Express World - Sid Meier's Railroads! The Next Railroad Tycoon Game (formerly known as Railroad Tycoon 4)

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.

13 April 2007

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

Sid Meier's Railroads: Game Guide

I found quite a useful game guide for Railroads, check it out here

17th February 2007

Back

After an absence, I'm back. Not really much of an excuse, but life drew me away as I settled into a new job, and the new setup in my life. I didn't think I had been away so long. Anyways, hoping to get back to normal immediately, so keep checking the site for updates.

Sid Meier's Railroads Patch V1.10 Released!

A second patch was recently released, version 1.10, click here to download it from express world

12th November 2006

Sid Meier's Railroads Patch V1.01 Released!

The new patch for Railroads has just been released, minus the scenario editor. It includes a new difficultly level for the game, "robber baron," great for those who were seeking more of a challenge from the game.

Click here to download Railroads! Patch V1.01 (from Express World) 17mb

* You will need a programme such as WinRAR to extract .zip & .rar files found on this website.

Sid Meier's Railroads Train Skins Pack One

Firaxis has also released a new pack of train skins for the game.

Click here to download Railroads! Train Livery Pack 1 (from Express World) 3.28mb

11th November 2006

Site News, Help Required!

I'm currently developing a new look for express world, its a ground up rebuild of the site. However, website logos are not my strong point, so I am hoping that one of the site's visitors would be able to help me out in this area?

Head over to the testing area for the new look @ http://www.express-world.co.uk/rt4/8.5/.

The area at the top of the template with the words "Express World 8.5" is where the logo is going to go. If anyone out there fancies making a logo for the site, please help me out.
The logo should not be any bigger than the space the "Express World 8.5" area takes up. It should preferably contain the slogan "The home of Railroad gaming" and must fit in with the colour schemes of the new design.

The best submission become the site's logo. Please send any attempts to expressworld@hotmail.com.

Sid Meier's Railroads More Reviews

More reviews of the game:

Game Target

Metacritic

Cnet

Sid Meier's Railroads Patch News

The first patch for Railroads is on its way, it will be version 1.010, due for release very soon. Thanks to Gamespot. Find the patch notes below:

