Rail Route

Rail Route

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Anatidae
   
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Mar 23, 2022 @ 1:42am
Mar 23, 2022 @ 2:27pm
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Anatidae

In 1 collection by SteR
Rail Route - Official Curated Workshop Maps
87 items
Description
A while back, I started on a level with the same name as this one, thinking it would be funny to have every difficult level I've ever done be named after Ducks or Geese in some way. That level was a bit too big for me to handle, however, and while I loved the split station platforms, I think it would have been hell to timetable in any reasonable capacity.

I still have that level, but when I was challenged to build a level with every train having identical names, I decided to make a real challenge as quickly as I could. The duck theming was still strong in my heart, so I decided to rename this project to Anatidae, and put the old one on permanent hiatus.

When someone challenged me to make a map with all trains having the same name (using black magic, since it's not possible in the main game), I immediately went back to this old concept with a new coat of paint. When I built the main station here, I kept the core concepts of the original map - a station complex enough that it required two stations to be represented, with some tracks being dedicated for longer trains, some being shorter but split in half for the extra challenge, and some being dead-end tracks.

While Anatidae is definitely the main challenge and focus of this level, Wigeon was where the map started, originally having (any) platforms on every train mixed with Signal Stopping Penalties. While that would be cool, with how difficult this stage already is, the SSP would be too difficult to manage. I removed it early on.

Also, fun fact: This level was built in 4 hours and 30 minutes. This includes playtesting (at least, the playtesting that Idid, though I did get help from some other folks), thumbnail creation, track layout, timetable creation, etc.
Thanks to LaRoso, Fish, and Typerim from the discord for some insight on whether this should have a Ludicrous or Nightmare difficulty rating.

Some hints:
All InterCities (200kph max speed) are longer than average, and need to use platforms 3, 4 and 5 at Anatidae Central. Don't put any other trains on those platforms, or else the InterCity trains won't be able to stop there.
Check schedules often. Some trains stop for longer than you might expect, and others will need specific routes that certain platforms can't complete. Your gut instinct might be your downfall, so check often.
If you're playing on 1.4 or later (either in the near future or on the unstable branch), you can use the scroll wheel to select the exact route you want an autosignal to make. When multiple trains are traversing a similar area, use this to your advantage.

37 trains (my lucky number!)
45 minutes
1360 max score
1 Comments
rss Jun 29, 2022 @ 9:27am 
Honk!