A few questions about the game

[Towerbooks3192]

So I am really confused by some stuff in the game so here goes:

I first got the Martinique(tutorial island) contract to finish the town that needs 70+ rum to unlock ship route or something. What exactly does that do? Will that enable me to actually try and explore the other islands?

Next is the gizmo. What the heck are they? How in the world do they work?

Lastly, road upgrades. I really don't get this. How do you even know what size the road is assuming this was like Logistical 1 where some Aussie roads let you use those huge trucks while city roads only allow small trucks. Like what does it mean to upgrade the road if you don't want to use the water to ship your trucks around?

Also I did remember for a time that the store page mentioned about the requirement for a constant internet connection, is this still applicable now?

And my very last question: To the veterans of logistical, how in the world do you keep track with what you have been doing when returning from a long session or a long break from the game especially now with all the places in the world that is available.

[archmag]

Originally posted by Towerbooks3192:

I first got the Martinique(tutorial island) contract to finish the town that needs 70+ rum to unlock ship route or something. What exactly does that do? Will that enable me to actually try and explore the other islands?

There are some roads that are broken but resource required to fix them is "undefined" before you complete a certain contract that changes that resource to another one. After you complete that contract resource changes and you can deliver it to repair the route and unlock new places. Just look at what roads the arrows point at when contract is open and those are the ones you will be able to fix. To leave Martinique you need to complete a contract that unlocks a truck in New Zealand. After that you start to develop there. Some time later when you get ships and access to few extra resources you can come back and complete Martinique.

Next is the gizmo. What the heck are they? How in the world do they work?

They are upgrades for trucks. There are three types unless I am forgetting some. Floaties (letter F on dashboard) let your trucks to pass through ferry roads, thin roads that go over water. Ocean floaties (letter O on dashboard) let your trucks to use sea routes while empty to move to another region (move truck to completed port, click dashboard to switch to Sea mode, move truck to another completed port, click dashboard again to switch back to Land mode). There is also some other gizmo that allows you to give order to a truck to unload in several places one after another but I never used it. This one requires a full country completed to be able to upgrade 1 truck with it. I have Martinique completed but never bothered with upgrading a truck.

Lastly, road upgrades. I really don't get this. How do you even know what size the road is assuming this was like Logistical 1 where some Aussie roads let you use those huge trucks while city roads only allow small trucks. Like what does it mean to upgrade the road if you don't want to use the water to ship your trucks around?

Most roads in this module are 40t+. You can see relation of road color to road size if you hover over "?" sign in the bottom right corner. There are small roads which go over water that are called Ferry, they require Floaties to let trucks pass but you can upgrade them to be able to pass without Floaties. If I remember correctly you need to upgrade a ferry 3 times so that 40t trucks can pass through them without an upgrade (8t, 20t, 40t).

And my very last question: To the veterans of logistical, how in the world do you keep track with what you have been doing when returning from a long session or a long break from the game especially now with all the places in the world that is available.

I use pins to mark important goals, it was the best QOL feature that was implemented in this game, I think. Like red pin for towns required for a contract that unlocks some new area. Cyan pin for completed towns where I can build a railroad. Green pin for completed towns in area without railroads. Purple pin for ports, purple pins with stripes for completed ports. Yellow pins for borders of some countries (for example, France, where I needed to know the border to complete 2000 businesses in it). Then when I come back some time later I see all those pins and I know roughly the progress in each area and if I have any important goals in there. Adding a pin also moves town with it higher in the cluster list so it is easier to select them without zooming in (very useful for ports).

When I come back I check red pins, if there are some that I can complete, I focus on that area. If not I check first two tabs in contracts (they are the ones that unlock new industries, roads and areas and overall give you a direction on where you should go to progress), sometimes new contracts that I missed adding a red pin to may be there. If I don't have an area with a completable red pin to focus on, like between updates, I choose any area that I want and focus on it. There are plenty of places and eventually I will need to complete all of them anyway (although I don't really believe that I will as it requires a ton of time).