Railroad Tycoon
Released: 1990
Published by: MicroProse Software
Developed by: MPS Labs
Author(s): Sid Meier, Bruce Campbell Shelley, Max D. Remington III, Michael Haire, Ken Lagace, Jim McConkey, Jeffery L. Briggs
Introduction
Railroad Tycoon is a real-time railroad management simulation developed by MicroProse, and released in 1990. Choose four geographic locations ranging from Europe, Westerm USA, Eastern USA and England, the era in which to start, how many competitors you will have, and how complex the economy will be.
The game is played top-down from the map view, and this can be zoomed in and out to four different levels. A number of difficulty levels also exist which provide the game a lot of initial accessibility for budding railroad owners, but also longevity at the higher levels where your competition becomes a lot tougher, and restrictions exist in what goods are accepted at certain cities. The game has a working economy as well, where you can buy or sell off stocks in your company, or from your competition.
After your choose your region, the game precedurally generates the locations of resources around towns and cities, so each new game can be very different from before. Aside from the map views, the game immerses you in an ever-changing world through annual financial reports, new technology news announcements, other information screens when you make your first delivery to a new city, cities now accepting new goods, price wars, and much more! The game uses dropdown menus to good effect to easily organise all the various actions and screens you might use.
Railroad Tycoon introduction (EGA, Ad Lib sound)
Every game starts you out with no trains and no tracks - you must decide which two towns or cities you wish to connect first, build some stations, buy a train, add carriages such as passenger and mail cars, and set it on its inaugural trip. When it arrives, you get revenue starting to come in, and the train automatically continues to do the same run unless you change it. With your new wealth, you can build more tracks to another destination, add to your stations, such as hotels, goods storage units, etc., so they will accept some new or be able to take more of what you're transporting. As the years go by, more advanced locomotives are available to you to buy, with improved power and speed.
The ultimate goal of the game is to be the most successful (wealthiest) railroad after 100 years has passed.
The game runs at its best with EGA graphics, which is 320 x 200 in 16 colours (despite both the box and installation routine implying there are also VGA and MCGA options in 256 colours - these run at the same resolution and colour depth as EGA - cheeky).
System Requirements
| System Requirements | Intel 8088 or 8086 CPU. 512 KB RAM required (640 KB for VGA). Graphics support for CGA, EGA, MCGA, Tandy/PCjr or VGA graphics. Audio support for PC speaker, Ad Lib, Tandy DAC, Tandy/PCjr or Roland MT-32. Keyboard and Mouse supported. |
|---|---|
| Original Media | Three 5.25" 360 KB (DS/DD) or Two 3.5" 720 KB (DS/DD) floppy disks. |
| Installed Size | 986 KB |
From where can it be run?
The game can be played from floppy, but is recommended to be installed to your hard disk. If you have a high-density 3.5" floppy drive and no hard disk you may copy the disks to one floppy.
2.7 MB of free space is required for hard disk installation. The first disk comes with two batch files called INSTALLC.BAT and INSTALLD.BAT which can be used to copy the product to either your C: or D: drive. The default folder will be \MPS\RAILS on the drive you choose.
Copy Protection
Railroad Tycoon has manual copy protection. After the game intro, you will be asked to identify a locomotive that is shown:
These images are found in the game manual, or you can view this image.
How to Setup
To configure the game for your hardware, simply run RAILS.BAT (later versions) or GAME.EXE (earlier versions). You will be presented with setup options before the game is started:
1) Choose video:
Note: VGA and MCGA options are *not* in 256 colours in this game - they are the same as EGA, in 16 colours.
2) Choose audio:
Problems
There are no known issues running Railroad Tycoon.
To Quit the Game
Go to the Action menu by pressing 'A' and click 'Retire'. You will be presented with your recommended job. On the next screen you will prompted to confirm exit to DOS.
