I really like this game. Yeah, single player sucks, it’s just way too easy, but Multi player is fun. Its always more fun playing humans.
I’d like to share my playing tips. I’m not claiming it’s the best or only way, but by using this I have a winning percentage of 95%+ Please add to this and suggest alternative, better ways.
I’ve broken the game into 3 stages, Early Game, Middle Game and End Game. Remember all information is in general, and will have to be tweaked depending on the map you’re playing and your starting position.
Early Game:
· At the start of the game, sell one stock. It does not matter what difficulty level you are playing on. You can usually click on the sell button even before the game starts.
· Pull up the resource tap, the one on the lower left that shows the prices for the different cargo types. Mouse over this to see what is in your area, especially coal. See if you have a coal to steel and steel to Autos. This is a huge income. After that look at Milk, since it has a high selling value. If you don’t have much in your area, don’t worry, since you are going to start with passengers anyways.
· While you wait for the game to get started, do a survey of your local area. Locate the largest cities in your area and get ready to build to them. Plan in what direction you want to expand to capture the best resources for the middle game.
· Once the game start, I do what I call a “passenger blitzâ€
Guide to improve your game play!
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The South African
- Posts: 4
- Joined: Wed Jan 24, 2007 12:48 am
Guide to improve your game play!
Last edited by The South African on Thu Feb 01, 2007 7:25 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Thanks for the good tips Thesouthafrican. Think I have played you once or twice. Anyways in the good spirit of giving, let me add my two cents. 
In the beginning I used to set up a route ASAP and start hauling, then try to set up another route. Now I look around try to find the best way to go, then set up all the routes. In Robber Baron there is usually only enough money for one simple A to B route. Two routes if I'm lucky. If I'm shipping passengers then I would upgrade the depot as high as I can. Only After all the money is spent(I sell all my stocks) would I buy the trains and start hauling. Because I can use my credit card to buy trains, but not the tracks and terminal upgrades.
Since I always haul mix loads, I almost always use freight trains. Only thing passenger train is good for is hauling mail. I'm not even sure if it's good for passengers.
When fighting for goods at a town against other players, upgrade to Terminal on both ends ASAP. Also upgrade to the fastest train. Use the Period button to jump from train to train if you want to upgrade all the trains fast. The Comma button for stations and annexes.
I don't use the Trick Tracks anymore unless someone uses it first. It doesn't look natural and bridges are more fun. I have gotten to know a few of the people playing online and we all use bridges. And yes, we steal each other's goods like a fat man looking at the world's last french fry.
Don't quit five minutes into a game, cause you never know how bad the other players are. I just might learn something even if I lose.
That's all I can think of right now. Looking forward to everyon else's strategies.
In the beginning I used to set up a route ASAP and start hauling, then try to set up another route. Now I look around try to find the best way to go, then set up all the routes. In Robber Baron there is usually only enough money for one simple A to B route. Two routes if I'm lucky. If I'm shipping passengers then I would upgrade the depot as high as I can. Only After all the money is spent(I sell all my stocks) would I buy the trains and start hauling. Because I can use my credit card to buy trains, but not the tracks and terminal upgrades.
Since I always haul mix loads, I almost always use freight trains. Only thing passenger train is good for is hauling mail. I'm not even sure if it's good for passengers.
When fighting for goods at a town against other players, upgrade to Terminal on both ends ASAP. Also upgrade to the fastest train. Use the Period button to jump from train to train if you want to upgrade all the trains fast. The Comma button for stations and annexes.
I don't use the Trick Tracks anymore unless someone uses it first. It doesn't look natural and bridges are more fun. I have gotten to know a few of the people playing online and we all use bridges. And yes, we steal each other's goods like a fat man looking at the world's last french fry.
Don't quit five minutes into a game, cause you never know how bad the other players are. I just might learn something even if I lose.
That's all I can think of right now. Looking forward to everyon else's strategies.
AKA: CrashDummy__1.1
Great post, South African. I've been doing a lot of research on the game as seen in the wiki and in the strategy forum here. Some of what I say now, I have already posted. Some, I have not got around to posting.
