This guide is intended to give a full walkthrough of the objective basis of the game and give a breakdown of basic game mechanics. The game's tutorial doesn't quite explain a lot of things that will make this game 100% easier for those that haven't spent a hundred hours on it.Establishing a LineThe basis of this game is laying down rail lines between two points and shipping freight, passengers and mail on that line for a fee. The goal is to transfer resources that are in demand from one city to another. If no resources are in demand they will transfer people and mail which is often more profitable.Train StationsEach city can hold a maximum of two train stations. This means early on it is preferential to lay down a second rail station to connect two points than to expand an existing one.There are three types of train stations in the game. The first is labeled as the small train station but in the game is referenced as a rural train station.

Loading time is faster the smaller a train station is so preferentially you will near always choose a small train station over any other. Due to its low cost it makes more sense to lay down two of these than upgrade an existing one.

2020-3-26  Railway Empire is a video game developed by Gaming Minds Studios and published by Kalypso Media. Railway Empire offers several different game modes for players to choose from. They are: Campaign: A five mission story mode that places the player in charge of building the First Transcontinental. In 1938 the Empire was donated to the Pacific Coast Chapter of the Railway & Locomotive Historical Society and moved to the San Francisco Bay Area.

The small train station comes with two rail entry points. The train station is your medium sized one and is also your starter city train station. It has four entry points to upgrade a train station click on it (the station, not the city) and you will see upgrade options in the top right corner. Large train stations have eight entry points. They also have a very large influence range which means that if two goods are close enough you can put down the one station to collect two different goods. This is especially useful in areas with a lot of cities as you can use this single station to supply two different goods to a large number of cities.Laying RailOnce you have your two points down it is time to lay a line.

You can only put a train station in one city at a time. Any attempts to spam the map with train stations will come up with a warning to connect your first line.Click the Rail button in the top right corner. Click on where you are coming from. Click on where you want to go.You will notice that your hypothetical line provides you with a lot of information. Along the green line it will indicate any inclinations. When a train goes up it will need higher power to maintain speed.

If a train lacks power it will slow down. When tracks go down trains will speed up.When a track bends a train will also have to slow down for the bend.Straighter is always better but not always very cheap.

Building tunnels and bridges will increase costs. If you just make a straight track it will run the bridge or tunnel nearly until you get to the point. Often you will have to make minor connection changes to get around obstacles. Click on a point and drag it to alter the route.Looking along your track if you see a red spot there means it has a difficulty.

Perhaps it is too sharp or overrides a track.Paralell tracks have a great value. It will reduce your production costs of tunnels, bridges, and earthworks, and leave your space far tidier and less clustered. To paralell a track click next to but not on a track.Next click another point next to a line.Now you have a parellel line. Paralell lines are very nice because you can share a single supply tower to multiple routes.

It means lower costs and less space is taken up.Two Trains on One LineOften times you will need even more goods coming to your city. You can run two trains on one track. To do this create a loop in which they will go in a circle. Or, creating a stopping area.To do this add a new track and just create a little swirl that goes out and back into the track. This will create a resting area where one train can wait for another.Next click on the new buildings button (where all the trains are) and click on Signal.Signals control direction of track.

Selection one side to go in one direction and hold the shift key. This will create a stop. The train will now stop here until the other train has cleared. Now on the other side place a direction for the other side. But don't put a stop. This will allow one train right of way at all times and keep one train going.Now click on the train that is running this line and hit the Stamp.

This will clone the line and give an exact copy.Freight vs Passenger LinesTo create a line click on the Train icon and select Add LocomotiveClick the order you want to stop at. Your train will automatically decide the fastest way to get to each point. If too many trains are on the track in differing directions they will collide. Having a looping train system will allow for a lot more trains to occupy the same track, but will make it impossible for them to be express trains.Generally speaking, passenger lines are far more profitable. You would rather have more passengers and mail than freight.Near the end of the game when you are making complicated supply lines, finished goods will provide the largest fees.The Trains: Power vs SpeedNot all trains are suitable for all routes. Early on you will have a choice of exactly one train. Over time you will acquire more and more trains.

When you go to purchase a train the icon will have two important stats. Power and Speed.On the bottom left is a more detailed read out of each train.Speed and tractive power are obviously the two key stats. Speed is your top speed. Not all trains on all routes can attain a top speed though. The shorter the route, the less likely. The more bendy the route, the less likely.

