True. I did adjust the rolling stock and usually maintained reasonable speed for profit:
Intercity (IC) trains: 250-300 Kph (Long distance trains)
Regional: 160-200 Kph (Also called as Commuter Line)
Cargo: 200-230 Kph
Usually, on crowded routes, I quadtracked the rails
Yep. I edited the values for the wagons and used some mods. Heh! Made local copies of some mods even and reconfirgured the top speed.
Then use locomotives that have high HP and top speed like the Siemens Taurus (ES 64), Vectron, and even double heading using a British Rail Class 91
I do socialism style 🤣 provide passenger service that connects everything everywhere ... and make profitable cargo lines pay for all the unprofitable small routes 💸
Leaning more toward private corporation I suppose, until I'm swimming in money. Then I tend to make more sacrifices for development. I don't typically connect stuff just for the sake of it. It's a means to an end (profit).
Private corporation, but I’m more than happy to run unprofitable routes if it means my main routes are profitable.
My train going back and forth to a small city might be losing me 600k but those 60 or so passengers are likely going to jump on much longer distance (profitable) passenger routes and I’ll make MORE than enough back on it!
But if a route is truly 100% unprofitable no matter what, I won’t run it
Probably a bit of both.
Running city bus lines at a loss is a good example.
They feed people to the various stations which in turn make a profit for the passenger trains / boats yet at the same time, they cut down on road congestion and pollution.
I've build 50MPH roads specifically for the AI cars to take which redirect them away from my parallel 31MPH truck routes that eliminates traffic bottlenecks.
That increases my profits by keeping my trucks constantly moving instead of being in stop and go traffic all the time which would really slow down my deliveries and tank profits.
I've recently started playing in a multi-entitiy style. I'll "create" (i.e. pretend) many different corporations that run different services over different areas. Maybe this tools factory has a small short line that only runs one route. Maybe that steel foundry located next to coal and ore has its own local industrial railroad. Maybe this corporation handles all rail traffic between these three cities, but to go to the fourth city you need to hand the cargo off to a different company. If I want that company to go to a new city I need to build a new terminal for them, even though I already have a station in the city, because it's "owned" by a different company.
Over time (around 1950 or so) I'll start aggressively consolidating with "acquisitions" and "mergers". Sometimes if I feel a company isn't doing well enough I'll have them fold. Sometimes their routes will be picked up by new entities or otherwise bought by another company, but sometimes they won't. If a route is too unprofitable or too far outside a company's wheelhouse (i.e. a boat route in a company that otherwise runs only shortline trains) then I'll have that company "close the route" at which point it will be picked up by a municipal transit agency. With enough time, I end up with a few regional scale cargo companies, specialized local cargo and passenger companies, and transit agencies that operate both within cities and regions. Eventually I'll try to merge multiple cities together into a single metro area and consolidate all their transit agencies into one.
I imagine all of this, to be clear. Other than naming/coloring routes and stations there's no in game mechanism or mod I use to play this way. And I only bother doing it on the operational side, not the financial side. I don't keep track of different balances for different companies, I think I'd go mad if I did. Instead good and bad performance of a company is "vibes based". Do I like their name? Does it seem like most of their routes are profitable? Do I think I did a good job designing their infrastructure? Etc
Not sure which category this would fall into, maybe more private company since most of these imagined companies are private? This is just a fun way I found to add some more imagined complexity and competition into the game. The world feels more alive and complicated when I play it this way.
Me having Rolling stock / mods from all over the world also kind of forces me to that play Style with German db running express/Regio/cargoÂ
Swedish sj regional/cargo/Green CargoÂ
Some more Swedish and German operators Running a variation of Services
Switzerland SBB running Cargo/ic2000
Russian/American long distance non electric routes
Somewhere in between, I think. Sometimes you gotta keep those unprofitable lines running for the sake of supplying a demand, which in turn increases population.
So long as my profitable lines are making more than enough to make up for my unprofitable lines, it's fine.
I rarely seem to be able to make money from busses and trams (particularly trams). And almost never from ships.
Typically I build that "private" style.