One thing I do not do is multiplayer. In fact I only ever played versus AIs, eactly once. I just like a fixed challenge, shrug. Anyway,
You have innately mastered a lot of the basics, as I see it. Or GMTA. Or I'm way behind everybody, laugh. Anyway. Based on my findings, for one thing, the margin between buying and selling stock is actually not inherently penalized by the game, unlike in real life. If you do nothing at all in a game, sell all your starting stock and then buy it all back, you will have exactly the same numbers you had to begin with. There is no inherent penalty; no "broker's commission" as in the real world. You get every cent back, if nothing at all otherwise happens.
Of course, in actual gameplay, you will be doing a lot to increase your worth, which means the value of your company (and stock) will in fact rise. But it's a very worthy tactic to sell all your stock, as fast as you can, at first - so it can be raising money for you (with your railroad), instead of just sitting there, as it does.
I don't see anything at all wrong in all the things you said. But I would ask about one thing, and recommend about another.
I'm not sure I'd agree about staying with stations until the late game (except for big hubs). Let's call passengers and mail, "express" trains. Also, the stop off (depot/station/terminal) as "junction" as a non-specific term. And lastly, "urba" for village/town/city/metro, not otherwise specified (anybody have a better idea for a non specific term here?).
Express trains have the huge advantage of being readily available from everywhere except villages. IOW, they are a ubiquitous resource; you don't need to make Annexes, or worry about trains running empty, going back. To me, this makes them as valuable as the fact that Railroads! loads them with a high premium that drops off over the first 25 years of the game. No one should ever forget that every single train - every one - is always an ongoing cost. In theory you can make up to twice as many deliveries (between urba) for a given amount of time, as you can with e.g. a resource that has your train empty for what might be up to half its time. That's actually the extreme worse case, but it makes the point.
You can easily estimate the express-train value of each junction, by looking at the revenue for a train hitting it (with F4). Revenue, not Profit. The upgrade function, of Depot to Station, or Station to Terminal, does just what it says - it increases Revenue by 25% (Station) or 50% (Terminal) over Depot, and also it appreciably increases turn-around time. Lifetime Revenue and Five Year Revenue are also just what they say.
As I said, I'm not sure I'd agree. I didn't say I disagree. Here's how to figure it: At what point has the additional 20% increase for going from Station to Terminal become worth it, based on what an individual express train has made in the last five years? (20%, because Station is 125% and Terminal is 150%; 150/125 = +20%) The 20% increase must be worth $150k, so the current 5-year value must be $750k.
Upgrade to Terminals if/when your express trains have a 5-year value of $750k or more. IF you want to recover that in five years. If all things stay the same, that's how it will work. Whether "five years" is your operating time frame, well... you tell me. I don't play multiplayer, and you didn't say how fast a game might be over.
Something to think about.
That was the thing I'd ask about, and I would appreciate feedback, after you've played with the idea a week... measuring the exact worth of a Terminal upgrade to you.
As for the recommendation, I didn't hear you say anything about the proximity (nearness) of resources and, closely related, their size, and/or making an industry outright, so as to exploit a nearby Large industry. You have only mentioned raw resources in general. (But you hit the nail on the head with the fact that the higher production chains - the highest being auto/war factories - make far more money... IF one doesn't get carried away with long distances to make them work.) This can also be mathematically figured, although it's more complex. I'm working on it in the wiki now, as can be seen e.g. here.
Enough typing then. Great post, it's good to see I'm not way off base compared to the toughest play, multiplayer, laugh - RK
One thing I do not do is multiplayer. In fact I only ever played versus AIs, eactly once. I just like a fixed challenge, shrug. Anyway,
You have innately mastered a lot of the basics, as I see it. Or GMTA. Or I'm way behind everybody, laugh. Anyway. Based on my findings, for one thing, the margin between buying and selling stock is actually not inherently penalized by the game, unlike in real life. If you do nothing at all in a game, sell all your starting stock and then buy it all back, you will have exactly the same numbers you had to begin with. There is no inherent penalty; no "broker's commission" as in the real world. You get every cent back, if nothing at all otherwise happens.
