It seems the big thing is event driven or goal oriented games rather than situational. The reason I always liked Civ so much is that it is situational. Railroads could be so much more than "oh geez my bridge washed out or I need to make a million dollars". The complexity of manipulating several trains on the same track or getting a resource to a far market thru a series of drops and pickups seems infinitely more appealing to me.
Idea/Wish List for Railroads!
- Thread starter zx1111
- Start date
Victorvanwavere
Warlord
A couple things Id like to see:
Id like to see a random map design interface that you choose the % water, hills, rivers ..
Id like to see a random map design interface that you choose the % water, hills, rivers ..
- Also, you can choose where you start. So, everyone will choose their starting position blind to others and once all has chosen, the starting positions will be revealed. This could be interesting, because the best places might not be that good, since everyone would want to start there.
- More AL players.
- Better & more interesting rewords from city quests.
- Start 10, 15, 20 years after a established computer rail system
I've also had a few ideas, even though some them are more kind of sequel/extension ideas rather than quick balancing fixes...
At the moment I think the gameplay of the game doesn't make the most of the possibilities. For example:
So far it doesn't really matter what trains you use, as long as they run smoothly and it's the latest one. Having a system where maintenance cost vs income is a lot more difficult to balance would make choosing the right train for the right route a strategic decision...
On a similar note I got a bit confused by the preferred cargo info...there's no information on what that means in gameplay terms, or whether it does have an effect...if it does, the effect doesn't seem to be pronounced enough. The journeys that the trains make are simply too short for the speed difference of goods vs passengers/mail to have a significant impact.
Similarly, while the prices of individual goods do vary with time via the real time economy, it's not pronounced enough. Pretty much after 30 minutes play you would have connected quite an array of resources that soften the blow
during a drop in Steel prices for example.
As an extension, the industries that the player owns could become a bit more involved in gameplay:
If you own a newspaper, and you carry a lot of paper into that town, it could spread advertisement of your company...this could have an effect on the population (passengers), i.e. placing ads in the newspaper will make passengers board your company's trains, not the competition's. Similar things could happen with all the other industries...
Two companies could form an "alliance" based on "I'll do the passengers, you do the automobiles" for a certain amount of time, this could be a beneficial strategy, and would encourage a bit more specialisation on a single industry, rather than the "a bit of everything" approach that's going on at the moment...at the same time this would make changes in market price that much more significant.
I agree that the point mentioned in a previous post about the city quests...maybe you could start an industry by supplying a city with a resource first?
Fastest train? Does that do anything? This should also be rewarded...
Achieving the objectives in the scenarios should also be rewarded differently...some of them are quite difficult to pull off, if you aim to buy everyone out at the end (assuming you're playing Tycoon/hard)...
For example, connecting two cities first (Liverpool/Manchester for example) should grant you exclusive rights to all passenger/mail traffic on that route...this could have a 10 year limit.
That's it for now...I do enjoy playing this game, despite all the flaws...hoping for a quick patch release to make it all better...
At the moment I think the gameplay of the game doesn't make the most of the possibilities. For example:
So far it doesn't really matter what trains you use, as long as they run smoothly and it's the latest one. Having a system where maintenance cost vs income is a lot more difficult to balance would make choosing the right train for the right route a strategic decision...
On a similar note I got a bit confused by the preferred cargo info...there's no information on what that means in gameplay terms, or whether it does have an effect...if it does, the effect doesn't seem to be pronounced enough. The journeys that the trains make are simply too short for the speed difference of goods vs passengers/mail to have a significant impact.
Similarly, while the prices of individual goods do vary with time via the real time economy, it's not pronounced enough. Pretty much after 30 minutes play you would have connected quite an array of resources that soften the blow
during a drop in Steel prices for example.
As an extension, the industries that the player owns could become a bit more involved in gameplay:
If you own a newspaper, and you carry a lot of paper into that town, it could spread advertisement of your company...this could have an effect on the population (passengers), i.e. placing ads in the newspaper will make passengers board your company's trains, not the competition's. Similar things could happen with all the other industries...
