Railroad Tycoon was one of designer Guru Sid Meier's first titles, back in 1991. It inspired a whole genre of "tycoon" games, and had two numbered sequels, and a more free-standing one called Sid Meier's Railroads! Each of these was well-received, though Railroads! was too cartoonish for the trainspotter community. Railroad Tycoon 4 has a more realistic atmosphere.
The retail box edition contains a small model 4-4-0 engine and a station master's whistle, beside the manual and the printed reference cards. If you order the Steam version, this merchandise can be ordered by mail within the US, making value for the $39 download price.
The main menu's backdrop is a switchyard, where trains featured in the game come and leave. The ten-mission campaign begins with Rule Britannia with the very first locomotives during the 1820s, and the later ones let us conquer America, from New England to California, then heading south through Mexico and Panama, for a finale in Brazil during the 1950s. Contemporary railroad history seems to be saved for a future expansion pack.
For a Railroad Tycoon 3 player, the economic system is rather familiar, but deepened. Producers and consumers create a price field for each cargo type. Stables, Docks and later Garages are a new kind of building for this series. These spawn Wagons, Boats and Trucks, which move loads of cargo across the map. But they are not what the game is about. Building a railroad between two cities will soon drive the Wagons and Boats out of competition along that length of rail. Instead they will be useful as an extension of the rail network. As a player, you can even build a Stable, a Dock or a Garage to connect two detached rail networks across a difficult mountain range or a broad river, until you have assembled the resources to make the rail connection.
The construction of your railroad is also part of the economic system. When you build a wooden bridge, the price of Lumber raises just where the bridge was built. A newly built locomotive creates a demand of Machinery where the engine was placed, and so on. As in Railroad Tycoon 3, the trains can be set to auto-select the most profitable cargo, so this can be exploited without to much micro-management. Purchase of some strategic industries, such as mines and Steel Mills, will have great synergic effects with your railroad. Another new type of cargo is Electricity. Though not carried by rail, it can be really useful for your railroad, especially if you want to electrify your rail.
Another simple economic feature that adds unexpected depth, is the differences in input/output rate. In previous games, industries delivered one carload for each carload consumed, making the exact placing of an industry rather irrelevant for profit, as long as it was somewhere between the raw materials and the market. In Railroad Tycoon 3, one carload of Steel requires two carloads of Iron and one carload of Coal. This encourages Steel Mills to be put right beside Iron Mines, since transportation of Iron needs to be avoided. A Brewery creates 2 carloads of Beer from 1 carload of Grain. This makes Breweries most profitable in the big cities, far away from the grain fields.
Passengers and Mail are divided into different classes. Business Travellers want to travel between industries and Offices, and back again. Since just a few cities on the map have Offices (in Strong and Free, in Western Canada, all of them go to Regina, at the eastern edge of the map) the trip could go all across the map. Nature Tourists and Culture Tourists also want to travel far, but they pay less. Commuters are the most numerous travellers, but their trips are rather short. Of course, most of these passengers want to go round-trip, resulting in lots of classes (Business out, Business home, Commuters out and so on). Mail is rather similar. Newspapers are however a one-way cargo, from the Printing Press to the Houses.
Speaking of newspapers, these are an important part of the user interface. Beside the essential information, they have timeless flavor headlines such as "Civil unrest in Mexico" and "Royal Wedding draws crowds", just as in previous games. Another atmosphere-filler is the all-American acoustic soundtrack, in Railroad Tycoon 3 style. The game also has a Spotify plugin featuring long playlists, if you have a Premium account, or if you can stand the commercials.
Robberies existed in the first Railroad Tycoon games. Now they are back, making some territories less safe for rail traffic than others. In the Reconstruction scenario, the Klan is a major nuisance in states such as Louisiana. Fires consist a new danger, induced by old engines, poor maintenance and flammable commodities. A caboose car or a Rescue Station can take care of robberies or fires, but a car of Explosives can wipe out a whole train. This creates a lot of drama in the Taming of the West scenario.
Railroad Tycoon 4 combines the easy-to-use interface of Railroad Tycoon 3 with a state-of-the-art graphic engine. The economic model is rather complex, but you don't need to learn it to beat the first scenarios. To get high grades in the campaign, or to stand a chance in a Multiplayer, you must however understand the whole chain of production and logistics. Railroad Tycoon 4 is not just about railroads, it is about the Industrial Revolution and about the conquest of the Americas. And that is one of the most colourful stories ever told.
