Sweet Transit - A City Builder with Trains!

[jztemple2]

I picked this game up a couple of hours ago. A long while ago I had put it on my Wishlist, then a while ago I changed that status to Ignore. But today I saw a mention that the game would be hitting version 1.0 release on 4/22 so I checked it out again and decided it was worth getting. I considered waiting till full release, but I need something now so I got it. And so far I'm pretty impressed.

It advertises itself as a city builder, but I kind of got the vibe of a Pharaoh or a Tropico in that you are setting up industries and factories, placing houses and the like. However, the big difference is that people and resources, to move them any distance at all, you need to use trains . So it also has a Transport Fever or Railway Empire too.

I am very impressed with the level of polish and sophistication of the game. There are standalone tutorials that guide you on how to build things and operate things. However, when you start a new game there are also in-game tutorial hints to guide you along. All nicely done and quite understandable.


There are also scenarios that are focused on building railways, which is the main driver of the game. The scenarios are a way to test how well you can build an efficient railway network. They are fun and a nice option away from city building.

Right now I'm working on my first map. As you can see I've laid out my first village with housing, a fishing dock, a sawmill plus a warehouse and storage. I'll post some more when I get to my first railway.

[jztemple2]

Close up of my main station with three tracks. Trains are automatically given different colors to differentiate them.


A schematic look at my network in build mode. It runs unpaused so you can see how your trains are doing.


An achievement achieved! I posted the pic to identify one of the irritations (there aren't many) I have with the game. If you want to build, say a sawmill, you have to mouse over those little circles at the bottom till you find the sawmill; eventually I guess I'll remember what it looks like. And really annoying, some buildings that can only be build in villages only show up on the menu when you have highlighted a building in the village.


I won't make any final recommendations on the game till next Monday when the 1.0 version is released. However, right now it's a lot of fun, even allowing for the annoyances

[jztemple2]

I've been playing the experimental version, which is pretty much the 1.0 release version that arrives next Monday. I'm having a lot of fun with it . They fixed the issue with picking out what to build, making it more obvious. Overall the game takes some time to learn, but they have tutorials and an in-game advisor to help you. I have sixteen hours in now and feel pretty comfortable with everything.

You have workers which you need to keep happy but pretty much only so when you build more houses more workers will move in.


Workers will walk to work if it is nearby, but if it say a coal mine or a quarry that is located away from your town, you need to transport them there. They will only work a certain amount of time then you need to bring them back home while bringing in a new shift. That means planning a train station near enough to their houses so enough of them can work. And when they come home, they rest.


This is a screenshot from my first map, on which I've stopped working and started a second map. Those black rectangles outlined in color are my trains. Being my first map I rather slapped down things without thinking long term. In this image there are about fifteen trains trying to use one station


Nice touch with the release version, it has newspaper front pages that highlight your more recent accomplishments and unlocks.

[Unagi]

I'm really digging the art-style and perspective, etc.

I'll likely get it eventually

[dbt1949]

I've had it for awhile but haven't tried it.

[jztemple2]

I've had it for awhile but haven't tried it.

Wait till Monday when it hits 1.0, or load the experimental branch now. You'll see the full up game.

[dbt1949]

Wii do, just the same remind me.

[jztemple2]

Here's something to think about, from the in-game wiki:

Selling Refund
Remember that Sweet Transit does not have a lose condition. You can solve any situation no matter how dire it looks. All built structures can be refunded for the same amount you spent to build them. Furthermore, you can trace your steps back by refunding trains, industries and other structures until you stabilize your economy. Then start again with expansion.

So there's no economic "death spiral" in the game.

[jztemple2]

I've got twenty-six hours in the game right now and I'm still enjoying it. I can conditionally recommend the game. The reason for the caveat is that at times the game can be frustrating regarding how it is played. For instance, there is a menu UI at the bottom of the screen where you can select items to build. However, that list is conditional, its composition depends on where you are looking at the time.

For instance, in the image below, I'm not focused on a settlement or a structure, so the UI displays the word "Global"


Now I've shifted the camera view so that I'm looking at part of the settlement of Sanford, which you can now see in the image below. And the items that can be built have changed.


And now I'm focused on a train station, Sanford 4. And now some items show up in the list that can only be built as part of the structures of a train station.


Is this bad design? IMO, no. It means that your list will consist of only those items you can build in that view. This is especially important because certain structures, for instance, can only be built in settlements. But it can also be frustrating if you don't remember that. It did take me a few hours to get comfortable with it but now it is second nature.

I also came across something that really confused me for a bit. I reached the point where I could make steel which was good because some new structures required steel. However, you can't use steel to build or for maintenance until it is in your warehouse. So I tried moving it there but to now avail . Why wasn't it accepting it? Well, the reason turned out to be that the one and only warehouse you can have active in the game (you can have more than one, but only one can be active and I've found no reason to switch to another warehouse) doesn't accept steel until you build at least one medium warehouse (shown below). Once you do that you can ship steel to your Warehouse directly, you don't have to send the steel to the medium warehouse. The medium warehouse(s) just have to be located in the same settlement. Odd, but it works fine.


Odd? Yes. Bad design? No. Quirky? You bet . Still, like the stuff above, once you get used to the quirks they become second nature. It just might not be a game for everyone, but I'm enjoying it

[jztemple2]

One thing to keep in mind about the resources listed across the top of the screen, like wood, brick, coal, etc. Once you are able to produce that good, you can buy those goods if you run short. Just mouse over the item and wait till the little circle on the pop-up fills up. It's to the right of the name in that brown strip at the top.



You can also sell goods as well, although later in the game the money will be just rolling in

[jztemple2]

The game has now hit release version 1.0 and is on sale until May 6th

[WYBaugh]

Do you give it two moos?

[jztemple2]

Do you give it two moos?

Four hooves up!

[WYBaugh]

Do you give it two moos?

Four hooves up!

Awesome. I shall check it out!

[Carpet_pissr]

Do you give it two moos?

Four hooves up!

Awesome. I shall check it out!

Four out of twenty

[jztemple2]

Four out of twenty

?

[Unagi]

Four out of twenty

?

420 is an ol'stoner joke.

move along

[jztemple2]

I have fifty hours in the game now, still enjoying it. I'm still figuring out ways to do things better, more efficiently. Here's an example:



You can run rails along a street. I saw a brief mention of this online but the impact didn't get to me for awhile. Why is it important? Well, here's a big cheese making complex. Like cattle ranches and potato farms, cheese factories have a negative environmental impact. So to counter it, I ran rails from a small station next to the factory all the way through town to another small station. This way I have no problem getting enough workers all the way out there to the factory.





Obviously there are a lot of ramifications to this. You can use separate railways to run workers out to work areas and not add to the rail traffic used for cargo. And you can also use this to move goods to near a market instead of running couriers.

By the way, I also found out that if you set a courier to carry goods between two markets, the game will attempt to balance the amount of goods at each market. This can be handy.

One more thing, as soon as you can, replace your dirt roads with cut stone, they give a 50% radius bonus. And once you have the cut stone supply, just build the roads right from the start with cut stone.

[jztemple2]

I was telling my wife about this game. To describe it, I said to imagine you are someone who has a basement filled with an enormous toy train set, with all the landscapes and the stations and the multiple routes and so forth. That is what this game is like, except that your toy villages and industries evolve over time so you have a reason to keep tinkering with it . For instance, I recently unlocked crude oil processing so I'm changing out my steam locomotives for diesel, but to do that I also have to implement a diesel distribution system so my locomotives will be able to refuel at my stations all over the map.