Express World - Railroad Tycoon 3

22nd October 2007

Way too Long

Its been way too long since an update has occurred here. I haven't given up on the site, however things away from here have been hectic and game news quite quiet. I'm going to try for some weekly updates to the site. I'm working on some new content too, so please stick around here. Want to contribute to the site, get in touch at expressworld@hotmail.com. I'm looking for people interested in producing stuff for the site.

Steam: Railroad Tycoon Series on offer

If you have seen our last update, you will know that the Railroad Tycoon collection was launched on Valve's Steam service. Just to update you that this is currently on offer, with the whole package available for $19.95 until 29 October, for this you get RT2, RT3 and Railroads. I good time to buy if your still without some of these games. Go to www.steampowered.com.

3rd June 2007

Back to Reality

I'm back from Canada, had a really good time. Vancouver is very beautiful. I'd like to go back sometime. Anyways, back to business...

Railroad Tycoon Series adds Steam

If you are missing one or more of the games in the Railroad Tycoon Series, Take 2 Interactive has recently released the games to Valve's Steam digital content delivery service.

Railroad Tycoon II Platinum Edition is available for just $4.95, with Railroad Tycoon 3 is only $9.95.

Sid Meier's Railroads is also available for $19.95. All three games are also included in the Railroad Tycoon collection, which will save you a small amount of money

So if you haven't picked up these games, its a great way to do so, and you don't need to worry about where you'd store that game box. Get steam at www.steampowered.com - theres many other great games on there too, including Firaxis' Civilization series.

9 Years Old (Almost)

On 26th April, Express World will be 9 years old, I can't believe its been so long. Thanks (in advance of the date) to everyone who has supported us over the years, heres to the next year! I would normally actual post this on the date, however I'll be a few days into my Holiday in Vancouver at that point... I'll see you all back after May 6th.

This site is still very much alive, I'm still working on new content, which will go live when I'm back from Canada.

Remember to keep visiting the messageboards, and to email any contributions for the site to expressworld@hotmail.com

22nd November 2005

Site News

There haven't been many updates regarding Shattered Union here for you, unfortunately that's because I've not found a great deal of content to report to you. The apparent lack of a map editor hasn't helped. Anyways, if you have any Shattered Union content to contribute, please send it to expressworld@hotmail.com.

- Until we are able to bring you news on Shattered Union, or any developments in Poptop related news, we will focus on bringing content for the other games we cover. To begin this, we have a repost of a very important file (see next article).

I find it very interesting that Firaxis has now been bought by Take 2 Interactive (who also own all the rights to the Railroad Tycoon series). Wouldn't it be interesting if Firaxis & Sid Meier were to be involved in developing the next Railroad Tycoon game?

Railroad Tycoon 3: Express World Download Links Repost for Coast To Coast Expansion & Final Patch

This seems to be our most popular download file that we host here on Express World. I've recieved many emails thanking me for hosting it, but I realised the download link had been quite well hidden into the older news in the RT3 section. So until the new RT3 section is revised, I'm reposting the link for ease of access!

Click here to download RT3 Coast to Coast Expansion Pack (119mb) (from EW)

... and another important file to use with Coast to Coast is the final patch Poptop released! Remember though, this file is for ENGLISH LANGUAGE VERSIONS ONLY!

Click here to download RT3 Patch v1.05 (From Express World)

Patch info:

This latest patch updates Railroad Tycoon 3 to version 1.05. This patch does NOT require you to have any prior patches installed. Whether or not you have installed patches 1.01 to 1.04, the RT3 - Coast to Coast expansion, or none of the above, this patch will work fine in any of these scenarios. If you have already downloaded and installed the RT3 Coast to Coast expansion, all you need is the stand-alone 1.05 patch.

Version 1.05 Changes

Fixed a multiplayer crash bug inadvertently introduced in patch 1.04.
Resolved the bug that could cause trains to slow to 1 m.p.h. sometimes when approaching stations and/or service towers.
Fixed a bug that would cause industries with 2 possible inputs i.e. textile mill), to produce at only half of their targeted rate, even when supplied with both inputs.

***PLEASE NOTE***
This patch should only be applied to English (UK/US/OZ) versions of Railroad Tycoon 3.

28th February 2005

Archive

With today's update it was incredibly clear to me it was time to clean this page up a little. So I've moved all the pre-2005 news to the Archive News section.

Please bare with me over the next two months, I will update as often as I can but I'm reaching the final stages of my final semester at university, so as you can imagine its rather hectic. But update will continue, and after May 6th 2005, very regular updates! So stick with us, we are not going any where.

