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Railway Empire

Started by Matthew, April 28, 2021, 09:22:26 AM

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Matthew

The Railway Empire franchise is on sale on Steam. The reviews are very mixed. Has anyone played it? Obviously it's going to be inferior to the greatest transport game ever, but any specific thoughts?
(Signature being tested) If you enjoy playing Simutrans, then you might also enjoy watching Japan Railway Journal
Available in English and simplified Chinese
如果您喜欢玩Simutrans的话,那么说不定就想看《日本铁路之旅》(英语也有简体中文字幕)。

ampersand

Have not played. Looks like Sid Meier's Railroads with improved camera. Are there any other gameplay differences than a tech tree?

Roboron

One of the problems I've heard of is that the AI doesn't play by the same "rules" that you have to (for example, it doesn't suffer collisions). That's pretty unfair.

makie

In most games the AI do cheating and is unfair.
Otherwise development of the AI would cost more then the rest of the game.

Yes, that kills the fun when playing against the computer-controlled players.

isidoro

I've bought it but played not so much.  I don't like the tycoon aspect of many transportation games: buy/shell shares, or even, like in this game, hire your own staff.  There are a lot of aspects not in connection with transportation to deal with: strikes, robbery, etc. in some of them.
I pretty much like to focus in transportation issues and, in that aspect (dealing with terrain, complex networks, etc.) this game is well under others.
I prefer to play my own games, not against any AI or even multiplayer.  For me the interest lays at designing the network and much appreciate that the world reacts to my network in a more realistic way.  In this last aspect, ST weakens for my taste.  I would like a deeper and more detailed simulation of goods and passengers with real lives, etc.
All in all, my opinion about the game is biased, and maybe for such a small amount of money, it's worth the try.

Matthew

Quote from: ampersand on April 28, 2021, 11:34:48 AM
Have not played. Looks like Sid Meier's Railroads with improved camera. Are there any other gameplay differences than a tech tree?

It seems to have a more advanced goods routing system. But there is no manual or wiki, so it's hard to be sure.

Quote from: isidoro on April 28, 2021, 10:10:38 PM
I've bought it but played not so much.  I don't like the tycoon aspect of many transportation games: buy/shell shares, or even, like in this game, hire your own staff.  There are a lot of aspects not in connection with transportation to deal with: strikes, robbery, etc. in some of them.
I pretty much like to focus in transportation issues and, in that aspect (dealing with terrain, complex networks, etc.) this game is well under others.
I prefer to play my own games, not against any AI or even multiplayer.  For me the interest lays at designing the network and much appreciate that the world reacts to my network in a more realistic way.  In this last aspect, ST weakens for my taste.  I would like a deeper and more detailed simulation of goods and passengers with real lives, etc.
All in all, my opinion about the game is biased, and maybe for such a small amount of money, it's worth the try.

This is a really helpful review, Isidoro, so thank you. It seems that Railway Empire focuses on the areas where Simutrans is weak (shares, strikes & staff), so that the two games complement each other.[

Quote from: Roboron on April 28, 2021, 01:25:39 PM
One of the problems I've heard of is that the AI doesn't play by the same "rules" that you have to (for example, it doesn't suffer collisions). That's pretty unfair.

Thank you. The devs left a comment on Steam saying they'd sorted this, but I agree it is not a good sign at all.
(Signature being tested) If you enjoy playing Simutrans, then you might also enjoy watching Japan Railway Journal
Available in English and simplified Chinese
如果您喜欢玩Simutrans的话,那么说不定就想看《日本铁路之旅》(英语也有简体中文字幕)。