Two companies could form an "alliance" based on "I'll do the passengers, you do the automobiles" for a certain amount of time, this could be a beneficial strategy, and would encourage a bit more specialisation on a single industry, rather than the "a bit of everything" approach that's going on at the moment...at the same time this would make changes in market price that much more significant.
I agree that the point mentioned in a previous post about the city quests...maybe you could start an industry by supplying a city with a resource first?
Fastest train? Does that do anything? This should also be rewarded...
Achieving the objectives in the scenarios should also be rewarded differently...some of them are quite difficult to pull off, if you aim to buy everyone out at the end (assuming you're playing Tycoon/hard)...
For example, connecting two cities first (Liverpool/Manchester for example) should grant you exclusive rights to all passenger/mail traffic on that route...this could have a 10 year limit.
That's it for now...I do enjoy playing this game, despite all the flaws...hoping for a quick patch release to make it all better...
jprc
My dog is smarter than me
I like the idea, but then it has a cost! It is a Feasability Study, and it should be an option, with different qualities of Studies, the most expansive reducing the risk of error in the Study, as costs simulated by the Studies can not be 100% sure!!! The game is about"business" is not it? So then we should have business tools...zx1111 said:
Otherwise, my ideas would be to have another RAILROAD game, excatly at the opposite of this one. In the game, we consider building the tracks and bridges as granted. In "my" game, this would be the main part!
- first having huge maps, Civ4 style.
- then having to design and think about a path
- have to get the authorisations, land, etc, for crossing various places
- find the differnt types of labor, support them (food, health, tools, bring salaries to them without being lost/stolen) with increased difficulties when you are further and further from your base(s)
- gather the building equipments (with upgrades possible), and have to maintain, warehouse, etc...
- gathering resources (wood, stones), buy or build your one rails, ...
- have lots of random events (or not so random...), such as earthquackes, strikes, robberies, attack by local unrest tribes, geological problems (rocky parts, underground water, etc...), weather, desease, key staff hired by your concurrents, political turmoils, etc,....
- having the choice between various type of bridges, track support, etc...
Building is the hardest part, as the success of the game will stand on a track that is well built, and will allow better evolution in the future.
Example, you take ages for building your track while the AI will do it quick and dirty. The AI will gather quickly more business/money, but, at the first problem (ex: heavy rain making underground unstable, and part of the tracks are gone or limit the weight/speed of transports), it will slow down, and perhaps your better quality track will gain a boost...
Later on, the path choice can be essential also for better growing (double tracks, larger bridges... if teh original location allows it!...)
Also, as the game grows, so is doing the civilizations around! Your tracks once on open land are now surrounded more and more by buildings or roads, and your expansion becomes much more difficut in some areas, up to a point where you have to consider making a distinct track for allowing higher speeds and avoiding bottlenecks!...
The logistical part, which is 95% of the current game, would just be part of the game, for generating money for barely sustaining the evolution of the network. No more million dollars falling within minutes into your pocket like in the current game.
rupertlittlebea said:
Yes, in the sense that I'm tired of the old games since I've "beat" them - this game offers a different sort of challenge and a set of (relatively) completely new gameplay mechanics -> I really want to sit down and keep playing it.
And I know I will; I'm just waiting for the patch to come out.
This being a Firaxis game, the smart thing to do is,
1. wait until the patches come out (or, if you're really patient or you're not going to upgrade your computer anytime soon)
2. buy the inevitable "gold" edition of this game which will no doubt include one or two expansion packs, will clean up the bugs, and by that point in time you'll hopefully have a new computer that can handle the eye candy (which is, really, remarkably awesome eye candy - one of the most "delicious" varieties I've seen in a while).
So yeah, the waiting game is totally a smart move - but you will want to play this once it's actually a "finished" product.
rupertlittlebea
Prince
Interesting idea, butKrupo said:So yeah, the waiting game is totally a smart move - but you will want to play this once it's actually a "finished" product.
they never actually finished Sid Meier's Pirates!
they simply abandoned it.
So your plan may have a serious flaw.
rupertlittlebea said:
Okay, I'll bite - list your issues with Pirates for me, aside from the fact that you had to catch the bad guy 16 times to save your family.
In particular, I want to hear about CTDs - you can get used to weird gameplay quirks, but CTDs just ruin my day.
