Game Tips and Strategy Guide

Overview

A General Strategy Guide withtips for new players to get up to speed quickly tips to avoid common frustrationstips to win against the Tycoon and Robber Baron difficulty levelsand some other goodies

Strategy Overview

The core strategical objective of the game is to create a massive ‘Revenue Generating System’ (RGS). The revenue generated thereby is then used to buy out your opponents before they do the same to you. Simple and clear. Whoever makes the most money wins.

The best way to judge how you are doing in the game is to occasionally bring up the F1 (Finance Report) window and compare your Revenues for the past two ‘column’ years versus your opponents. If you’re leading by a wide margin, all is well.

Note on Misleading Information on the F1 screen:

The ‘date’ column headings near the top of the Finance window are misleading: the figures in every column ‘year’ are actually the sum of two running ‘game-years’. At the end of every game-year, the date column headings slide over to make it look like the figures in the column underneath are derived from one game-year’s earnings. Don’t be confused. Every column of figures actually summarizes two game-years, not one, as the table suggests. This can be an important consideration for planning strategy in the scenarios.

December 1917. It seems 1917’s earnings have lagged behind the previous two years.

January 1918. What’s this? 1915’s figures have become 1916’s, 1916’s have become 1917’s, and 1918 has just started with the same figures 1917 ended with.

The real story is, the column dated 1918 (‘This Year’) will be the sum of earnings from 1917 and 1918, the column now dated 1917 contains the figures for 1915 and 1916, and the one dated 1916 actually has the figures for 1913 and 1914.

They’re just messing with our minds here to confuse us. Don’t let it get to you.

The Three Ways To Make Money

There are three basic ways to make money in the game. They are:

Shipping cargo
Income from owned industries
Stock speculation

Shipping Cargo

Generally the best way to make money. Far greater potential earnings than the other two methods. Be careful shipping cargo with very low value long distances. High maintenance costs could actually cause these routes to be money losers. This should be continued only if the low valued raw cargo (such as Grain, for instance) is needed to make a higher valued cargo available (such as Food).

Shipping valuable cargo is the best route to domination and winning.

Industry Income

Generates far kess income than shipping cargo but can be a steady source, boosting earnings from shipping raw cargos. As industries grow over time the percentage the player makes from them will go up and it can eventually become significant. Early on, however, your money is better spent on creating rail routes because of the greater potential income.

Note that while it can be very annoying having competitors buy the industries (through auctions) you are serving in your cities, you shouldn’t worry too much. For a long time, money spent this way will yield a much lower returm than money spent on new shipping routes. Also, it is possible to cut off your opponent’s income from industries in your cities, if you so choose, by not shipping raw cargo to them. Don’t feel too badly about doing this because your opponents can and will do the same to you if you own industries in their cities and they feel it is favorable to them.

Stock Speculation

Buying your own or your opponents stock is usually the slowest way to make money but can be very profitable if done right.

Stock prices ‘lag’ behind the true value and growth of companies so investing some money early in opponents stock (particularly after they sell) can yield substantial profits. Buying stock in the company with the best income and growth potential is usually the best idea. The company with the most potential can often be determined at the very start of the game by studying the ‘Goods’ overlay on the minimap to see who has the best combination of industries and raw cargo near their start position.

Note, also, that it may be necessary to buy your own stock as a defensive measure and that, in any case, if you don’t have any immediate plans for expansion it is better to buy stock and earn some ‘interest’ rather than having large anounts of cash just sitting around doing nothing.

Getting A Quick Start and Maintaining High Growth

Getting A Quick Start

In general, the best starting strategem is to sell all your stock at the very beginning of any scenario and create the most profitable delivery routes you can make with all the cash. Then invest all the revenue generated from these routes into building more routes, etc. Money begets money.

This is the best way to achieve the high income growth necessary to become powerful. Note that your most formidable oponents, like Jim Hill, will always do this if they can. Since there is no track or station maintenance, as long as every new expansion pays for itself there is no downside to expanding except that there are more assets for the player to manage.

A little point to keep in mind is that you can invest ALL your money in stations and track at the start and buy engines ‘on credit’, so to speak.