If you have any news, or maps etc to be posted just drop me an email at expressworld@hotmail.com

Messageboards

Just a friendly reminder to everyone to join in the fun on the Messageboards!

Railroad Tycoon 3: New Map

We have a new RT3 map for you today. This one is in German, and is based on the Balkans region. It features many events and choices.

Click here to download Srbija-CrnaGora

26th April 2004 marked the 6th birthday of Express World, but unfortunately due to university I was totally unable to make it here to celebrate it. We've got new features for the site in the works, that will be coming in June... they were originally due in April, but due to uni they had to be delayed. All I have left is two exams, so after 21st May alot of work on the site will occur.

Anyways, thanks for everyone who has visited and continues to visit the site, we here only because of you (and our great hosts!).

Poptop: Next?

The latest Poptop update suggests what is to come next. Hopefully the good news for RT3 fans will be an expansion pack, as ever we shall keep you posted on this. More interestingly is the position for a Console Programmer, does this mean Poptop will be developing their next project directly for a console? This could be an interesting development!

We hope everyone is enjoying their April showers. We're still hard at work here, but we can't say too much about that. There will be some good news for all of the RT3 fans out there, though, so be sure to stay tuned in over the next month!

We have some more news on hiring front for the company as well. We have a new position open for a Console Programmer. For more information on the job please visit the job page as usual. This isn't an entry level position, but we have more good news in that we are considering working with an intern this summer. More details on this can be found on the job page as well. That's all the news for now, but keep your eyes open!

13th April 2004

Nothing

Theres still absolutely news to report to you, but Express World's sixth Birthday is on Monday so I hope to have some new stuff here to celebrate it!

If you have any news or maps send them to the usual email addresses.

RT3: 2 New Maps

We've got two new maps for RT3, bizarrely one has no name!

Click here to download The Map With No Name

Click here to downloaded United Indian Federation V1.2

3rd April 2004

Wow

I can't believe how long it has been since the last update... I've been really busy with events in my life, some good, some rather bad. I'm in a band now, as the lead singer, so thats good... but on the downside my family is minus a car after a horrific car crash last week, fortunately my Mum escaped without a scratch.. we got lucky. Anyways, so much has happened, so I guess somethings got pushed aside... not that there would have been much news to report.

Oh and who ever hacked the messageboards, didn't make a good job, I was able to get them back in about 5 minutes. We've got a few new maps that will be up in the next update (which will be very soon, not in like a month!).

We will hopefully have some cool stuff for the 6th birthday of Express World, which is on the 26th April, however breaking with tradition, this will not include a redesign of the site. The current in development redesign of Express World (titled Express World 6) won't be here until June.

Poptop Updates

Some news from the Poptop site (I knows its 3 weeks old, but here goes anyway!)

Happy March to one and all. Not a lot of news to announce for now, but we have some very important news nonetheless!

As some of you may already know, PopTop Software is currently hiring! That's right, we're looking for a few good people; in this specific case a Producer as well as a Lead Programmer. If you'd like to see if you have what we're looking for, please take a little trip to our job page and check out all the details. Good luck!

On a RT3 note, we have one new review to add to our list for today. This one was done by The Armchair Empire. The review isn't very lengthy, but you can check out the entire review here if you like. Aside from receiving a recommended title rating, it's quite obvious that they warmed up the the game quickly and enjoyed themselves:

"PopTop’s latest offering is a deep and engrossing game, which is easy to get into and hard to walk away from. The back-handed slash is that if you allow it, RT3 can take over your life."

7th March 2004

Progress

Progress has been made on the new mystery section for the site, with any look it may launch in the near future. Right peeps, I'm admitting it, I need help (with the site, not mental help), so please read on...

RT3 Map Submission Issues (Help Needed)

It has been brought to my attention a problem submitting RT3 maps to Express World, since the RT3 map can be rather large, they have been over filling the limits of my email accounts with a single map.

This means that some maps aren't getting through. I'm looking into solutions to this (so my accounts doesn't overflow), or maybe some simple upload method so that users of the site can just upload their map to me. Either way, I'm no expert on this, and if anyone has any ideas drop me an email to expressworld@hotmail.com or go to this thread on the messageboards.

RT3: Maps

Here are a couple more RT3 map download links:

Click here to download - Cuba

Click here to Download - France 1950

3rd March 2004

Its Oh So Quiet...

There really is no news at the moment to be honest, and I've received very few maps to post either. Send your maps, whether it is RT2 or RT3 to maps@express-world.co.uk. Tropico maps can be sent to the same address too. Anyways, on with this quiet update:

There will be two new sections launching to the site soon, the much delayed "Other Rail Games" and a new mystery section that will be announced as it opens.