Pirates crashed on me maybe once in a freakish incident - that's one of the most solidly programmed games I've played in a loooong time.
rupertlittlebea
Prince
ok start by reading the patch notes
now find 3 items that were actually fixed in the patch
even though they are listed as patched.
then go read all of http://www.hookedonpirates.com/
add to that
non-modability
modability designed out while under development
still displays random graphics on auxillery sails at random times
refusal to listen to complaints
Patch that introduced more bugs
and the company has refused to deal with these bugs
.
.
.
shall I continue?
Possible to plunder Negative Gold
Driver looking for wrong disk in drive (still)
Sound and video driver CTD
Problems with Intel chip sets
lost in hyperspace over DirectX9c
Multiple occurrences of the same rescue
More DirectX issues
Frozen Mice
Cross language translations
Obscenely incorrect translations
Random system graphics overloads if too many files in "Custom" folder
Patch changes your Numlock Status
now find 3 items that were actually fixed in the patch
even though they are listed as patched.
then go read all of http://www.hookedonpirates.com/
add to that
non-modability
modability designed out while under development
still displays random graphics on auxillery sails at random times
refusal to listen to complaints
Patch that introduced more bugs
and the company has refused to deal with these bugs
.
.
.
shall I continue?
Possible to plunder Negative Gold
Driver looking for wrong disk in drive (still)
Sound and video driver CTD
Problems with Intel chip sets
lost in hyperspace over DirectX9c
Multiple occurrences of the same rescue
More DirectX issues
Frozen Mice
Cross language translations
Obscenely incorrect translations
Random system graphics overloads if too many files in "Custom" folder
Patch changes your Numlock Status
Snoopy55
Chieftain
I'd like to see a way to enlarge the mini map, or better yet be able to put it or any other desired data screen onto a 2nd screen. The larger mini map would alow you to watch what you have and look at what you want to do without a microscope.
HeMo
Chieftain
TENDERS!
The steam engines in the game should have tenders - it hurts my eyes seeing 4-4-0s with not tenders. In the very first preview screenies the locos had tenders - why are they gone??
The steam engines in the game should have tenders - it hurts my eyes seeing 4-4-0s with not tenders. In the very first preview screenies the locos had tenders - why are they gone??
Allow us to track into another person's station (computer or otherwise) and battle it out by running goods into the depot and have the town council vote on who stays and who goes. Like it was on the original RRT from Microprose. give us some more options on trains the Acela here in the US and the ICE trains from DB in Germany (unless you count the the TGV from France). Maybe have a CN or Alaskan Railroad scenario.
Scenarios and logos will come from the users.
I don't know if it'll be possible to mod up rail sharing into the game without heavy patching.
The more important question, though, is - do you really want that?
Remember that in RRT in a rate war, you built your line into the 'enemy' train station at any crazy angle. In SMR you would have to line up your tracks SMR/RRT2/3 style.
Problem is, in RRT2/3, your trains "lose" to enemy trains on their rails: you would ALWAYS lose when you're attacking if the enemy line just crammed the rail line with their own trains, because yours would be perpetually sidelined (in easy/medium routing), or you would destroy their rail system (in hard routing) by flooding it with trains.
Unless they force easy/medium routing that would simply be impossible in SMR without destroying gameplay, IMHO.
I don't know if it'll be possible to mod up rail sharing into the game without heavy patching.
The more important question, though, is - do you really want that?
Remember that in RRT in a rate war, you built your line into the 'enemy' train station at any crazy angle. In SMR you would have to line up your tracks SMR/RRT2/3 style.
Problem is, in RRT2/3, your trains "lose" to enemy trains on their rails: you would ALWAYS lose when you're attacking if the enemy line just crammed the rail line with their own trains, because yours would be perpetually sidelined (in easy/medium routing), or you would destroy their rail system (in hard routing) by flooding it with trains.
Unless they force easy/medium routing that would simply be impossible in SMR without destroying gameplay, IMHO.
Does anyone know if the next patch gonna contain more maps? Or an editor maybe?hagesaks9 said:Weather conditions and night/day mode would be nice too. I would be beautiful too see a freighttrain drive through the snow at night. Only illuminated by the searchlight and the lights from the windows..
As if it weren't slow already!
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