Basic Rules

A brief Guide how to get better at Unrailed!

Intro

[Guide Version 1.1; July 2023]


Hi, my name is Luci and I´m a professional Unrailed Player.

Across thousands of games I have witnessed that when the Train is crashing early (and unnecessarily), it is often times for the very same reasons. So, in a sense, it is because people don´t abide to what I call Basic Rules.

Getting better at Unrailed takes a lot of time, some courage to push limits, and of course constant learning. But there are a handful of things that are just essential anytime. So, I want to share those Basic Rules with you - escpecially if you are a Beginner.

Basic Rules for Unrailed

1.) Use the tools

Many times I see it happen, that the path infront of us is not getting cleared. Instead of doing so, people are just running around somewhere, doing something of lesser importance and therefore waste valuable time.
Sometimes the tools just lay on the ground, behind the train already, and nobody cares, while infront of us still many rocks and trees need to be destroyed.
You see this especially becoming a trend when TNT got into play, because some folks only focus on the TNT and completely forget about the tools.

The 2 tools (Axe + Pickaxe) always have highest priority along with the Rails.
Even if you have 2 TNT wagons - you should never disregard the tools. They can save your booty. Do not rely solely on TNT. If you mess up with the cooldown or the placement, it´s quickly game over. Be a hero. Go chop wood. Go mine rocks.

Also, clearing a path infront of you has a higher priority than going for 1 extra screw somewhere. Only go for those extra parts if the path infront is relatively good cleared.
That 1 extra screw won´t help you much if the train is rolling into a dead end, you know.
Always clear enough path before doing anything else.

2.) Place the rails

This is just a logical consequence from what we talked about in Rule 1.
I can not count how many times I see the train crashing right after it starts moving at the train station or right before it reaches the next train station, because nobody placed the first or the last rails down. It is very frustrating because it´s literally the easiest to avoid crash.

When the round starts and you see your Comrades grabbing tools and doing the cleaning job, then go ahead and be the one to take a pack of rails and place them down. Those 3 rails can buy you a lot of time already.

If the starting area is really tight and you don´t have a lot of space to build forward, then try to build a zig-zag pattern. The zig-zag is a very common advanced strategy to gain valuable time.
You simply build the rails in an up-down-up or right-left-right pattern (or a combination of both). But pay attention that you still leave enough space around the rails to move.

If you see another player working with the rails already, don´t get in their way. One person at a time is perfectly fine for the most part. It can quickly become a technical mess, if 2-3 players try to operate the rails at the same time on the same position. The game is not handling that well.

So remember: Never forget to place some rails, and don´t get in each others way while doing so.

3.) Avoid using dash

Believe it or not, but dashing serves no significant benefit. On the contrary it can cause a lot of trouble. If you dash into another player, that player will automatically drop whatever they currently hold - tools, ressources, TNT.
When you play with 3 other people, it is not advisable to use the dash that often, because most of the time the area is just too crowded and therefore the risk to dash into somebody is high.

The only exceptions where you want to use coordinated dashes is either if you have a challenge to "dash XXX times", or if you can clearly see that no other player is in your proximity.

Especially if you´re a Beginner or if you got a trigger happy pinky finger, I would advise you to go to your controller options and unbind the dash command in order to practice and get used to a "dash-free" gameplay.

Frankly, I would categorize the dash feature as advanced gameplay. You only really want to make use of it, if you strive for a highscore - which implies that you´re an experienced player already.

4.) Don´t disrespect the Host

So, this one feels a little bit awkward to explain, because it´s literally just basic manners any grown up human being should know. The Host of a Lobby is the one with a little yellow crown besides their name. Always make sure that you know who the Host is.

The Host has the last word on anything.
This derivates from a simple rule of life: Your house, your rules.
Imagine I came to your house as a guest, and I would behave like a jerk. You would kick me out, right? So, the same is true in Unrailed! If you behave like a narcissistic douchebag or a whiny little child, it will probably result in a kick-ban for you.

So, the Host has the last word on anything. This is especially important for the shop.
Do not buy things in the shop without permission from the Host. Maybe they got a specific build in mind, so do not ruin it. The Host alone decides when to upgrade the Train engine. Do not overgo the Host`s decisions. If the Host wants to save and quit, abide to that and don´t goof around like an idiot, please. You never know how late it is for them, or if they got something urgent to do.
Voting is very simply done via the thumbs-up and thumbs-down emojis.

One last hint: I said you should always know who the Host is. This is because sometimes 2 players will vote YES on an upgrade, but the Host might vote NO on it. This means it is a NO.
It doesn´t matter what the other players wish. Their votes are suggestions, and they are valued, yes, but: It does only matter what the Host decides in the end. Very simple rules of respect.

5.) Play in your League

Everybody starts out as a bloody noob. No shame in that. I remember doing my first games on the KIDS difficulty, and later I tried the EASY difficulty, and boy did I fail so hard!
Unrailed has a steep learning curve, so you should really pick the difficulty that suits you.

Things become problematic, when I see obvious beginners joining an open game, which is set to either HARD or EXTREME difficulty. If you can tell after a minute, that somebody doesn´t belong there yet, because they clearly lack experience, then it´s not a pleasant feeling to kick them out.
Don´t get me wrong - I give everybody a chance and I am willing to carry random people, who are trying their best to improve, and so are many other Veterans. But it happens quite often, that folks try to play above their personal league, and then they mess up the game for everyone.

So the general advice here is simple: Stick in your league until you feel confident.
Don´t join the hard games if you´re not ready yet.

When you start tackling a higher difficulty, then here are some hints how to improve:

Sometimes less is more. It is not wrong to move and behave rather slow and careful instead of hectic, and to play a little bit passive and observing instead of just getting in the way.
A classic issue (even amongst Veterans) is a situation where 2 players block each others way. One wants to go left, the other wants to go right, you bump into each other, nobody gets through. Sounds familiar, right? Try to learn from those common situations. Try to make space for your Comrades when you move around the map, so you don´t block each other.

Give your self some time to observe and to learn. Help out when you´re confident about your actions. Leave the things you´re unsure about to your team mates.
Observe the behaviour of experienced players in order to learn advanced strategies.
Pay attention to the emoji communication and try to decipher it correctly.
Taking things slowly is always a good way to improve.

My personal git-gud strategy was the following:
I practiced on Kids and Easy until I got the basics, then worked on reaching 2000m on Easy.
Only then I started playing on Medium, again working towards 2000m there.
Only then I started playing on Hard, working towards 2000m there.
Only then I started Extreme.

If I remember correctly, there are also achievements related to 2000m on each difficulty, so you got a juicy goal as well.



Have a GG, enjoy space and always pet a cow for good karma <3

[DeadlierJoker93]

good guide and this is just my opinion i would leave your dash button so you can interact with slot machine and milk wagon and the train stopper wagon.

[Thanos_of_YEET]

Good team dynamic is very important in online play, since you will usually only communicate by emojis. This is especially important in the shop, but I agree that the host should get to veto something they are against. Communication is the game maker.

[🅾️rder💲]

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