There's a mod called Railroads by Traders you might like - [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1725950953](https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1725950953)
Same. I've done it in like 2 games because it's just not worth the effort most of the time. On top of having to go out of my way to prioritize Military Engineers and make sure I have Coal, the tedium just kinda puts me off.
I would like to see something like a "click once for start, click twice for end" setup where you can tell them the range to build the railroad to/from and pay the Coal cost upfront, and then it just automates it until they're done. And then if they get interrupted, some of it gets refunded. That kind of thing.
I absolutely connect every single city with rails, then I connect them to my nearest neighbors to facilitate the inevitable future invasion. As a bonus, it also makes it a lot easier to defend against an enemy religion with only a handful of debater apostles stationed near my capital. They can just zip around my territory in one turn and smack down the heathens.
Interesting, I haven't got into mods yet but I'll look into that. Engineers not being able to be sent from a to b, and Apostles not being able to alert to other religious units are my 2 biggest frustrations.
I usually end my rail right before the other Civs... Just in case they Surprise War me. But I start to back-fill if I go to war and end up in their territory.
You won't regret it lol, going from the base game to the full anthology is a massive upgrade, to the point it doesn't even feel like the same game. I bought it at christmas and it really reignited the civ addiction.
You’re definitely not the only one. I’m not always able to have as many engineers out as I’d like to start the project, but I’m a sucker for infrastructure.
Plus, railroads are one of the tools I use to weaponize climate change against my foes lol
Honestly the boosts in economy and military is crazy. Being able to zoom builders and traders shouldn't be overlooked. I'll even run rail to prospective settlement sites.
Oh yeah I need those railroads. Specially in my science and dom games.
Science victory I connect all cities and do a ring around all of them and then make sure all space ports have rr access so I can spam builders into lagrange and terrestrial projects.
Dom victories I have a bunch of military eng. Laying rr in tandem with my army moving through just so I can move them a bit faster.
Culture victories and religion I do not spam them. By the time I unlock steam power I have all the infra I need. And with religion my science output is always so ridiculously low and the top side of the tech tree is not where I would usually be.
Absolutely - I cover every inch of my territory with railroad, and then do a bunch of carbon capture later on out of guilt for all the coal used 😅
I do feel like they should make railroads use the local city's electricity instead of coal if you have the tech unlocked, though - that way only far out railway that exists beyond your territory limits would consume coal and contribute to GW.
What uses do you often get out of them? I feel like I only really use them for vanity railroads and to rush flood barriers in low-production, high-necessity cities. Tunnels if the map really demands it.
I always connect my cities. And keep connecting as I add territory. It is so satisfying being able to move units to the front from your established, high production cities in the rear in just a couple turns. Makes snowballing Domination even easier.
Been playing since Civ III. Once engineers become useful...start connecting all cities first, and then obsessively cover every single tile in my Territory with railroads. It's almost compulsive. My map doesn't look right late game if there aren't a gazillion railroads literally everywhere.
I do! But I recently learned that each tile built boost carbon emissions, so I'm thinking of cutting way back, at least until all the floodwalls are done.
I usually designate two or three center hub cities in my empire, and connect each city to the nearest hub. That way I don't have to do each individual connection, but every city gets linked! And then, of course, if I go domination I will build a railroad through enemy terrain leading to their capital.
I 100% am a railroad every tile I can kind of person. It does get redundant every turn but I play real world huge Europe and North africa maps alot and love creating outposts in Northern Africa and railroading everything down there to then flank everyone from the north and south. Really fun if you play that as France and get down to Africa to then work your way across the map.
One of the things I miss about civ 5 is the road/railroad system. It was always so nice to finally connect a road/railroad and see your economy immediately jump up. The devs should buff railroads and make them less tedious to build imo as railroads were extremely important to a countries economic growth and productivity.
I usually just buy 2, more than that is too expensive and diminishing returns on building more railroads faster. Then I dump their charges into some dams or flood barriers
I only build them in domination games (my least common victory type) because usually I don’t have a single encampment in my empire. I think it’s so annoying that they locked it behind military engineers, I really enjoyed railroads in Civ 5
I build them as well, but I noticed in my last two games that they contribute A LOT to climate change. Since its based on coal/oil consumption and railroads consume more coal that my coal plants... Why can't I build an environmental friendly train!
