0.4.5 update - A new scenario for the playtest

Iron Roads

Lay tracks, buy trains, set their routes. Optimise your network and repeat till dawn. Run your enterprise efficiently while avoiding backlogs, jams, bankruptcy or angry passengers, and you'll be recognised for the unsung train hero you know you are.

(NB the quality of life fixes from this update will arrive in the demo version in the near future) 0.4.5 Adds a new scenario, the snow-capped Futura, to the playtest. It introduces the vac-train, very slow on the surface, and very fast through tunnels. Futura also adds a new cargo-hauling chain to Iron Roads. There are also a few gameplay changes [list] [*] Towns no longer grow unless the town badge is green. This rewards you for keeping passengers happy, and stops runaway growth when you are not on top of the traffic already produced by the town [*] All scenarios have star targets to provide a sense of completion to that scenario (3 stars being the maximum). Eventually the star status will apply globally across multiple plays of the same level, be linked to Steam achievements, and show on the chooser screen [*] There is an option to pay to expand a town, with the cost increasing each time you do so. With the increased use of cargo, sometimes you run short of workers, and this allows you an occasional boost to your workers [/list] Some quality of life changes [list] [*] If you draw track over water, the game will automatically substitute a bridge. Similarly it will swap to a tunnel under towns [*] There are multiple columns of stops when adding to a route [*] The train window profit display is clearer [*] The town info window has been reformatted for clarity [*] There is an option to hide train details in the buy screen [*] The service window displays profit and occupancy statistics so you know which lines are full and making money [*] A warning is shown on the routes screen when a train is waiting for a route to be completed [*] We added an option to run the game in the background. This defaults to ‘off’, to avoid wasting battery [*] There are new tutorial screens to notify players about orders the first time they encounter stuck trains [/list] And we fixed [list] [*] A bug where the maintenance record didn’t show non-spike currencies [*] An issue where disconnected towns were affecting the town growth cooldown [*] The routefinder to choose the shortest option when there are two routes with the same number of stops to a destination, and one is significantly longer than the other [/list]