Of course, in actual gameplay, you will be doing a lot to increase your worth, which means the value of your company (and stock) will in fact rise. But it's a very worthy tactic to sell all your stock, as fast as you can, at first - so it can be raising money for you (with your railroad), instead of just sitting there, as it does.
I don't see anything at all wrong in all the things you said. But I would ask about one thing, and recommend about another.
I'm not sure I'd agree about staying with stations until the late game (except for big hubs). Let's call passengers and mail, "express" trains. Also, the stop off (depot/station/terminal) as "junction" as a non-specific term. And lastly, "urba" for village/town/city/metro, not otherwise specified (anybody have a better idea for a non specific term here?).
Express trains have the huge advantage of being readily available from everywhere except villages. IOW, they are a ubiquitous resource; you don't need to make Annexes, or worry about trains running empty, going back. To me, this makes them as valuable as the fact that Railroads! loads them with a high premium that drops off over the first 25 years of the game. No one should ever forget that every single train - every one - is always an ongoing cost. In theory you can make up to twice as many deliveries (between urba) for a given amount of time, as you can with e.g. a resource that has your train empty for what might be up to half its time. That's actually the extreme worse case, but it makes the point.
You can easily estimate the express-train value of each junction, by looking at the revenue for a train hitting it (with F4). Revenue, not Profit. The upgrade function, of Depot to Station, or Station to Terminal, does just what it says - it increases Revenue by 25% (Station) or 50% (Terminal) over Depot, and also it appreciably increases turn-around time. Lifetime Revenue and Five Year Revenue are also just what they say.
As I said, I'm not sure I'd agree. I didn't say I disagree. Here's how to figure it: At what point has the additional 20% increase for going from Station to Terminal become worth it, based on what an individual express train has made in the last five years? (20%, because Station is 125% and Terminal is 150%; 150/125 = +20%) The 20% increase must be worth $150k, so the current 5-year value must be $750k.
Upgrade to Terminals if/when your express trains have a 5-year value of $750k or more. IF you want to recover that in five years. If all things stay the same, that's how it will work. Whether "five years" is your operating time frame, well... you tell me. I don't play multiplayer, and you didn't say how fast a game might be over.
Something to think about.
That was the thing I'd ask about, and I would appreciate feedback, after you've played with the idea a week... measuring the exact worth of a Terminal upgrade to you.
As for the recommendation, I didn't hear you say anything about the proximity (nearness) of resources and, closely related, their size, and/or making an industry outright, so as to exploit a nearby Large industry. You have only mentioned raw resources in general. (But you hit the nail on the head with the fact that the higher production chains - the highest being auto/war factories - make far more money... IF one doesn't get carried away with long distances to make them work.) This can also be mathematically figured, although it's more complex. I'm working on it in the wiki now, as can be seen e.g. here.
Enough typing then. Great post, it's good to see I'm not way off base compared to the toughest play, multiplayer, laugh - RK
Hi South African we played a nice game tonight (under my nick AudiS2)
This is my first post on this nice forum and I thought to give some of my observations
- I am underlining that early in the game it is much more important to connect to passengers then resources. Passengers revenue work both ways!
- If you have a very slow train but a short track it is good to fill the train with 8 carts as it will travel shorter distance
- All trains should have constant loadout without any adding/removing. Weight of empty cart is zero so it does not add to time of travel, however adding or removing does
- After having created few passenger routes search for a resource to connect to one (middle) city. Now remove some passanger carts and add resource product cart instead
- Try to have shortest possible route between two cities. This seems obvious but often people build routes with turns. You do not want this.
- Kill your competition by creating a shorter route between two of his strong cities. This will kill his trains income.
- If you are fighting over same good with someone, move that cart to the front of the train. That way it will load up first (ie. before passengers)
- Shortest routes win this game. If you have very short routes it ofen pays out to buy new industries in that cities early on. They will payout in year or two!