Supporting Documents
- Original manual (PDF)
- Technical Supplement (PDF)
- Player Aid Cards (PDF)
- Unofficial Strategy Guide (TXT)
- Copy Protection (Images of the locomotives)
Save Games
Open the Game menu by pressing 'G' and choose 'Save Game'. Specify the drive you wish to save to. You can only have four save games on a single disk. For each game you save, Rails create a .SVE and a .MAP file.
Loading a previously saved game can only be done in the pre-game options. Choose the option 'Load Saved RR', type the letter of the drive where the save game exists. Highlight the save game you wish to load, and hit ENTER.
Versions of the game known to exist
| Version | Date | Comments |
|---|---|---|
| 455.00 | 6th April 1990 | Initial public release. |
| 455.01 | ? | Minor bug fixes / restrictions to improve gameplay. |
| 455.02 | 26th June 1990 | Minor bug fixes / restrictions to improve gameplay. |
Original Floppy Disk Contents
The floppy disks have volume labels that denote the minor version of the game, e.g. disks with a volume label of "ITRAINSA02" and "ITRAINSB02" indicate the game version is 455.02.
Disk 1 of 3 (5.25" 360 KB DS/DD): "Disk A" (Game version 455.00) ADVERT PIC 8,905 26-03-1990 16:38 |
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Disk 2 of 3 (5.25" 360 KB DS/DD): "Disk B" (Game version 455.00) ASOUND RR 11,494 04-04-1990 11:08 |
|
Disk 3 of 3 (5.25" 360 KB DS/DD): "Disk C" (Game version 455.00) ADVERT PIC 8,905 26-03-1990 16:38 |
|
Disk 1 of 2 (3.5" 720 KB DS/DD): "Disk A" (Game Version 455.02) ADVERT PIC 8,905 26-03-1990 16:38 |
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Disk 2 of 2 (3.5" 720 KB DS/DD): "Disk B" (Game Version 455.02) ASOUND RR 11,494 04-04-1990 11:08 |
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Installed Directory Contents
Once installed, the following directory structure exists in the game directory.
Directory of C:\GAMES\RAILS . <DIR> 03/05/21 16:04
.. <DIR> 03/05/21 16:04
ADVERT PIC 8,905 25/12/96 0:32 <== Other MicroProse games advert pic
ASOUND RR 11,494 25/12/96 0:32 <== Ad Lib sound file
BRITAIN PIC 6,640 25/12/96 0:32 <== Britain map pic
CITIES0 DTA 2,000 25/12/96 0:32
CITIES1 DTA 2,000 25/12/96 0:32
CITIES2 DTA 2,000 25/12/96 0:32
CITIES3 DTA 2,000 25/12/96 0:32
CGRAPHIC EXE 9,428 25/12/96 0:32 ===|
CLOCOS DTA 420 25/12/96 0:32 |
CLOCOS PIC 9,233 25/12/96 0:32 |
CLOCOSM PIC 9,527 25/12/96 0:32 |== CGA graphic files
CSPCGA PIC 11,085 25/12/96 0:32 |
CSPRITES PIC 13,282 25/12/96 0:32 ===|
COUNCIL PIC 8,425 25/12/96 0:32
CREDITS2 PIC 7,022 25/12/96 0:32
DIFFS PIC 10,544 25/12/96 0:32
DIFFSP PIC 9,031 25/12/96 0:32
EASTUS PIC 8,722 25/12/96 0:32 <== Eastern United States map pic