A revamp of the content for Tropico is also on the cards.

RT3 Wins Award

Poptop + RT3 have won yet another award (congratulations). Anyways, here is the post from www.poptop.com

Yes, we are still here. There's not a lot of news for today, but we are happy to say that we are still working to support RT3, and that RT3 has also managed to win a Readers' Choice Award for RTS of the year!

Wargamer ran their yearly Readers' Choice awards, and for 2003 RT3 was selected as a winner in the Real/Continuous Time Strategy category. You can check out the awards article by clicking here. There isn't a lot of text accompanying the awards, but they did have this to say:

"Railroad Tycoon III refreshed a popular franchise, reinventing the game in 3D and adding much-requested tunnels."

22nd February 2004

Railroad Tycoon 3: New Map

A quick update tonight... a new map for RT3 - The Baghdad Railway

Click here to download The Baghdad Railway (3.39mb)

14th February 2004

So Long

Its been 2 weeks since I last updated, so here goes for an update... its been so long since I've had a hectic (and very un-fun) return to uni (god it sucks). Hopefully the time until the next update will be less! Anyway, here is the update:

RT3: New Map - Rhineland

I've been sent a new RT3 map for you. We have German and English versions of this map!

Click here to download Rhineland (German)

Click here to download Rhineland (English)

30th January 2004

Tired

I'm very tired today, so not a big update I'm afraid, though the work in progress RT3 map archive is open now! Also any RT2 maps you have, we still want them! Send them to maps@express-world.co.uk

The new downloads page for RT3 files such as patches is due this weekend, and the RT2 downloads are being re-worked too.

Railroad Tycoon 3 Map Archive Open

It may be work in progress, but the RT3 map archive has finally opened! Click here to enter.

Send us your RT3 maps to maps@express-world.co.uk

Railroad Tycoon 3: 4 More Maps

We've got four more RT3 maps for download today!

27th January 2004

RT3: Maps

We've got some RT3 maps for you to download today! Here are the links:

The RT3 Map department will be open in the next day or so! But until then we shall continue to post map download links!

RT3: Patch V1.04 News

This info is from the Terminal. It seems the new patch will surface very soon!

Phil has mentioned in the Gathering's general forum that the 1.04 patch will address the disruption of elevations by placement of buildings in two ways. Railroad type buildings [stations, etc.] will NOT disrupt the way they do at present] and other buildings [Post Offices, plants, hotels, etc.,] will not be permitted on 'steep' hillsides where they cause disruption. How one defines 'steep' and what one does when building [in the Andies, for example] where everything is hillsides is not covered... Anyway, they are working on the 1.04 patch

RT3: Cheats Update

There have been requests for this, so here is a re-postage of the RT3 cheats!

Press the '.' (fullstop) key to activate the cheat dialogue window. Enter the cheat, then press enter:

trains are in my blood : All locomotive types available for purchase
double shift : Buildings produce cargo at double normal rates

we have a winner gold : Win the game (Gold Medal)

all is lost : Lose the game
big dog : Give your player $10 million
fat cat : Give your player $1 million
bailout : Give your company $10 million
we have a winner bronze : Win the game (Bronze Medal)
safety first : Trains never crash

subsidy : Give your company $1 million
passport : Give your company access to all territories
go go go : All trains go double speed
oops : All trains crash
we have a winner silver : Win the game (Silver Medal)

upgrade : All trains upgraded to HST 125 (A nice diesel)
orca : Get the Orca engine

21st January 2004

Break Any One?

The exams are over (two went well, one didn't) and I'm on a nice little break before I go back! So here is an update, including an RT3 patch I forgot to post... ooppps!

We still want your Rt3 maps! Send them to us at maps@express-world.co.uk. A map section for RT3 will open shortly! Any RT2 maps can still be sent to the same address!

Archive News (Finally!)

The page loaded quicker didn't it? Thats because I (finally got round to) moved the old news to the archive news section.

Railroad Tycoon 3: Patch V1.03 + Official Maps

The patch I just mentioned is V1.03. I'm sure you all have it (and V1.04 is on its way) however, if you didn't get it you can grab it here.

- And if you missed Poptop's official new maps, heres the links

Pacific Coastal

Spanish Mainline

Eastern China

We still want your Rt3 maps! Send them to us at maps@express-world.co.uk. A map section for RT3 will open shortly!