The more inclinations. The less likely.To achieve an 'express train' you will need a train that spends a high amount of its time at top speed.Power is sort of like a rate of accelleration. The higher your tractive power the faster you will accelerate. When you hit bends you will not slow down as much and hills might not cause you to lose any speed.

For shorter routes and ones that have a lot of bends you will want more power and less speed. For straighter longer routes, more speed and less power.Next up is passenger rating. A higher passenger rating means that more passengers will come on this train than normal, a lower one means less. Passengers are the highest profit item until end game freight so having a higher passenger rating on intercity routes can mean more money.Reliability is a stat that will prevent Random Breakdowns and other random slowdowns and events.Maintenance requirements indicate how often a train will have to be repaired. Repairs take quite some time. If no repairs are avaialble the maintenance requirements becomes an indicator of how long it will take for a train to become fixed sitting on a track. A broken down train will stop all trains that are on that line so having lower maintenance requirements can keep trains running longer.Consumption refers to how much fuel and water this train is going to use.

The supply towers are the only means of restocking a train. The higher consumption required the more suppply towers you will need along a route. High consumption will also mean the train will slow down and stop more often.Train CarsThere are four train cars in the game. These provide bonuses that will take up an entire shipment slot. That means in busy trains you will be giving up one good for the bonus. Each has their value.Dining CarThis is easily the most valuable of your cars early game. On routes that deliver no goods you should consider putting one of these on to rake in extra bucks Passenger trains make far more than any other type of trade and because of this you can easily rake in an extra $3,000 a trip off of this car type.Refrigerator CarThe caboose gives giant bonuses to your employees.

If you have an engineer who gives you 5 KPH he will now give you 6. A stoker who reduces maintaince by 20% will now reduce it by 28%. Conductors that incease customer ticket cost by 5%This is another highly useful car. On farm routes you will take in extra dough by sacrificing one good for 20% more on all. It isn't as lucrative as the dining car, but it will turn a bit of extra profit. In cities that are producing meat, sometimes it is just worthwhile to throw one of these on. If all they are transferring is meat and beer.So the big question, what is considered food.

Well, some things you wouldn't think about:. Wheat.

Corn. Meat.

Sugar. Milk. Vegetables. Fruit.

Cheese. SaltCaboose CarThe caboose gives giant bonuses to your employees.

If you have an engineer who gives you 5 KPH he will now give you 6. A stoker who reduces maintaince by 20% will now reduce it by 28%. Conductors that incease customer ticket cost by 5% will now increase it by 6%. These are good on trains that are fully staffed, but their benefits diminish heavily in terms of profit if there are too many trains on the one line.Mail CarThis car can be very valuable in city to city transports in which no freight is being transferred.

Just look at what sort of cargo you are carrying and if you are carrying at least 4 mail loaded cabs, a mail car will allow high profits.PersonnelYour employees grant significant boosts to your rail profits.As a secondary mini game people will have personalities and you have to mix and match them for maximum efficiency. Employees who hate each other will sabotage trains and cause breakdowns. Employees who love each other will boost each other's stats.

Each will have a single personality type that likse one personality but hates another.Train PersonnelEach train can equip one of each personnel, a total of four. Engineer: Can increase top speed or maintenance requirements. Stoker: Multiple functions. Can increase top speed, acceleration, tractive power, maintenance requirements and reliability. Conductor: Increases passenger ticket prices.

Security Guard: Prevents attacks and robberies. As a side effect they will increase the shipping fee for freight items by 5%.Managing this staff can maximize routes. Planting your engineers and stokers on your most profitable routes will maximize profits. Conductors need to be placed on inter-city lines that transport people while security guards need to be placed on any route that has freight.

Shipping from resource points will be of maximum value for guards.Office PersonnelOffice personnel have very weak benefits but each personnel universally employs them. They are a lot rarer and are a common target for headhunting. Stationmaster: Deals with logistics efficiency. Can improve vehicle maintenance times or dispatching times.

Early on maintenance times reduction yields best results. Later in the game improving dispatching times gives the best results. Surveyor: Reduces costs of building rail.

Can either reduce costs of building tunnels and bridges or reduce cost of tracks. The choice may be obvious but tunnels and bridges cost 10x as much as tracks and so if you have to build one tunnel or bridge it may be the same cost as an entire set of tracks.

