Game: Railroad Tycoon II
Developer: PopTop Software/Take 2 Interactive
Publisher: Hasbro
Platform: PC (also Playstaion, but this guide is not specifically for either
system)
-=FAQ=-
Type: Train FAQ
Version: Final
Completion: 100%
Date Created: ??:??:?? GMT, 8th May 2002
Date Modified: 21:34:00 GMT, 30th September 2003
-=Copyright=-
This FAQ is copyright CGorman (Ciarán Gorman) 2003, and may only be used for
non-profitable causes, e.g. Gamefaqs.com. If you want this FAQ, just steal it
and I will sue you, because it is to be exclusively hosted through the
internet by Gamefaqs, and no other website or affliation, except of course
any website I may own. Use of this FAQ through other mediums such as print,
is available through nogotiation. Also "Railroad Tycoon II" is a copyright of
PopTop Software/Take 2 Interactive. The above ASCII Art is also (C) Ciarán
Gorman 2003.
-=Disclaimer=-
This FAQ may contain spoliers, mistakes etc., but any personal loss incured
by such is understood to be of your own free will and I hold no resposibility.
-=Email=-
Please email me if you have a problem, I strive to answer all valid and
decent questions, and add them to my FAQs with credit for the individual who
asked the question. But I will not answer any foolish or ignorant questions, I
do not have time for such, as I can get up to 20 emails in one day, so please
think before you email me, and check out any other FAQs for the answer, and of
course read this one fully.
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---------------------------------[ Contents ]---------------------------------
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NB: For those of you using Internet Explorer 5+, by pressing CTRL and F and
entering the code, you can skip to a paticular park of the FAQ. The code
is formed by taking the number (e.g. 1.1) and adding - and the first
letter of the section (e.g. Advice, A). So to get to the Multiplayer
section type:
2.4 - A
1.0...............................................................Introduction
1.1........................................................Version History/Log
3.0...................................................................Farewell
3.1....................................................................Credits
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----------------------------[ 1.0 - Introduction ]----------------------------
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Hi! I am so addicted to this game that at moment I can't even stop playing
to even write a short FAQ, but I am able to do an In-Depth guide on the most
important part of the game, the Trains! I hope it helps, I've even learn't a
few things myself while writing it!
CGorman,
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------------------------[ 1.1 - Version History/Log ]-------------------------
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Version: 1.0
Completion: 50%
Date/Time: ??:??:?? GMT, 8th May 2002
- Wrote the bear basics of the FAQ, hope its well recieved by both CJayC and
the public.
Version: 1.1
Completion: 60%
Date/Time: ??:??:?? GMT, 15th June 2002
- More basic updates, second last update.
Version: Final
Completion: 100%
Date/Time: Between 16:15:13 GMT, 25th August 2002 & 30th September 2003
25th Aug 02 Finished up FAQ - its nice to have finished a FAQ as early as its
third update. I am very happy with this FAQ, and feel I have good
very indepth into the topic.
5th Oct 02 Well; just a few minor changes, mainly small formating ones.
30th Sept 03 Email address change and internet explorer quick jump system.
Also added Q&A
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----------------------------[ 2.0 - Cars (Train) ]----------------------------
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-=Basics=-
[1] The first piece of advice I wish to share is that you should only add
carriages that are supplied by the station, otherwish you might have a
Uranium carriage on a train that goes from a cattle yard to a Meat Packing
Plant, not exactly the most finacialy clever decision you ever made!
[2] When you are setting a train to go to certain destinations, you can (and
probably should) set at what point it should leave, i.e. to leave at any
point, half full, or full. Half full would make the most sense, because if
you have half full train, and are waiting for it to become fully full
train, then the other cargos value will depreciate quickly, and if you
were running a train with no cargo, well you will obiviously make nothing!
To set any of these settings, you must find a "traffic light" (don't ask)
beside the destinate and find the correct choice. The following is a list
of the different choices:
Green light : Leave at any point
Yellow light: Leave at half full point
Red light : Leave when fully full
[3] The weight of certain extra carriages can be to much for some of the older
trains, so take this fully into consideration when adding carriages to
make sure you move more than 5mph (seriously).
