I'm so f'n excited about this game!

http://firaxis.com/games/game_detail.php?gameid=12

http://www.gamespot.com/pc/strategy/sidmeiersrailroads/news.html?sid=6146138&mode=previews

I purchased my first PC (a 486sx25 with no sound card) back in 1991 so I could play Civilization I and the original Railroad Tycoon.

I'm glad Sid has returned to the rails after all these years. Looks like my CivIV installation will be getting some rest.

I know! I had PopTops RR Tycoon and RR Tycoon Deluxe, RR Tycoon II sucked though, and I'm glad he's back into this franchise!! :D

Vlad, you do realize that when PopTop went under they were given the opportunity to join Firaxis (they were owended by Take2 also).

Vlad, you do realize that when PopTop went under they were given the opportunity to join Firaxis (they were owended by Take2 also).

Isn't that what actually happened? My understanding is that it was some sort of merger.

I'm glad to see RT back in the hands of Sid and crew though. I really enjoyed the first one but I felt the other versions just didn't quite make the grade. I have RT3 on my system now, but I never play it.

PS: I just had a look at the screenshots and it looks awesome. This one is definitely on my list of games to pick up this fall.

PS: I just had a look at the screenshots and it looks awesome. This one is definitely on my list of games to pick up this fall.

oh yea.... I really hope all those locomotives are animated.... awesome!

I'm worried that it might sound a bit too simplified though.. Compared to games such as Transport Tycoon and Locomotion, where the player decides every single piece of track, Railroads! apparently creates the track for you. I'm wondering how junctions, signals etc will work out in such a system. But I'm really looking forward to it! :)

They better have a good selection of Electric Locomotives, Including Amtrak's E60s (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GE_E60), AEM7s (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AEM7), HHP-8s (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HHP-8), and the Acela Expresss (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/acela) as well as the Pennsylvania Railroad's GG1s (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GG1) and Milwaukee Road's Bipolars (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Milwaukee_Road_class_EP-2)

Has anyone seen any in-game screenshots showing the user interface and such? I haven't seen any.. But it looks good! Obviously built over the same platform as Civ4.

ooh, will be fun.. im getting tired of RR2!

It definately seems like a step back into the right direction. Just got it. Still figuring it out. Its already way better than RR Tycoon 3. At least I'm picking up resources and delivering them to industries then delivering the finished goods. Havn't gone far enough into it to play the market yet but will be there soon.

It's simplified, so it's easier to get into for those not market saavy. And it runs reasonably well on a mediocre system.

And yes it is based on Civ4, the error sound is instantly recognisable from Civ4. I only played five minutes of it though.

The game's producer said on the gamespot forums that they reused some art (and, obviously, sounds) to save on development time/costs. Clever. Kinda weird to hear that error message, though!

What amazes me in the S/FX department is the "clatter" sound of the trains running along rails. Reminds me of a childhood playing with toy trains... :)

Looks like it would make a great gift.

Looks like it would make a great gift.

Yeah -- I'd love to give it away :)

They better have a good selection of Electric Locomotives, Including Amtrak's E60s (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GE_E60), AEM7s (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AEM7), HHP-8s (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HHP-8), and the Acela Expresss (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/acela) as well as the Pennsylvania Railroad's GG1s (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GG1) and Milwaukee Road's Bipolars (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Milwaukee_Road_class_EP-2)

That would be cool if my game didn't crash around the year 1895. :p

I'm worried that it might sound a bit too simplified though.. Compared to games such as Transport Tycoon and Locomotion, where the player decides every single piece of track, Railroads! apparently creates the track for you. I'm wondering how junctions, signals etc will work out in such a system. But I'm really looking forward to it! :)

I don’t think we’ll see anything of that in Railroads. The Railroad Tycoon series are more of an economics/business simulator. If you want to control junctions and signals this is probably not the game.

I don’t think we’ll see anything of that in Railroads. The Railroad Tycoon series are more of an economics/business simulator. If you want to control junctions and signals this is probably not the game.

LOL, ironically SMR is the opposite of what you think it's like: it's exactly like a control the junctions and signals game.

Well, you build the junctions, anyway - unfortunately you can't control the signals directly.

(yet?)

