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Post by AirCoaster on Feb 14, 2008 10:53:26 GMT -5
Have you ever wondered what it would be like to own, and run your own railroad like Cornelius Vanderbuilt, or any other railroad tycoon. Yah, that's what I am about to talk about, Railroad Tycoon. I've been playing Railroad Tycoon since Sid Meier's first introduced it. The original was a 2D gameboard style game, and incorporated many aspects of running a railroad, and being a railroad tycoon. The game progressed into Railroad Tycoon II by PopTop games, and developed into a 3D simulation. Then came Railroad Tycoon III, which is a more sophisticated version of II, and again by PopTop Games. By this time Sid Meier had already sold the rights to Railroad Tycoon, and had moved on to other game genres, and is working for Firaxis, and 2KGames. During the production of II and III, Sid always had the desire to recreate one of his best selling games, and bring the game back to his stable. He finally got what he wanted, and reacquired the Railroad Tycoon series for himself, and Firaxis. Firaxis is also the company that produced the Civilization series, the Pirates series, and many other great games. Sid Meier's newest creation of the Railroad Tycoon series is called Railroads. The Railroad Tycoon series has been a favorite of mine because of the ability of the player to connect cities, and towns, and supply up to 40 different resources, and goods via the railroad, as the cities, and towns develope. The games are all financially based games, whether for the purpose of building, and maintaining your railroad, or stock market activity for personal, and corporate monetary gains, and losses. I just thought I would add this, so you have an idea what other railroad programming is out there beside straight up simulation. Below are some screenies of Railroad Tycoon II, III, and Railroads. Some are kinda big. Railroad Tycoon II  Railroad Tycoon II airport  Railroad Tycoon II Stock Market  Railroad Tycoon II complexity  Railroad Tycoon III after servicing up  Railroad Tycoon III Stock Market  Railroad Tycoon III breakdown  Railroad Tycoon III News Alert  Locomotives, many more to be had  Railroads a City  Railroads Steam  Railroads Diesel  Railroads a City, and equipment color changes  Of course there is much more involved in the games, so don't be fooled totally by my descriptions, and the pics. As you can see, Railroads is a bit more cartoonish, and doesn't have the distance between destinations like Railroad Tycoon II, and III. Although, I will say the graphics run well on my machine with all the versions of the Railroad Tycoon series. My favorites are Railroad Tycoon II, and III, because of the content, ease of operation, and distances between destinations. The functionality of all these versions, as far as infrastructure control goes, is totally amazing. The cost of these games is now well below the original $40 USD they started out asking. |
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Post by jhefner on Feb 14, 2008 12:06:58 GMT -5
We have Railroad Tycoon III on the computer at home. I must confess, I prefer the "Flight Simulation" model of having everything built for you and actually operating a train, but my son loves it. It was neat watching him build a system and run steam well after the year 2000.  I think Railroad Tycoon falls along the same lines as "Sim City"; as you said, it is about running the system rather than operating the trains themselves. I think it has a different kind of appeal to it; it is not my favorite. -James |
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Post by bhk on Feb 14, 2008 14:53:47 GMT -5
I was never really bitten by the RR Tycoon (or similar) bug; I tried them, but the interest soon faded.
I really just wanted to drive trains and not be bothered by the management of an "empire". That side of it irritated the hell out of me after a short time! ;D
Bruce
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Post by Admin on Feb 14, 2008 15:11:01 GMT -5
I spent a lot of time addicted to RR Tycoon and RR Tycoon II as well as the Civilization games. I pulled several all-nighters (while I was working.) Now, I pretty much stick to FS. (& MSTS & Trainz & Virtual Sailor & F1 Challenge etc etc etc)
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Post by AirCoaster on Feb 14, 2008 16:55:11 GMT -5
Yah Tom, I remember those all-nighters myself, mostly with the Civ series spending hours creating troops to annialate everything in your path, and convert the conquered civ to my way of thinking....*chuckles*. I totally love the Civ series.
I just brought it up to show the diversity, and the available genre for virtual railroading, whether you enjoy it, or not is your choice. I am pretty much well rounded when it comes to gaming. You've heard the old statement "he's a Jack of all trades, and Master of none."? That's me, I enjoy just about anything that has to do with gaming, and graphics, but I am not a master at any. I'm not so sure I would want to be. Think about it, labeled Mr Know-It-All, no thank you. Besides, I have spent many a night rolling down the tracks of some well known railroad route in MSTS, Trainz, or BVE, and fell to sleep from boredom. To tell you the truth it has happened in FS too. It's all personal choice, you like it, or you don't. I would rather have seen some positive comments then those that slam the product that others may enjoy.