EGRAPHIC EXE 10,390 25/12/96 0:32 ===|
ELOCOS DTA 420 25/12/96 0:32 |
ELOCOS PIC 9,560 25/12/96 0:32 |
ELOCOS0 PIC 3,862 25/12/96 0:32 |
ELOCOS1 PIC 5,263 25/12/96 0:32 |
ELOCOS2 PIC 5,240 25/12/96 0:32 |== EGA graphic files
ELOCOS3 PIC 4,625 25/12/96 0:32 |
ELOCOSM PIC 9,972 25/12/96 0:32 |
ESPCGA PIC 10,909 25/12/96 0:32 |
ESPRITES PIC 12,934 25/12/96 0:32 |
ESTATION PIC 6,643 25/12/96 0:32 ===|
ENGFLDM PAN 41,824 25/12/96 0:32
ENGINES TXT 4,074 25/12/96 0:32
EUROPE PIC 10,983 25/12/96 0:32 <== Europe map pic
FACES PIC 8,332 25/12/96 0:32
FAME DTA 408 25/12/96 0:32
FLOODM PAN 38,408 25/12/96 0:32
FONTS RR 10,137 25/12/96 0:32 <== Fonts file for in-game text
GAME EXE 197,182 25/12/96 0:32 <== Main game executable
INSTALLC BAT 1,203 25/12/96 0:32 <== Installation batch file for C:
INSTALLD BAT 1,213 25/12/96 0:32 <== Installation batch file for D:
IRONM PAN 25,390 25/12/96 0:32 <== Iron bridge pic
ISOUND RR4 273 25/12/96 0:32 <== PC Speaker sound file
LABS PIC 2,263 25/12/96 0:32 <== "MPS Labs" pic
LOCOS PIC 10,796 25/12/96 0:32
LOCOS0 PIC 4,330 25/12/96 0:32
LOCOS1 PIC 6,317 25/12/96 0:32
LOCOS2 PIC 5,659 25/12/96 0:32
LOCOSM PIC 11,132 25/12/96 0:32
LOGO PIC 1,712 25/12/96 0:32 <== "MicroProse" pic
MGRAPHIC EXE 6,756 25/12/96 0:32 <== MCGA graphic file
MISC EXE 980 25/12/96 0:32
PAGE0 PIC 9,782 25/12/96 0:32
PAGE1 PIC 10,353 25/12/96 0:32
PAGE2 PIC 10,880 25/12/96 0:32
PAGE3 PIC 12,368 25/12/96 0:32
PAGE4 PIC 10,709 25/12/96 0:32
PAGE5 PIC 10,383 25/12/96 0:32
PAGE6 PIC 7,791 25/12/96 0:32
PAGE7 PIC 8,904 25/12/96 0:32
PAGE8 PIC 8,223 25/12/96 0:32
PAGE9 PIC 10,462 25/12/96 0:32
RAILS BAT 26 25/12/96 0:32 <== Run the game with this batch file
RAILSC BAT 47 25/12/96 0:32 <== Installation batch file for C:
RAILSD BAT 47 25/12/96 0:32 <== Installation batch file for D:
RAILTYC DOX 30,910 25/12/96 0:32
README DOC 2,362 25/12/96 0:32
RR0 MAP 13,022 25/12/96 0:32 ===|
RR1 MAP 15,056 25/12/96 0:32 |
RR2 MAP 14,924 25/12/96 0:32 |== Game maps (Europe, W.USA, etc)
RR3 MAP 14,939 25/12/96 0:32 |
RR4 MAP 13,035 25/12/96 0:32 ===|
RSOUND RR 12,489 25/12/96 0:32 <== Roland sound file
SPCGA PIC 11,495 25/12/96 0:32
SPRITES PIC 13,579 25/12/96 0:32
STATION PIC 7,069 25/12/96 0:32
TGRAPHIC EXE 8,852 25/12/96 0:32 <== Tandy graphic file
TITLE PIC 8,100 25/12/96 0:32
TITLEM PAN 37,626 25/12/96 0:32
TRACKS PIC 6,034 25/12/96 0:32
TRACKSC PIC 5,691 25/12/96 0:32
TSOUND RR8 120 25/12/96 0:32 <== Tandy sound file
WESTUS PIC 9,531 25/12/96 0:32 <== Western United States map pic
WOOD2 PAN 27,502 25/12/96 0:32 <== Wooden bridge pic
WRECKM PAN 40,462 25/12/96 0:32
XSOUND RR 4,273 25/12/96 0:32 <== Sound Blaster sound file
87 file(s) 1,009,994 bytes |
Screenshots
Box Contents