Chief Engineer: The chief engineer will either increase your research or reduce maintenance times. Accountant: Either reduces the costs of auctions or reduces train costs.EmployeesEmployees are one use agents. Generally they are not that worthwhile to use because they are expensive and don't usually help you, moreso they hurt the opponent who is running a company largely independent of yours. Bandit: Takes over a passenger train and either robs mail or passengers.

Can be used to reduce the value of an enemy corporation while doing a stock take over. Saboteurs: Bring an enemy industry or station to a halt for two weeks. Can be used to reduce the value of an enemy corporation while doing a stock take over. Spy: Steals a technology from an opponent.

If no technology is available they will just stay until one is. Professor: Either trades money from research points or research points for money. Headhunter: Can snatch up one office of train personnel from enemy opponents. Reporter: Ruins the reputation of a company. This will reduce the number of passengers willing to board a train.

Can be used to reduce value of an enemy corporation while doing a stock take over. Market Crier: Increases either mail (Safety) or passengers (Comfort) for a month.

Mediator: Reduces the price of your next auction by 25%. Very useful when acquiring businesses.The CharactersIn the campaign you will face off against a number of characters. In scenarios you will get to choose which one you want to be with a specific bonus. This section will breakdown their behavior, their strengths and review their value.The General Johnathan JohnsonThe General will appear in the game on the southern level. The General will focus on making large connections often getting in the way of your rail. He rarely ever supplies local needs and generally does not purchase businesses or start new businesses.

As far as the AI goes he is rather lightweight.Bonus: Track construction costs are 10% lower.As far as his value for you it is quite obvious. In maps with a lot of mountains as tunnel costs are 20x higher than regular track. Track savings are not experienced very early in the game and often come later in the game. That means essentially playing the game with few bonus value until after you have a lot of money.

But paying $3,000,000 for a piece of track vs $2,700,000 for a piece of track will save you a lot of time. His strengths are especially strong in the East and the West where track lengths are a lot longer.The Gangster Don LorenzoThe gangster will appear on the eastern level.

The gangster is a devious player opting to use a lot of underworld contacts to sabotage production, sabotage trains, and write blasting exposees. He tends to favor small local routes with multiple checkpoints and stops.Bonus: Receives twice as many applications from the underworld, where recruitment costs are 30% cheaper.At first this bonus doesn't look very good. But the bonus applies to all hires including engineers and stokers. You will receive them very early and very fast. This means that your routes will gain a very significant bonus.

The shorter the routes, the larger the staff bonuses will pay off. This means that on maps where you start off with a lot of cheaply accessible cities and resources he will dominate over his competition with a very quick and early boost.Because there is no end to this bonus his value continues throughout the game and grows.

I would rate him as the absolute best character you can play.The Industrialist Roger SmytheRoger Smythe will appear in the campaign as your friend. Smythe has a preference for owning businesses rather than owning rail. When he is deployed on the map he will always try and compete with you on business auctions, but rarely on science auctions. He doesn't build a terribly high amount of rail making him one of the easier AIs to beat.Bonus: Receives 5% higher freight prices.Having higher freight prices will take some time to pay off.

Standard openers involve connecting cities that initially will deal more with passengers and mail and less with freight. As you approach mid game you will deal almost exclusively with freight. This means that if you are struggling to get past the early game. You shouldn't choose this guy. But if you are struggling on mid-game objectives this will be the guy for you.The Engineer Doc MurphyAs is implied by his costuming, he is all about the science. He will compete heavily with you for science auctions and is the only character who will actively build universities. He is often ahead of you on science which means that he is an astute target for stealing technologies from using a Spy.Bonus: Receives 20% additional innovation points per month.The bonus isn't quite as high as it sounds.

You get 40 innovation points a month. This means that you will get 48 innovation points a month instead. This means you will outpace your opponents by 17%.

His strength doesn't come from maps but eras. In eras in which you have a lot of 100 point technologies he is going to thrive getting some very quick upgrades. When you can get to 8% on freight or passengers a year ahead of your competition it essentially wipes out their bonuses. He can give you a nice early boost and strong sustainable growth because. Upgrades are overpowered.The Lady Beatrix von PompOften times people will try and get rid of her just because of her annoying dialogue. She will appear on most of the campaign claiming that she is buying her way in and out of various areas.

