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There is one area that Railroad Tycoon 2 handled much better, and that is the resource maps. Once you own it, you can crank the faucet back up again. If you're feeling particularly unethical, you can tell your trains not to deliver what the industry needs, lowering their profits and your purchase price. You can also buy industries if there is an excess of grain at one station, you can buy or build a brewery at another station so you make money hauling the excess cargo. I dedicated a train to running only produce in this case, and it paid for itself in one year. Special Interest groups, like the Produce Growers Union, will also give you a bonus if you move a certain amount of their cargo per year. After all, you don't see the CEO of Union Pacific telling the San Francisco Yard Master what to put on a given train, do you? Express cargo still pays the most, but with the auto-consist option I was able to build specific trains, tell them to load only express cargo and forget the rest. This feature has relieved a lot of frustration, as well as making it more realistic. You can micro-manage at this level if you desire, but having the game do this allows you to focus more on the big picture of plotting your company's growth, and less on the day-to-day operations. The Station Master will determine which cargo will pay the most and automatically load it onto your train. Thankfully, now you have the ability to have the game automatically handle consists. Managing consists was a nightmare as you had to tell the train what cars it was dumping and adding at each station stop. Railroad Tycoon 3 eliminates most of the micro-management that plagued its predecessor. I found the best way to get my company going was to connect two or three cities to a port and haul cargo to and from the port. If there is a railroad between two cities and the water route is cheaper, the shippers are going to move their cargo down the river causing you to look for areas those current transportation modes can't service. If you are running trains between Boston and New York and a passenger wants to go to Philly, they aren't going to get on your train they'll just take the bus. Now, passengers will shun your railroad until it's economically viable for them to use it, and it may take years before you see your first passenger run. The money you made was directly proportionate to how far away it was you'd earn more money for hauling nuts and bolts to a mountain town than a hot cargo to a close port. In Railroad Tycoon 2 the best way to get your company going was to connect two cities and run a passenger service between them. Now, shippers will go for the best price, even if it's not a railroad, and passengers have specific destinations in mind.
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That's significantly different in Railroad Tycoon 3. Also, you had no real competition, save the other railroads. Railroad Tycoon 2 had a very simplistic economic model: there were cities that supplied cargo cities that bought cargo and passengers that would get on any train leaving town. The sounds aren't going to make you run out and get a 5.1 speaker system, but, like the graphics, do the job well without being overbearing. The ever-familiar "ka-CHING" noise when your train makes money is also back for an encore. The trademark blues soundtrack is back, and there is a narrator who's got that Wild Wild West "Howdy Pardner" twang going.
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Graphics don't make or break Tycoon games and the 3D engine solves more problems than it creates. The terrain has a low polygon count which translates to blocky mountains and hills. Since the game was designed to run on lower-end machines the graphics are likewise low-end. The first improvement you will notice is the new 3D engine which allows you to fluidly go from a satellite view of your entire rail empire, down to a trackside view all with one spin of the mouse wheel. There are a few hiccups, but by and large Railroad Tycoon 3 is a tremendous improvement over Railroad Tycoon 2. This game has done everything a good sequel should: keep what was great and improve what wasn't so great. I eagerly anticipated Railroad Tycoon 3, and I'm pleased to report it didn't disappoint. From the original Railroad Tycoon-created by the legendary Sid Meir in 1990-to PopTops successful continuation in 1998, I've been a big fan of this series.