RT3: Gigex Review

Text from www.poptop.com

The review actually comes in two different flavors, a short version and an extended version. They had lots of good things to say about RT3, and the extended version goes into some nice detail. You can read the full length extended version here, or glance at the shorter one here. They awarded RT3 4 stars in the review and had the following to say:

"Whether you're a die-hard micromanager, or just someone who wants to watch their trains fly, RRT3 has it all...Railroad Tycoon 3 definitely rises to the top of the pack with its great gameplay, excellent graphics, and immersive audio."

8th January 2004

Delayed

A very delayed happy new year to all our readers, I've been busy with the revision, hence no updates! Exams end in a week, that is when normal functions will resume here. So, on with this quick update

RT3: New Review

There is a new review of RT3 out for you to read, here is the link

http://www.wargamer.com/reviews/railroad_tycoon_3/Default.asp

Here is an extract

Railroad Tycoon 2 was a welcome return to a classic game, with an updated approach. But, it was only a whistle stop on the way to what should be considered the full evolution of the original and Railroad Tycoon 3 appears to be the final destination... an exceptional game lurking around the bend that will steal hours and hours of your computer time."

23rd December 2003

Happy Christmas!

Happy Christmas to all out readers, and have a good new year (I doubt there will be anymore updates this year!). On with the news...

RT3: Catch Up

Again, the best way to catch up is to post the latest news from Poptop

This week we don't have much news yet, but we do have some good deals kicking in just in time for the holiday season. Our game landed in the Value of the Week section over at the Gone Gold website. We're happy to say that we've made pretty good fans of the people over at Gone Gold, and while mentioning our game in their article here, they had the following to say:

"I pity the gamer that must wait to open this one or for that matter, doesn't have it yet..."

Things are all quiet on the review front as of now, but we'll be sure to keep everyone posted as they continue to trickle in. In the meantime, we are still working on RT3, and are actually hard at work on some things that you should be able to get your hands on soon. Until then, stay warm and remember that RT3 makes for some great company on those snow days!

Just a quick little shout out today to let everyone know that an ALL NEW MAP is available for download! This is the first completely unreleased map that we've made available since the game was shipped, so of course everyone should go get it while it's hot! The new map is called the Spanish Mainline, and as you might guess takes place in Spain, an area mostly untouched by any previous official maps. You can find a downloadable copy of the map at either one of two mirrors; 3D Gamers or GameCenter. The map is only a 3.6MB download, so it should be accessible to everyone. That's all the news for today, we hope you all enjoy the new content!

The newest patch for RT3 has been released! This patch, which you can download by going to either 3D Gamers or the Tiscali Games site, will bring your version of RT3 up to v1.03. This patch addresses some bugs and contains some balance tweaks as well. It also adds the ability to bulldoze in multiplayer games, and implements vastly improved AI. For a full list of all the changes in the v1.03 patch please click here. Of course we recommend that everyone upgrade to this version of the game as soon as they can. That's it for today; be sure to GET THE NEW RT3 v1.03 PATCH to make your holiday playing as enjoyable as it can be!
As we're sure you know, we just released the v1.03 patch for the game, and today we have another ALL NEW MAP for you to grab and play for the holidays! There's even a new review to mention, so let's cut to the chase.

For starters, the Eastern China map was just released for you to download. The new map covers the previously untouched lands of China, stretching from Beijing to Shanghai. It's only a 4MB download, and you can get the new map by going to either 3D Gamers or Gamer's Hell.

We also have a new review that just came in from Reviewgamer. They break down the game into the usual aspects and have some general impressions as well. You can check out the full review here, or just take our word for it that they thoroughly enjoyed our product.

Happy first day of winter to everyone out there! If you're having some cold weather feel free to warm up to some of our reviews, as Gamespy announced Railroad Tycoon 3 as 2003 GAME OF THE YEAR for PC empire builder. We're of course proud of the recognition the game has been receiving, but don't take our word for it and check out the full Game Of The Year article here. RT3 was also listed in the 2003 Game of the Year Top 10 for PC. That article can be found by clicking here.

8th December 2003

FTP

The FTP server has been inaccessible for a week, hence no update! The page died the other day... I finally got it back up today! And now for an update...

RT3: From The Horse's Arse

(sorry didn't meananything by that, just couldn't resist!) Here is Poptop's latest news update:

It's our first update in December, and we've got some nice new content for RT3 showing up around the web. We've got an all new interview, two reviews, and some fan site update news as well. With so much to cover it's best to just dive right in, so here we go.

GamerDad is back this month with a special treat, an exclusive interview with RT3 designer and Poptop president Phil Steinmeyer. As you could probably guess from the name of the website, the interview does discuss family issues in relation to gaming, but it also contains a lot of information on RT3's development and support. You can read the full article here; and below is a small excerpt from the interview.