[4] Make use of every carriage, if you think your train will not have a full
load often, then get ride of a carriage, not only is it cheaper, but it
really doe's make your trains faster.
[5] On major routes I use 4 trains, 2 in each direction, one with 3 passenger
cars and 3 mail cars, and the other with things like cattle cars or milk
etc., depending solely on the partciular route. For lesser routes 2 trains
will do, 1 in each direction, mixed with passenger cars, mail cars and
other cars.
-=Noteable Carriages=-
o Caboose
Decreases breakdowns by 25% and robberies by 75%.
o Dining Car
Increases the passenger revenues of any train it is attached to by 20%. If
there are no passenger revenues, the dining car generates no revenue.
Additional dining cars beyond the first offer no extra revenue.
-=Weight=-
The following is an indepth guide to the carriage weight and that sort of
information, all the following weights are in tons:
The following chart is a list of how many days you have to deliver certain
items:
_________________ _________________
| Item | Max Time (Days) |
|=================|=================|
| Aluminum | 1,300 days |
| Automobiles | 800 days |
| Beuxite | 1,600 days |
| Cattle | 800 days |
| Cement | 800 days |
| Chemicals | 800 days |
| Coal | 1,600 days |
| Coffee | 800 days |
| Cotton | 1,100 days |
| Diesel | 1,100 days |
| Fertilizer | 1,300 days |
| Food | 600 days |
| Goods | 800 days |
| Grain | 1,600 days |
| Gravel | 1,600 days |
| Iron | 1,600 days |
| Logs | 1,600 days |
| Lumber | 1,300 days |
| Mail | 300 days |
| Milk | 300 days |
| Oil | 1,100 days |
| Paper | 800 days |
| Passengers | 500 days |
| Produce | 600 days |
| Pulpwood | 1,600 days |
| Rubber | 1,600 days |
| Steel | 1,300 days |
| Suger | 800 days |
| Tires | 1,300 days |
| Uranium | 800 days |
| Waste | 800 days |
| Wool | 1,100 days |
|_________________|_________________|
-=Revenue=-
The following table has been worked out in percentage, it shows the value
of a certain cargo after a certain pariod. I used a stopwatch first to get
the different game speeds, which are as follows...
1 = 43sec per month 5 = 5sec per month 9 = 1.0sec per month
2 = 22sec per month 6 = 4sec per month 10 = 0.6sec per month
3 = 12sec per month 7 = 2sec per month
4 = 7sec per month 8 = 1.2sec per month
...and then timed the train to carry the item from A to B, then found the
percentage decline in value and found out how much its value declined after
100 days. Due to the difficulty in doing the above I have only done the two
prime cargos.
__________________ ________________________
| Cargo | Decline after 100 days |
|------------------|------------------------|
| Mail | 18.7% |
| Passengers | 16.0% |
|__________________|________________________|
-=Sources=-
The following is a list identifing where you can get certain cargos and
were they will be excepted.
OK, since this is a train guide the following few sections are the in's and
out's of trains. Firstly I have a table with, their names, speeds, costs etc.,
later on I have a written passege on each individual train.
-=Table=-
The following table contains all relivent technical information on all the
trains in the game.
N.B. Most of the information (if not all) is correct to the game.
N.B. All speeds are in Miles per hour, as money is in US$, measured in 1,000'.
N.B. Costs have been rounded off in some cases.
This section of the FAQ is about train types, I hope it answers a few common
questions in relation to the game.
-=Steam Trains=-
In the my chart in the last section you will have noticed that the majority
of the trains were steam, so this type of train plays a large role in the
game, anyways heres a few facts.
-Best Steam Train Overall-
The "Class A4 Mallard" is probably the best steam train overall, it is fast,
cheap, and is easy enough to mantain, its only pitfall being its poor
reliability.
-Fastest Steam Train-
The "Class A4 Mallard" is also the fastest train, it has a top speed of
126Mph - on flat surfaces - sadly its not any good in montainous regions.
-Worst Steam Train-
The worst steam train in the game is probably the "Trevithick-1" it struggles
to go 10Mph without any cargo on a flat railroad.
-=Diesel Trains=-
Diesel trains are the most reliant type of train in the game and are
generally cheap to run and mantain, so they are ideal in most senerios.
