Railroad Tycoon 3

[horrorkid64 0]

Anyone already got Railroad Tycoon 3? I was a big fan of part I (never played II) and I spent many hours watching the little train delivering their freight.

 

I

[Screwballl 196]

i was totally hooked on 2 and i suspect 3 is more of a 3D version of the same game... this is one that i will wait to see if i get it for christmas... if not then i will buy it for myself.

[headpod 0]

Railroad Tycoon 2 is one of my favourite games so rushed out and bought 3 when it came out.

Thought it was terrible.

Has been simplified (do they think we're all idiots?) so you don't even have to chose which cargoes to send where the computer can automatically pick the most profitable cargoes for you. Isn't that the whole point of the game - trying to work out what to haul and where?

The graphics only look good when you have zoomed in so close that you can't get a detailed overview of the region - otherwise everything is a bit blurry.

Most of the reviews I have read though have been good so what do I know.

[iMacWin95 0]

Wow! I'm not the only one that liked RRs. I have RTII (I started to write a guide for it, never finished it though...) and want to have RT3, I think it's supposed to have tunnels!

[iMacWin95 0]

RT2 got a 92% rating from PC Gamer or something, said the only problems were no tunnels and difficult campaigns. Pretty impressive, best one out of the lot. :-D

[Skippydam73 0]

It does have tunnels and bridges. I saw some pics of bridges going over tracks and such. Though I think they only added the ability to have 8 cars instead of 6 with no multiple engines. I am kind of disappointed with that. I am waiting to see how reader reviews go first. I love RR2 though. Anyone ever check out Transport Giant by Jowood? Lets just say, you can have multiple engines with up to 64 cars.

[JackalStreet 0]

You guys should download the demo, I was playing it and it was alot of fun. I played Railroad Tycoon 1 a long time ago and don't remember it well but was having alot of fun with RT3. I'm going to definitely get it (but Civ 3 Conquests for now)
Favorite new feature...You have to compete with non train transportation also

[Screwballl 196]

i am downloading the demo now... hoping it does well...

 

[horrorkid64 0]

I must admit that I was very dissapointed by this game. As headpod already said, it has been very simplified. The cargo is chosen automatically, the only thing you chose is wether you want the train to pick up both passengers&freigt, only passengers or only freight. The only thing you

[iMacWin95 0]

I d/led the demo and found it, well, lacking.

 

1. The grid system was better in RTII then in RT3.

2. What happened to the Station Improvements? That made stuff easier... Though I do like the ability to create 'refueling stations' outside of stations

3. The game ended up making a hyper-crappy S-curve. I only managed to do this by creating the side-rails which ended up creating a little barricade at the end.

4. The hotkeys were unfamiliar.

5. The scrolling methods were not quite as easy as I'd like...

6. The map editor... took me a couple of tries to realize exactly how the land/ocean stuff worked. RTII was better IMO

7. I couldn't figure out how to change player/company money.

 

Overall, RTII was better IMHO. I liked the more SC4-like working of it and simplicity of design.

[SkyTearer 10]

I'm so getting this game

[121759 2]

I always believe that the next iteration of a game should be better than the last and always make use of the latest technology. I didn't see it in this game. At least not to the extent of SC4RH from SC3K.

[SkyTearer 10]

I was playing today, and all of the city names went away, does anyone know how to fix this?

[horrorkid64 0]

Maybe you accidently typed in a keybord shortcut for fading out the names? Take a look in your manual.

[simwario 95]

Old topic, but due to my personal interest, i'd revived it.
I've got that game a few days ago for only 6 Euro and i'm loving it.
Okay, the graphic is not so brand new anymore and the buildings are looking
kinda boring, but it's better than Railroadtycoon 2 imo.

[sas205 0]

Allow me guys to jump in and share you with my thoughts.

I consider myself and avid player--a Baron if like. I played RT2 like hell and always on 'Expert'--the most challenging difficulty level. I adored it and still do, especially after releasing its expansion pack: The Second Century (SC for short). In short the game possessed every thing you expect in a true strategy game. Gameplay rocks; I still feel motivated to go and play the game over and over again after these years.

