Competitors rail connections

[Lincoln]

I remember Railroad Tycoon III had great railway connection system for the competition railroad companies. The tracks joined to yours and wasn't the messy and ugly way that Railway Empire does things. For memory you could use their track and connect to their stations but were charged rental?? I also think it ignored the competitors traffic on the track so it caused no congestion. This is the one thing that really puts me off this game as I know after a couple of hours gameplay my area will be entangled in my competitors tracks and stations.

Is anyone else finding this annoying? Will this ever be changed?

[chaney]

I understand your point of view, but it may be based on your experience in the other game ... don't bring that baggage with you is my advice!

The competitors rail building is pretty terrible, but fortunately you can generally outstrip them in terms of expanding and pulling in profit. You will have plenty of room to expand in other directions in general, and after a couple of years in-game you should be able to buy out any offending competition. Then you get to scrap their terrible track and put in something nice :)

That would be a pretty big change to the game, and I wouldn't expect it, although I personally would not mind such a change. Maybe in a follow on???

[Thineboot]

Being a human is a very big advantage. While the AI can be annoying it's level of competence even on very hard setting should be no real challenge for the average human player. You may struggle when you're a newbie to this type of game but not for long. Just play your game, block the competition when necessary - cities are limited to two stations - and buy them out when you want to expand in their territory. Often this is part of your task list, too.

You don't have to compete with them directly during the early game. Depending on the scenario you might have to secure a vital city fast but that's intended and not because the AI is overwhelming you.

To avoid them expanding into your territory during mid game add a second station to border towns and secure sweet spots for rural stations and warehouses. Thus the competition will waste money on bridges and tunnels in the worst case while your tracks are the way you want them to be.

In late game you'll merge the competition unless you've done this during mid game.

Each game has it's design decisions. Otherwise there would be only one (railroad) game ;) While the idea of connecting to your competition is nice it would imply a whole lot more than only a connection, basic concepts would have to be changed, it would be different game. A real improvement would be a much better AI competition. Their decisions and the resulting network and lines is improvable in every way.

[giupmat]

I'm fully with you, Lincoln: I'd love to ask the developers directly, as in my point of view this would make each play more interesting from the intermediate stage onwards (when the railway networks of all the competitors start to "collide"). It could be included as an advanced map option, each company would receive a fee for the passage of competing trains.

[gdgn]

I really like the game. But merging with an AI-Competitor ist really awful. I gave it up and usually sell all of his stuff. Then I build new on the green field. To be honest I don't have a clue how to improve the way to connect the railroads of two companies without starting a mess.

[giupmat]

You're right. I'm fully with you according the current IA. Anyway, if you take a look on Railroad Tycoon 3 you can see easily the advantages on a unique railway that can run trains everywhere despite the ownership of the iron on the ground... Changing the game means change the IA.