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Hello all. Have any of you tried DeckEleven's Railroads 2? It is a pretty nifty RR simulator that can be played on your phone. In lieu of having a version of RRT2 for one's phone, this comes fairly close. I enjoy playing it almost daily when I have a little time. There is nothing to buy unless you would like to upgrade to more powerful steam, diesel, or electric technologies. They are offered in packages for a reasonable cost. The choice is yours. The free version contains NO ADS and one can begin the free campaign fairly easily after reading about some of the games features and nuances. The early missions in the free campaign are structured to get you started and to help you learn. The final mission in the free campaign becomes quite challenging; but if you can complete it, a nice little gift awaits you. The game has a Sandbox mode where random missions are generated after one chooses a map size, terrain, biome, difficulty level (with casual being fairly easy, tycoon being a bit more challenging, and hardcore being just that), etc. This gives the game a wonderful replayability factor. I t just never gets old or stale. If you haven't tried it yet, give it a try. I absolutely love it. You can DL it at the Google Play Store. Happy Railroading.

Apologies for not getting back here sooner. I downloaded 1.57ddh and installed it in my game prolly soon after it was created and on this site for DL. But I never got around to playing the game again until just recently. Everything seems to work fine, by that I mean the game plays just fine as this updated version. I don't play scenarios often enough that require a good usage of ports, but it is nice to know I have the update when I may need it. Thanks again to all.

Sadly, the only way to keep them from TOTALLY screwing everything up is to keep a constant watch on them. I have been able to "guide" my AI Companies by making an annual visit (if you will) as long as Chairman switching or jumping is allowed in a particular game. I know it's tedious, but one must constantly check their consists and make the changes (if necessary) to maximize their efficiency. And check also their track layout, and improve it as necessary. Usually, the companies I take over are so poorly run by the time I arrive, that the changes I make are very effective in regards to their profit-making ability. As a rule, the AI generally do their absolute best efficiency-wise, and profit-wise, when they are newly formed companies. They proceed downhill quite quickly from that point. By jumping in, I am giving them that "like-new" feeling once again, and they make money as only they can. Who else can haul cattle to a city that only has a textile mill and still receive revenue for the cargo hauled? Only the AI. Annually stopping the game to check on them becomes a labor of love when you see their profits head upward rapidly. Remember this too, you don't have to own them, but you must be able to CONTROL them, meaning you need to be the majority shareholder. After doing this for a few years, you may then decide to make a merger with them. And when you succeed, not nearly as many changes will need to be made to their tracks, consists, etc. because you will have been addressing their issues all along. All of this is part of the enjoyment I receive from playing the game in this style. I realize it is not for everyone, but it must be done if one doesn't want the inmates to be running the asylum.

Hello Richard, The best tip I could offer you is to use the Pause Game (or lower game speed to "0") early and often. There are so many things that occur in this game in the seeming "blink of an eye" while the game clock is running if one is not paying close attention to the details. and I, for one, don't like to miss anything. Almost ANYTHING you might want to do in the game is worth doing with the game clock paused. Plan your work, then work your plan...and then restart the game clock. I am probably quite anal when it comes to this matter, but this is how I get enjoyment from playing this great game. I used to just be concerned with what I was doing during a scenario or campaign, but I eventually broadened my horizon by watching everything and everybody. What joy!! It is as if a story is being played out right before your eyes, so why miss any of the pages and/or scenes. As an added bonus, I guarantee this game will make you laugh out loud when you least expected it would. And you will remember these moments the most, I am thinking. Long after you will have forgotten about a certain achievement or attained medal, these moments will stick with you. A most amazing and satisfying experience for anyone, indeed.....don't miss any of them. I will relate two such personal experiences, hoping you will not mind my sharing of them. The first one occurred when I finally learned how to really make some money by using the Stock Market. Following many of the good people's advice in these threads, I was able to successfully manipulate my company's share price down to $1....yes ONE DOLLAR....I laughed so hard I nearly spilled my beverage. And I bought every share that was available (with the game paused of course) before anyone else had the chance. I owned every share of stock available and was 100% owner of my RR. I roared with glee yet again, when my next train pulled into it's next station, as the share price soared into the $300+ range. Timing can sometimes be everything in this game, and the pause mode sure aids us in that regard. The second experience occurred when, as a result of attaining a majority of an AI opponent's shares, I attempted and succeeded in merging our two companies. In itself, this is not very noteworthy; happens all of the time. What happened after was what I remember the most. The Chairman of the dissolved Company decided to start another railroad, again quite typical. It was when he chose to name it Conrail that I nearly fell out of my seat. This is an amazing game.....and you will have some amazing moments ahead I am sure. Main thing is...find a "style" of gameplay you enjoy, and do just that.....ENJOY!! Watch and be amazed!

