ATrain 9 in English and German released

[isidoro]

The last game in the Japanese series ATrain (ATrain 9) has been released under the name "The Train Giant" by a German company: UIG Entertainment.  The original game is in Japanese only, but this version has been translated to English and German.  A demo is also available...

If you think that Simutrans' GUI can be improved, just look at this game.  The most easy tasks become a nightmare and it lacks a decent translated manual in English, but graphics are 3D and quite nice.  The number of vehicles is also scarce, since the expansion packs are only available for Japanese users.

[ӔO]

on the flip side, this is about the only transport game that allows diagonal stations and a fully comprehensive diagram/schedule

[Carl]

The diagram/schedule features make this sound worth a look...will check out the demo.

[isidoro]

The game has potential.  It focuses more on economical aspects (shares, buying/selling buildings for a profit, you can borrow money from the banks...) than Simutrans, but there are things I don't understand in a paid game.  Simple details like not having a way to redefine the keys.  You have to use A, S, D, W,... to move around instead of the cursor keys...

Other cons: I think that trains pass over each other as if they were made of thin air.  There are no signals.  The inline HTML help is more complete, but it is in German!

Other pros: You have a way to define precise timetables, you carry materials to build new buildings, and that takes time...

Another example:
@ӔO: where is the option to see the schedule diagram?

[ӔO]

I don't have 9, but when I played the demo for 8, the schedule was in the list for each individual train.

every switch, station and dead end the train arrives at can be scheduled for each train.

[Junna]

@ӔO: where is the option to see the schedule diagram?

You have to enable advanced feature display for points/stations and so on in the options to see it. It is off by default.

This English/German release also removes all but like 10-15 trains unless you patch it, and the patch so far doesn't seem to have been corrected for the English release, so only works on the store-bought German version, not on the German digital download or the english... why in the world they would remove all the trains is a mystery. It also lacks the two ridiculously expensive expansion packs for the Japanese release, as well as some features added by the regular patches - such as the option for a longer timespan (the default time lapses so fast that a train can get no further than 3-6 stations in 24 hours.)