With the release of its sequel RT3 last year, I couldn't wait... Rushed to buy it like crazy as soon as it hit the shelves. But as I laid my first track, all my excitement vanished!! Most of the great features of RT2 were removed(!) without providing alternatives, such as flexible track laying, levelling terrain, flags and station-based service facilities which have been removed and need to be placed outside, to name a few. Yes, they encompassed a 3D engine in the heart of the game, but I doubt that any one buys the game to just enjoy scenery or to watch trains as they fade in/out! Unfortunately, the game IMHO was empted from its most significant component: Gameplay. Don't know what to count and what to leave. I've deeply played the game for almost 6 months, before I decided to uninstall and place it back into its box. Developers released some patches but their fixes and added features were minor as this didn't help to improve gameplay.

Aside from the 3D engine, the game introduces a new economy model which is more challenging and a bit realistic than the simple and straightforward one of RT2. Unlike RT2 where freight loads wait for you to come and pick them and industries remain idle until you connect them to your network, RT3 uses the 'none-rail freight' approach. Freight loads travel by other means like rivers, animals, carts, or even trucks (you don't see them unfortunately but their traces ) as they do in real life (but never cross mountains). If you offer your rail services, freight will only use your trains if it would be more convenient to! As a result, row material travel to industries, and finished goods to cities; i.e. industries don't stay idle--imagine what impact this would have. Buying functional industries therefore becomes more expensive and requires careful planning of what to buy, where and when. This freight movement drastically affects pricing of goods, and you can't transport cargo if the price at destination is similar or less the ones at source. A good add-on in this regard is that you can build industries, but their cost is higher than what you pay to buy an existing one. In short, I liked this model, very challenging indeed; you always need to study the map and closely monitor the directions of cargo movement before building anything. Worse, you can't predict about possible direction as many influencing factors keep on popping without further notice (new resources, new industries, industries that disappear, change in levels of demand, ...).

As a compromise, PopTop (the developer) provided an easy tool to let the game decide which loads are the most profitable to load in behalf of yourself if hate to constantly micro-manage; the 'Auto Consist'. But if you need the real challenge and fun, try using 'Custom Consist' instead (as I mostly do) and see how the game totally turns into a different one! Playing at lower levels of difficulty can grant you fortune in no time, but on higher levels, you will be toasted in seconds if you aren't a real Tycoon.

I have seen other game in this genre that superbly handles the 3D dilemma with tons of brilliantly developed tools that far overwhelms RT3 (its called Trains & Trucks Tycoon--TTT or T3 for short), but I have to admit that in spite of all my cons against the game, its economic model and stock market are great and remain unique to it.

I've posted a few evaluation threads on the game's official Forum ( http://www.gathering.com/forums/ ) which you can view if you wish, and have the time and patiance to (most of them are long posts!). You may try this early detailed evaluation report or this comparison analysis between RT3 and T3 .

Go ahead and get the demo. You won't regret for sure. But as for the game, well, it's up to your discretion.

Hope this helps.

Cheers,
Saed

[Splintercell 1]

I got it last christmas, it was overshadowed by SC4 deluxe and I never got into it much.



But I downloaded the expansion (no, its not warez, they are giving it away over the internet), I now I want to beat it for real (i cheated when I actually did play it).

[simwario 95]

Date: 12/11/2004 11:42:27 PM
Author: Splintercell
I got it last christmas, it was overshadowed by SC4 deluxe and I never got into it much.

But I downloaded the expansion (no, its not warez, they are giving it away over the internet), I now I want to beat it for real (i cheated when I actually did play it).

quote>

From which site did you get the expansion?

[erka 0]

I was addicted to Railroad Tycoon 2 and played it a lot. I was pretty experienced and developed my own system of playing a map. RT2 is still a very good game, the 2D graphics aren't that bad and the gameplay is fantastic.

So when Railroad Tycoon 3 came I immediately went to the shop and buyed it. I played it the first evening and then lost interest. What a BIG dissapointment. I really didn't like the new economic system (although perhaps a bit more realistic), and just linking up towns and let the computer handle the flow of trains isn't my style. They even skipped some really nice features of RT2, like depoting. So now I don't play RT3, sold my game to a friend, and occasionally play RT2 again .

Besides, if you want a really good game with trains, and want good gameplay instead of some nifty 3D graphics, try Transport Tycoon Deluxe with the latest patch installed. Try some nice trainsets, especially the German or American, and play!

[Simworld 056132 1]

sorry from bumping this, but I just adore that game...really 3D and a good camera, gee I wish Sim Citys Camera was like Railroadtycoon3s