* AI - Added a negative value to investor level, to slow AI down if he's running away with a win.
* AI - Better AI train upgrades- only upgrade trains that have hit full load capacity at least once after the first 3 years of service. Also only upgrade when a comparison of max speeds, given the prior loadouts, proves the upgrade is actually faster.
* AI - Edited timing differences in difficulty XML
* AI - Fix for AI failing to initiate industry auctions.
* AI - Fix for AI failing to set a route in first minute of game.
* AI - Fixed AI bug where all its internal values for each good were mixed up, causing passengers to be valued at the price of automobiles, hence passengers were almost exclusively delivered.
* AI - Increased maximum AI auction bidding limits.
* AI - Less idling on Tycoon difficulty.
* AI - Track/train costs constant for all difficulty levels
* AI - Train's consist from a bought out AI will no longer have more than 8 cars on the routing screen.
* AI - Refresh mission status after each train added (ensures early delivery missions get added)
* Art - Correcting naming convention for Class 40 Diesel.
* Art - Fix for missing build-up animations.
* Art - Fixed rotating truck problem on ES1 and Crocodile locomotives.
* Art - fixed sorting transparency issue with Goods Car v1.
* Art - Fixes for the Iron Duke and Consolidation.
* Crash - Deleting both routes to a train will no longer crash the game when the train comes back.
* Crash - Deleting the section of track right before the train will no longer crash the game.
* Crash - Double left-clicking on an "Industry Buy" button no longer causes the game to crash to desktop.
* Crash - Fix crash when trying to hide auction that hasn't been created yet when going into routing screen.
* Crash - Fixed restart crash.
* Crash - If user changes the route to a depot the train is just passing the game will no longer crash.
* Crash - Long track is broken up into smaller tracks to address the "long track crash".
* Crash - Overlapping a track junction no longer causes a crash to desktop upon quitting to main menu or laying a parallel track off a piece of track.
* Crash - stopped a problem with improper links.
* Crash - The game no longer crashes after deleting a certain segment of track from the attached save game.
* Crash - The game will no longer crash if the player blocks AI's train track at the beginning of the game.
* Crash - The liquidate and merge overlay is no longer transferable to other parts of the game.
* Crash - User can no longer crash game by holding down the increase/decrease elevation keys.
* Crash - When bought out, don't try to update the main game interface if the main game interface does not exist.
* Crash - When deleting a track, there is no reason to reroute a train that is using that track if the train has already passed that track and will not cross it in the future.
* Crash - When Host or Client is bought out when on the "Train Upgrade" screen they'll no longer crash.
* Design - Mail price tweak.
* Functionality - Fix for rerouting issue. If you change your route by adding a new stop while you're loading at the first stop and the way to the second stop is blocked by another train, your train will no longer stop loading at the first stop and start moving towards the second stop (where it wouldn't unload it's cars.)
* Functionality - Fix for why sometimes both parallel tracks aren't added to a depot when dropped down.
* Functionality - Fixed tutorial progression stoppers.
* Functionality - If the user retires with an auction onscreen and chooses to 'keep playing' the current auction and all future auctions will now retain their functionality.
* Functionality - Making parallel tracks within looped track will choose the shortest path along the loop to build the track.
* Functionality - Opening the Trains screen (F4), clicking the Money sort button, and then deleting a train will no longer cause the sorting order to become randomized again.
* Functionality - Remove victory conditions that involve competitor stock when playing with no AI.
* Functionality - Stock buy/sell exploit fix.
* Functionality - The player who owns the industry now gets the bonus money, rather than the person who delivered the goods.
* Functionality - User is no longer able to place depot in the water in london on the GB scenario, leaving it inaccessible.
* Functionality - When player buys out another player, and they inherit the stock of the remaining player, the remaining player will now be shown as "bought out" if the player now owns all shares of that player.
* Graphics - cleared city and industry temporary track grid every time it moves.
* Graphics - Half the alert screen no longer disappears until space is pressed.
* Graphics - improved UpdateLeaders performance.
* Graphics - Minimizing then maximizing the game no longer causes the Minimap and Train Graph, on Roundhouse screen, to become corrupted
* Graphics - Updated Nvidia settings
* Graphics - While dragging a track and you loose focus of the railroads window in fullscreen and when you come back the ground texture will no longer go black.
* Interface - Added option to not show the era intro screen.
* Interface - Clicking on mission objectives takes you to the locatoin instead of re-opening the newspaper.
* Interface - Closing load dialog resets focus to load button.
* Interface - Closing options dialog resets focus to options button.
* Interface - Customize train screen now remembers apply all states. Setting apply all buttons, sets color and/or decal as default for new trains.
* Interface - "Event Log" box no longer comes forward when Player tries to "close" out the "Finance" screen.
* Interface - First auction bid is now the proposed value rather than being $10k+ than the proposed value.
* Interface - Game Alert Log can now be properly closed if a newspaper alert appears above it.
* Interface - In the button config option, the "Print Screen" key no longer appears as the "System Request" key.
* Interface - Interface can no longer get stuck on the screen if user presses escape and then an F-key.
* Interface - Newspapers are no longer modal.
* Interface - Now show trade-in value when you're upgrading a train.
* Interface - Optimization to keep the frame rate from dropping dramatically when objects are mouse-over or selected.
* Interface - Preventing the new train and the newspaper screen from appearing at the same time
* Interface - Removed the "show all player's floating text" option.
* Interface - The world now drops the initial depot before the era popup is closed.
* Interface - Selecting a city and having a "New Train Alert" pop up will no longer cause the selected city's resource icons on the mini-map to disappear.
* Interface - The in-game Pause prompt now updates after assigning a new letter to the Pause action.
* Interface - Update player name for game when changed on options screen from main menu.
* Interface - User can no longer assign arrow buttons as hotkeys.
* Interface - User can no longer enter over 20 characters of text for the Buyout Taunt Headline or Subhead in the Options menu.
* Interface - When rotating view, letting go of the center mouse button while over a large city icon now releases the "rotating camera".
* Interface - Zoom in and out keymap keys added.
* Multiplayer - Code fixes to address MP AI OOS.
* Multiplayer - Don't allow the game to access the internet if we're not playing an internet game.
* Multiplayer - Enabled AI players in MP.
* Multiplayer - Network and sync timing now floats - attempting to resolve the time error accumulation in slower machines.
* Multiplayer - Stuttery train fix: turn off vblanksynch in MP.
* Performance - Fixed small AI memory leak when a route is valid but the AI can't afford it.
* Performance - Improved city and industry placement performance.
* Performance - Improved mow field performance.
* Performance - Improved track overlap finding performance.
* Performance - Improving city and stockpile track cutting, which improves track dragging by ~25%.
* Performance - Increased performance of reflection and shadow generation.
* Performance - Roundhouse and feature screen no longer load animations (only affects non-precached option).
* Performance - Simplified track validation to improve performance.

