Genre of strategy is great and diverse. There are many subgenres in it - military, economic, indirect control, real-time and step-by-step, in a historical or fantastic entourage ... If you dig into the very depth of such a classification, you can find such an amazing beast as a railroad tycoon simulator.
All these years the genre did not stand still, but evolved and evolved. The developers are no longer limited to one railroad: now such games are fashionable in the fashion of "taykuns", covering the entire spectrum of vehicles, including cars and aviation.
Do not confuse simulators of the railroad tycoon with simulators of rolling stock. In the latter case, the player assumes the role of the train driver and his task is to deliver the load or passengers from point A to point B in time and without critical consequences. The reliable location of the rivets on the boiler of some Rocket (one of the first English locomotives) and a realistic system management with the need to comply with all the rules of motion - to taste.
"Tykun" is another. Here you have to think at a strategic level, and the trains themselves and the railways are just an instrument of making money. And there are other ways to replenish the account in the bank: playing on the stock exchange, buying and developing their own industrial enterprises. Railway Empire - that's about it.
The time and place of the game was chosen not accidentally - in the United States of the XIX century the railway played a huge role in the development of new possessions of the West Coast. Aviation and cars were not yet in sight, and cartage and water vehicles could not fully meet the growing transport demands of the young state. In addition, compared to Europe, the North American continent did not yet have a well-developed road system, so any trip to the west was a real test (by the way, one of the first video games in history - The Oregon Trail ) is devoted to such expeditions .
The creation of the railway network could become (and became - a little later, in the second half of the XIX century) a real salvation for the logistics of the whole country. As it should be in capitalist society, the development of a new mode of transport was given away to private business. The state in every way contributed to those enthusiasts who decided to take up the construction of the railway: for example, the land at a distance of 10 miles from the roads was given to the owner of the roads, and the targeted loans and loans were very, very profitable.
Again, as it should be in a capitalist society, specially thought out guys did not fail to take advantage of such preferences. For the very same land and subsidies (issued from the calculation of the length of the road), the paths were tried to do as long and winding as possible, sometimes deliberately ignoring a shorter route (in some cases, the authorities had to force "straighten" such roads). A very important issue for the local population, through which city the road will run, was often solved with the help of considerable bribes to the owner of the railway company.
And then there was the Civil War in time, during which the trains played not the least role. The possibility of rapid transfer of troops and resources was very important, which also influenced the development of this type of transport. It was not without amusing episodes associated with the railway in this war: here and the first armored trains. and the Great Steam race . Finally, in 1869, the creation of the first transcontinental railway linking the West Coast to the central and eastern regions of the country was completed, which provided a huge jump in the economy of the entire state.
In short, the time was fun. Ironically, the spirit of this great era in the game is felt to the fullest, despite a rather specific genre, not having such a dive. It can be seen that the cities grow and fall into decay precisely due to the actions of the player and his computer opponents, for the sake of profit, the owners of the companies can do everything, and the creation of an efficient transport system means a lot for the economy of the whole country. This is especially noticeable during the campaign, which at the same time represents the teaching of the basics of the game.
In addition to the campaign (very short, I must say, only five chapters), there are separate scenarios, a free regime and a "sandbox". In the latter there is no need to earn money, all the possibilities for building your own railway network are available from the very start. In scenarios, you must achieve certain goals for the successful completion of the mission; sometimes tasks are very nontrivial.
But the main regime in such strategies is, of course, a free game where you can build the railway empire in your own pleasure. Looking ahead, I will say that in our case the list of tasks is still available: in order to get the highest score after the game ends, it is necessary to achieve certain indicators over 20 years.
The whole America did not pull the developers, so the country is divided into five parts, each of which is a separate map. They differ not only in the location of cities, but in relief as well - for example, in the west the terrain is quite deserted, and the coastal cities are completely beyond the mountain range through which it will simply not be possible to stretch the rails. In addition to the map, you can determine the year of the beginning of the game: there is a choice from 1830 to 1910 - with an interval of 20 years comes half a dozen options. Finally, we decide where to start and who will manage the company. The last depends on which bonus the player will receive: for example, a fraudster spends 20% less money on buying locomotives and during auctions, and a retired general can build roads with a decent discount.
The main task of the player will be to earn money - by itself, it should be high and stable. Profit, as it should, is composed of a balance between income and expenditure. Revenue can be obtained in several ways: by freight carried out by our company, delivery of mail and passengers, and so on. Expenses, other than purchases of locomotives, construction of stations and tracks, are composed of maintenance of trains, staff salaries and interest payments on loans.
Economics in Railway Empireis not static, but develops depending on the state of the railway system in the country. In addition to cities, various farms, mines, oil production stations and other sources of resources are scattered around the map. These very resources must be delivered to cities, each of which has a demand for certain goods. For example, if there is a brewery in the settlement, then wheat is needed for the successful production of the drink. Beer, in turn, can be a source of demand in another city - you have to build a supply chain to ensure the greatest profit.
When demand is satisfied by more than 60%, the urban population begins to grow. The more residents, the more businesses can be built in the city and the more potential passengers and recipients of correspondence and parcels. In addition, in developed cities, the demand for more goods is higher. It turns out a mutually beneficial cooperation between the railway and the residents of the surrounding area: we - money for providing goods and resources, it - the development of the economy and the satisfaction of all needs.
Put the station in the right place and connect it with rails with the city a little - you need to buy a locomotive and determine its route. In addition to banal traffic between two points, you can fine-tune the waypoint sheet: what cargo to unload and receive at each station, determine the priority of loading and the order of priority of visiting the stations. Different models of locomotives are made available gradually, depending on the progress of the tree research. The latter is very extensive and is not limited to rolling stock. But if you look closely, the difference between the improvements is not so great: after various descriptions, banalities like increasing the profit from cargo transportation by n% are hidden.
As soon as the number of trains on one track becomes more than one, the player will encounter one very unpleasant featureRailway Empire. The matter is that here either completely jammed, or very difficult for understanding system of arrows and semaphores - and most likely, both. Even if you try to divide two paths into a multidirectional movement according to the instruction, the trains can still get stuck, resting on the stop signal, although the rails ahead are completely free. At the same time, there is no need to do any complicated interchanges to rearrange the trains at the station - the train itself will "roll over" on the tracks and calmly go in the opposite direction. To flirt with realism makes no sense - the nerves spent are not worth it. It is much easier to include in the settings a simplified mode of paths, in which trains pass through each other while driving on the same road. In computer opponents, by the way, this mode is always on - they, apparently, also have problems with the semaphore system.
The opponents themselves, in theory, should encourage the player to fight for the domination of his company on the map. But the tools for this are not enough. It is possible, for example, to send a spy or provocateur to an opponent (or to find the same), but these guys do not make the weather. Yes, there are auctions, but there is no special logic in how competitors participate in them. In addition, there are some suspicions that AI is a little cheated, - too sharply sometimes the assets of one of the competitors start to grow for no apparent reason.
Check or influence this is unlikely to work - among other things, here is an unusually uninformative for the genre interface and the functionality of statistical data. The more stations and active paths, the more difficult it is to understand what is going on. Railway Empire, of course, does not pretend to be a serious simulator, but this does not mean that we should forget about the banal convenience.
In addition, the game has a fairly large layer of mechanics, little effect on what is happening. For example, staff - there are clerical employees, there is a crew of locomotives, various employees of an auxiliary level (the same spies or security guards). But if you do not give them the proper attention (that's still microcontrolling), then nothing particularly terrible will happen - it is quite realistic to build a successful business without fuss with every machinist or conductor.
Rate:7/10
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