Is this going to be in the same league as the Railroad Tycoon games? The screenshots sure are pretty.
Dunno for sure, but I am enjoying it.
I printed the english version of this signal guide with pics, I mean sure you can play easy mode with no signals but that takes the fun out of it.
http://steamcommunity.com/app/730370/discussions/1/2425614539586839426/#c2425614539586840690
Most important is this photo, where the signals are placed, in the tutorial/1st chapter they do a very poor job of trying to show this correct placement:
I think so.
Like most folks, on the forum I’ve been pretty meh about the Claypso remakes of Tropico etc. Mostly because there was so little new or improved.
Soren Johnson formula for sequels is one part new, one part old, and one part improved.
In the old category, there is very little changed from the Railroad Tycoon economy, A few industries have been changed but other than that not much, The economy is slightly more transparent.
In the new category, you research both new engines and new modest improvements. It is not particularly exciting or innovative tech tree but I do think it presents some interesting choices. The addition of engineers, conductors, and other personal is more flavor than a significant game element but fun.
Besides the obvious improvements, graphics, a much better method for laying track, a generally improved UI.
The biggest improvement is in the operation of trains. In RR Tycoon and even most of the remakes, switches and such were abstracted. In this game you have 4 tracks (max) going into a station and no two trains (which are many miles long) can occupy.the same track simultaneously. It is your job to use all the tools, switches, parallel tracks, warehouses etc. to make that happen.
So far I’m enjoying the challenge albeit a bit frustrating at times.
The only thing I have found that is somewhat disappointing so far is that it’s not possible to play on the entire US map at one time. From the FAQ:
Will it be possible to play the whole American continent right from the start, or when unlocking all states?
The campaign spans the entirety of the USA, separated into large and detailed sections (e.g. East Coast, Southern States, etc). It will not be possible to play on one map that encompasses the complete landmass of the USA, though.
At this point I don’t find it to be a big deal as the sections feel quite large with plenty of play on each one. Maybe someone will mod it at some point or they will decide to make a DLC that encompasses the whole country.
That does sound cool, thanks!
That’s definitely the same graphics engine as Grand Ages Medieval (it’s the same developer). Here’s hoping that this game isn’t the utter shitpile GAM was.
I mean…they screwed up a medieval city builder/trading game. I thought only Firefly could do that.
When I watch Adekyn’s videos and he is laying track he has an elevation overlay that shows contours. Anyone know how to turn that on? Can’t find anything about it anywhere.
I tend to play anything she does. Her videos can makes games I have no interest in be things I think I should be playing right now.
One steam poster points out that the AI runs single track w/o collisions. That sort of AI cheat on its own wouldn’t bother me too much but they also say this means that when you buy AI companies their track layouts need to be massively upgraded- how big of a problem is that?
Options >>> Gameplay >>> Contour Lines
should do the trick. Its right at the bottom of the gameplay options.
The contours turn on when you’re laying track and then disappear during normal gameplay.
Thanks mprod! Don’t know how I missed it.
Ok this is going to be a good game after finishing the 1st Chapters of the campaign, I want to play more.
Damn you, CDKeys. I could have bought this from GMG for the same price and be playing it right now!
Guys, hurry up and get to the other side of the Chick parabola so you can convince me not to buy this.
I keep expecting the other shoe to drop on this, but hope it doesn’t of course. It’s confusing because the screenshots for the game and those posted just don’t seem to say it’s as deep and with as many options as RRT2 & 3.
Any of you playing this played Train/Transport Fever?
The buzz around this has me also looking at Mashinsky, I’d be interested in comparisons to that too.
Nope, sorry.
People in reviews talk of it being a console port…that scares me
also, shaloow, quick gameplay on smallish maps…not enough ‘meat’ to the game
but damn, it sure does look good
I have to say that much of the challenge in the game involves figuring out where to place signals. Once that is mastered it is possible that other side of the parabola might occur.
Signals can be rage quit level frustration but also cool when they work well.
Its been more than a decade since I played RR2 or 3, IIRC 3 wasn’t much of an improvement.
That said I don’t think there are any major features that RRT2 has, that Railway empire doesn’t have. I started a scenario in Freemode. Basically the 2nd chapter of the campaign with a choice of cities, difficulties etc. (The rest of the campaign is locked for Beta but not for the Press.)
I was pleasantly surprised to see a list of 20+ objectives (random?) for the scenario. There was a wide variety of things, from how many stations, length of lines, profits from cattle. mail revenue, buying a competitor. I feel pretty confident that it will keep the game fresh. Assuming the game comes with 20 or so maps.
I really don’t have any problem with the size of the game. For me in RR tycoon once I hit 30-40 trains I got overwhelmed with the complexity. You’ll definitely be able to run 50 plus trains and connect scores of cities and resource.
The game still needs lot of polish. Track laying is terrific, but train management is really bad. (I still haven’t figured out how to reroute a train once it is placed.) Also things like a overview of your cities.
I haven’t played Transport Fever, but did play some other transport games. The emphasis is on the economy more than developing a transportation network, so it lags a lot of the features of those games.
But at $32, this weekend at GMG, I think it is money well spent.
The thing that I really love about RT3 is that cargo moves around the map by itself trying to move from areas with supply and low prices to areas with demand and high prices. It’s such a huge step forward that I don’t think I’ll ever play another railroad game that doesn’t work like that.