Maintaing High Growth: Notes on Cargo Rates and Availability

You must pay attention to fluctuating cargo rates and concentrate on shipping the most vakuable cargos to keep up your growth. Taking best advantage of cargo rates and availability is the single most important key to winning. Observations and tips concerning this area follow:

At the beginning of most scenarios, passenger and mail rates are high and profitable. Effectively, passenger and mail cargo returns are double the value listed in the ‘Goods’ list because your trains carry this cargo from all stops, unlike freight routes where your trains are often pulling empty cars. Keep this in mind. Largely for this reason, the AI players always go for passengers and mail at the start if it is available.
After the initial flood of passengers and mail from new towns is delivered, rates and revenues tend to drop until the towns eventually become cities and metropolises. Large quantities delivered later on, when they become available, can make up for falling cargo rates.
Money can still be made on passenger and mail cargos after the rates have fallen but your opponents will usually fight you for it and cut into it significantly. It is often easier maintaining income from delivering isolated raw materials far from your opponents’ access or sticking to transporting ‘processed’ cargos (Food, Manufactured Goods, Arms, Steel, etc) which usually stay in high demand and yield high revenues throughout the scenario. Prices for processed cargos will often fall but generally fall far less than the typically over-supplied raw goods.
All cargo rates fluctuate over time. Perhaps oddly, the prevailing rates are not determined locally, at individual cities, but are determined globally; that is, by how much cargo is supplied vs. demanded over the map as a whole. Lots of passengers delivered to Paris will cause the passenger rates to drop in Madrid (and everywhere else). It is often most profitable preferring to deliver cargo that none of your opponents is delivering.
Plan for the transition from passenger/mail emphasis to other cargos well in advance of the normal rate crashes of these items. Building exclusively to more cities for more mail and passengers and upgrading depots to terminals and stations to maximize passenger revenue at the time when your opponents are entering your cities and fighting you for these express cargos is a good way for your income to dry up quickly. Don’t beat a dead horse. By the time pass/mail rates have fallen to 50% of the starting rate you should be well-established shipping other goods.
Note that cities, industries, and raw materials suppliers grow over time and will affect the cargo rates and availability of cargos. Because of this, rates will go up as well as down. Also note that, while the player can build new industries in cities, no new raw material suppliers will appear beyond those existing initially. Pay attention to the in-game notifications about growing towns and industries and take advantage accordingly.
Note that only passenger revenues are time/distance sensitive. That is, passengers are the only cargo that gives bonuses for speedy and long-distance deliveries and penalizes slow arrivals. It is possible to maximize passenger income from high-speed, long-distance routes but all other types of cargo should be delivered the shortest distance possible.

Understanding and taking advantage of the various factors governing cargo rates and availability is probably the most important.factor in winning, particularly at the higher difficulty levels.

Multiplayer / AI Strategy

The multiplayer strategy considerations (essentially vs the AI; multi-human available only on a LAN) are really not much different from other strategy games. Generally, avoid conflict when you can get ahead without fighting and aim to win decisively when you can’t. Various situational scenarios are dealt with in a few pointers.

The following guidelines assume 3 AI opponents on Tycoon or RB level.

If your opponents are located closely together and start fighting over cargo you should generally stay out of it and expand in a direction away from them. Let them fight while you maximze profits elsewhere.
If you are located towards the middle of a map and have a large area to expand into free of opponents, prefer to do so and take the easy money before contesting ‘equal-access’ areas. This will give you more easy money to fight with.
On the other hand, if you have only one opponent nearby and the only valuable real-estate and cargo is located between you, you pretty much have little choice other than to go into this ‘equal-access’ area to try and win the shipping battle quickly and decisively. Unfortunately, this can help other players, who are not fighting another player, get ahead but is an unavoidable aspect of multiplayer play.
On higher levels, especially, you MUST invade a strong opponent’s cities and fight for cargo. The reason i say ‘must’, here, is because the AI has the advantages of both higher revenue (for the same cargo) and lower costs and maintenance. The net result is the AI will be able to expand faster and stockpile cash quicker than human railroads with equal potential. Therefore, it is necessary to both run more trains than the AI and take away as much of the AI’s cargo as possible. Peaceful expansion, only, by the human and the AI will favor the AI.
Be wary about spending all your money building raw material routes and then having the AI build into your cities and steal away the high-value processed cargos. In fact, do the opposite. Watch where the AIs are pulling raw materials into their cities and steal the processed cargos away for your own low-cost, high-profit deliveries. In other words, be a leech.
AIs and humans handle consists differently. The AI has the advantage in that it can and does instantaneously and globally modify all iits trains’ consists at the stops before cargo is to be picked up to correspond to what is piled up at their next destinations. Humans cannot accomplish the same thing (without massive and time-consuming micro-managing) due to interface limitations and practical time constraints. Thus, undisturbed, the AI can much more easily maximize its cargo pickup efficiency than a human can.
On the other hand, the above aspect of the AI also works to its disadvantage. If an AI’s train expected to pick up 4 carloads of a cargo at a certain station and when the train arrives finds only 2, it will shorten the train next trip. Eventually, if the train is not making enough money it will be eliminated entirely. The human can take advantage of this aspect of the AI and win ‘cargo wars’ by using long trains sitting in the target stations with “Wait Until Full” orders. The AIs will find very little cargo available and eventually give up or switch to picking up other cargos.

