Never Played RT

[The King of Spain]

I have never owned a RT game before, but am considering buying it. What are it's good and bad points?

[Severous]

Ive played more RRT2 than any other game.  I consider the Platinum RRT2 edition to be excellent value.

Good points - RRT2&3 you can choose game speed and level of micro management. Spans time and location for variety of loads and trains. Loads of fan sites for more scenarios and maps.

Bad points - dare I post an opinion...RRT3 is/was bug ridden. Patch 3 was last I heard of but gave up on game/series before I installed the patch.  RRT3 newish so full price still?.  RRT3 just didnt do it for me and after a couple of months realised I wasnt enjoying it just playing out of loyalty to the series which has had so many hours of my time.

[Railnut]

Yeah, what he said.

I still haven't played more than a few years of an RT3 scenario. caddet gave me RT2 when he gave me my first good computer and I played it exclusively for a couple of years. I still think it's the greatest game ever. I would sometimes play it all night and have to go back to work in the morning with no sleep. Then I would spend all day at work thinking about what I would do next in the game when I got home. It's totally addictive.
It's also the game that got me hooked on the internet. Once I got service, the first thing I did was find RT2 sites. The guys I met on those forums were friendly and helpful and just all around fun to hang out with.
I bought and played Tropico because it was made by the same company, PopTop, and because Dave made a board for it at his RT2 forum. I really stink at Tropico but I still had fun playing it and meeting the newbies that came along to check out the board.
I haven't played much of either in a long time, but they are both installed on my new computer just in case I suddenly get the urge.

[caddet]

You made me say something.  RT2 is, without doubt or exception the best game I have.  I loaned it to a friend who actually works for a railroad company, and for 2 months I really missed it, even though I have 37 other games on my system.

Before making my last comment, let me make this disclosure:  I generally don't like sequels as much as originals, or new versions after playing earlier versions.  That said, I consider RT3, to be probably the biggest waste of computer game money I have spent out of all 37 games on my machine.  

[Bluebones]

The only thing I loathe about PopTop's games is their consecutiveness. Frankly, it just gets boring. It's great for a pretty long while, but frankly, I'd get tired just building farms and waiting for everyone else to do everything else in Tropico, run a train around Italy in RRT, or just the lack of strategy and surprises in Stronghold. If they'd put in so much stuff it'd take you a month to complete, and then want to do it all over again, then I would definately get the game. Like maybe a multiplayer Tropico, or to where you can atleast tell your troops what to do, or maybe start a war or something. I want navies, cannons, blood, and stuff I can actually tell what to do! Something like AoE, but with Tropico. Maybe a single-creature RPG, like Diablo or any MMO. Maybe even something with a STORY LINE.

Those would be great, but until PopTop get's these, the only reason I'll buy one of their games is it's 5-dollar-price.

[Railnut]

It generally did take me months to lay a complete RT2 scenario. Tropico was a little quicker. AoE I can complete in a few hours. THat's what I've played the most of lately. Mostly because I can play a random map without taking time to develop any real strategy. I just start gathering stuff and then kill anyone who attacks me.

[caddet]

While I don't loathe any of my games, I have to agree with Bluebones.  Tropico was great fun for a while, but it could get to be quite boring waiting for the money to build up for your next building project.  Perhaps if the project's costs could be broken up into parts, like clearing land, leveling land, and actual building, then you could start each phase even if you couldn't afford the complete project a one time.  That would do a couple of things for the game play.  First, it would introduce a whole new level of strategy when you have to decide if you should start an airport or build a church.  Second, it would allow you to actually use your construction workers MUCH more efficiently.  I have had games where my construction workers were totally idle for months, just because I lacked a few dollars for that next building I needed.  Then, as soon as a ship arrives at the dock and picks up exports, there's enough money but not enough construction workers for all the things you need to build.

I can't say the same thing about Railroad Tycoon II.  I could almost always have enough going on with my consists, that there wasn't enough time to keep up with all the trains.  And that doesn't even get in to the stock market.

[The King of Spain]

even though I have 37 other games on my system.

37 games! How did you manage that? My system can barely hold five before it starts messing me around!

[caddet]

Sorry I didn't notice your last post, King.  It's now up to a total of 42 games, when I include all the new versions.  My new system has a 120Gb hard drive, so that's not a problem.  But I have had a very few problems, which I'll list below.

So far, I have had some minor run problems with Airport Tycoon 3.  It seems to not want to open saved games more than twice, or if you've overwritten the file by saving under the same name more than twice.  After that, the game loads the saved file, then just quits to desktop.  I have overcome this by saving under a different name each time.

RollerCoaster Tycoon 2 won't run at all.  In fact, the machine won't even recognize the disk.  If I put the disk in the CD drive, it shows the drive as empty.  I haven't even tried to figure that out yet.

[Georgie]

l am afraid to buy another game. They can be abit addictive .

[instavinny]

they do get really addictive but in a good way sometimes