- Destroy resource chains of your opponent by either building power plants or stealing resource (even to a city that doesn't accept it)
- I usually try to upgrade very fast to depot and then terminals. This particularly if I am fighting over the same route. Also I do not have to worry about it later in the game (often would forget) when I have more important things to do
- Generally industries are not worth it unless you can have two large resources transported over short distances to it. They pay off slowly and that money should better be used for expanding
- Never have two trains on the same track! It's obvious now, but it took me awhile to figure it out while I was still new
Stocks:
- If you are idling or observing don't let the money wait. Always invest the idle money in stocks!
- Good time to buy stocks is after news event of market fall
- At the beginning of game you can easily lure you opponents into buying industry while raising the bid like you were gonna buy it, and then leaving it to buy one or even two of the opponents stocks. By the end of the game, the profit of a good industry may reach 500-1000k while two stocks may be worth 1500-2000k. So which is better? Plus you can sell the stocks at any time to get the money back if you need it.
Most annoying Bugs:
- first bug is indefinite money train which never leaves first station and just
generates profit. This particularly happens often on Midwest scenario
- second one which you mention too is that you can lay track over opponents without bridge
This is my first post on this nice forum and I thought to give some of my observations
- I am underlining that early in the game it is much more important to connect to passengers then resources. Passengers revenue work both ways!
- If you have a very slow train but a short track it is good to fill the train with 8 carts as it will travel shorter distance
- All trains should have constant loadout without any adding/removing. Weight of empty cart is zero so it does not add to time of travel, however adding or removing does
- After having created few passenger routes search for a resource to connect to one (middle) city. Now remove some passanger carts and add resource product cart instead
- Try to have shortest possible route between two cities. This seems obvious but often people build routes with turns. You do not want this.
- Kill your competition by creating a shorter route between two of his strong cities. This will kill his trains income.
- If you are fighting over same good with someone, move that cart to the front of the train. That way it will load up first (ie. before passengers)
- Shortest routes win this game. If you have very short routes it ofen pays out to buy new industries in that cities early on. They will payout in year or two!
- Destroy resource chains of your opponent by either building power plants or stealing resource (even to a city that doesn't accept it)
- I usually try to upgrade very fast to depot and then terminals. This particularly if I am fighting over the same route. Also I do not have to worry about it later in the game (often would forget) when I have more important things to do
- Generally industries are not worth it unless you can have two large resources transported over short distances to it. They pay off slowly and that money should better be used for expanding
- Never have two trains on the same track! It's obvious now, but it took me awhile to figure it out while I was still new
Stocks:
- If you are idling or observing don't let the money wait. Always invest the idle money in stocks!
- Good time to buy stocks is after news event of market fall
- At the beginning of game you can easily lure you opponents into buying industry while raising the bid like you were gonna buy it, and then leaving it to buy one or even two of the opponents stocks. By the end of the game, the profit of a good industry may reach 500-1000k while two stocks may be worth 1500-2000k. So which is better? Plus you can sell the stocks at any time to get the money back if you need it.
Most annoying Bugs:
- first bug is indefinite money train which never leaves first station and just
generates profit. This particularly happens often on Midwest scenario
- second one which you mention too is that you can lay track over opponents without bridge
Last edited by VladaS2 on Wed Feb 07, 2007 12:53 am, edited 1 time in total.
Ah well, it's not my wiki, it's everybody's wiki! Although I'm doing most of the posting at the moment. I won't work on Railroads! forever either, but I am for now.
Actually, I like pinning down how something works. That IS playing for me!
And you're right, Willy; how can I play when I'm testing (and would you want me to be playing and not testing? hehe)
I've always like solo playing more than mp, because it's versus a fixed "person" (the AI), so I can better measure how I've done. Of course that means I can usually beat a game badly in the first few games, with most games... then I move onto researching the game, hehe!
Have mp opponents already been using the "Power Plant Parasite" trick before I posted about it?
FWIW I was amazed to find out last night that a large resource makes just as much as one large industry can handle (I posted it to the wiki then)... I had been feeding multiple resources to one industry, figuring it could handle them all and save me the expense of another industry. No way... I was just throwing the other resources away!
