Good way to make money?

[Mister Cod]

Bought a few licences by now, Multi unit, long haul 1, etc., but I find that my expenses have gone up far more than my profits. At this point, I'm wondering if I even make profits as I seem to rack up over 10k-15k worth of bills for every job. (im mostly running 2xDE2s where I turn off the engine on one, when not needed.)

Any tips on how to make great profits in the early game?

[GizmoXomziG]

I usually do a lot of shunting (after delivering cargo, you're already hooked) and don't buy other licences (with rare exceptions), until I save at least 200.000. DE2 repair stays cheap that way, bonus +50% is almost guaranteed.

After that, I buy a lot of licences together (strong loco, long composition, manual repair, chemicals or other dangerous cargo). That's medium mode.

Hard mode is after I go for Military licences 1+2+3 and big steam train. Military base at the north to/from Harbour pays handsomely. But the trail is harder than it used to be (especially braking downhill, also steam loco is WAY explodey now).

You can also check https://derailvalley.fandom.com/wiki/Cargo . Sort by Base Payment per Car. Don't know if it's up to date but the general idea is probably still correct.

[DemocraticPrawn]

Paying for a manual service licence will half your bills. After a job drive the train(s) to the maintenance area (usually near a turntable), and top up diesel, sand, oil etc. and pay for it at the paypoint nearby. If you have 2 trains connected, service 1 then pay, move the trains forward and do the other train and pay. You will never finish topping up a train that is still running, so switch off what you can.

[Angel Miru]

Originally posted by DemocraticPrawn:

Paying for a manual service licence will half your bills.

Definitely agree with this! I always manually service. I would also park that second DE2 if you don't need it. I never use a bigger loco than I need for a job if I can help it. Be very careful about how you treat the equipment (don't bash into cars, red-lining the engine, wheel slippage, etc.). The game seems to be really punitive for that sort of thing now.

My usual routine is to keep an eye out for high profit freight ($30,000 or more), haul it to it's destination, then do a couple shunting jobs before taking a freight job somewhere else. Hazardous and military freight seem to pay the best.