Chris Sawyer's Locomotion

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Chris Sawyer's Locomotion
Chris Sawyer's Locomotion
Developer(s) Chris Sawyer
Publisher(s) Atari
Designer(s) Chris Sawyer
Platform(s) PC
Release date September 2004
Genre(s) Business simulation game
Mode(s) Single player, Multiplayer
Rating(s) ESRB: Everyone (E)

Chris Sawyer's Locomotion is a computer game by independent game developer Chris Sawyer. In his words, it is "the spiritual successor to Transport Tycoon".

The game allows the player to use railroads, trams, trucking lines, buses, airplanes and ships to earn money in a transport company between the years 1900 to 2100. It contains over 40 pre-designed scenarios and a scenario editor, and can also be played in multiplayer mode with another human-controlled competitor. The game is played in an 3D isometric view like the other games by Chris Sawyer, particularly RollerCoaster Tycoon, which uses the engine that was originally developed for Transport Tycoon.

The game was released in the U.S. on September 7, 2004 and a few days later in the rest of the world.

Reviews of the game were generally not favorable, with many noting that the game's user interface and AI were both poor compared to the original Transport Tycoon. However, the AI algorithm had expanded since Transport Tycoon Deluxe, such that it would now build two-way routes and avoid constructing loops. Sabotage of the rival companies' vehicles, prevalent in Transport Tycoon, has been reduced but not entirely eliminated. Further, rival companies can never be bought over by the player's company.

The game included a hidden mode to allow the actual control of trains, activated by stopping a train, holding down the "insert" key and typing "driver", then selecting manual from the start/stop selector. The train then can be driven by adjusting the slider up a power bar. Another feature was the power to throw the train into reverse by holding down the "insert" key and typing "shunt" so the train is shunted into the other direction in manual driving mode. [1].

