Sid Meier’s Railroad Tycoon (1990)¶
This is a summary of the game model of the original Railroad Tycoon (RRT).
Start condition¶
- $1 million (half in equity, half as loan)
- Lay track
- Build stations
- Buy trains
- Schedule trains
- Sell, buy bonds
- Build additional industries
- Buy or sell shares
Stations¶
Max. 32 stations per player. First stations gets an engine shop for free. Stations can be up- or downgraded. During an accounting period built or re-built stations pay double for freight.
- Signal Tower
- Depot (3x3 squares influence area)
- Station (4x4 squares influence area)
- Terminal (5x5 squares influence area)
Station improvements¶
- Engine shop
- Store
- Hotel
- Switching yard
- maintenance shop
- cold storage
- livestock pens
- goods storage
- post office
- restaurant
Trains¶
Max. 32 trains per player.
- Change “consist” (number and type of cars/wagons
- Types include: mail, passenger, freight
Engines¶
- 0-4-0 Grasshopper
- 4-2-0 Norris
- 4-4-0 American
- 2-6-0 Mogul
- 4-6-0 Ten-Wheeler
- 2-8-0 Consolidation
- 4-6-2 Pacific
- 2-8-2 Mikado
- 2-6-6-4 Mallet (Challenger class)
- F3-A Diesel-Electric
- EMD GP Diesel-Electric
- 2-2-0 Planet
- 2-2-2 Patentee
- 4-2-0 Iron Duke
- 0-6-0 DX Goods
- 4-2-2 Stirling
- 0-8-0 Webb Compund
- 4-2-2 Johnson Midland Spinner
- 4-4-0 Claud Hamilton
- 4-6-2 A1 Class
- 4-6-2 A4 Class
- 6/6 GE Class Crocodile
- 1-Do-1 Class E18
- 4-8-4 242 A1
- V200 B-B
- Bo-Bo-Bo RE Class 6/6
- TGV
Cars¶
- passenger
- beer
- livestock
- goods
- hops
- textiles
- steel
- chemicals
- cotton
- coal
Supply and demand¶
Stock market¶
Time¶
- 100 years running time (starting year depends on the scenario)
- Accounting period two years long
Difficulty levels¶
The chosen difficulty level remains in effect for the whole duration of a game.
Levels are “Investor”, “Financier”, “Mogul”, “Tycoon”. The level of difficulty affects revenue earned by each delivery as well as the tycoon rating at the end.
Reality levels¶
- “No Collision Operation/Dispatcher Operation” In the dispatcher operation, the movement of trains is controlled by block signals and collisions are possible.
- “Friendly competition/Cut-Throat competition” In friendly competition, they do not buy your stock, attempt to take you over or start rate wars.
- “Basic economy/Complex economy”
Economy¶
- Simple: Stations with two or more cities will buy everything
- Complex: Specialized rules
Other features¶
- If the share price of a competing railroad falls below $5 and stays there for too long, it can be dissolved and be removed from the game
- For each bankruptcy that the player declares, the interest for selling new bonds is increased by 1%. After a certain number of bankruptcies, the player is unable to sell any bonds.
- Each car that is placed on a train costs $5,000. When the consist changes, one is only charged if the total number of cars increases.
- There is a Find City option
Supplied scenarios¶
- Western United States
- Northeast United States
- Great Britain
- Continental Europe