I'm level 13. Well...I kinda pay at my own pace. I don't ever want to spend engine parts if my engines aren't all the way upgraded, because that would be a waste, because some are too hard to find. I actually redid my tracks and stuff because they were running inefficient for me. Now I'm making more money with straight lines and such. I guess it's working out better, as I'm figuring out how this game works and I found a world map with all cities unlocked.
Questions 1. Most people say they have 5-6 cities per line railroad and not make it too long. Getting more railroads are costly. How many do you end up with in the end, or per continent? 2. Say I wanted to shut down a railroad because it's not making me any money but I wanted to move it wayyyyyyyy over somewhere else. (Like in another place from Europe to Asia) I'm clearly not going to take over the line bit by bit. When I shut down the railroad, I am going to have to pay that money all over again to reopen the line, right? How much? 3. What train has enough gas to take you from. Lisbon to NY? 4. Excuse the noob talk, but what is all this stuff about hubs and stuff? Is there something I'm missing? Thanks so much for your help if you can help me. Btw, per that other breakdown post, I am now up to an astonishing 15,000+ Today loss.
1) I find 5-6 to be the bare minimum. As you expand, and you get better trains you find that 5-6 stations just isn't enough to provide the amount of jobs required to fill trains. They're ok to stay as 'feeder' lines (will explain in answer 4), but otherwise they're just not big enough. Totally fine early doors for steamers and stuff though. 2) I'd suggest not doing it like that. It's very rare a line doesn't make profit - in fact, it's nearly impossible unless you're just sending them empty constantly. Keep it open; at least for now. The cost of closing a line (which de-commisions all the lines AND takes your train back to the yard) is not worth it - mainly because you then have to boot up your train again on another line, as if it was a 'new' line, adding 20, 30, 40k + (depending what number the line is) 3) I BELIEVE even a steamer with a fuel cart added is enough - but don't quote me on that. 4) The hub talk comes a lot from pocket train players, but make sense in general transportation terms. A hub, in pocket trains, is a station that has lots of lines coming and going from it. Let's say you had a line from Glasgow to Munich, and then you had a line from Munich to Volgograd (very small lines, but you get the idea). The hub would be munich... the purpose would be, if you are sat in Glasgow, and had cargo bound for Volgograd, you could send it to Munich as a layover, and pick it up from Munich using the other line. Then you get 'feeders', which is basically the opposite - a line that's sole purpose is to 'feed' these hubs with cargo bound for the opposite end. In grand terms, this would be a western USA line that feeds (for example) New York with layovers - then a line from New York to Europe, and then on to asia. That's where the huge profits from single cargo comes from. (It's also important to note at this point however, that cargo like this is no more valuable than a piece of cargo from Paris to London... It just means there's far less micro-managing involved... Making as much money with paris --> London --> Paris cargo, means you basically are sitting on your phone waiting for it to arrive, to send it back again. Sending them long distances means you can put your phone down and visit it again 20-30 minutes later to carry on - hope this makes sense) Obviously that's a very basic example; people have lots of hubs over crazy distances - but that's the idea. It's the idea of getting away from treating each individual line as a silo; realising that you can send cargo bound for further distances, to a station for others to pick up. It adds another dimension to the game!
Even a lowly Cherry Steamer with a fuel car can do that. It costs about 375 fuel for the trip, and upgraded Steamers have at least 460 max fuel. The only train you can't use is the Dragonbreath (max fuel 250, no fuel cars possible).
It isn't that expensive to unlock all the cities on the map, but it gives special crates for the Monopoly-Something achievements. I started playing on launch day. No paying, no hacking. Just Lv 21 now.
Thanks so much. Right now, I'm level 13. I have 10 trains, and did all my tracks over from that loopy mess to straight lines. I only have 2 trains that give me 12 cargo: the rio grande and the carbon steamer. So I'm slowly but surely collecting parts, and buying track as I go along. So, as far as with the steamers with 8 cargo---you expand with them past the whole six cities or so? Switch them out for better trains and then expand to claim track? How do you do that? I must be missing something. And what's the "switch engine" button I found? This can't be mixed or matched with other trains, correct? I am going to attach a pic of my map to show you (I hope I do this right so you can see it) let me know what you think. As for the little corner of track by helenski with only 3 cities, that makes me a lot of money, but I will make it longer by claiming track with a better train. How would I do that if I don't send them to the yard? Right now, it's just a work in progress. I don't know how people finished the game already, geez y'all work quick. Thanks so much for the help.
I posted a pic of my NA setup but not the rest which is good as its changed a lot lately. When I get my game finalized in a few days I'll post the finished map. My NA operation though has worked out perfectly with little micromanagement required. I have one train that goes from NY west to hawaii and everything south and all lines north of there are a second train all the way to rekyavick. Both are standards with upgrades. Africa is one train which with extra engines should be capable of servicing the whole continent. South America is working out to be one train as well. Everything else is still evolving.
Sorry I've googled everywhere and can't find this answer, how many trains is the max number of trains you can have on the map?
There's no maximum number of trains you can have. It is only limited by the amount of coins you have, because each new RR costs more than the previous one.
I am just wondering what is everyone's max amount of hub capacity? Mine is 80 at Munich. Is it too much?
