User manual GAMES PC RAILS ACROSS AMERICA

[. . . ] Manual Pages 8/13/01 12:07 PM Page 1 Contents Foreword Introduction Getting Started Minimum System Configuration Installing Rails Across America Uninstalling Rails Across America Your First Game The Startup Screen Main Menu Single Player Area The New Game Screen: Single Player Game Settings The Scenarios Screen The Resume Game Screen Multiplayer The New Game Screen: Multiplayer Game Settings Chat Area Playing the Game The Main Screen Zooming Territory View Regional View Track View Train View The Switchboard The Tickertape Bar Goals Details Tooltips Building Your Network Laying Tracks Limits on Laying Track Deciding the Path of Your Track Changing Conditions After You Purchase Your Track The Track Details Screen: New Track Adding Engines Using Default Engines Track Under Construction 4 5 5 5 5 6 6 10 10 11 11 12 13 14 14 15 16 16 17 17 17 17 17 18 18 18 19 19 20 20 20 21 22 22 23 23 24 24 25 25 1 Manual Pages 8/13/01 12:07 PM Page 2 The Track Details Screen: Existing Track Managers Congestion and Track Improvements Selling Engines Upgrading Engines Engine Expiration Map/Money Widget The Track List Screen Cities Resources Traffic Flow Access Slots The City List Screen Finances Loans Paying Off a Loan Refinancing a Loan Line of Credit Current Report Annual Report Special Dividends Bankruptcy Exiting Bankruptcy Fatal Bankruptcy Auctions Influence Taking Action Paying Graft Scandal Risk Influence: General Strategies Politics The Politics Screen Shortlines Acquiring a Shortline Game Controls Screen The Save Game Screen Winning the Game The End of Game Summary Screen Strategy Hot Keys Anywhere 26 27 27 29 29 30 30 31 32 33 33 34 35 36 36 37 37 38 38 38 41 41 42 43 43 43 46 46 48 48 48 49 49 50 51 52 54 54 55 55 57 57 2 Manual Pages 8/13/01 12:07 PM Page 3 While Chatting Map View With short line selected With city selected With other player's track selected With your track selected Screens Lay Track Track List City List Track Details Financial Screen Without a loan under consideration With Annual reports selected Control Screen Credits Technical Support Troubleshooting Customer Support 57 57 58 59 59 59 60 60 60 61 61 61 61 62 62 62 64 64 64 3 Manual Pages 8/13/01 12:07 PM Page 4 Foreword When we started working on Rails Across America, we wanted to build a great multi-player strategy game. We bought everything that we could get our hands on, and we played a lot of combat-style tactical RTS games. But with the more strategic or economic games, we just didn't have time!The games were so long that it would take a day just to get comfortably into the game, let alone finish one. [. . . ] Each track has the following information: · · · Track: The name of the track. Utilization: How efficiently you have allocated your trains to carry the traffic. Cars Carried: Shows how many carloads were carried over the last month. Cost per Car Mile: Shows how much you are paying to move one carload one mile. If you're paying more than two dollars per car mile, you should consider selling the track unless you are holding on to it for strategic reasons. · · 31 Manual Pages 8/13/01 12:07 PM Page 32 · Track Improvements: Shows the current improvements for the track. You can make improvements in your track here as well as assign a manager for the track. Track Details Button: Opens the Track Details screen for that track. · You can click on the column headers to sort the list by that column. Sorting by Utilization is a very useful technique to bring all the tracks that require your attention to the top of the list. Cities Cities generate traffic, and for a railroad, that means cash. Since you can only build to existing cities, they also represent choke points across the map that you can use to make it harder (or even impossible) for a player to build one of the prestigious routes, such as a Transcontinental line. In order to encourage development of under-populated areas, some city governments will offer bonuses to the first railroad to connect to their cities to help offset the cost of track construction. These bonuses eventually expire, so you have to make sure that you complete your track to the city before the bonus expires. If you position your mouse over the $ sign a Tooltip informs you of the bonus amount and when it expires. Every five years traffic changes according to the city's real world population growth. Therefore, tracks that once were unprofitable can suddenly become inundated with traffic. When you've selected a city that you want to return to later, press Ctrl-[Number]. You can now return to the city from anywhere on the map by pressing the number you assigned to it. You can click on any city in the Main Screen to view the following information: · Rates: - The current pricing structure for traffic leaving the city. List of most valuable cities: - Indicates the top five destinations for traffic leaving this city. Connecting Railroads: - This is the list of railroads that currently have track (built or under construction) to this city. The presence of a blank square indicates that there is a free Access Slot that can accommodate a new railroad. · · 32 Manual Pages 8/13/01 12:07 PM Page 33 Resources Freight traffic from a city represents manufacturing, parcel delivery, components, and other items. This traffic is usually proportional to the size of the two cities involved. Resources represent major natural or industrial resources which require rail transport. [. . . ] If you do get boxed in, try using Influence cards to Increase Access at a city. Buy Shortlines to leapfrog across the map - Buying a shortline in another region will let you immediately start building in that region. If you jump to a region that no one occupies, you can start making prestige points because you dominate that region's shipping. If you are trying to build a transcontinental route, and are building from Chicago, then buying a track from San Francisco to Reno will let you start building in both directions simultaneously. [. . . ]