She focuses largely on passenger and mail transport and will rarely build rural train stations for transporting resources. This means her income will be lower. But also that she will actively get in your way a lot more often. If you build two train stations in each city near her she won't be able to expand or grow.Bonus: Receives 5% higher ticket prices.She is the absolute queen of early game. She is able to push out a lot of very profitable city to city routes and give you the cashflow to expand fast. But, her bonus is very short lived as later in the game you will be transforming to mostly freight. With her the main strategy is expanding to cities much faster than you might with any other character and then hitting up secondary objectives after with your superior income.But by mid and late game her value falls apart.The Trickster Tricia JonesOverall one of the weaker AIs.

She will not expand until very late in the game, but it's a burst of activity. She is the only AI that will have multiple trains on a single track and will bid on every single auction. She is more obnoxious than threatening.Bonus: Receives a 20% discount on all locomotives and auctions.She is one of the stronger all around characters for all parts of the game on all maps and in all eras.

Her train discounts will initially be very small, a few hundred here and there. But as you approach larger railway empire she will be saving you thousands of dollars.Being able to start an auction 20% cheaper than advertising price means massive savings.

If you are purchasing a business for $5,000,000. You will be getting it for a full $1,000,000 less.For this she will be doing great where you are required to produce resources on a map or where you need to get a city to a certain population.Generating ProfitThere are many ways to 'make money' in this game. The most common is train fees. But, it's not the only way. This section will break down the various mechanics behind 'money making.' Passenger and Mail TrainsIf there is no freight to transfer trains will load up on passengers and mail. Which are actually more profitable.

All cities will transport some level of passengers between cities. If none of the trains are loading up passengers it just means the city needs more lines with it's destination.Passenger and mail trains benefit from trains with higher passenger ratings, conductors, express routes and direct routes.FreightFreight is delivery of any product to a city.Each product has a 'supply chain.' The supply chains will change based on map and era. Some become more or less complicated based on the era. Each improved product in the supply chain grants a larger shipping fee.In order to 'unlock' freight you need to improve cities. You can improve cities by providing them what they demand.The above chart is an example.

You can find this chart in any city by clicking on the city, clicking 'Information.' On the left is how much of an item is stocked in the city. The next item is demand.The goal is to fulfill as much demand as possible. Fulfilling demand of basic items (Meat, beer, corn, wood and wheat) will always be in a lot higher demand than other products. Initially you should try and complete these very simple supply chains.

Meat is always supplied by cattle and beer is always supplied by wheat.As you bring these goods they will produce more of these goods, which in turn means you will need more trains to handle the workload to further increase production and distribution of goods. As all of your cities gain more population they will demand more of these processed goods.Increasing population will also increase the demand for passenger and mail trains.If you have insufficient transport capacity they will move very slowly via cart.Bonus ConnectionsStock MarketThe game features what we would call a commodities stock market which can be located under banking activities using the icon that looks like stock market arrows.This is a live market based on the activities of the map. This means if you are about to transport more raw materials you can invest in them pre-emptively to earn a bit of money off of them. The stock market tends to be a long term profit game.

Food Stuffs includes Wheat, Corn, Meat, Sugar, Milk, Vegetables, Fruit, Cheese, and Salt. Raw materials include Cattle, Wood, Lumber, Coal, Iron, Steel, Gold, and Crude Oil. Consumer Goods include Beer, Cotton, Silk, Dresses, Sauce, Boots, Furniture, Chocolate, Newspaper, and Cars.

Industrial goods include Paper, Tools, Ceramics, Chemicals, Powder, Canned Goods, and Petroleum.Competitor PurchaseYou can take over an enemy's company by making a 100% purchase of their company. But if you don't decide to buy it, it can represent a long term investment. As the game goes on it will present steady growth. This can be compared to the stock market which can go up and down. There are ever so slight variances in price but over the game they will continue to rise. As their company buys businesses and puts down more rail the value of their shares will go up, which is profit.This can be a good way of saving up high amounts of money to buy a business or construct a long piece of track.BusinessesThe final way to earn money is via purchasing businesses.

Not every business by default will earn profits. Businesses are making money while they are producing. Businesses distribute goods in two ways, by cart (no profit) and by train (profit).You can build a new business after a city hits a certain population. Goods have production chains. Each good made in a city requires some sort of resource.

Some of them are businesses on the map. Others are things made in cities. Depending on the era the production chains for certain items change. So for example the Automobile requires Steel and Petroleum to make. Petroleum is produced in a city with a connection to a Crude Oil resource. Steel is made in a city with a connection to Coal and Iron resources. The automobile will be the most profitable thing to build but due to the large production chain if it stops producing it will also lose the most money.Businesses that already exist on the map can be purchased via auction.