Building Track and Train Routes

Tips On Using The Track Building Tools

When money is no object, build track by clicking on the track point where you want the new section to start, drawing it out in one segment to where you want it to go, and placing it down with a click. This will create a fast, smooth section of track very quickly but will usually be pretty expensive.
When money IS a consideration, pause the game and place track by following the terrain as closely as possible and trying to limit cuts/fills and structure costs as much as possible. To avoid lots of up and down slopes along the way, start by first drawing the track out in one piece to the destination and determine whether it is uphill or downhill from the starting point. Next, lay the track piece by piece, trying to make each piece use the same grade. Note that saving money in the short run by laying track this way usually results in slower speeds and lost revenue in the long run.
Note that when crossing other track and creating elevated track, you can prevent the end of the track from slanting down to the ground steeply by pressing the plus ‘+’ key several times to create a level section before clicking it in place.
When building parallel track, use the ‘Double Track’ tool for most of the length, then make the final connection using the ‘Lay Track’ tool, if necessary.
Prefer using the Double Track tool, whenever possible, as it is neater-looking, more reliable, and faster to use. Always use the Double Track tool to add station tracks and make sure to upgrade to a station or terminal before adding that fourth track to a station or you will be scratching your head trying to figure out why trains won’t stop at that station on the new track.
When connecting from the end of a piece of track to a point somewhere along a continuous section, it is usually best to start at the desired point along the continuous section and draw the track to the end piece.
However, If the end point to be connected to is on an elevated or bridge section, it is usually easier to start at the endpoint and finish at another point.
One trick that can be used to add a parallel section of track where another track crosses over or under is to use the Double Track tool from both sides of the crossing track and join the sections in the middle. The track laying tools often won’t allow adding closely spaced or parallel tracks without this trick.

Track Desgn For Reliable Train Routing

i strongly recommend building track in the simplest configurations, i.e. building simple ‘point-to-point’, one-train routes with no sharing of rails whenever possible. Avoid ‘point-to-loop’, ‘loop-to-loop’, and ‘shared-mainline’ configurations like the plague. There is no way to specify one-way tracks in the game, train routing routines are funky, and even the in-game track signals are routinely ignored by trains. These factors and lots of others contribute to numerous traffic-jams and lots of lost revenue.

If tracks and/or station platforms must be shared by multiple trains, i recommend the following:

Always have at least two platform tracks at a station even if you think only one will ever be used at a time. Trains usually won’t proceed past green signals unless they ‘see’ an open station track.
If possible, try to have as many station tracks as trains stopping there.
If you must run more trains than tracks, try to separate freight trains using ‘drop-off sidings’ from through or express trains.
Avoid having more express trains or trains passing through a station than you have express tracks. Trains going only point-to-point between two stations and turning around don’t cause much in the way of delays and routing problems. Lots of trains passing back and forth through stations without sufficient track capacity to allow it can lead to nightmarish entanglements.
Avoid unnecessary crossovers between tracks unless these are specifically intended as part of a well thought out design. Trains seem to be ultra-stupid about choosing routes when given a choice and always seem to choose the best possible way to cause the biggest problems.
Avoid putting ‘extra’ signals (where no track branches off) between stations other than the ones at the end of the station itself. These seem to only cause more confusion.
If you insist on ignoring all these tips and bits of advice then you are just going to have to resolve all your traffic jams yourself because i’m not coming to your house to do it.

Below is a series of screenshots showing recommended and not recommended track configurations

Recommended Routing. Nice and simple.

Splendid! One track for one passenger train. One track for the lumber train.

A major exception to the ‘one train per platform track’ rule. By using only ‘point-to-point’ operation and connecting all the tracks directly to the ends of the station plaform, 4 trains can reliably share one station track.

