Ships and planes

[EMAPhil]

So far playing hundreds of hours on medium size maps I've never used planes or ships. Seem to make tons of money without them. Am I missing out?

[Old Knotty]

If you are starting in 1850, ships are much more fun than trains. I generate maps with maximum water and look for at least one waterway down the middle of the map. Rigi uses small docks and can carry any cargo. Where you need short links into towns or to industries, use road as the puny trains will not cope. Enjoy!

[fatfluffycat]

I never used ships back in TpF1 but now they're pretty effective, I enjoy using the barges in particular.

[larry_roberts]

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2250292588

Haven't used aircraft so far in my current game (lost all other games due to a computer failure), but, as you can see, ships are doing reasonably well, and I know from previous games, aircraft can make big profits but I haven't allowed my current game to reach the airport (rather than airfield) stage at the moment and, I know, that replacing airfields with airports can be a bit of a pain!.

[bballjo]

Planes seem a little op... You can make a lot of profit pretty quick, but I would say missing out.

Ships on the other hand can add a little bit, since your need to keep the water ways clear, and their path finding is a little different, should definitely try ships.

[badasscat2000]

Have you gone through the campaign? There are some missions where you're basically forced to use one or the other, and other missions where it doesn't really make sense to use anything else. For example, your task in the Howard Hughes mission is literally to build an airline. In the Mediterranean mission, you're on an island so you really can't use trains or trucks to get anything from the mainland.

If you're just doing sandbox, then I feel like planes usually make less sense than trucks, trains or ships. They carry less than trains, are expensive, and aren't even that much faster before the jet age. This is true in real life too, though, which is why most cargo is carried by truck or train. Planes can be good for passengers, though.

Ships, though, are great. They were terrible in TF1 but in TF2 they carry an enormous amount, are relatively cheap to buy and run, and are not too slow. The infrastructure they need is just ports on both ends. If you've got two industries you need to connect and there's a waterway between them, always just use ships - especially if the industries can be upgraded. Get 3 or 4 ships running on a line and you'll be making $30 million a month just on that.

[EMAPhil]

OK you convinced me. Just put a ship line in 1860 and am surprised how a:Quick the thing moves and b:how much money it is making.
A sailors life for me!

[canophone]

It depends on the map... ships/planes are very useful on tropical maps.