I bought it today so I haven’t really taken it through its paces, but I did get around to playing (and getting the Gold (medium level)) the British Isles scenario.
Random likes and dislikes:
Like: The fact that Pop Top listened to their fans in regards to greater consist control, tunnels, sandbox mode and a whole host of other issues that plagued the original release of RT2.
Dislike: How derivative it is of RT2. It’s the same game with a 3d graphics engine, a better interface, an improved editor (so they say) and a lot of refinement that probably should’ve gone into RT2. The scenarios seem familiar (though I have not looked at all at the campaigns) and some are actual copies from the previous game.
Like: The graphic engine and how everything is on one screen, from cities to corporate orders. I took a bit of getting used to the mouse controls - I could swear that the zoom in/out was opposite of another game like Black and White or Starcraft or something else I played in the past. Anybody else get that?
Dislike: Should be more scenarios, plus they should have included an intermediate stage between sandbox mode and full game mode where you play only for the money that you can earn through operations (you might be able to do this in the editor - I don’t know).
Big Dislike: Unfortunately you have to either play without money mattering at all or with the stupid stock market having to be attended to. I wish that there was some way I could turn it off so me and my competitor can compete by laying track rather than stock manipulation. While I think it makes a great option, I don’t think it was wise to base the game around it. In RT2 I used the personal money cheat so that I could buy out all my stock in the beginning, but doing so caused the AI to kind of “give up” and not lay any track. :rolleyes:
In short, if you haven’t tried this series, give this game a shot - the RT series really is the best railroad company sim out there on the PC.
However, if you bought RT2 all the way through the numerous updates and expansion packs, this game likely won’t offer you enough new stuff to justify the $40-50 they’re asking for it (I got the one with the train so I could give it to my little girl.) I stopped after the first expansion pack, myself, so decided to give this one a whirl.
Also, Sophie got her first-ever piece of software so it was a banner day in the JohnT household.
Pretty low. I’m running very well on a P-3 600MhZ with a Voodoo 5 card with the video settings pretty much at “medium”. Minimum specs are P-3, 400MhZ, 128 RAM, 1.2 gigs HD (probably the most demanding) and can work on pretty much all video cards released in the past 3-5 years (a 16 Mb 3D card is the minimum).
If you have low specs and have problems with cursor flicker (as I did), just press the ~ key to get a different, non-flickering cursor.
anybody know if there is a RRT2-Platinum Edition release for the Mac?
and if so, anyone got a link to where?
on this note, I have read reviews thaqt suggest the economics of running your railroad are somewhat “dumbed-down” in RRT3. That managers pick the best loads for you, making route management a no-brainer, true?
slightly bigger hijack:
I was never able fo figure out in 2 how to depot cargo (something I also read in reviews is gone from 3, corrrect?).
By depot-ing cargo I mean dropping off cargo at stations where it is not needed to be picked up by other trains on their way to stations where it was in demand. I have read that this is possible, but have never figured out how to do it, anyoen got a quick tutorial?
I’ve been messing around with it a bit. I also have RRT2 and its Secomd Century expansion.
RRT3’s available scenarios seem too few when compared with all the fan-made ones for RRT2. There is currently no way to import maps in the new version, which puts a crimp in creating realistic fan-made scenarios.
I’ll probably use the scenario editor in the new version to remove the medal requirements and competition so I can just build. Did that with the last version, too.
The default option to have the AI to pick the best loads for you but it can be overriden.