Do NimbleBit employees still read this thread? I'd like to start a conversation about expanding the endgame, or "growing the sandbox" if you will. I've reached the endgame, although I still have a lot of trains I want to upgrade, and coins are piling up fast. I can spend them on crates (and am) but then my bux fall behind. I'm fine with the game as is, but in the grand tradition of other railroad games like Railroad Tycoon, I think the game has a *ton* of potential for new content. Right now when a train is in a station you can upgrade the train and the station: I would like to propose being able to upgrade the *city* as well. The possible mechanics that could be added in a new city upgrade screen are nearly limitless. Here are a few ideas off the top of my head: Visa Office: Allows you to designate one city anywhere in the world. Every train that stops at this city will be guaranteed one cargo to this destination. Engine Shop: Offers alternative ways to get train parts. Steep price to build, but allows you to guarantee a specific train type. When upgraded, it can turn out multiple parts at a time or even entire trains. Duty-free Retailer: Provides a multiplier bonus to cargoes originating in this city. Those are just three ideas off the top of my head, I'm sure we can come up with loads more! Each of these could require any combination of coins, bux, train parts, or new things not yet implemented (be they special construction crates or just loads of specific cargoes). I think there are also obvious opportunities for implementation of additional IAPs to make this worth the developer's time. From just more demand for everything already available as an IAP to selling the new items. Perhaps building in cities could offer the choice of large coin/bux/goods costs or small IAPs. In the end, the game is just a sandbox. I understand this, and none of the above would change that. But the presentation is so slick and the gameplay so much fun, it seems a shame that after 2-3 weeks the only things left to do are to craft ultra rare trains and collect infinite coins. The basic game engine has SO MUCH more potential! Thanks for reading.
I've unlocked/serviced all the cities in Europe yet I still can't achieve the 'monopoly Europe' awards, what's going on? I wish more awards will be created as we expand the railroad, or it'll be another boring game just like PP Gift code: 1RSZ
Same was true for NimbleQuest. In the end, once you spent a couple days and unlocked all the characters all there was to do was grind away for months to level those characters up by playing the same levels over and over and over. It would have been nice if they added actual Quests or something to the game but alas they never did. That ultimately made the experience pretty disappointing for me since I had played and loved Call of Snakes (the game that inspired it) so much. I don't think they tend to do more than just polish what is already there and then move on to develop the next game. Pocket Trains for me anyway was a lot more satisfying than NQ simply because there's a lot more to do in the game and actual achievements and stuff for doing it. Logistics can be fun and the variety of jobs keeps things somewhat fresh over just grinding the same levels over and over. IF they were to add something to the game, I'd want something new to earn in the game as well as the ability to buy specific trains for coins to make finishing the collection more streamlined. Oh mission variety would be nice. But honestly I don't expect anything ever to be added to the game. ... Last night I finished my South America train off. I ended up getting a second engine for the SA train and I really can't see expanding beyond that one train. It's already kind of a nightmare managing all the trains I have going. Maybe when I get a few more standards with upgrades I'll replace more EU stuff and streamline even further. At the moment though, I still have to finish Oceana and I can't see doing that without adding at least two more trains.
I agree with this completely. As far as new things to add to the city, earlier in this thread I suggested a refueling station which would refuel the trains faster, or even allow you to buy fuel instantly with coins for a steep price based on train class and tank size. it would allow you to spend the extra coins you have at the end. It would also be nice if they added more achievements to the game.
I got a nice bug today, I had a special crate to deliver which needed 2 layovers. At the first Layover I unload it, switch to the next train in line...and have it 4 times in the Jobs list. Every time I load one of them, and click another one the Layover count increases and I have even more of that crate in the jobs list, so I can't send more then 1 at a time. They don't disappear when I load and send one, I can just click them so they duplicate -> unlimited special crates for me I delivered 10 of them so far, with "unlimited" ones waiting in the hub I don't even know how to get rid of them...deliver them 1by1 or close the station I guess...
I am getting quite a headache from trying to visualize your layout at the moment. From what you've previously shared in both your NA map and description (thanks again!), you have a two-train setup in NA. One roams the southern area, while the other train takes care of business in the north. It looks like you have a separate line that just connects NY to Europe. May I ask which European city is your hub for that line? And what about the other connection? Is it from Montreal >> Goose Bay >> Nuuk >> Tasilaq >> Reykjavik? What's your European hub for that? Please forgive me if I'm being a bother; it's just that I'm trying to streamline my game and your operation seems to be the best one in here that could provide what I'm looking for in my own game.
I've had this bug for about a week, and for both special crates and normal crates. I have this effect happening in two different cities. I have a dedicated train in Los Angeles to do nothing but deliver unlimited normal crates to Phoenix and another in Shanghai to deliver unlimited special crates to Beijing. So far I've stockpiled a few hundred crates from this bug...
Just a tip to let you cash in more money: When a daily event rewards 4-coin jobs designated to a certain city (75 jobs required), stop right before reaching that goal if you have a lot of time left to accomplish the event, and collect further jobs to that city in the close area. Because when the event is done, jobs designated to that city will be reduced in number and go random again and be likely of less value.
