Railroad Tycoon 3

[The Pioneer]

Oswell could you tip us off at how one could live such a dream life?!

So long...

[DrSpike]

Hmm, there was a bank robbed in his home town last week. :suspicious:

[General Ludd]

It's simple. You download games and live with your parents.


Sure, you may not have any dignity, but atleast you've got games, eh?

[Sava]

Is it any good? I've played a demo for Railroad Pioneer, which was great, but I'm not sure if RRT3 is the way to go. I wasn't big on the 3D I saw on the screenshots. But is it worth buying?

[Joseph]

I like the game a lot.

[JohnT]

After completing my first scenario...

Bought it today so I haven't really taken it through its paces, but I did get around to playing (and getting the Gold (medium level)) the British Isles scenario.

Random likes and dislikes:

Like: The fact that Pop Top listened to their fans in regards to greater consist control, tunnels, sandbox mode and a whole host of other issues that plagued the original release of RT2.

Dislike: How derivative it is of RT2. It's the same game with a 3d graphics engine, a better interface, an improved editor (so they say) and a lot of refinement that probably should've gone into RT2. The scenarios seem familiar (though I have not looked at all at the campaigns) and some are actual copies from the previous game.

Like: The graphic engine and how everything is on one screen, from cities to corporate orders. I took a bit of getting used to the mouse controls - I could swear that the zoom in/out was opposite of another game like Black and White or Starcraft or something else I played in the past. Anybody else get that?

Dislike: Should be more scenarios, plus they should have included an intermediate stage between sandbox mode and full game mode where you play only for the money that you can earn through operations (you might be able to do this in the editor - I don't know). Unfortunately you have to either play without money mattering at all or with the stupid stock market having to be attended to. I do like playing the Stock game at times, I just wish that there was some way I could turn it off so me and my competitor can compete by laying track rather than stock manipulation.

[Asmodean]

Re: After completing my first scenario...

Originally posted by JohnT
Unfortunately you have to either play without money mattering at all or with the stupid stock market having to be attended to. I do like playing the Stock game at times, I just wish that there was some way I could turn it off so me and my competitor can compete by laying track rather than stock manipulation.

This is exactly why I have never liked this series. Having to attend to the bloody stockmarket all the time, simply becomes tedious. It's a rail game, for crying out loud, so let me lay tracks, haul cargo, and attract passengers.

There should at lest be an option to automate the stock game. That way, players who like the stock game, can play it; the rest of us can lay some track.

Asmodean

[Adagio]

Good to know I'm not the only one who hates the stock market...

[JohnT]

While I think it makes a great option, I don't think it was wise to base the game around it. In RT2 I used the personal money cheat so that I could buy out all my stock in the beginning, but doing so caused the AI to kind of "give up" and not lay any track.

[General Ludd]

I like it. The biggest new feature is on the economy side. Cargo can move on it's own over land or down rivers, and you don't neccisarily have to build a station at every single factory. Also, your trains can just pick up the most vaulable cargo that's available at a station and haul that instead of you having micromanage every little car that the trains use. Passengers and mail apparently have a destination now, and will only get on a train if it gets them closer to it.

My only beef with it so far is the maps - they're not any better then in RT2. I miss the huge maps in the original, where you could build transcontinental railways and everything. Building rail across a single state or province just isn't as satisfying...

[bjrichar]

Buggy?

It seems like it may be buggy. The first three scenarios in the campaign are reasonably easy to get gold on, but the fourth one seems screwed up. There are no passengers or mail! The seemingly lucrative route (nearly 2 stars each) route between Dallas and Austin ships profitless cargo. Anyone else experienced this?

[Joseph]

Re: After completing my first scenario...

Originally posted by JohnT
Bought it today so I haven't really taken it through its paces, but I did get around to playing (and getting the Gold (medium level)) the British Isles scenario.

Random likes and dislikes:

Like: The fact that Pop Top listened to their fans in regards to greater consist control, tunnels, sandbox mode and a whole host of other issues that plagued the original release of RT2.

Dislike: How derivative it is of RT2. It's the same game with a 3d graphics engine, a better interface, an improved editor (so they say) and a lot of refinement that probably should've gone into RT2. The scenarios seem familiar (though I have not looked at all at the campaigns) and some are actual copies from the previous game.

Like: The graphic engine and how everything is on one screen, from cities to corporate orders. I took a bit of getting used to the mouse controls - I could swear that the zoom in/out was opposite of another game like Black and White or Starcraft or something else I played in the past. Anybody else get that?

Dislike: Should be more scenarios, plus they should have included an intermediate stage between sandbox mode and full game mode where you play only for the money that you can earn through operations (you might be able to do this in the editor - I don't know). Unfortunately you have to either play without money mattering at all or with the stupid stock market having to be attended to. I do like playing the Stock game at times, I just wish that there was some way I could turn it off so me and my competitor can compete by laying track rather than stock manipulation.

If you go to their site and to the first link, click on it and look for USA Map made by a Kraellin, download the map and you can play with money and no one else or as many as you like.
link to http://www.gathering.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=132773#132773http://www.gathering.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=132773#132773

[JohnT]

I'm registered at those boards so I'll give it a quick look.

Thanks!

One thing that I wish they'd have left out: the ability to place stations away from your freshly laid track with just one errant mouse click - and no way to recoup the $50-200k that you just shelled out.

[General Ludd]

Originally posted by JohnT
I'm registered at those boards so I'll give it a quick look.

Thanks!

One thing that I wish they'd have left out: the ability to place stations away from your freshly laid track with just one errant mouse click - and no way to recoup the $50-200k that you just shelled out.

Not to mention the auto-leveling of the terrain around it, which almost always screws up your track. Some of the towns in mountainous areas are a nightmare to work in because of it. It's a complete wildcard, and you never know what it's going to do.

[JohnT]

Played the USA level, 3 opponents, hardest level. I won the level pretty handily, starting in the NE with the DC-Baltimore-Philly run, and working my way south through Virginia, N and S Carolina, ending up in GA. I then began my "loop" strategy" where I had a track loop of Jax-Miami-Tampa-Jax, 2 cars going around (opposite directions, of course), and a couple of expresses going between Atlanta and Jacksonville. I did the same with the Texas cities Dal-Shreveport LA-Houston-San Antonio-Dallas, the midwest (Chicago, Detroit, Cincinatti, Indianapolis), and a few other places. My ending net worth was in the $30 million range.

One of my opponents got stuck in California (expensive mountains to cross), while the second was weak from the get-go with a simple Charlotte-Columbus SC run only. He got bought out by me rather early in the game, with the last opponent setting up a nice line in the MT-ND-MN-WI-IA area. I didn't try to go past the Rockies, actually I kinda petered out after I linked up Kansas City and just let things run to the thirty year conclusion, just watching the stock market.

After the end and I won the gold I decided to try to take out my biggest opponent (something I never done before). Big mistake. I started by shorting his stock when it was in the low 90's, and the SOB kept buying it and buying it, blowing margin call after margin call. A depression hit (probably because of all the turmoil I was enacting on the stock and bond markets), and my railroad revenues crashed to negative amounts, wiping out my dividend and increasing the rate of margin calls.

When the SOB started buying blocks of 10,000 shares of my stock at $29/share, I shut his ass down by turning off the game.

The only thing I can conclude is that if you don't go after your opponents in the stock market, even on the hardest level, they won't come after you. Or the scenario is broken.