Sid Meier's Railroads!

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Sid Meier's Railroads!
Developer(s)	Firaxis Games
Publisher(s)	2K Games
Designer(s)	Sid Meier
Engine	Gamebryo
Version	1.1 (December 22, 2006)[1][2]
Platform(s)	Microsoft Windows
Release date	October 17, 2006 (North America) October 27, 2006 (Europe)
Genre(s)	Business simulation game
Mode(s)	Single player, multiplayer
Rating(s)	PEGI: Standard (3+)
Media	CD
Input methods	Keyboard, Mouse

Sid Meier's Railroads! is a business simulation game developed by Sid Meier on the Gamebryo game engine that was released in October 2006 and is the sequel to Railroad Tycoon 3. Although Sid Meier created the original Railroad Tycoon, subsequent versions were developed by PopTop Software. A version of the game being made by Oasys Mobile will also be making its way on to the mobile market in the spring of 2008.^[3] After a visit to Miniatur Wunderland in Hamburg, Germany, Sid Meier was inspired to reinvent his original creation.^[4]

Contents 1 Overview 2 Scenarios 3 Trains 3.1 1828–1840 3.2 1830–1880 3.3 1835–1870 3.4 1881-1930 3.5 1841–1922 3.6 1842–1870 3.7 1871–1922 3.8 1923-1947 3.9 1921–1980 3.10 1931-1970 4 Critical reception 5 Criticism 6 References 7 External links

[edit] Overview

Railroads! is fully three-dimensional and geared more toward head to head real time strategy than the previous versions.^[5] The terrain is also more compressed in this game; there are few areas where players are allowed a long, straight run of track, meaning that more "interesting" parts, such as hills, mountains, rivers, and inlets, play a much more important role in the game.

The game is heavily focused on economics – players have to build and sustain entire industries using the railroads they develop. Gameplay changes from previous editions of Railroad Tycoon include a system where new technology is first auctioned to the highest bidder. This gives the player a ten-year exclusive use of that technology. Similarly, whole industries are also put up for auction amongst players.^[6] Tracklaying is automated and much easier than other editions of Railroad Tycoon.^[7] When combined with the more "compressed" terrain, it allows for tactical placement of track to obstruct and frustrate opponents.

The game also allows head-to-head play over a LAN or the Internet, supporting up to four players per game, either human or artificial intelligence.^[8]

[edit] Scenarios

Like the previous versions, Railroads! offers various historical scenarios, in regions such as the Southwestern United States, the Pacific Northwest, the United Kingdom, France and Germany. In these scenarios (fifteen in all), the game allows the user to take on the role of various famous railway tycoons and robber barons from the past. These include:^[9]

• Jay Gould
• Jay Cooke
• Cornelius Vanderbilt
• J. Pierpont Morgan
• George Hudson
• Isambard Kingdom Brunel
• George Stephenson
• Baron Rothschild
• Charles de Gaulle
• Napoleon III
• Otto von Bismarck
• Helmuth von Moltke
• Czar Nicholas II
• Jim Hill
• Jim Fisk

[edit] Trains

Trains available in the game include:^[10]

[edit] 1828–1840

• 2-2-0 Planet*
• 2-2-2 Patentee

[edit] 1830–1880

• 0-4-0 Grasshopper
• 4-2-0 Norris*
• 4-4-0 American*
• 2-6-0 Mogul
• 4-6-0 Ten Wheeler
• 2-8-0 Consolidation*

[edit] 1835–1870

• 2-2-2 Adler*
• 2-2-2 Beuth*
• 2-4-0 Médoc

[edit] 1881-1930

• 4-6-2 Pacific*
• 2-8-2 Mikado
• Class P5a
• 4-8-4 Golden State*

[edit] 1841–1922

• 4-2-2 Iron Duke
• 0-6-0 Dx Goods
• 4-2-2 Stirling*
• 4-2-2 Johnson Midland Spinner
• 4-4-0 Claud Hamilton
• 0-8-0 Webb Compound
• ES1
• 4-6-2 A1*