To initiate an auction click on the business and select the Dollar sign in the top right corner. This will cause you to go into a contest against the AI. If you have an unconnected business or one that is not being supplied, the AI will be less competitive for the business.Resource nodes can also be purchased.After you have purchased them you can upgrade them up to five times.

City businesses can only be upgraded as population grows. If you over upgrade them they simply will not be able to make profit as goods will never be distributed.As cities grow they have a higher demand for goods. So maybe the automobile will make a lot of money. But it needs to be connected to a city with 120,000 residents in order to be distributed.BondsTechnically not a way of making money. This is in fact a way of losing money. You are given a large up front amount of money but pay crippling interest on it over time. The higher the amount of money you take the higher the interest.Although generally not good to issue bonds, in time sensitive objectives early on it is worthwhile to issue them.

The train lines that you will produce will always out grow the interest on these bonds. It might be sticker shock when they mature.

But then you can just issue more bonds. And even bigger ones. Very few maps or scenarios can be accomplished without the use of bonds.Chapter #1 - The Great Plains TipsThe Great Plains is the beginner level and locks you into Roger Smythe as your character.

As you can see Roger Smythe gets a 5% bonus from freight prices. As stated in the characters section, this is a late game trait.Scenario: The last track of the intercontinental railroad is beginning but needs to get a path westward through the mountains into Cheyenne.Thomas Clark Duncan the famous rail man is the guide. The absolute best tip is to, follow the guide. Skipping ahead or doing your own thing will cause you to be late on getting objectives and doing them late.The big problem is that eventually you will be given a list of things that you have to do and if you lose too much time playing around you won't get to the list.

Railway Empire is a tycoon simulation game released on 26 January 2018 for Windows and Linux and later 30 January for PlayStation 4 and Xbox One. The game was developed by the German studio Gaming Minds Studios and produced by Kalypso Media.^[1][2] In Japan, the physical copy of the game was distributed by Ubisoft in May 2018.^[3]

Gameplay[edit]

Railway Empire's base game takes place in the United States from 1830 to 1930. As of 13 December 2019, there are several DLC packs players can buy to unlock additional regions, with new locomotives included. These include the Great Lakes region (southern Canada and northern US), Mexico, South America, Great Britain & Ireland, Germany, France, and northern Europe (Scandinavia). The player can build a large network of railway lines and buy various locomotives to serve cities and industries - growing cities in the process, and hire railway personnel for both train operations and office positions, all with individual bonuses and personality types. The game has several game modes like campaign mode, scenario mode, free mode and sandbox mode.^[4][5][6]

In the campaign mode, the player plays against different competitors. In the Scenario mode, these competitors are selectable and playable characters with specific gameplay bonuses.^[7]

Reception[edit]

The game has a score of 74 on Metacritic.^[8]

Awards and nominations[edit]

Railway Empire won two awards, being in total four times nominated by the Deutscher Entwicklerpreis 2018.^[9][10]Realmz walkthroughs.

• WINNER - Best German PC/Console Game
• WINNER - Best German Technical Performance Game
• Nominated - Best German Game
• Nominated - Best Graphics

Railway Empire has also been nominated by TOMMI - Der deutsche Kindersoftwarepreis 2018.^[11]

References[edit]

1. ^'About Railway Empire'. GameSpot. Retrieved 8 July 2018.
2. ^'Railway Empire comes to consoles and PC in January'.
3. ^'Railway Empire in Japan'.
4. ^'Railway Empire is a mostly satisfying management sim'.
5. ^'Wot I Think: Railway Empire'. 13 February 2018.
6. ^'Railway Empire (PC) - Wertung, Fazit - GameStar'. www.gamestar.de.
7. ^'Railway Empire - Complete Guide'. Gameplay.tips.
8. ^'Railway Empire'. Metacritic.
9. ^'Deutscher Entwicklerpreis 2018: Die Nominierten'. GamesWirtschaft. Retrieved 6 November 2018.
10. ^'Deutscher Entwicklerpreis 2018 - Die Gewinner: FAR wird bestes Spiel, Desperados 3 ist 'Most Wanted''. gamestar.de. Retrieved 7 December 2018.
11. ^'TOMMI - Der deutsche Kindersoftwarepreis 2018'. kindersoftwarepreis.de. Retrieved 6 November 2018.