Universal Pocket Trains - (by NimbleBit LLC)

Discussion in 'iPhone and iPad Games' started by Sanuku, Sep 25, 2013.

  1. Homogenous

    Homogenous New Member

    Sep 26, 2009
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    Parts for trade!

    Am looking for the following:

    Bullet (2)
    New Jersey Freighter (4)
    Maryland Freighter (5)
    20th Century Limited (4)

    Have the following to trade:

    Any steamer and any express - I have plenty.

    Mallard (7)
    Daylight (7)
    Dragonbreath (32)
    Dekotora (7)
    Gila Standard (18)
    Rio Grande (13)
    San Juan (4)
    Terabyte Zephyr (13)
    Petabyte Zephyr (30)
    Exabyte Zephyr (10)
    Zetabyte Zephyr (10)
    Carbon Steamer (51)

    2:1 ratio for premium engines to non-premium engines, and 1:1 on premium to premium and all other engines.

    Gift code is 2T2PN (also my sig), let me know if you're interested!
     
  2. Rahbek

    Rahbek New Member

    Jul 29, 2012
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    I'm new - help welcome!

    I just started this game yesterday and I'm already hooked on it like i was with Pocket Planes.
    I'd be happy about anyone who kindly donates his unused parts to help a newbie up to speed! :)

    many thanks in advance to anyone who shares his spare parts! :)

    Gift Code: 3Y9KT
     
  3. PocketDaddy45

    PocketDaddy45 Well-Known Member

    Nov 19, 2012
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    Just bought a special crate for 40K and completed my 81st event.

    Yep, 2 Dragonbreath parts :mad:
     
  4. Mr. Ramen

    Mr. Ramen Well-Known Member

    Nov 14, 2012
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    I wonder if the Christmas train will ever come to iOS.
     
  5. Harmoniamundi

    Harmoniamundi Well-Known Member

    Jul 2, 2012
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    Teacher/Musician
    Ohio
    Boo.
     
  6. Mr. Ramen

    Mr. Ramen Well-Known Member

    Nov 14, 2012
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    Yeah, I guess not. Merry Grinchmas, NimbleBit.
     
  7. Sinnin

    Sinnin Member

    Jul 2, 2012
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    I can't believe I missed the release on this game. So far pretty fun!

    I don't like to mooch but if anyone has some extra express parts send them my way -4m67m- I don't really have anything to trade... Just trying to get out of my steamers.
     
  8. Hwy.Star

    Hwy.Star Member

    Dec 2, 2013
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    I've been playing Pocket Trains for just over a month and enjoy playing it but get annoyed by several flaws that make it a lesser game than Pocket Planes.

    My biggest beef is the economics of the game. There are not enough train cars that are worth bux instead of coins. Planes had more bux available to earn and bank away. This is made worse by two other major flaws in the game, crates and penalties.

    The whole idea of mystery crates just sucks. I have spent far too many bux for parts that I don't need. It's nice to gift pieces to share your excess and complete an engine but I don't want to have to work the gift board just to get what I want. Just let me pick out my parts like Planes. The cost of gifting just adds insult to injury here. I don't object to it with Planes because you likely chose to by the specific piece you're gifting. With Trains, you blow ten bux then get something you don't need, and are further insulted by having to pay more bux to gift it to someone else.

    To be fair, providing a gifting code in Trains makes gifting a lot easier. .

    Then there are the penalties. In Planes, you could lose some coins for an unprofitable flight. But that was your own decision. The roadblock created by an airport going down was just a delay. You could still do other things. In Trains, the penalties involve spending those hard to get bux to fix the train once or twice a day.

    Then there is the cost of fuel. After playing for fifteen minutes, at least one of your trains runs out of fuel. Your choices, spend more hard earned bux or just walk away. The biggest absurdity is that this game actually discourages your from playing it.

    All of this could be fixed with making more train cars be worth bux instead of coins. It would also be nice to be able to pick up a tanker car that is worth fuel instead of coins or bux.

    The other issues are much more minor. Can't we have an enlarge and reduce button for the map view like Planes? And make the maps be able to zoom out farther like Planes.

    Trains is a good game and could be a great game with some fixes. I've enjoyed playing it but am starting to be drawn back to Planes where I don't have these annoyances. Of course Planes appears to have become abandon by the developers before the finishing touches got made. I hope Trains doesn't suffer this fate too soon.
     
  9. Harmoniamundi

    Harmoniamundi Well-Known Member

    Jul 2, 2012
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    Teacher/Musician
    Ohio
    A tanker car worth fuel! Brilliant....I wonder if that could easily be added, and perhaps stockpiled for later use? Great idea!
     
  10. Mr. Ramen

    Mr. Ramen Well-Known Member

    Nov 14, 2012
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    I think you can get plenty of bux easily enough. The relative scarcity of bux cars is offset by the huge bux rewards for far-away jobs. When you're going across Asia and the Atlantic, there should be enough big jobs.