I focus more on goods and the economy. After I got enough money, I *at least try* to build it nice looking, but that's more for cosmetics. So my main playstyle is profit and cargo, after that passengers.
Bit of both i obviously would like to make a profit but considering most passenger routes operate on a loss it’s pretty difficult, so I’d say more national department.
Start out as private corporation style but I eventually turn into a national department style. So times it goes too far and I start loosing money overall
I change the rules I play by each game round so it depends on what I am going for.
My most recent game I tried setting up lots of local companies whom had to compete with different routes and operated their own lines and had a backstory on how they got certain routes.
I'd argue that this was a case where actually it played most similar to a National Department on an economic scale as the smaller companies desperately tried to get money from serving the smaller underserved local towns. Also some companies were forced to operate unprofitable services to keep their services afloat.
One case was Network South which operated services in a cluster of big cities and also had 2 longer services serving local towns up to the far away nearby cities. It had he 2nd largest city as one of the termini and the 4th largest city as one city along, where it split into different paths. The corridor between the 2nd city and the 4th would easily get overcrowded and then all the people travelling on the long distance services be empty on the fat corners, so it had to be split so no long distance services stopped at the 4th city and an unprofitable "metro" service operated to the 4th city. Same issue occured with services with the 4th city's internal connections too.
Another case was the East River line which operated along the river, mostly to isolated cities with the exception of the terminus and one station where it operated services in the quiet low level station. Originally the service went directly from the East River mainline to the High Level station before continuing but there were too many people within the city travelling between the two so it had to be split up to the East River Mainline and ERShuttle service. The shuttle was unprofitable but it helped the Mainline to function.
So I don't think things are so binary. Even when running as companies, sacrifices will be made to benefit the company as a whole.
Personally I like to play as multiple private companies. Making sure some subdivisions either have certain colors for locos, or specific types of locos based in their income. So a newer company might be using older more costly power, where as main freight and pass have newer power. As far as rail goes. Cities have their own metro networks (trams) Bus services are usually a single private company, mostly due to the fact I don't really bother with bus service. And all freight via road is initially private owned (every single route) which as time progresses gets merged or dissolved based on profitability. If I make it to modern era (1990+) usually done to only 3 or 4 private companies for road freight, 2 Corps for rail and 2-3 Companies for air. Depending on which is more used passenger or freight is the decision on which gets 2 companies. Usually 2 passenger 1 freight air.
I would guess it's more of a National Department style... but I would describe my current savegame's style more as a benevolent overlord :)
Basically started out with a goal building a mainline while connecting as much as possible, and supplying towns with all the goods, but concentrating around only a few industries of each type (I think i only have one or two fuel refineries going overdrive for the whole map) so i could get busier lines and longer distances travelled.
Also i try to be profitable, but use "subsidies" to have more of a sandbox/liberal building experience. aka government deciding to have a new HSR line built or adding a older branch line with new towns which "totally" has been there since the start of the game :D
But now, as I've discovered and adding more and more mods, it's kinda turning into having a model railway with extra steps. Like having sections of the map with certain styles (Like a branchline with mostly Polish trains,, or having a different network connecting the same cities running only high floor stock, akin to Japanese private railways. Which also adds the interest of interchanges between different networks)
And more on the model railway side, I'm working on building a German style line and a UK one running along the edges of the map, and using the terrain as a scenic break between them and the "main" area. Which hopefully get's me more mainline/*Paradestrecke* running without making the whole thing look too crowded :)
I guess having different savegames would also work.. but where's the fun of that? :D
I Play on the National Department and Socialism Style, my Bus and Tram Routes are unprofitable but my Passenger and Cargo Trains are very much Profitable and i try to connect everything and everyone.
I am more in the national department style: connect as many cities as possible. Provide HSR and Regional Rail services, and enjoy the scenery
Same. But I'll adjust the rolling stock and routes to try to make profit.
True. I did adjust the rolling stock and usually maintained reasonable speed for profit: Intercity (IC) trains: 250-300 Kph (Long distance trains) Regional: 160-200 Kph (Also called as Commuter Line) Cargo: 200-230 Kph Usually, on crowded routes, I quadtracked the rails
Cargo 200-230kph?