‘Point-to-loop’ operation. Trains run from the point (on the left) through a loop (offscreen to the top right). Note that the track is designed with two reversing sections to make trains run clockwise in case they choose the wrong track. Despite all that, trains routinely run the signal at the station in Montgomery (as the green train did here) causing a jam. This, also, despite the fact that the track and loop sizes are set up so that trains arrive in Montgomery from the upper right before those from the lower left. This kind of track configuration is Not Recommended.

A close up of a stupid train. The green train ran the signal at this station after running the correct route with several other trains for quite a while. The correct route is the spur (set up as a reversing track) to the left. Admittedly, the location of the terminal in this city would confuse most engineers.

This is a way to do multi-track mainlines to carry much higher capacities than one train per track, albeit with some slight delays. The secret is to have crossovers at both ends of every station track and the crossovers must all cross the same way, i.e. all go the left or all go to the right as here. Not strictly recommended but it can be done.

Another example similar to above with 7 trains running head to head on 4 tracks.

An example of a very long (13 city – see the minimap) dual-track mainline with right-hand crossover logic and reverser tracks at the end stations. This shot shows the two stations at either end of the line. This track is very speedily handling about 25 trains.

Railroad Operations

Earning Named Trains

Whenever a new speed record is obtained by a train, it earns “Prestige” points for the player and generates an extra 10 percent on passenger revenue for the train. Named trains should be assigned to passenger routes, if possible.

Each time a new locomotive model becomes available, the player should consider running a short one or two car-length consist, at least temporarily, in order to try and set a new speed record.

Passenger Train Routing

Due to the fact that passenger cargo payments vary with time and distances delivered, passenger train consists and routes have options that are not considerations when setting up freight routes. Passenger routes can optionally be set up to travel longer distances or with lighter loads for faster, higher-paying deliveries. Balanced against these optional methods of operation is the possibility of losing revenue to your opponents for cargo that is not picked up due to the shorter trains and longer distances between stops.

Let the Finances be your guide here. Try experimenting with different routes and consists and see what works best. Make sure to study the effects on the revenue generated by the experiments – both on your revenue and your opponent’s, if competing for cargo.

Consist Changes

As a general rule, more time is usually lost by trains making consist changes which are not vital than is lost pulling extra, empty cars. Losing time making these changes in stations also means losing cargo to your opponents. Best to make only absolutely necessary consist changes on routes and react slowly in making changes because of cars running empty.

Note that for trains with ‘Waiing Until Full’ orders, it can be risky specifying several different cargos rather than just waiting for one specific cargo. If, for some reason, one of the ‘secondary’ cargos is no longer available in the station, the train will sit for long periods doing nothing but racking up maintenance costs.

Saving Rerouting Costs

Often you will want to switch a train’s route from the cities it’s serving to a few others but when you try to change the route a box comes up demanding an exorbitant sum that you are just not in the mood to pay. Well, if one of the cities on the new, intended route is the same as one on the old route, all that needs to be done is to wait until the train reaches that common city OR just wait until the entire train passes the switch that leads to the new branch before changing the train’s route.

Resolving Traffic Jams Quickly And Easily

The game will suggest solutions when trains ‘get stuck’. The two solutions are:

1. Adding parallel track somewhere, or
2. Eliminating or rerouting trains running through a station.

Sometimes neither of these works or is desirable because of the difficulty of squeezing in track or there are no favorable alternatives to the existing train routing.

Miscellany

Patent Auctions

While it is always nice to gain “Prestige” from winning patent auctions, a player should consider whether the immediate benefits are desirable and useful before bidding. Every patent becomes ‘Public Domain’ after 10 years, so, for instance, if a player has no intention of building any bridges or tunnels in the interim, there really is no need to pay to have advance exclusive benefits of tunnel or bridge patents (although you may wish to have some patents to keep them away from expansion-crazy barons like Hill and Hudson). Certain patents (McCoy and Birkenshaw, for example) are almost always profitable and worth having in advance.

Buying The Industries In ‘Your’ Cities

While it was mentioned earlier in this guide that it is really not a disadvantage to have your opponents buy the industries you are serving in your cities, if you really feel the need to own them, here is how to do it. Stick to passenger and mail deliveries when first entering cities (raw cargo deliveries are likely to trigger an auction). Build up some cash and check the F2 (Competition Report) screen occasionally to see when your opponents’ cash reserves are low. When they are low or you have the most cash, click on the auction button for the industry in the city box.

