Rail Route News

Hey all! We're hosting a community giveaway on our Discord alongside this new Demo release, and we have some plans for more in the future. If you want to have a chance of winning a full game, give it a go!

:sparkles: Timetable Maps

I will release a new contest map in Demo from time to time. Submit your score for every map in our Discord to participate.

Winners will be chosen at random from all players! But, of course, the best player will get something... special :wink:.

How do you participate? Well, it's simple:

1. Join our community discord
2. Read the rules in #giveaway
   
3. Play and submit the score
   

The Rail Route Demo is now available. You can try the game until the end of the next Steam Festival in June.

We really hope you will enjoy the game. And please, don't forget to tell us your feedback as well! Help us make this game even better. Our development is heavily inspired by the community suggestions. The best way to reach us is to join our Discord and talk directly to the developers - Angel or Miso. We would love to have you on board of the train.

We will be constantly updating the demo with the bug fixes and improvements. We are used to that from our alpha period. And you can expect these updates in the Early Access version as well. We love developing this game, it's our hobby, passion and job :).

Happy dispatching!

One of the currencies in the endless mode are the experience points. They are shown as green and red train points at the top of the screen.



You are awarded the experience point(s) for every non-delayed train when it reaches its final destination (together with the money reward). The amount is based on the contract definition as you can see on the screenshot below.




Experience points are really important - they allow you to unlock the various System Upgrades. These upgrades are helping you to handle the traffic, and are improving your user interface (and experience). The later you are in the game, the more traffic you need to handle. But thanks to these upgrades, it’s still manageable and usually more pleasant as well. The upgrades are non-linear and it’s to everyone’s personal taste to choose between them.

The unlocks are designed to be handy and helpful but not entirely necessary (a few exceptions apply, for example the ones that will allow you to get the red experience point, see below). Every unlock can help you to be more efficient, do less work or have a better experience with your dispatcher interface.

There are currently four categories of the upgrades:

• Contracts
  
• Automation
  
• Controls
  
• Interface
  

[h2]Contracts Upgrades[/h2]


As the name implies these are tightly connected to the contract system. They can adjust how and what types of the contracts are being generated or allow you to make adjustments or even generate your own contracts.

[h3]New Type of contracts[/h3]
You can unlock new types of contracts thus more variety to the traffic you are operating. For example the Freight trains or the One-off Inter-City contracts. These contracts are really important as they are awarding the red experience points. So don’t forget to unlock one of these early! The red point is also awarded for the Coach Yard contracts that originate from the station in your controlling area.



[h3]Contract adjustments[/h3]
Another group of contract upgrades are for the adjustments of the contracts. The ability to change the train’s timetable can be very handy in a lot of situations. Especially the change of designated platform is something that you may need in the early game. One of the upgrades allows you to optimize the contract (run the trial train again) and get a much better reward if you can handle it faster.



[h3]Future unlocks[/h3]
As we will release regular updates during the Early Access we already have the plans of what kind of new unlocks could be in this category. You can expect the Upgrades that will allow you to have more offered contracts (current limit is 5 contracts) or be able to sort the offered contracts into corresponding categories (contract type, train type) and choose between them. Or even Auto-Decline feature that will reject contracts for you. Because we know that later in the game, there is usually a need for specific types of contracts. It will free your hands and go well with the design of the unlocks - be more efficient and do less work!


Next time, I’ll tell you more about the next category of the upgrades! Follow us and join our community Discord. The development is heavily inspired by the community suggestions.

We are also preparing to run the Steam demo, so stay tuned for the future updates!

Join Discord

Fellow Dispatchers!

Join the next broadcast and see the Rail Route gameplay in action! I will be streaming the Prague map which will be included in the upcoming demo. The stream will be about the basics of Endless mode.

Contracts in Rail Route are an important part of the Endless Mode gameplay. Except for a few in the beginning (in Prague map), the player chooses the most profitable contract that fills gaps in their schedule. They are also the main source of money and experience points.

The list of offered contracts is being constantly filled with randomly generated offers over time and you are free to decline those not matching actual need. The generator is using the configuration from the map, especially the weights which are defined for every station and every train type (defined in the Map Editor). The weights are used to compute the probabilities that the contract for given train type and station will be generated but are actually hidden in the normal game play. The generator also gives a boost to the stations that are already unlocked (at least one platform is bought) or are neighbours to already unlocked stations.



Currently there are two types of contracts - recurrent and one-off.


Recurrent contracts are the most common and they form the significant part of the traffic you need to operate. They repeat every hour so the more you are in the game, the more you recognize your traffic from the contracts you have accepted earlier. But everyone will quickly realize that the situation is different every hour.

[h2]Trial Train[/h2]
A trial must be completed first after accepting the contract. It adjusts the payments (according to rail network performance) and creates the timetable for all future trains in the recurrent contract. It means the timetable is being saved from the very first train of the contract. The faster you can run the train, the higher the reward.

[h2]Optimizing the Contract[/h2]
There are two useful upgrades in the System Upgrades for minor modification. Platform Adjustments and Timetable Adjustments. You can change a platform the train is supposed to be directed and shift its arrival and departure times slightly (±15mins). These unlocks are meant to be more useful in the early stages of the game.



Later in the game you can find yourself in a situation where the contracts are no longer suitable because of the improved layout, upgraded track speeds or the automation needs. You can easily reject the contract. If you do that after the defined amount of trains has been operated it’s even without a penalty fee. But the better option is to run the new trial which is an unlockable feature from the System Upgrades. You can improve the reward from the contract significantly when you progress through your rail network and improve its elements.



One-off contracts have a timetable predefined and you need to be as precise as possible. They expected you to achieve at least the average speed which is visible on the contract listing. These contracts are giving better rewards compared to the recurrent ones but can be harder to operate.



[h2]IC Trains[/h2]
IC trains usually want to go to the Central station of the map and want to go there as fast as possible. They expect you to achieve high average speed so be sure you have checked your layout along the way so you can handle it properly. But with the high expectation comes the high reward.

[h2]Freight Trains[/h2]
Freight trains are slower trains that really don’t care how fast you can handle them. But there’s one downside - loading and unloading takes a lot of time, blocking a precious platform for a long period. Be careful not to send it to the crowded one. This can be solved by unlocking the Freight Platform in the System Upgrades and sending the train there instead of to the regular platform which can be used for the passengers traffic.


We plan to include more contract and train types in the future to even broaden the variability of the contract system. For example, we have plans to include something we internally call the VIP contracts: the train that can’t stop for a single second along the way.

From a train perspective we would like to include the Regional trains - something that would fill the gap in between the Commuters and Inter-Cities.

If you want to discuss the planned features with us, the developers, join our community discord.

And don't forget to wishlist the game and tell your friend ;).