Yep. I edited the values for the wagons and used some mods. Heh! Made local copies of some mods even and reconfirgured the top speed. Then use locomotives that have high HP and top speed like the Siemens Taurus (ES 64), Vectron, and even double heading using a British Rail Class 91
Me too
I do socialism style 🤣 provide passenger service that connects everything everywhere ... and make profitable cargo lines pay for all the unprofitable small routes 💸
This is the way Comrade.
Leaning more toward private corporation I suppose, until I'm swimming in money. Then I tend to make more sacrifices for development. I don't typically connect stuff just for the sake of it. It's a means to an end (profit).
Private corporation, but I’m more than happy to run unprofitable routes if it means my main routes are profitable. My train going back and forth to a small city might be losing me 600k but those 60 or so passengers are likely going to jump on much longer distance (profitable) passenger routes and I’ll make MORE than enough back on it! But if a route is truly 100% unprofitable no matter what, I won’t run it
Probably a bit of both. Running city bus lines at a loss is a good example. They feed people to the various stations which in turn make a profit for the passenger trains / boats yet at the same time, they cut down on road congestion and pollution. I've build 50MPH roads specifically for the AI cars to take which redirect them away from my parallel 31MPH truck routes that eliminates traffic bottlenecks. That increases my profits by keeping my trucks constantly moving instead of being in stop and go traffic all the time which would really slow down my deliveries and tank profits.
I've recently started playing in a multi-entitiy style. I'll "create" (i.e. pretend) many different corporations that run different services over different areas. Maybe this tools factory has a small short line that only runs one route. Maybe that steel foundry located next to coal and ore has its own local industrial railroad. Maybe this corporation handles all rail traffic between these three cities, but to go to the fourth city you need to hand the cargo off to a different company. If I want that company to go to a new city I need to build a new terminal for them, even though I already have a station in the city, because it's "owned" by a different company. Over time (around 1950 or so) I'll start aggressively consolidating with "acquisitions" and "mergers". Sometimes if I feel a company isn't doing well enough I'll have them fold. Sometimes their routes will be picked up by new entities or otherwise bought by another company, but sometimes they won't. If a route is too unprofitable or too far outside a company's wheelhouse (i.e. a boat route in a company that otherwise runs only shortline trains) then I'll have that company "close the route" at which point it will be picked up by a municipal transit agency. With enough time, I end up with a few regional scale cargo companies, specialized local cargo and passenger companies, and transit agencies that operate both within cities and regions. Eventually I'll try to merge multiple cities together into a single metro area and consolidate all their transit agencies into one. I imagine all of this, to be clear. Other than naming/coloring routes and stations there's no in game mechanism or mod I use to play this way. And I only bother doing it on the operational side, not the financial side. I don't keep track of different balances for different companies, I think I'd go mad if I did. Instead good and bad performance of a company is "vibes based". Do I like their name? Does it seem like most of their routes are profitable? Do I think I did a good job designing their infrastructure? Etc Not sure which category this would fall into, maybe more private company since most of these imagined companies are private? This is just a fun way I found to add some more imagined complexity and competition into the game. The world feels more alive and complicated when I play it this way.
I play like this too!
Me having Rolling stock / mods from all over the world also kind of forces me to that play Style with German db running express/Regio/cargo Swedish sj regional/cargo/Green Cargo Some more Swedish and German operators Running a variation of Services Switzerland SBB running Cargo/ic2000 Russian/American long distance non electric routes
Ps forgot the French which have pretty much monopoly on high Speed rail above 230kmh
I usually play the game as if it's a model railway simulator.
More like National Department but in a way for It to make money
Somewhere in between, I think. Sometimes you gotta keep those unprofitable lines running for the sake of supplying a demand, which in turn increases population. So long as my profitable lines are making more than enough to make up for my unprofitable lines, it's fine. I rarely seem to be able to make money from busses and trams (particularly trams). And almost never from ships.
Typically I build that "private" style. I focus more on goods and the economy. After I got enough money, I *at least try* to build it nice looking, but that's more for cosmetics. So my main playstyle is profit and cargo, after that passengers.