    Yeah, it was an interesting concept. The idea is similar to the bux thing: if you play long enough, you'll get enough parts for every train set. Ideally you're actually spending the same amount of time with random parts as you would with a market. But maybe some players just want to focus on specific trains. Doing work for special crates, and getting Carbon Steamers only creates frustration. Conversely, if there were a store with a Dekotora part, even if it was ridiculously expensive, at least the player has control over getting it, and has something to shoot for.

    You can pay for repairs with coins or parts, but not bux.

    Well I think they want to you think about how economically you send your trains. If you get all the fuel parts it shouldn't be a problem. To me, waiting to refuel is the same as waiting for trains to arrive, and it's a lot better than the worst aspect of Planes - sitting in airports waiting for specific jobs to arrive. At least Trains encourages constant movement, so that's a definite improvement over Planes that they made.
     
  11. Hwy.Star

    Hwy.Star Member

    Dec 2, 2013
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    Thanks for the feed back. FWIW: On planes I'm at level 31 with 21 planes in the air. I only have a couple of remote locations to get and the 10M airline value awards to get before I'm done. I like trains but still have to make the paradigm shift. I have 11 railroads and 244k miles behind me.
    I haven't gone trans-Atlantic yet. I'm stockpiling my coins so I can pay for the license,, train lines, and segments without going broke. The main thing is having trains that can do the distance. I don't know which ones will do it. Then I've burned up so much fuel, they are done.
    I can understand and accept that. It is just not balanced well. If bux were easier to come by or the cost of a crate was lower, it would be more acceptable.

    I would rather see all the trains available in regular crates and have the special crates allow you to pick the part you want.
    This is where they went wrong. With planes, you paid coins for the distance and got coins for the passengers. That was the efficiency aspect.

    In trains, you pay per mile in fuel and get coins/bux. The problem is you can only pay for fuel with bux. And with the bux hard to come by, you have to wait. Plus I like the efficiency of being able to keep all the trains moving picking up cars that were dropped of by another train. That is the real efficiency aspect, keeping more and more trains and cars moving without having to pay to upgrade a station. I think that is where trains got it right. I can chose to upgrade a station with hard earned bux if it makes my trains more productive.

    In the end, bux are too hard to come by compared to the cost of items. I'd like to see more bux cars, lower bux prices, and a way to exchange coins into bux.
     
  12. ThaliaKleio

    ThaliaKleio Active Member

    Nov 28, 2013
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    I can't seem to be able to purchase any crates? I have enough biz for them but I can't seem to find an button to buy them. I read somewhere about purchasing them at stations but I can't find that option either ? Is it a glitch or am i just being really dumb?? :)
     
  13. Vivilion

    Vivilion Well-Known Member

    Oct 22, 2013
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    Occasionally there is a sale in a station, but not always. There will be a "!" At the station when there are crates for sale. 8000 coins for a regular crate, and 40000 for a special.
     
  14. ThaliaKleio

    ThaliaKleio Active Member

    Nov 28, 2013
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    So is the only way to buy crates through a station, I though I could buy them with bux??
     
  15. Hwy.Star

    Hwy.Star Member

    Dec 2, 2013
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    You can also buy them from the Shop with real money. Either way you have to spend 10 bux to open it.
     
  16. ThaliaKleio

    ThaliaKleio Active Member

    Nov 28, 2013
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    Ahh I see I though I could buy then for 10 bux, didn't realise it was gonna cost me 10 bux just to open ones I'd already purchased. Seems like a bit of a rip off to me :/
     
  17. PocketDaddy45

    PocketDaddy45 Well-Known Member

    Nov 19, 2012
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    #1837 PocketDaddy45, Jan 27, 2014
    Last edited: Jan 31, 2014
    delete
     
  18. galderz

    galderz Member

    Oct 17, 2013
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    Unfortunately, compared to Pocket Planes, I gave up on the game much earlier because I thought the later part of the game was very tedious. I mean, once you have a large network, you'd want to focus on maximising profit, possibly focusing on a subset of train stations, located in the edges. So, it'd be great to be able to disable intermediate stops and avoid getting cargo/passengers for these intermediate stops obscuring your view. With Planes, this was easy to achieve since you could jump around.
     
  19. Hwy.Star

    Hwy.Star Member

    Dec 2, 2013
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    I agree. On the upside, Pocket Trains helped break me of Pocket Planes. Pocket Trains could be as good but some things are just not quire right.

    I was hoping there might be an update but I've given up on that. It seems that NimbleBit wants to pop a game out and move on. I'm close to putting this app on the shelf until they decide to update it.
     
  20. vicsark

    vicsark Well-Known Member

    Aug 22, 2011
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    I totally agree, it just felt too tedious at some point, and I let go. :(

    Past 20 active trains and being on all continents, it became a micro management hell without a lot of synergies or automatisation possible.
    I also don't like the 24h events, they're too stressful. Twice a week like PP or at least 48 hours would be better suited to me.
    And obviously the absence of the social aspect of global events (like the crews in PP) made be abandon PT way way sooner.

    I had a lot of fun playing it in the beginning, but it feels like you've reached the end of the game (which isn't a bad thing, but i'm not sure if that was intended by Nimblebit) :)
     

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