-Best Diesel Train Overall-
The "F9" is easily the best diesel train, its fast, reliant and not too
expensive, also it boasts a low mantainance bill.
-Fastest Diesel Train-
The "F9" is also the fastest train with top speeds of 110Mph on flat surfaces
dropping slightly to 85Mph if cargo is attached.
-Worst Diesel Train-
Althought not all that bad, the "SD45" is the worst diesel train, but I
stress that it ain't to bad, and every single diesel train is good.
-=Electric Trains=-
Electric trains are easily the most expensive type of train, they are dear in
maintainance, intial purchase, track laying and replacing. But they are also
the fastest with some travelling at up to 280Mph.
-Best Electric Train Overall-
For the third time the fastest train is also the best, with instant
acceleration, above average reliability, the "Mag-Lev TBX-1" is a great train.
-Fastest Electric Train-
The "Mag-Lev TBX-1" can travel at 280Mph on flat track with no cargo, it also
is the only train to have instant acceleration.
-Worst Electric Train-
The "E69" is by far the worst electric train, at $86,000 you are buying a
load of rubbish, it scores fair and below average in acceleration and
reliabilty. It also struggles to move at 31Mph with no cargo on ideal
surfaces.
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--------------------------------[ 2.3 - Track ]-------------------------------
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First of all there are two types of; Normal and Electric, normal will suit
diesel and steam trains wereas electric is soley for electric trains. For both
types of track you can lay one way or two way pieces of track, I highly
recommend two way, so most of the following is two way. To help with tracks I
have devised a few "systems" they are as follows"
-=Individualism Rules=-
Its generally not that great dispite the title but it has its advantages,
like it is easy to keep an eye on certain routes and make sure all trains are
making money, the following is an example.
_
|S|,S, - Station
¯
\,|,/,_, - Track
As you can see by individualism, I mean not koing tracks to create new
routes, the advantages are somewhat unobvious, they are that instead of having
more routes out of a station, you can protect a large profit on one route
instead of deviding it among several, so the argument goes:
N.B: The trains in question are 4-6-2 Pacific, which is typical steam train
which has combined fuel and mantainence bills of $179K per/yr.
Obvoiusly a much better profit, and i'm even excluding the money that can be
made from station upgrades, but is it worth investing so heavily in new track
and trains? I believe the answer is yes, but...
-Planned Track-
Now that we have acertained the fact that more track will mean more profits,
we can focus on how to make more from a train, obviously the first answer is
to get all those station upgrades that promise 10%, 20%, 30% and more, but can
we go further in our quest for large profits? The answer is yes, by
reorganising the track we can make trips shorter and thus cut overheads and
save money, in the following I have used the same station locations as before,
but with more direct track.
_
|S|,S, - Station
¯
\,|,/,_, - Track
As you can see most of the routes are shorter and I also used less track, so
your system is now more efficent, thus increasing destinations, speed and
efficents which will attract more passengers, cargo etc., which will generate
more profits, I can now give a figure for the whole grid unlike in the last
two statements.
Thats a total differeance of over four million dollers. Now can you see my
line of thinking? And to consider the given system above of 60 routes is only
a small system when you consider theres over 100 towns/cities in the biggest
map in the game, and were only working off 12! So you can start multipling my
figures! And also I have not encluded the fact that you can purchase industrys
which will make money if you transport there goods, and also the fact that you
can multiply a trains profit by over 100% if you upgrade the station fully,
and I have only been working off towns/cities as routes, you can use single
track with a single train to bring small industrys products that are located
in the remotest areas, to towns, thats another niché market, so you are no
longer going to be dealing with hundreds, thousneds, hundreds of thousend,
millions, tens of millions, hundreds of millions - but BILLIONS of US$Doller!
And the best thing about the above is - its ture!
