Whether it was the development of the steam engine that powered the Industrial Revolution or the invention of electric engines that we still use today – in the history of railways, there have often been changes that meant progress.
While some people clung to the old technologies and have never been heard of since, those who supported the changes went down in history successfully.
Rail Nation, too, will soon see immense innovations that will present all players who have ever played Rail Nation with new strategic and tactical options. There will be a lot to discover and tinker with. The changes can be summarised in three categories.
- Integration of six new passenger engines
- Restructuring of the six research trees
- New attributes for all existing engines
Six new passenger engines
We surveyed the Rail Nation community back in 2017 to find six new passenger engines. You responded and chose the following six models.
This means, instead of one, there are now two passenger engines in each era, which you can use to transport people between cities. Depending on the distance of the route and waiting times, one of the two can always play to their advantage.
This change doesn’t affect Rail Nation – USA. The passenger feature will continue to be available exclusively on Classic and Steam over Europe.
Restructuring of the six research trees
Of course, the six new engines need to be integrated into the research trees. We didn’t just add the new engines somewhere between two old engines in the existing research trees. Instead, we used this opportunity to completely redesign the research paths and research costs. Since the research trees have only been changed once before (with the introduction of the passenger trains), we have now intentionally decided to break with old habits to provide players with more variety in their gameplay options. The times where players could blindly research the full tree in each era are over for the time being. It’s time for smart choices again!
New attributes for all engines
To round up the general overhaul of research in Rail Nation, we also couldn’t resist working on the engines you’re familiar with. Once we were done adjusting the research trees and integrating the six passenger engines, all engines were given new values in the categories speed, acceleration, tractive force, reliability and costs.
Our focus here was on creating more equal and optimised balancing within each era.
The new values now ensure that each era has at least one engine of the categories short-haul engine, sprinter, all-rounder, traction giant, long-haul engine and marathoner. Each engine now has its own purpose and can be used in particular situations. There is now the right engine for all kinds of schedules in all six eras and players can now use their engines on routes matching their very own play-style.
The changes will soon be live on the first game worlds, begging the question:
What will you do? Will you stand idly by? Or will you accept the challenge and master the future of Rail Nation?
Important general information:
- All changes come into force with the restart of a server.
- The roll-out for this update is planned for the end of September. Of course, we’ll keep you posted about the exact dates.
- Still no passenger trains in Rail Nation – USA.