Building Up ‘Your’ Cities

The villages, towns, cities, and metropolises in your area constitute your ‘city base’ and serving them, ulimately, is the real source of your wealth. A number of tiny villages nearby, which may not look to be terribly valuable right at this moment, could ultimately grow into large cities and metropolises which will multiply your wealth. In the course of planning your strategies, give due course to considering delivery of whatever cargo these little places need to grow. Advantage to you in the long run.

Building Industries

While relatively expensive, building new industries in towns and cities can be profitable endeavors (notice i didn’t use a ‘u’). Consider doing so when there are local raw material producers nearby that have no factories or plants to ship their cargos to.

Another favorable (notice no ‘u’ again) time to build industry is when your raw cargos are traveling far away or into opponent’s domains and giving them easy profits. While there is really no way to stop opponents from ‘stealing’ cargo from any of your cities anywhere on the map, anything that can be done to take profits away from them should be considered including migrating your industrial base.

Buyout Strategy

Win buyout races by putting all your extra money into stocks for the gains, then sell them all when their sale value plus your cash will be enough to buy out the player who is closest to buying you out. Usually, if you are able to do the first buyout, your other opponents can be bought out easily due to the increase in your revenue. Don’t forget that in addition to the trains, track, stations, and industries you gain during a buyout, you also get whatever stock the player owns.

Note that, on the defensive side of the coin, there is no way to completely prevent an opponent from buying you out if he has enough cash – even if he owns no stock (!) and vice versa.

The only defensive strategy you have is to buy your own stock. For every share the potential buyer needs to buy he has to pay double your sell price. Thus, it is actually pretty easy to calculate exactly how much is needed to buy you out. It is 2x (the number of shares needed to buy) x (sell price). Getting your stock value up is the only other thing you can do against being bought out, but that will only delay it, not prevent it. Stock prices are strongly related to consistent annual profits.

The way to avoid a ‘surprise’ buyout is to not get so lost expanding and running your railroad that you forget to check your opponents’ cash stockpiles for a long time. Especially later in the game, periodically pull up that F2 screen to see what’s going on.

Cargo Class ‘Oddities’

From the ‘readme’, lightest to heaviest cargo:

Mail
Passengers
Fast Freight – grapes, wine, beer, food
(Slow)Freight – livestock, grain, cornmeal, textiles, medicine, paper, wood, ore, automobiles,
……………………manufactured goods, armaments
Bulk Freight – oil, coal, gold, nitrates, steel, wool, swine, fish, milk

The heavier cargos will slow trains the most. The effect is particularly oppressive with ancient engines like Planets and Grasshoppers which will have a great effect on the choices of which cargos to ship.

i find the breakdown of these classifications odd. Why, for instance, is livestock ‘freight’ and swine and fish ‘bulk’? They are all ‘living’ cargos and would be expected to be ‘fast freight’. Why is wine ‘fast freight’ and milk ‘bulk’? Why are textiles ‘freight’ and wool, from which it derives, ‘bulk’? How the heck heavy is a carload of wool?

i see that wine and beer have been given the proper priority.

Dirty Tricks

Here’s a few:

Start auctions on industries you don’t want and have no intention of delivering to in the middle of nowhere to get the ‘auction happy’ AI guys to squander their cash.
Even if you have nowhere to deliver it, steal cargo from opponent’s cities and dump it out in the wilderness.
Build track around the stations of any opponents near you at the start. This will slow them down for a long time and in some cases stop them completely.
Pile up some cash then start buying the stock of a weak opponent as if to buy him out. If he ‘panic buys’ and starts buying after you, sell it all. This can be done several times to make oodles, but beware of your own stock position while doing this.

Undocumented (?) Function

Right-clicking on one of your trains on the main screen immediately brings up the routing/consist screen and pauses the game.

Avoid Mouse Crash Issues

i have found that one of the sources of game crashes is holding the mouse pointer over or selecting objects when they are ‘animating’ (such as stations upgrading). After placing stations, deselect and move your mouse pointer away from these animations quickly to avoid this.

Domed Cities and Underwater Trains

Obviously, global warming caused a problem for me in this Randomized Landscape Northeast USA scenario. While i suffered no grief over the loss of Newark, i had some difficulties figuring out where to obtain the patent to make my trains submersible. Upgrading to a domed Terminal also seemed a bit dicey.

Guide Errors

Too bad.

Sid Meier’s Railroads! Guide