That's really funny Bruce, you being the guy that is involved in adventures for FS, which in all reality is the same as flight management, and flight management can be related to activities in many of the railroad simulators,and games. As I said, I find the game play very interesting, and I am sure there are many more who think likewise.
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Post by kbr on Feb 15, 2008 16:55:30 GMT -5
I don't have any of those games, but after seeing your pictures, I must admit it got my curiosity going.
I kept an eye out for them while I was in town doing my monthly shopping yesterday, but didn't see any. If I happen across one of them at a decent price sometime, I may check it out.
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Post by AirCoaster on Feb 15, 2008 17:50:23 GMT -5
Kevin, all these versions have been released since 2000. I'm not sure of the accurate release dates, but I have seen used, and next to new copies at GameStop, and other game recycling dealers. You might try Ebay also. Railroads is the newest version, and I got the last copy in my local area from Best Buys. Railroads has been out almost a year now, and it plays, much like Railroad Tycoon II as far as the train elements themselves goes. I never was much into the stockmarket side of it, only enough to get myself through some of the scenarios that require you to indulge in the stockmarket. PopTop games did the Tycoon series, Sid Meier did the original Railroad Tycoon, and Firaxis did Railroads, the first, and the current versions.
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Post by bhk on Feb 15, 2008 20:56:29 GMT -5
That's really funny Bruce, you being the guy that is involved in adventures for FS, which in all reality is the same as flight management, and flight management can be related to activities in many of the railroad simulators,and games. .... Uh-uh. Totally different to the "Tycoon" series, John. Those games have a "corporate" management core, including financial. It was that aspect of the games which just didn't gel with me, particularly as at the time such games came out, I was part of a corporate management team. The last thing that I felt like doing as relaxation in the evenings was worrying about a rail-road empire's expansion plans and its bottom line! Creation of Flights and Activities involves no management requirement at all, other than managing my own time to create them.  Bruce |
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Post by AirCoaster on Feb 16, 2008 8:47:24 GMT -5
Like I said, you either like something, or you don't. I, and many others happen to like the challenge of using some sort of infrastructure to create, and develope different regions into cities, and towns that create the products that make them grow. I find no benefit in you bashing the genre just because you dislike it, Bruce.........*chuckles*......... unless you have some underlying need to stop people from playing this genre because it is not totally a true simulation. In all truth, the train, and flight sim simualtors, as we know them, are not true simualtors, far from it. Anyway....*rolls eyes*..... I have spent more hours playing these Tycoon, and Civilization genres, than I have spent with any of the railroad, or flight simulators. Have a great day. |
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Post by bhk on Feb 16, 2008 15:31:37 GMT -5
..... I find no benefit in you bashing the genre just because you dislike it, Bruce............. Who-o-o-a-a there, mate! Whoa! "Bashing"? I am not "bashing", and have not "bashed", anything! Take a slow wander back through this thread, John, and go over what I've written. All that I said was that they didn't appeal to ME. Hardly "bashing the genre", now is it?! ;D Bruce |
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Post by sgtmajor on Feb 18, 2008 1:56:18 GMT -5
I purchased RR Tycoon when it first came out and spent hours playing that game. Then bought Civilization just because Sid Myer had his name on it. I still own all the RR Tycoon series as well as the Civilization series however, have not played them in years. Someday I may put them back on my system..... but seems I have a pretty full plate with all the junk I currently have installed. (smile)
Thanks for the reminder though..... hmmmm..... now where did I put those disks! (smile)
Cheers!!
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Post by AirCoaster on Feb 18, 2008 12:26:17 GMT -5
I know what you mean Sarge, like Tom said, you were so immersed in your game you would pull all nighters just to accomplish your goals. I have all the newer versions Civilization IV, and RRT III on my XP drive, Railroads kinda mimics RRT II, but being I just started to play Railroads I can't really say much about it. The only thing I see that I dislike is the shortness of the routes from one city to the other, and the resource depots, and the tightness of the gameplay area. It still has me intrigued in regards to the way you can handle the different elements to create the goals you want. Railroads plays very fast compared to the earlier Tycoon versions, and you have to be on your toes to get resources, and goods to the right places on time. It's much like the differences between Civilization III, and Civilization IV. Civ IV plays much faster than III, much faster.
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