Game Start

When first beginning a new game, on a fresh map, there are a few VERY important things to remember.

• Cargo
• Distance
• Signals
• Terraforming
• Trains

Cargo

The first type of cargo that should be transported in a new game is coal. It has the best distance/earnings ratio of any cargo. That means, the farther you take it, the more you earn!

Distance

Find a power station near a corner of the map with preferably 2-4 mines within decent reach. Build a simple Ro-Ro station, 3 or 4 tracks is all that will be needed; connect this station to a coal mine about 100 tiles away (The normal COOP map is 256x1024, so about half the shorter length) with smart track laying you should be able to build the stations and track for around 150,000e.

Signals

Our network rules state that there should be a signal every other tile. During a game start this is lunacy and a HUGE waste of money, most of the track you are building will be destroyed later in the game, and will have very few trains running on it to boot. A signal every 20 tiles is sufficient.

Terraforming

If at all possible, go around anything in your way, rather than moving it. 90 degree turns are not as bad in the game start as they are in our final network. Most trains in early game will not even slow down around a 90 degree curve! Bridges are cheap and tend to be faster than just laying tracks down a valley, if possible use a bridge!

Trains

You can go with either electric rail, or regular, but for the cost of trains and the rail itself, you may want to stick with regular rail. The steam engines will have similar top speed, half the HP (only bad point) but cost about a third of an electric engine.

Example