Yes indeed Jeffry. As I stated, this game is capable of amazing us at times. And that is surely what it did to me. Thanks for the precise explanation of what went on. I got to thinking about it some more after posting, and I realized I was just a victim of my own foolish megalomania. The game was just doing what it was, and is, programmed to do, after all. I still get a chuckle out of it all. Incidences like these which happen to us from time to time give this game its flavor and charm. And keep us coming back for more. These will be remembered for a long time after multiple Gold wins in various scenarios will have long been forgotten, by me at least. Imagine though.....a game that REALLY could adjust and learn from an opponent...that sure would be something....

I play my Southern US Nine map very frequently. I am surely nearing 100 plays. I am absolutely addicted to takeovers and mergers with the AI. I cannot help myself. I enjoy taking unprofitable, poorly run RRs and turning the tables around. I would say it is definitely a tendency of my style of gameplay. I do it unconsciously....if the opportunity presents itself, I grab it. And it is a way to expand my RR along with the usual laying of new line. Here's what happened in my most recent playing of the game. After acquiring enough stock shares (51%+) I assumed the chair of an AI Company. The ousted CEO then proceeded to start a new Company. This was expected, it happens all the time. But he named his new Company the "Shore to Shore RR" which struck me as odd, since the AI usually names their companies based on the 2 initial cities they connect, or something like one of the city names followed by Southern, Western, etc. This Chairman started with a small stake (2K or 3K of shares) and the rest were left for other investors. I normally snatch all remaining shares by buying them at this point. But, I waited a few gameplay months to see where this new RR was going to spring up. IT NEVER DID!! I still greedily bought up all the remaining shares; the CEO then sold his initial stake, at a tidy profit, and I was now the proud owner of a RR that was a Company in name only. They did not have ONE liquid asset to their name. No stations, rails, locomotives....they probably didn't even have a rail tie spike to their name....LOL. I had been taken! I immediately merged my main Company with this one, and the CEO started another new Company, this time an actual RR connecting 2 cities. Did, or does, the game know (or remember) a human player's gameplay tendencies in order to exploit these against him/her? Is it even possible? The warning sign was the oddity of the choice of name for that first Company, signaling something strange was at bay. It sure gave me a chuckle. Somewhat related to this, but not from the Southern Map, which happened a few years ago, was an occurrence of an AI starting it's first Company (near the beginning of a game) with the name of Conrail....Conrail!!! This struck me as odd....a name well known to even the most ignorant person of railroading and its history. I certainly knew the name. The Game Year was in the mid-1800s, so it struck me as doubly odd that Conrail was chosen as a Company name. Unfortunately, the game crashed within seconds of this happening, and before I was able to save the game. I always wonder how that game would have turned out, and if the Company called Conrail would follow history to any degree. Thanks for listening, and please relate any similar experiences....this game continues to amaze.....

Wow! I have NOT witnessed anything along these lines during gameplay, but I will keep my eyes open for it in the future. Would this be considered a "bug", or just the game reflecting the changing technologies in a brilliant transformation? Sometimes this game can appear to be very "smart" about things, even us HUMAN players. Only reason I am stating it in this fashion is because something unusual just happened to me the other day which makes me ask the question; "Does this game know (or remember) human player tendencies?" I have started a new thread with this as the topic. Thanks Jeffry, always interesting reading your posts.

Yes, you are right on with your excellent description of the "perpetual blackhole" that can occur if conditions are ripe for it. The amazing quality of this phenomenon is the speed with which it occurs. Given a major economic downturn, a crash, or some other map event that weakens the economy considerably.....pause the game......instantly you will be able to see who is in trouble by checking AI CEO's on the Stock Market screen. The ones with negative purchasing power will begin to sell off, as you stated. The size of that negative value determines if they might make it through the crisis, depending on which company or companies they hold shares of, as well. Un-pause the game, and in mere seconds, by pausing again, you can catch blocks of holdings being sold off, and plummeting prices. This pausing and un-pausing can be done as often as one likes. But by the very next turning of the calendar month, usually, they will either be wiped out financially, or they will be in survival mode, with a good chance that they will make it through the downturn. Times will still be tough, but they will have managed to avoid the powerful suction of the "blackhole" for the time being. I never had any real success with a "bear raid" myself. The surviving CEOs are simply too strong to be broken at this stage. The damage has already been done. My shorting shares of their stock never pushes them over the edge. I much prefer taking this opportunity to buy as many shares as I can comfortably afford of the surviving CEO's companies at rock bottom prices. The market can only go up from here, it is just a matter of when. And I do this quite aggressively with takeovers as my goal. Then you may attain that 51% or greater ownership in the company or several companies, and you will have a nice choice to make. Merge with them and expand your empire if that seems useful, or take them over by assuming chairmanship (if the map allows it) and literally run them and their company into the ground using various means of a "scorched earth policy" (bulldozing tracks and/or buildings, running up debt, etc.). This sure is a beautiful game.....

