I don't think I like this game!!!

[heavyd]

Well I have been playing this game for a quite a few hours now and first impressions are terrible!!! Over-all the graphics, train, environment animation are great! But I really don't like this "dynamic" ecomony thing! So far I have noticed that it pretty much doesn't matter about custom consists, it isn't a good way to make lots of money. All the real money seems to be made from simply running "no-brainer" automatic consists between two cities and sitting back with no real planning! I really enjoyed running a train of 3-4 grain cars to a cattle ranch and getting a load of 4-5 cattle, then going to a city with a meat packer, blah-blah, in RRT2. Now it takes forever to get one or two full car loads out of a corn farm, (thanks to other forms of transportation we can't see or control). Then try to cash in at the cattle ranch, I really don't think the +50% production thing is working. It just seems to take forever to get any decent amount of cargo from these facilities. One or two car trains isn't worth it. So I tried to load up at one farm, then load up some more at the next farm to try and to have one decent size train and that won't work because the corn is cashed in at the next farm. If your next farm stop isn't a profitable one the train goes no where, it seems you have to manually select the next stop to accumilate more product. Yearly production of 2 cars is too low especially when it seems that only about 0.6 goes to you and the rest is "lost" to other transportation methods. Then I was on an alcohol run, had it all set up. The grain was a large profit at the brewery and the alcohol was a large profit at another station/city near the original station. But once the run started, the econnomy had changed so dramatically that the grain was hardly worth anything and the booze went negative! The change was too dramatic and too fast as far as I was concerned. Once the game gets going and you have 20-30 trains I simply can't be bothered to fine-tune or re-route them all the time. I think that is why you have the option to simply set then on automatic, so what is the point then? I also don't like any city being able to product anything, even if it is in small portions. If one city seems to product a little milk, by magic, how is that ever going to be in demand and a good money maker from a city that actually has a dairy farm and produce milk! It seems to be the same for about all of the cargos, once again, the game designed for this "automatic" consist opertation! How is that any fun?
Does the game deserve more time, am I doing something wrong, who knows!
Any comments?

[trainsimer101]

Yeah, I have 1. You haven't played the game enough. At first, you stink at the game, everyone does, you get bored or frustrated alot, due to being fired for being a bad chairman. Ah, but as you gain experience lvl goes, metaphorically, You learn how to your RR's money.

HERE's a few pointers:

Look around for 2 close cities, no matter the time period.
Next in those 2 cities, look for In/Out passanger traffic, Thats always a bonus.
Next look for a "RAW" material supplier (ex: coal mine, cattle farm, grainery, Etc) and look at the other city for an Industry that demads that.

You can always find these, where, it depends on the map. When you find these "BONUSes" Lay track between the 2 cities, and then run 1 Mixed train between the cities. If there is overflow traffic, hire another engine. make sure to build a Maintance Facility & WaterTower at 1 of the stations, not inbetween, at 1 fo the stations. YOUR Profits will be through the Roof, you investors will love you, in about 5 to 6 years, you'll have expanded quite far, and maybe have taken over 1 competitor, if any, by the last few years of the scenario, YOU have been able to wipe out all your competitors, and at least get a silver if not GOLD.

O, and don't forget to buy up supply & demand industries when possible that your connected to, MAJOR SOURCE FO INCOME.

Hope this changes your mind....

[AZ Rail Rat]

For the true "train simmer", RRT may not be your cup of tea. However heavyd, if you are a bit into railroad history, I made a couple of history-based maps you might enjoy. They cover the Southern Pacific crossing Arizona from Yuma to Tucson and the Atlantic & Pacific line built from Gallup to Needles.

Sorry, you still have to "play the game", but lines, cities, people and events that occur are all "mostly" historically based.

These web pages have more info on both maps and the fallen flags covered on each:

http://www.users.qwest.net/%7Egreames/
http://www.users.qwest.net/%7Egreames/NAZRR%20HP.html

AZRR can be found here (way down at bottom of page):
http://www.railroadtycoon.info/scenarios.php

and NAZRR Fun Run (because I never really "finished" it) is here:
http://www.railroadtycoon.info/beta/index.php

Not sure you can get to NAZRR area without registering. Both are also available here on the famous Hawk Dwg site:
http://hawkdawg.com/rrt/rrt3/map_arch/n_am/rt3_n_am.htm

You wil need the Coast-2-Coast upgrade patch to run both properly, and as usual, check the READMEs to get all the extras (logos mostly) to enjoy to the fullest. Make sure you have upgraded.

Look around both sites for other maps that may suit your fancy. Look around Hawk's forum for all kinds of RRT and MSTS info. The good thing about RRT is there can be something there for even those like you (and me) who enjoy the journey more than the destination (winning a medal).

Good luck and have fun. Contact me if you need any assistance.

AZ Rail Rat