Railroader News

We've retuned the AI for this update and think you will find that it runs better than ever. If you find a situation it can't handle that it should, please post in #bug-reports on our Discord! Also: the AI has learned to whistle for crossings!

We've also adjusted the default braking force, and provided a new Company Setting to configure it for your save. "Medium" is the new, stronger default, while "Low" is roughly equivalent to the old braking force.

Additional changes:

• Mines now check for cars in the way between the empty and its destination before moving them, as originally intended. (RR-243)
  
• Limited multiplayer messages to 512 characters. (RR-242)
  
• Reporting marks and numbers are now limited to 6 letters and &. Railroad names are limited to 50 characters.
  
• The host can rename their railroad using the recharter console command. Example: `/recharter PC "Penn Central"` This command changes the reporting marks of existing cars to match, if possible without creating a conflict.
  
• Fixed overhead camera momentarily showing old position when jumping to it via 0/9. (RR-241)
  
• Increased log unloading speed at Whittier Saw Mill.
  
• Pulpwood payments increased by 50%.
  
• Maximum tree density restored to 2; detail density max remains at 1.
  
• Fixed finance tab performance. (RR-149)
  
• Fixed misaligned turntable causing chaotic derailments.(RR-110)
  

Happy New Year! This build contains an assortment of improvements and fixes:

• Added Interchange Blocking setting which controls the degree to which cars delivered at the interchange(s) are blocked (grouped) by their destinations.
  
• Added proper UI Scaling preference, allowing you to set the scaling that works for you.
  
• Revamped overhead camera (2) control to move more smoothly.
  
• Revamped Auto Engineer to improve stopping accuracy. Reduced fusee stop distance.
  
• Improved fouling distance calculation.
  
• Fixed not able to maintain tier if selecting a lower tier when performance is below current tier conditions. (RR-223)
  
• Replaced daytime environment audio.
  
• Limited tree and detail density to 1.0 in the hopes that this will mitigate crashes.
  
• Changed base road numbers for a number of cars.
  
• Fixed issue for multiplayer clients that could cause cars to show up out of position, e.g. at Robinson Gap. (RR-154)
  
• Gravity fed mines (Robinson Gap, Alarka Copper) now run regardless of whether there are players present.
  

Hello Railroader-ers! What a year this has been! Started out quiet, going out with a roar! The past three weeks have been a whirlwind. We've been amazed by the response to Railroader. In building Railroader one of the things I wondered was whether people would "get it". My guide was (and continues to be) to build the game I wanted to play. It's been extremely gratifying to find that, yes, people "get it"!

At the same time, we have a lot of work to do! Transparently, as much as we've been delighted by the positive response, we've been quite surprised by some of the bugs and crashes you've managed to find! Thank you for your patience as we continue to learn how best to support you, and work to prioritize and fix those bugs. We're also working on balancing bug-fixing vs carving out time to build and refine the systems in the game, such as the contract system and the AI engineer, so that Railroader can continue to stabilize and move forward.

Speaking of the future, perhaps you are wondering what our plans are? We're working on refining our roadmap and aim to share it with you in early January!

Thank you for supporting what we are building here. We wish you a wonderful holiday season and hope that you are able to take some time for the things in life that are important to you. Whether that's spending time with family, hiking in the Smoky Mountains, or classifying that cut of cars that just showed up at the interchange.

Happy Holidays and Happy New Year!

-Adam (Imtzo)


p.s. – Here's a sneak peek at something we're working on for next year.