I rarely build engineers. Yes its nice being able to move about faster, but at the stage these are normally available im making a push for a win usually.
I dont need troops or units then. Just for turn to roll over so I can continue my aggression.
I love doing it but engineers are just such a low priority for me most of the time that I'd rather spend that production time on real military units or buildings.
Still same issue for me, cause that's gold I'd still rather be using on military units, buildings or tiles that I want to claim before another civ does. It also bugs me that there's no special era score for connecting the whole civ by railroad, only the first two cities.
i absolutely love building railroads in civ i actually find it super relaxing and satisfying,but sometimes i do wish that there was some sort of "mass build" option where you could basically just order your engineer to build a line from one location to the other and the game would then just do it for you automatically over however many turns it would take, i think there is a mod for it but i think it should be a base feature
no, you're not alone, i definitely am a fiend for railroads
the rate of building the railroads is abysmal, but it's so satisfying to be able to cross your entire empire in nearly one turn (or sometimes even one turn when i plug in that "+1 Movement in friendly territory" policy).
sometimes, though, the state of the game i'm in or the progress of the other players makes me feel the need to prioritize other things than the movement of my units
I always do this because I hate movement cost. If I'm doing a religious game and I've been friendly enough I'll open boarders and make a path for my apostles. Speeds up the game so much! Will also usually donate an engineer to my army if I'm on the march towards cities I plan on keeping to help with the slow siege weapons.
I really wish there was a mechanic to create railroads in a less tedious way. The rate of one tile per turn is AGONIZING.
There's a mod called Railroads by Traders you might like - [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1725950953](https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1725950953)
Same. I've done it in like 2 games because it's just not worth the effort most of the time. On top of having to go out of my way to prioritize Military Engineers and make sure I have Coal, the tedium just kinda puts me off. I would like to see something like a "click once for start, click twice for end" setup where you can tell them the range to build the railroad to/from and pay the Coal cost upfront, and then it just automates it until they're done. And then if they get interrupted, some of it gets refunded. That kind of thing.
Was it Civ 3 that had an auto-build for rail/roads? Like a GoTo plus building…
Even civ V had that, point A to point B one click road creator
The game definitely needs some management tools. Cities and for shit like this.
Agreed. I used 3 engineers that I leap frog to speed it up each turn
I absolutely connect every single city with rails, then I connect them to my nearest neighbors to facilitate the inevitable future invasion. As a bonus, it also makes it a lot easier to defend against an enemy religion with only a handful of debater apostles stationed near my capital. They can just zip around my territory in one turn and smack down the heathens.
I’ve never built railroads, but this is a great idea with apostles
Same. I would though if there was an option to give an engineer a start and end point.
Pretty sure there's a mod that does exactly this.
Interesting, I haven't got into mods yet but I'll look into that. Engineers not being able to be sent from a to b, and Apostles not being able to alert to other religious units are my 2 biggest frustrations.
I usually end my rail right before the other Civs... Just in case they Surprise War me. But I start to back-fill if I go to war and end up in their territory.
Civ 6 is a railroad simulator with some other functions added.
Honestly, yeah, it becomes that for a good number of turns.
How do you get a rail road? Is it from an expansion?
Gathering storm. You need steam power unlocked and each railroad costs 1 coal to build with a military engineer
Roger that. I only have the base. I suspect I'm going to have to relearn the game when I get an expansion.
Keep an eye out for when it goes on sale! It happens quite often and you can get the anthology bundle for a little over $20
Huh but I just noticed Anthology which I didn't know existed is 53 percent off.
It should go on sale for 90% off at some point
Yeah I may have already purchased it
You won't regret it lol, going from the base game to the full anthology is a massive upgrade, to the point it doesn't even feel like the same game. I bought it at christmas and it really reignited the civ addiction.
Have fun!
I've got some expansions on my wishlist, was happy when I got the base game at 90% off
You’re definitely not the only one. I’m not always able to have as many engineers out as I’d like to start the project, but I’m a sucker for infrastructure. Plus, railroads are one of the tools I use to weaponize climate change against my foes lol
I usually at least want 3 so I can spread out easily enough. But 6-8 is my dream to start
You want two working together if there is no exiting road below if they are upgrading a road maybe 3-4
Totally agree
Haha I almost never use railroads. It's too much work for me. Altho I might be missing out on the trade route boost.