[edit] New features compared to Transport Tycoon

Easier road station/terminus building
Players may now set up bus passenger stops without having to demolish a block of land to make way for a proper bus station right in the town's road itself. However, players may not build bus stops at junctions or indeed, any other stations at all. Cargo receiving stations may only be built at the end of a road although there is now no need to destroy the existing road beforehand as the station must now straddle the road. The same principle also applies when building a passenger terminus. It is now acceptable to place a station adjacent to another of the same cargo type (e.g 2 passenger terminus constructed side by side) and creating expansions to cover a wider catchment area.
Tunnels leading to underground stations
This can be incredibly useful in preserving the landscape above ground (such as office buildings which provide passengers, or trees whose destruction would lower the company's approval rating) and also to be able to construct the railway tracks or roads without hindrance from other competitors. The drawback to this new feature is that these underground links can be extremely expensive to build and should not be utilised in the early part of the scenario when bank balances are low. It can also be difficult to edit these underground constructions, if they are under a city where clicking right mouse button can accidentally delete buildings.
To begin constructing a tunnel a player must level the land accordingly so that the landscape must be at least two horizontal blocks higher than the entrance of the proposed tunnel. In order to construct underground stations, the player must be in underground view mode. Should the building process of the tunnel be interrupted at any instance, the player may resume construction later by clicking the underground view mode and right clicking the unfinished tunnel track or road. Sometimes, the cities in the game may also develop as the game progresses and build similar tunneled roads on their own accord.
Trams
At any period in the game, the player may now construct an extensive tram system in any town. Tram tracks may overlap the road as in real-life counterparts and may loop at the end of any sections of the intended circuit. As with the other vehicles in the game, trams also witness their own evolution and is an alternative to quickly boost ratings within a town. Tram stations may double as bus passenger stops.
Larger railroad stations
The longest possible length of a train station may now be sixteen blocks at the maximum. This can be used to maximise passengers within the catchment area. Since the stations are now longer, the trains may also be longer than those in the regular Transport Tycoon Deluxe. Stations of all kinds may also branch out to conform to the limit and may overlap each other, thereby creating various station tiers.
Easier airport construction
Airports are simpler to build in difficult terrain situations, provided that no roads or railway links are in the way. However, the cost of elevating the land is taken into account and may lower the player's ratings in the town if trees or buildings are destroyed in the construction.
Elevation markings
Throughout the game, whenever a player builds roads or tracks which have a change in altitude, elevation markings appear to assist the player. This helps when constructing a transport service within a hilly town, or when building extensive railway services through challenging terrain.
Local routes
Whenever a player builds a train in a simple local route without any extensive railroad combinations involving other trains, the player now need not set the directions for that single train unless they intend to specify special loading instructions. The same principle applies for trams within a circuit. Further, a player may also configure certain vehicles to be set on an express route, thereby ordering the vehicle to strictly obey its destination routes and not stop at every available station along the way.
Scenario challenges
As opposed to Transport Tycoon where the sole and primary aim of the player is to be the leading magnate in transport, Locomotion offers various other challenges. To encourage the player to construct services at every possible opportunity rather than to sit back idle, certain scenarios require the player to complete its objectives within a certain timeframe. In the scenario editor, a player may customise their own constructed world's challenge as they see fit. These options include becoming the top company in addition to accomplishing the mission or to achieve a certain company value within a deadline. Players may also select the type of vehicles they wish to include in the scenarios they have created and does not limit to either the British or American type vehicles.
Preset tycoon faces
A long list of preset tycoons replace the old Transport Tycoon random face generator. The new faces now animate in accordance to the state of the company's performance index, showing for instance, a gloating or happy expression when the company is performing well, or an indifferent look when all is normal, or a horrified or angry expression when things do not go well. This may act as a quick guide as to the company's fortunes to the player who may be busy constructing services elsewhere. A Company Owner Editor has also been released that allows the player to create their own tycoon with the ability to insert images for each of the tycoon's possible facial expressions.
New industries
Several new industries are available in the game, including Ski Centres, Breweries, Vineyards and Chemical Laboratories. Livestock Farms and Grain Farms are now individual industries. Food delivery services in Locomotion are also more flexible as compared to TT Deluxe as more of the smaller towns can accept food in town centres.
Metropolis Cities
Cities can now achieve metropolis status, which can guarantee larger passenger service opportunities than previously available.
Vehicle maintenance
Vehicles in Locomotion are now not serviced in depots. On the one hand, this can mean a minor advantage in preserving key areas in the cities for a strategic catchment area or for saving building maintenance fees. However, vehicles' reliability can now never be maintained at the current level and will continuously depreciate over time, requiring the vehicles to be replaced roughly after 3 or 4 years game-time. As in Transport Tycoon Deluxe, lower vehicle reliability means an increased likelihood in the vehicle breaking down and interrupting services.
Vehicles may now be easily replaced by stopping whatever it was ordered to and either dragging them to the 'trash bin' icon (to preserve the current route without the hassle of resetting destination orders after building a new vehicle) or by instantly clicking the bin icon after stopping the vehicle, thereby erasing the vehicle data from the player's records (this can be used to scrap a non-profitable route and rebuild it elsewhere).
Flexible color schemes
Players now have an option to customise the colors on all of their vehicle types.
New music options
In Locomotion, the era of the game is reflected in the music played, with several pieces of ragtime music by Scott Joplin in the early 1900s, moving to the various musical styles of later decades as time progresses.
Artificial intelligence construction
When the AI has formulated its own building project at a certain area of the map and is in the process of laying down roads etc, the player may sometimes receive a message prohibiting them from constructing anything which may potentially disrupt the AI's work at building its links. This is a step taken to protect the AI's interests in the game and ensure balanced gameplay as the human player may attempt to sabotage the links (as was notorious in 'Transport Tycoon').

[edit] Scenarios

The scenarios have five difficulty levels: Beginner, Easy, Medium, Challenging and Expert. Different objectives are available, some require the player to finish on a certain position in the company ranking list while others require the transportation of a specific amount of cargo. In some cases these objectives have additional limits, such as that the player must finish within a certain time limit.

Many of the scenarios are based on real-world countries such as the United States, and United Kingdom, although the maximum map size of 386x386 does not allow for much detail.

[edit] External links

Official site
Unofficial links