Connect the country with your railways
Rail Nation is a free-to-play 3D strategy video game wherein you can take charge of a railway empire. Developed by Travian Games, this train-centric browser game is actually an MMO, and you can easily interact and team up with other players despite the nature of the gameplay. Rail Nation is available on mobile, as well—but is no casual pastime game with its lengthy campaigns and complex strategy mechanics.
Here for the long haul
When looking at Rail Nation, you may be reminded of other train-themed games that feature realistic and accurate train models, such as Train Simulator. Unlike that, however, the trains here are merely pawns in a much larger world. You’re actually competing to become the best railroad tycoon on the map by dominating the transportation economy and gaining Prestige points for your actions. However, you’re not the only one playing this game—you need to work alongside other players in order to make it to the endgame round.
There are six historical eras all game world servers go through, and these are divided by the type of train engines available—Steam, Diesel, and Electric—and the goods you must transport depending on the current period in history. Unlike other MMO games, starting doesn’t mean playing through the beginning of these eras. The servers follow a strict timeline, as each era lasts 14 days in real-time—so you might enter halfway through Era 1 or even come back after a month to see Era 4.
In each era, the world changes and offers new advancements in technology, displaying over 100 true-to-life train models. There are three scenarios for the game worlds: Classic, which uses fictional location names; American Dream, which pits two rival US railway unions; and Steam over Europe, wherein regions battle for routes. In each map, there are 50 cities to choose from as your home city and starting point. Once Era 6 ends, the top 10 cities on the leaderboard will battle it out for one last all-out war.
Boost the growing economy
The premise is simple for every day you play: gain Prestige points to climb higher on the rankings. You can usually achieve this by transporting required goods to cities, investing in industries, upgrading station buildings, participating in competitions, and collecting medals and achievements. To do more of these, however, you need to expand your empire by purchasing train engines and their railcars and building new track routes to connect your home city to more neighboring locations you can deliver to.
With this, you’ll need to expand your train station to accommodate more bonuses. Some of the buildings, like the Hotel and Restaurant, even generate profits for you at set intervals. Upgrading will require real-time construction, however, and each upgrade will take longer and longer to complete. The real-time strategy mechanic also applies to your trains. They will run and earn you money while you’re away, but will degrade and slow down over time and will start needing repairs once they hit 70%.
You can also apply upgrades to your trains to make them more efficient, but you must use Research Points to unlock these. Likewise, you can buy cash shop items like vouchers and tickets for various services to help your progress. However, what will matter the most in your game world is your strategy. Don’t be deceived by the easy avatar and corporation logo customizations. Even with a tutorial, Rail Nation’s learning curve is steep, and laying the foundations of your business in earlier eras is necessary for future ones.
A complex but challenging browser game
Rail Nation has nice dynamic 3D graphics that reflect each era you enter. The trains themselves are highly accurate and even have performance statistics for train fans. The whole game is no walk in the park, though—and definitely takes longer than that. The gameplay mechanics look simple, but it can easily affect any part of your empire’s success in each era. With this, getting a handle on the strategic nuances can take a while to master. However, it’s always satisfying to see your success after a while.