I don’t think we’ll see anything of that in Railroads. The Railroad Tycoon series are more of an economics/business simulator. If you want to control junctions and signals this is probably not the game.

The Railroad Tycoon series was started by Sid Meier, he was the one who designed the original. Railroads is a direct extension of the previous ones, especially the first. It currently has some limitations, but it is precisely an economics/business simulator. The only reason they didn't go with Railroad Tycoon 4, was that they didn't like the last two versions and wanted to distance themselves from them. Otherwise, the basic concept is pretty much identical.

Sorry, but the resource supply and demand is vastly simplified from RT3, the stock market is the simplest it has ever been, and if you set it to hard routing you need to take a great deal of care over your junction placement.

As far as I can see, the economics/business side is the simplest of any of the series, even simpler than I remember the first being.

And I earlier saw a post (perhaps on gamespot?) from someone associated with the design team saying that this was a conscious decison because RT3 sold below expectations.

That may be but RT3 is not a Sid Meier game. In fact, I would wager that neither RT2 or RT3 would have been anything like they are if they WOULD have been designed by Sid.

I really don't think you should compare these games at all...

I do agree that some parts seem a little too simple though...

LOL, ironically SMR is the opposite of what you think it's like: it's exactly like a control the junctions and signals game.

Well, you build the junctions, anyway - unfortunately you can't control the signals directly.

(yet?)

That’s very good news as this has always been a major flaw, a railroad game with no junctions and signals.:goodjob:

Sorry, but the resource supply and demand is vastly simplified from RT3, the stock market is the simplest it has ever been, and if you set it to hard routing you need to take a great deal of care over your junction placement.

Is this a bad thing or a good thing? I've only played the demo, but I thought it was considerably more fun with hard routing, as building the right junctions in the right place really affects whether your money is rolling in or just being wasted on the track...it's part of the planning. I would say that without hard routing it does indeed become too easy to just not bother and let the ghost trains sort it out for you...;)

Is this a bad thing or a good thing? I've only played the demo, but I thought it was considerably more fun with hard routing, as building the right junctions in the right place really affects whether your money is rolling in or just being wasted on the track...it's part of the planning. I would say that without hard routing it does indeed become too easy to just not bother and let the ghost trains sort it out for you...;)

I don't know. Having played the demo I am not rushing out to by the full version, and I just played it on medium routing. I want to see an idiot's guide to track building to see if there is fundamental stuff that I need to understand before playing on hard routing, but IMO if any time the solution to a routing problem is to delete a train, there is something wrong with the game.

LOL, ironically SMR is the opposite of what you think it's like: it's exactly like a control the junctions and signals game.

Well, you build the junctions, anyway - unfortunately you can't control the signals directly.

(yet?)

dont u think controling the signals wud become too much......do u have anything precise on your mind regarding this concept? if so then why dont you post details abt it and maybe the devs will work on it.

but its still a very minute detail.......i mean, u r the chairman/director of the company, and u have to look after signals??????lol.....

becos if the point is that the trains arent choosing the best route then thats the prob of bad AI.

and i really think the economic/stock market system shud be advanced, this one sucks. i looooved it in the RRT series as you had ur personal wealth as well as company wealth. and u bought stocks frm other companies with ur own "hard" earned money........

but its still a very minute detail.......i mean, u r the chairman/director of the company, and u have to look after signals??????lol.....

Only for a priority train - seems like you never played original RRT, so I'll explain what I'm talking about.

In that game, you could turn signals to "forced red/green" to expedite a train you wanted to arrive first - like one doing a priority delivery or whatever.

You could also issue orders to other trains to "hold" position - this would've been awesome for SMR since if you saw trouble approaching (two trains approaching one block that you poorly designed, let's say b/c you couldn't afford enough track at the time), you could override the automatic controls and say "you, stop - you, GO go go!"

I hope that makes more sense - I'm not going to make RRT screenshots to further elaborate, but I probably could explain a little more if necessary... ;)

I think if the Priorities worked in this game, it would certainly help, as I usually run the small engines when the main task is just moving some resource a short distance. Unfortunately, it seems every train runs at same priority, and therefore many trains just sit at junctions while the game computes which should move first. Basically taking away my ability to run the game as I want it to. I also noticed that since the patch, the 'wait until full' no longer works, least not in Mogul & above mode with 3 AI's..:(