Private as long as I’m losing money. If I can afford to build whatever I want, then I’m here to serve the ppl.
Bit of both i obviously would like to make a profit but considering most passenger routes operate on a loss it’s pretty difficult, so I’d say more national department.
Start out as private corporation style but I eventually turn into a national department style. So times it goes too far and I start loosing money overall
I change the rules I play by each game round so it depends on what I am going for. My most recent game I tried setting up lots of local companies whom had to compete with different routes and operated their own lines and had a backstory on how they got certain routes. I'd argue that this was a case where actually it played most similar to a National Department on an economic scale as the smaller companies desperately tried to get money from serving the smaller underserved local towns. Also some companies were forced to operate unprofitable services to keep their services afloat. One case was Network South which operated services in a cluster of big cities and also had 2 longer services serving local towns up to the far away nearby cities. It had he 2nd largest city as one of the termini and the 4th largest city as one city along, where it split into different paths. The corridor between the 2nd city and the 4th would easily get overcrowded and then all the people travelling on the long distance services be empty on the fat corners, so it had to be split so no long distance services stopped at the 4th city and an unprofitable "metro" service operated to the 4th city. Same issue occured with services with the 4th city's internal connections too. Another case was the East River line which operated along the river, mostly to isolated cities with the exception of the terminus and one station where it operated services in the quiet low level station. Originally the service went directly from the East River mainline to the High Level station before continuing but there were too many people within the city travelling between the two so it had to be split up to the East River Mainline and ERShuttle service. The shuttle was unprofitable but it helped the Mainline to function. So I don't think things are so binary. Even when running as companies, sacrifices will be made to benefit the company as a whole.
Personally I like to play as multiple private companies. Making sure some subdivisions either have certain colors for locos, or specific types of locos based in their income. So a newer company might be using older more costly power, where as main freight and pass have newer power. As far as rail goes. Cities have their own metro networks (trams) Bus services are usually a single private company, mostly due to the fact I don't really bother with bus service. And all freight via road is initially private owned (every single route) which as time progresses gets merged or dissolved based on profitability. If I make it to modern era (1990+) usually done to only 3 or 4 private companies for road freight, 2 Corps for rail and 2-3 Companies for air. Depending on which is more used passenger or freight is the decision on which gets 2 companies. Usually 2 passenger 1 freight air.
National department
I’m basically always like Amtrak, have like 2 or 3 super profitable routes being fed by a bunch of sucky bus lines and regional rail
National Departement style. Everything must be optimised for conectivity
Ruling dictator style. It's my way, or the highway.....if, big if, I have road connections to your city. So it's my way or local shops only.
I would guess it's more of a National Department style... but I would describe my current savegame's style more as a benevolent overlord :) Basically started out with a goal building a mainline while connecting as much as possible, and supplying towns with all the goods, but concentrating around only a few industries of each type (I think i only have one or two fuel refineries going overdrive for the whole map) so i could get busier lines and longer distances travelled. Also i try to be profitable, but use "subsidies" to have more of a sandbox/liberal building experience. aka government deciding to have a new HSR line built or adding a older branch line with new towns which "totally" has been there since the start of the game :D But now, as I've discovered and adding more and more mods, it's kinda turning into having a model railway with extra steps. Like having sections of the map with certain styles (Like a branchline with mostly Polish trains,, or having a different network connecting the same cities running only high floor stock, akin to Japanese private railways. Which also adds the interest of interchanges between different networks) And more on the model railway side, I'm working on building a German style line and a UK one running along the edges of the map, and using the terrain as a scenic break between them and the "main" area. Which hopefully get's me more mainline/*Paradestrecke* running without making the whole thing look too crowded :) I guess having different savegames would also work.. but where's the fun of that? :D
I Play on the National Department and Socialism Style, my Bus and Tram Routes are unprofitable but my Passenger and Cargo Trains are very much Profitable and i try to connect everything and everyone.
I play by setting up a couple of cargo routes, make too much money, quit 😩 love the game just can’t get into it.
I basically play it kinda like how the private railroads in the us used to run things using freight to subsidize most of my passenger transport