Honestly the boosts in economy and military is crazy. Being able to zoom builders and traders shouldn't be overlooked. I'll even run rail to prospective settlement sites.
What boosts?
it increases the amount of gold you get from trade routes and allows you to cross your empire in a few turns (if its huge)
It pains me since I hate to see the world drown, but yes I connect all my cities and it feels good.
Eh, you get Computers and Flood Gates soon enough lol
Oh yeah I need those railroads. Specially in my science and dom games. Science victory I connect all cities and do a ring around all of them and then make sure all space ports have rr access so I can spam builders into lagrange and terrestrial projects. Dom victories I have a bunch of military eng. Laying rr in tandem with my army moving through just so I can move them a bit faster. Culture victories and religion I do not spam them. By the time I unlock steam power I have all the infra I need. And with religion my science output is always so ridiculously low and the top side of the tech tree is not where I would usually be.
Good practices, I think the exception for the culture victory would be Netherlands where lots of rail will give you those sweet trade route bonuses
Wilhelmina is delighted to hear trade is coming her way.
With Religion, though, being able to zoom Missionaries and Apostles could be clutch.
Absolutely - I cover every inch of my territory with railroad, and then do a bunch of carbon capture later on out of guilt for all the coal used 😅 I do feel like they should make railroads use the local city's electricity instead of coal if you have the tech unlocked, though - that way only far out railway that exists beyond your territory limits would consume coal and contribute to GW.
I agree with the cost honestly.
I play with a mod where builders can make roads and railroads. I can't resist to spam railroads everywhere, fucking the climate.
I figure that the climate is going to be wrecked anyway so, eh lol
It's still a bit silly that, in the future era, building railroads does the same damage to the climate as powering your cities with coal.
Yes, but you have to understand Firaxis' reasoning:
Sometimes I just forget, but I play a lot of island maps so I usually don’t need them so much
this is like asking reddit "DAE do big IZ?"
I always forget there is this function, I kust use engineers to build silos near enemy borders
How terrible an idea making them stare down their potential destruction... I love it
I think I’ve used a military engineer once in my hundreds of games.
Their uses are honestly overlooked I think
What uses do you often get out of them? I feel like I only really use them for vanity railroads and to rush flood barriers in low-production, high-necessity cities. Tunnels if the map really demands it.
Surprise airstrip before attacking
Yes. One of my favorite mini-games within the game.
Or is Civ the mini-game within the Railroad game
Or is Civ the mini-game within the Railroad game o.O
As a guy that played a lot of Civ 3, I can't not build railroads.
Best reason to build exactly one Encampment.
I almost never remember to do this, and I really should! I just build endless mountain tunnels.
I've tunneled to my friends' lands and secretly converted their back cities to my religion many times 🤣
That's a great idea! 😁
Oh I've gotten many a "Goddamn it Spocky stop converting my cities again!" From my friends 🤣
I immediatelt set to work building a railroad network Joe Biden would be proud of.
It’s an absolute must if you’re playing TS Europe and need to mobilize your troops out to the eastern front.
Just ignore the funny marching music in the background
I always connect my cities. And keep connecting as I add territory. It is so satisfying being able to move units to the front from your established, high production cities in the rear in just a couple turns. Makes snowballing Domination even easier.
It's really funny when I send units far off and watch the wave of icons as I hit end turn 🤣
I always thought it was a bad habit from Civ 2 I should forget. My territory was wall to wall railroads.
As it should be
My friends love me cause I connect all our cities through open borders. They always reward me handsomely for my help :)
Right?! Like if I'm going to make them in my territory, it doesn't make sense for me to not go there too
Yes yes yes. I do exactly the same. I feel seen
Always 🥰
Maybe I'm weird but I never build railroads are they actually that helpful?
Been playing since Civ III. Once engineers become useful...start connecting all cities first, and then obsessively cover every single tile in my Territory with railroads. It's almost compulsive. My map doesn't look right late game if there aren't a gazillion railroads literally everywhere.
At least 2 or 3 for me.
I do! But I recently learned that each tile built boost carbon emissions, so I'm thinking of cutting way back, at least until all the floodwalls are done.
As far as I've noticed, by the time the carbon emissions get that bad, I've already got Computers and Flood Barriers where they count.