Jeffry, I can only speak from gameplay experience, as I don't read program codes etc., but it sounds like you are onto the culprit of the BIG drop in stock prices when you mention a "true" price for each stock. Instead of Market Share Price, Book Value Price per share is probably where this value originates (just guessing, I have no way of proving this), and it may be modified by the actual and/or potential profit, or loss, for the current year in which the event occurs. With it's negatively biased crystal ball the Stock Market seems to me to have an uncanny knack for downgrading stocks quickly based on these criteria. It's motto would appear to be "expect the worst until proven otherwise". By infusing a -70% economy event, indeed the "sky would begin to fall" as you have witnessed. I pay very close attention to all of these phenomena during gameplay. it happens with regularity if one watches closely in scenarios that feature downturns such as this. I too, have had to "water down" an economic decline in an event in my Southern Map...or risk not being able to recover before going bankrupt. With experimentation, one can achieve the desired result of the downturn.

....always try to think "outside the box"....I just KNEW there could be a good use for a cheat code....sharp observation..... Let's think of some uses for the other cheat codes (to improve gameplay of course).

X3M, I had to chuckle when I read this. If inbreeding was being practiced, then quite likely child labor from the nearby houses was being utilized as well. It all sounds eerily similar to the Hitler-Jugend (The Hitler Youth Movement) which was started by the Nazi Party in the mid-1920s. While primarily a boys movement, there was an organization later added for young girls called Schwesternschaft der Hitler-Jugend. It was not uncommon for some of these young girls to become pregnant as early as 12 or 13 years of age. This was not frowned upon by the Third Reich....more likely it was encouraged. Just a thought rolling around in my head upon reading............

That IS a great thread, read it first time just now. Thanks for bringing it to our attention Maglev. Personally, I like the downturns in the economy. If I am playing a scenario particularly well, I can maintain profitability even in the worst of times. This becomes my barometer as to how well I am doing as a company, and usually signals a decisive victory forthcoming in the particular scenario. It also presents those wonderful opportunities you have mentioned. Conversely, sometimes I will get my butt handed to me and be ruined. Always remember the lesson learned when this happens. Most times I just try to weather the storm like all of the other companies in the game. These times taught me many new skills for sure. Lastly, I cannot imagine playing a particular game that would have a perpetual booming economy. I would NOT like it, in fact. But if one prefers the economy to be at or near that level more frequently, then try some of those gameplay ideas in steve39's thread. The beauty is the variety of play-styles that work well in this game.

Indeed it is +20% on Pax Revenue. I will use the Dining Car frequently when consists of Pax and/or Mail are 4 or less cars (in any combination, with at least one Pax car). I surely DO like a caboose always. Seems I get robbed whenever I forsake using one. That is NOT really the case, but it sure can seem that way. If robberies are reported to be down recently (via the Newspaper) I may gamble for one run with 6 cars of Pax/Mail, or 5 Pax/Mail plus a Dining Car. This would also work on a Map with little or no robberies. The Dining Car just fills in an already less than full (5 or less cars) consist, in my playing style. It is a viable option, and entirely up to the player whether to be used or not.

Just felt like chiming in on this thread. I have never gotten the Secret Gold, in fact, I have never achieved Gold. The best I could manage was a Silver. It is prolly because I, like CrownVic95 stated, started getting tired during gameplay...meaning the intense micro-managing and revenue squeezing gets old for me on this particular map. On some maps I enjoy micro-management immensely...pausing the game as well very frequently to watch all of the activity going on with competitor's RRs, and industries that may be turning lucrative, cities growing or declining, etc. And I pause some games even more frequently just to assuage my true fetish...the stock market....LOL. I have devised formulas in my mind that use the 5 yr weighted return in relation to a stock's current price to tell me when to buy or sell, but it really only gets me looking deeper into the company, which takes even more time. But I enjoy all of this. It's just me and my gameplay preferences. I know this will sound goofy, but in a map I particularly like playing, I feel that there is a story being told....but the Human player must dig to find all of the words, actions, scenarios, etc. before these clues disappear completely over time in order to know that story in its entirety. That is how and where I get the most joy from playing this great game, finding those clues and being told the story. And the story is NEVER the same, no matter how often I play a particular map....I guess that's what keeps me coming back. But I also enjoy reading Maglev's tricks and tips on gameplay, and this one is no exception. That is some good stuff in your post Maglev. Lastly, I just wanted to add that I, too, found that Small Hotels and Restaurants work much better than Large ones (for the costs incurred). An added Saloon can sometimes help here, but I really like adding a Dining Car to the Express Trains if you have room for another car, and a capable Locomotive pulling the train. I haven't played a game recently, but I am thinking the Dining Car adds +10% again to Pax revenue. Of course you can check this in the game by holding your mouse over the car or clicking on it. Then you may decide if it is worth adding it or not for an express run. Good comments folks.....enjoyed reading.

All seems well now with the map download. I don't understand how these things happen (files becoming inaccessible), but I am glad I checked on a recent visit here. Try it. Hopefully enjoy it. Any comments are appreciated. Thank you.