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-------------------------------[ 2.4 - Advice ]-------------------------------
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I now want to share just a few important bits of advice in relation to the
trains and related matters.
o Replace trains 1 year before there stated life expectancy is finished, it
may mean you get less out of the train, but it also means less brakedowns
and usually one single trip is enough to pay for a train.
o Try to standardise all your trains, e.g. only buy one or two models, this
makes things simpler and means that they will all be up to scratch with
none braking down more than others, or making less than others.
o Don't put more than 2 trains on a short route, its ok to have a good few
on long routes, but its different with short routes.
o Remember long routes gererally make more money, so if you can the investment
in track is worth it.
o Don't just buy any old industry, buy the ones you make profitable, so if
your thinking of bring grain from its silo to some destination were its
accepted, buy the industry straight before opening the route, you will then
sucure both a profitable business at a low price and the garenteed future of
of the route.
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-------------------------------[ 2.5 - TopTen ]-------------------------------
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The following charts may seem a bit useless to some, but I can promise others
will see the great use in them, you can cut and past them into another
document, print it and use it to decide which train to buy (or not to buy)
when playing the game.
-=Top 10 Slowest trains=-
The following are the slowest trains, I have not kept to any boundry, e.g.
excluding certain trains. By slowest I mean slowest on a flat surface with no
cargo.
The following are the fastest trains, again I have not excluded any, the list
is based on a train traveling at maximum speed with no cargo across a flat
track.
Ok, this chart may be tilted towards my own opinion a little, I have taken
into consideration several factors, including speed, reliability and
acceleration.
AC - Acceleration
RL - Reliabilty
Mt/yr - Maintanance per year
Fu/yr - Fuel per yer
= - Fuel
E - Eletric
S - Steam
D - Diesel
P - Poor
BA - Below Average
A - Average
AA - Above Average
G - Good
F - Fast
VG - Very Good
___ ___________________ ___ __________ ___________ ____ ____ _______ _______
|No.| Name | = | Cost | Top Speed | AC | RL | Mt/yr | Fu/yr |
|---|-------------------|---|----------|-----------|----|----|-------|-------|
|1. | Class E18 | E | $97,000 | 93Mph | F | G | $16K | $69K |
|2. | Class 1020 | E | $119,000 | 56Mph | F | VG | $18K | $50K |
|3. | 4-4-2 Atlantic | S | $93,000 | 80Mph | F | AA | $18K | $96K |
|4. | 4-6-2 Pacific | S | $119,000 | 95Mph | AA | A | $21K | $158K |
|5. | 0-10-0 Class G10 | S | $98,000 | 50Mph | AA | A | $38K | $118K |
|6. | 2-10-0 Class 13-H | S | $102,000 | 40Mph | AA | G | $36K | $95K |
|7. | 2-6-2 Prairie | S | $85,000 | 60Mph | BA | G | $11K | $79K |
|8. | 2-6-0 Mogul | S | $83,000 | 50Mph | A | A | $12K | $52K |
|9. | 4-4-0 D16sb | S | $65,000 | 45Mph | P | VG | $9K | $41K |
|10.| USRA 0-6-0 | S | $90,000 | 40Mph | P | G | $13K | $65K |
|___|________________________________________________________________________|
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---------------------------------[ 2.6 - Q&A ]--------------------------------
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Q: My train is going really slowly and it says "no water/sand/oil," whats
going on?
A: You need to build either a sanding tower (sand), water tower (water), or
roundhouse (oil).
Q: My trains keep getting robbed - what can I do?
A: Well the best solution is to add a caboose carriage, this reduces your
chance of being robbed. You should also try hiring a manager who reduces
robberies.
Q: My train keeps breaking down - why?
A: You may need to offer sanding, water or oil. Alternatively your train may
be getting too old. If you don't wan't to replace an old train you can
reduce its speed in the trains window. By reducing speed you will lower the
chance of a breakdown. To lower the speed pull on the handle in the trains
window.
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------------------------------[ 3.0 - Farewell ]------------------------------
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I finally want to thank you for reading this FAQ, its appriciated since I
wroth it for your benfit, if you have any valid comments, suggestions or
problems, please email me letting me know.
CGorman.
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------------------------------[ 3.1 - Credits ]-------------------------------
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I lastly wish to thank the following for there contribution.
o Well firstly both Take2 Interactive and PopTop Software for
publishing/writing this game.
o You of course for making it worth while.
o Gamefaqs and CJayC for hosting this FAQ.
o Me for Writing it.