GamerDad: Included on the game disc is a little game called Loco-Commotion. Where did you find this little game and why was it included?

Phil Steinmeyer: This was released by our publisher a couple years ago, with little fanfare, and basically nobody noticed (or bought it). It's a fun game, but not really sexy enough to be a full stand-alone product. But I thought it would be a great accompaniment to RT3, and because it was released by our publisher, it was easy to secure the rights to do this. It shows a different approach to a railroad game - simple and puzzle oriented.

Our first of two reviews comes our way by the people at Fragland.net. While one might not expect it, given the name, they actually warmed up to RT3 very well. It received a score of 87.9% and many compliments as well. You can browse over the entire review here. When not getting caught up in mimicking train sounds, the author had the following to say:

"Railroad Tycoon 3 is a great game with lots of possibilities and extreme graphic power. The music makes you urge to build and let trains ride. The whole game shines class... If you will excuse me now, my train is waiting…"

The second review for today was done by UK TrainSim. The review goes into some good detail on changes and improvements in RT3 over RT2, and has tons of really nice screenshots showing off the game in all its different flavors. The review also has a small extra section talking about Loco Commotion, the free game that comes with RT3. We recommend you check out the full length review here, as it's time well spent if you don't already have the game. The website was of course happy with the game, and they had the following praise to give:

"...I personally found [RT3] to be immensely enjoyable...I've enjoyed testing this for the review very much indeed, more so than I did playing Railroad Tycoon 2. They have not over complicated things, if you know the series then you can easily move in to this one and if you don't then it's not going to be a huge mountain to climb to figure it out at all....I've been playing Railroad Tycoon 3 so much that I've got the tunes stuck in my head now, argh!"

Even though it comes at the end of today's update, the Fan Site info is definitely not the least. The fans of RT3 have always been a great addition to the Railroad Tycoon family, and we're glad to see their support for our newest addition in the series. If you own the game and you haven't visited any of the Fan Sites, we strongly encourage you to do so as they are great resources for information and even new user created content, such as maps.

28th November 2003

ooh look, An Update! (a 3:35am update!)

I'm very sorry for the break in updates, I've had a very hectic couple of week with some huge courseworks to do, and I've got the big 25% presentation this Thursday, help! I'll try and fit in updates where possible, todays update is going to be a quick catch up thingie...

Remember, peeps... post on the messageboards! & the shop!

On with the news

RT3: Patch + New Scenario

Poptop has released two official downloads for RT3. The first is a patch, V1.02 & the second is a brand new scenario! I will get locally hosted copies for the next update (since I'm in a rush at the moment, after all it is 3:38am as I write this in the UK!)

Patch v1.02

New Scenario - Pacific Coastal

RT3: Mass New Roundup

As it gets later and later (or earlier, since its the early hours, but I'm still up), I've just got the latest words from the Poptop site (and there is many!). So here goes.

Well it's the day before Thanksgiving, and before the holiday season kicks into full gear we've got three reviews up for your enjoyment. On the RT3 front we're still hard at work supporting the game, and you should be able to see some results soon. We're sure everyone has a busy weekend planned, so let's dive into the reviews.

The first review today was done by the people over at Warcry. The full review, that you can read here, is very positive and we can happily say they were extremely pleased with the game. It scored a 90%, and they had the following praises for our newest installment in the Railroad Tycoon series:

"I consider Railroad Tycoon 3 to be the crowning achievement of the series, and potentially a contender for the crown of the tycoon genre...[it's] one of those games I intend to keep on my desktop for many years to come."

The second review comes to us from a web site called Frictionless Insight. Their review, which you can read in full here, is actually of good length, and offers a little more insight (no pun intended) on how the game feels versus the technical low down. They though the game felt pretty good obviously, because it received a ranking of 4.5 stars and garnered the following praise:

"Railroad Tycoon 3 absolutely overwhelms with its raw charm. Clever scenarios keep gameplay interesting, deep and varied. Most important, Railroad Tycoon 3 keeps you busy without swamping you with keystrokes, delivering those “just five more minutes” moments that leave you rubbing your eyes three hours later, cooing contentedly over quality time with your little engines that can."

Last but, as always, not least, Dailygame rounds out our update with their review that you can read in full here. It's a short but sweet little review that does a good job in summarizing the game. They enjoyed their time with the game, and had this to say:

"In sum, Railroad Tycoon 3 is a very enjoyable game that I had a lot of fun playing...a great addition to any sim fan’s collection."