The wiki could use folks who are filling in more details besides research. Every wiki likes graphics, such as pix of the engines or other things. Also I will probably never touch any of the modding or mp pages, so they're virgin territory for anyone to work on.
Actually, I like pinning down how something works. That IS playing for me!
And you're right, Willy; how can I play when I'm testing (and would you want me to be playing and not testing? hehe)I've always like solo playing more than mp, because it's versus a fixed "person" (the AI), so I can better measure how I've done. Of course that means I can usually beat a game badly in the first few games, with most games... then I move onto researching the game, hehe!
Have mp opponents already been using the "Power Plant Parasite" trick before I posted about it?
FWIW I was amazed to find out last night that a large resource makes just as much as one large industry can handle (I posted it to the wiki then)... I had been feeding multiple resources to one industry, figuring it could handle them all and save me the expense of another industry. No way... I was just throwing the other resources away!
The wiki could use folks who are filling in more details besides research. Every wiki likes graphics, such as pix of the engines or other things. Also I will probably never touch any of the modding or mp pages, so they're virgin territory for anyone to work on.
Works for me! The general idea is that if one person thinks something's interesting enough to write, multiple people will probably find it interesting to read.
I would think something like that might deserve a new topic under "4. This And That". Maybe called "Railroads! Timeline" or something like that.
Wikis are easy to learn, for anyone who hasn't tried. Check out the Help tips at the top of the Railroads! wiki page. Also read the "back" of that main page (the Discussion tab at the top). Then start writing! PM me if you don't know how to do something. But you can see how anything else was done, by briefing looking at Edit for an existing page (on that wiki or any other wiki, for that matter).
I would think something like that might deserve a new topic under "4. This And That". Maybe called "Railroads! Timeline" or something like that.
Wikis are easy to learn, for anyone who hasn't tried. Check out the Help tips at the top of the Railroads! wiki page. Also read the "back" of that main page (the Discussion tab at the top). Then start writing! PM me if you don't know how to do something. But you can see how anything else was done, by briefing looking at Edit for an existing page (on that wiki or any other wiki, for that matter).
Cool idea, War!
I might also say,
Nobody "owns" any particular page, including the ones I've worked on... if you can add to or improve any page, go for it!
Often other folks will come along and flesh out an initial listing, or stick in another subsection on idea that occurred to them.
But if it might radically change a page and/or you think somebody else was wrong on a page, you might bring it up on the Discussion tab of that page first, or PM the author(s) about it first. "Respect and improve." Unless it's obviously just a typo or whatever.
Anyway. I was getting kinda lonely, just posting on my work. Looks like it's growing now. Maybe we're building up steam, eh? - RK
I might also say,
Nobody "owns" any particular page, including the ones I've worked on... if you can add to or improve any page, go for it!
Often other folks will come along and flesh out an initial listing, or stick in another subsection on idea that occurred to them.
But if it might radically change a page and/or you think somebody else was wrong on a page, you might bring it up on the Discussion tab of that page first, or PM the author(s) about it first. "Respect and improve." Unless it's obviously just a typo or whatever.
Anyway. I was getting kinda lonely, just posting on my work. Looks like it's growing now. Maybe we're building up steam, eh?
- RKIt should take both of those. In the Source Filename box, just browse for it. And the Destination Filename is what you want the filename to be on the wiki.
I would stay away from special characters and spaces, but alpha, numbers, underscore and dashes should work fine. So call it e.g. My_Routing_Screencap.png
Is this not working for you?
For an example of how to do insets (if you want), take an Edit look at e.g. this.
I rarely fill in any Description on the Upload screen, because I usually supply it in the inset caption, shrug.
Hmm, I wonder if we should make (or break) this into a Wiki thread.
I would stay away from special characters and spaces, but alpha, numbers, underscore and dashes should work fine. So call it e.g. My_Routing_Screencap.png
Is this not working for you?
For an example of how to do insets (if you want), take an Edit look at e.g. this.
I rarely fill in any Description on the Upload screen, because I usually supply it in the inset caption, shrug.
Hmm, I wonder if we should make (or break) this into a Wiki thread.