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. [. . . ] Allows you to center the map on either the city or track that you're currently viewing in the City or Track Details screens. Pressing the List button takes you to the Track List screen, where you can see a summary of all your tracks. The Track List Screen The easiest way to manage all of your tracks is to open the Track List screen. To do this, press the Track List button in the Switchboard. The Track List screen shows you a list of all your tracks, and lets you add/remove engines directly from this screen. Each track has the following information: · · · Track: The name of the track. Congestion: How efficiently your trains run without overcrowding. Utilization: How efficiently you have allocated your trains to carry the traffic. Clicking on a light to set your engines also works from here. 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. A good number is usually below one dollar. 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. Cities with these bonuses show a gold $ sign next to them. 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. [. . . ] If a competitor is low on cash, playing a Strike and a Financial Panic may cause them to go under (which is also an excellent way of interfering with their construction). · · · · 56 Manual Pages 8/13/01 12:07 PM Page 57 Hot Keys Anywhere CE, Cn T or New Message (only available in multiplayer). When New Message is up, ENTER sends the message While Chatting While composing a message ­ Send the message E While composing a message ­ \ Map View Toggle the All/None recipients button UVWX p h +/- =/_ or Scrolls the map in the direction of the arrow Pause/Unpause Selects Headquarters Speed up/slow down time f Find Shortline/Find Next Shortline 57 Manual Pages 8/13/01 12:07 PM Page 58 z/x . /, u '/: E ` C-(!-)) (!-)) (apostrophe, semi-colon) (period, comma) Zoom in/Out Select next owned track/previous owned track Select tracks under construction Select next city that you connect to/previous city Details on selected object Deselect current object Saves the current map position Centers the map on the saved map position (if one was saved previously) Follow the nearest train owned by the player. w again will follow any train when the original target train disappears into a city. w [] / Move down/up through the current ticker items With short line selected o 58 Make offer to the short line Manual Pages 8/13/01 12:07 PM Page 59 i With city selected Apply Influence i l B i With your track selected Apply Influence Initiates Lay Track The same as clicking the Back button after you've clicked on a " most valuable connection city" With other player's track selected Apply Influence s/ S-s t S-t / Upgrade Signals/ Downgrade Signals Upgrade Track / Downgrade Track Add/remove train to freight slot. If there is no train currently there, nothing happens. [. . . ]