[edit] 1842–1870

• 4-2-0 Crampton*

[edit] 1871–1922

• 2-4-2 Class 121
• 2-8-2 Class 141
• 4-4-2 de Glehn Atlantic
• 4-4-0 Class S3*
• 4-6-0 Class P8*
• Ge 6/6 Crocodile Electric

[edit] 1923-1947

• 4-6-2 A4*
• Class 40 1-Co-Co-1 Diesel

[edit] 1921–1980

• 4-6-2 Class 01*
• 1-Do-1 Class E18 Electric
• V200 Diesel
• Re 6/6 Bo-Bo-Bo
• 4-6-2 Nord pacific
• TGV

[edit] 1931-1970

• F-Series Diesel
• GP-Series Diesel

Note: The asterisk denotes that the locomotive was featured in the previous Railroad Tycoon 3.

[edit] Critical reception

Metacritic reports an average score of 77 out of 100 or "Generally Favorable" in published reviews and a score of 5.0 out of 10 in user reviews. ^[11] IGN gave the game an "8.0" or "impressive."^[12]

[edit] Criticism

Upon release, game players identified many problems with the game,^[13] some of which were subsequently patched by Firaxis' 1.01 version patch.^[14] A second patch, 1.1, was released on December 22, 2006,^[15] which fixes a few glitches and improves the gameplay.^[16] Railroads! is also criticized for common and usually unexpected game crashes in Windows Vista, though there are reports that they can be resolved but not for all people all the time^[17]. Besides a new "Holiday" scenario, the 1.1 patch allowed users to create their own maps.

User and reviewer complaints include some of the following ^{[18] [19]}:

• Automatic Train Routing is far from perfect. Trains frequently choose bad tracks and/or get trapped in a back-and-forth pattern.
• The limited camera angles available - unlike RRT3, players can't rotate the camera to view the sky, or zoom right down to track level, nor are they able to zoom out very far.
• Graphics are very demanding on computer systems, slowing down especially towards the later stages of the game.
• Simplified economic and stock market system which removed earlier titles' ability to raise cash by issuing bonds, and other nuances such as stock splits and margin calls.
• Steam locomotives do not have tenders.
• "Players looking for the complex economic cycles of Railroad Tycoon 3 will find this particular game juvenile by comparison." ^[20]

This article or section may contain original research or unverified claims. Please improve the article by adding references. See the talk page for details. (September 2007)

• Another anachronism is that cars (automobiles) are available as a cargo right from 1830 onwards while the modern car was invented roughly 50 years later.
• No need to upgrade to overhead wires for electric trains.
• Unrealistic animations such as dairy cows in the 1830s on a beef farm grazing among round bales that weren't invented until the 1970s. The lumber mill also shows a whole tree being felled and processed at the loading dock.

This article or section may contain original research or unverified claims. Please improve the article by adding references. See the talk page for details. (November 2007)

Unfavorable comparisons to Railroad Tycoon 3 (RRT3).

• The game has fewer locomotives and cargo types than RRT3.
• Maps in Sid Meier's Railroads are generally much smaller than maps in RRT3.
• Cargo system has returned to the more simple system of RRT and RRT2, abandoning the "automatic cargo chooser" and other means of transport features in RRT3.
• Some parts of the cargo system were simplified even compared to the original, like for example plants demanding & accepting only one type of cargo.
• Sid Meier's Railroads! covers a much shorter period of history than RRT3, with few modern engines.
• Sid Meier's Railroads! also has considerably fewer maps/scenarios than RRT3, although more than the original RRT.

Note that fans' complaints are completely subjective, with some missing features being more important for some users than others —- such as the case of the cargo and economic systems, which were intentionally changed reflecting the developers' attitude that "it's all about the trains".^[21]

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Sid Meier's Railroads! Official Homepage
• Sid Meier's Railroads! at MobyGames
• Hooked on Railroads! A Sid Meier's Railroads! fan forum with a very active modding community
• Sid Meier’s Railroads!: Intercontinental A fan made expansion pack.
• Sid Meier's Railroads! Wiki
• Sid Meier's Railroads! Reviews at Metacritic.com
• Official trailer & walkthrough for the game
• Miniatur Wunderland, inspiration for the game (German)