly hands off to then needing some crazy micromanagement of routing with respect to maintaining traffic flow along mainlines and stations.
I see Railroad Empire up for Steam pre-purchase at $45 (10% discount).
Regular price is 50 (a little high for me) - not going to bite unless it really is better at track laying.