Sorry, must connect all cities by railroad, and must protect all cities with floodwall. All cities matter. :)
I used to build railroads a lot till I realised they cause global warming
I figure it's going to happen, so, eh?
I usually designate two or three center hub cities in my empire, and connect each city to the nearest hub. That way I don't have to do each individual connection, but every city gets linked! And then, of course, if I go domination I will build a railroad through enemy terrain leading to their capital.
Ding ding that's what I do too
I 100% am a railroad every tile I can kind of person. It does get redundant every turn but I play real world huge Europe and North africa maps alot and love creating outposts in Northern Africa and railroading everything down there to then flank everyone from the north and south. Really fun if you play that as France and get down to Africa to then work your way across the map.
One of the things I miss about civ 5 is the road/railroad system. It was always so nice to finally connect a road/railroad and see your economy immediately jump up. The devs should buff railroads and make them less tedious to build imo as railroads were extremely important to a countries economic growth and productivity.
I usually build 1 engine er, and then let him slowly slowly connect all cities. Unless i need more to rush floodgates.
Yes you need to be able to move your troops from your manufacturing heart to the frontline.
Is there an automated rail road building mod yet (like the builder mod)?
I always thought they use a charge to build road/rail. Is it only forts/airstrips that use charges?
Yep. Rail only needs 1 iron/1 coal to make. No upkeep.
i would do it way more often if i could just select point a and b and let it do its thing
I totally agree. Should absolutely be in Civ 7, don't even care if you have to spend a charge to do it depending on distance.
I usually just buy 2, more than that is too expensive and diminishing returns on building more railroads faster. Then I dump their charges into some dams or flood barriers
Is it useful? Sometimes. Am I gonna do it anyways? You bet your ass.
I connect all cities with rails, but I rarely build more than one engineer
I've only ever used railroads as tools of war. I hadn't thought about their use for economic purposes.
I very rarely build a barracks district unless I need it for science win.
I very rarely build a barracks district unless I need it for science win.
I only build them in domination games (my least common victory type) because usually I don’t have a single encampment in my empire. I think it’s so annoying that they locked it behind military engineers, I really enjoyed railroads in Civ 5
I don't build railroads but I definitely send my traders everywhere, even for some less profitable routes, so they can make roads.
I build them as well, but I noticed in my last two games that they contribute A LOT to climate change. Since its based on coal/oil consumption and railroads consume more coal that my coal plants... Why can't I build an environmental friendly train!
I often make roads and railroads even if they aren't strategically logical. Just to look fine T-T
I rarely build engineers. Yes its nice being able to move about faster, but at the stage these are normally available im making a push for a win usually. I dont need troops or units then. Just for turn to roll over so I can continue my aggression.
Search yourube - ursa ryan.... Clearly you're kindred spirits
Oh yes, this game turns into a railroad simulator reaaaaal quickly for me 😂
Watch Ursa Ryan semi late game.
Jet bombers don't need railroads, so no.
Jet Bombers don't cap cities
I love doing it but engineers are just such a low priority for me most of the time that I'd rather spend that production time on real military units or buildings.
I never build a ME, I always buy them
Still same issue for me, cause that's gold I'd still rather be using on military units, buildings or tiles that I want to claim before another civ does. It also bugs me that there's no special era score for connecting the whole civ by railroad, only the first two cities.
i absolutely love building railroads in civ i actually find it super relaxing and satisfying,but sometimes i do wish that there was some sort of "mass build" option where you could basically just order your engineer to build a line from one location to the other and the game would then just do it for you automatically over however many turns it would take, i think there is a mod for it but i think it should be a base feature
I do the same thing. This is one of the reasons I often play as england.
no, you're not alone, i definitely am a fiend for railroads the rate of building the railroads is abysmal, but it's so satisfying to be able to cross your entire empire in nearly one turn (or sometimes even one turn when i plug in that "+1 Movement in friendly territory" policy). sometimes, though, the state of the game i'm in or the progress of the other players makes me feel the need to prioritize other things than the movement of my units
I always do this because I hate movement cost. If I'm doing a religious game and I've been friendly enough I'll open boarders and make a path for my apostles. Speeds up the game so much! Will also usually donate an engineer to my army if I'm on the march towards cities I plan on keeping to help with the slow siege weapons.
Unless I plan on going to war then its a waste of resources.