2nd November 2006

Sid Meier's Railroads Released!

Sid Meier's railroads has just been released world wide, and had received some positive reviews too. Why not head over to the messageboards to discus the game? Click here

I've been busy playing my copy of the game, and I'm absolutely loving it so far. Nice one Firaxis! Sorry for the delay in a post release update!

From what I here, the first patch is due soon.

Sid Meier's Railroads Demo!

A demo of Railroads has just been released, so if your still unsure whether to part with your cash or not, you can give it a go!

Download links:

3D Gamers

Fileplanet

(more links soon, including a local express world copy!)

Got a demo link we haven't posted, sent it to expressworld@hotmail.com

Sid Meier's Railroads Review Roundup

There have been many reviews of Railroads already, and they have been largely positive. Here are a round up of the first few:

IGN - rating 8.0

Gamespot - rating 8.1

Gamerankings - 79% rating

Gamespy -

watch this space for more!

Sid Meier's Railroads! Cheats / Trainer

Had a few requests for cheats for the game, so if anyone has any send them along to expressworld@hotmail.com or to the messageboards

I do have a trainer for the game (+3 options). Click here to download (from express world). I'm sure there will be more out soon for those of you struggling with the game.

11th October 2006

Sid Meier's Railroads Goes Gold! PRE-ORDER NOW!

Thats right, the game has gone gold, and is on course for its release date of around 27th October! The game is expect to ship in the USA from 24th Oct, with a UK/European release on Friday 27th.

Pre-order now through the Express World Shop. Through our association with Amazon (now both in the UK & USA) we earn a small referral fee, which helps operate some of the operating costs for this website.

UK readers can pre-order the game through Express World / Amazon UK by clicking here. (priced at £17.99)

USA & North American readers can pre-order the game through (our new USA shop) Express World & Amazon US, by clicking here

Sid Meier's Railroads! New Official Site Launched

Ahead of the games release, 2K Games have launched a new official site. Click here to enter

Sid Meier's Railroads! Gold: Full Press Release

Here is the full press release announcing the game has gone gold:

2K, a publishing label of Take-Two Interactive Software, Inc., and Firaxis Games, the Company's world-renowned development studio, today announced that Sid Meier's Railroads! for PC has gone to gold master and will be available at stores in North America on October 17 and in Europe on October 27. Sid Meier's Railroads! marks the return of one of the most beloved strategy titles of all time and a concept that launched a whole genre and inspired a new generation of strategy games.
Sid Meier's Railroads! returns in a vibrant 3D world delivering exciting multiplayer options, in-game customization tools, streamlined interface and unmatched gameplay that's easy to learn yet challenging to master. Legendary game designer Sid Meier and Firaxis Games, creators of the highest rated computer strategy game Civilization IV, put gamers in charge of building the greatest rail empire in the nation - managing trains, cargo and the bottom line - while engaging in all-out corporate warfare against rival tycoons, slick entrepreneurs, and robber barons.

"It's a dream come true to be reunited with a game I created early in my career, that has been played and enjoyed by generations of strategy, simulation, and train fans around the world," said Sid Meier, Firaxis Director of Creative Development. "This re-imagining of the original will deliver exciting and challenging gameplay experiences for years to come."

I don't know about you, but I'm getting very excited now!

Express World Shop: USA / North America Service Launched!

You can now help to support Express World by ordering your copy of the games through the express world shop. Click here

29th August 2006

Pre-Order Sid Meier's Railroads!

Pre-orders for Railroads! have now opened. Support Express World, and order your Amazon UK Order here! Release date 29th September 2006 (subject to change)

North American pre-orders coming soon.

Railroads! 1Up Preview

Yet another preview of Railroads, this one is at 1Up. To read click here

And here is an extract:

10 to 12 train types per map, of which about 80% will be steam powered, will drive your industry in sandbox modes, single-player competitions versus infamous Barons like Cornelius Vanderbilt and Jay Gould, and LAN or online multiplayer sessions. Finding the best price for a low-ranked commodity and gradually up-selling it to control a market like beef or books is key to building your empire. Some maps have unique resources, like Great Britain's fisheries. Solid empire building will let you protect your "hit points," or stock shares. It's always possible to sell stock to get some cash, such as if a patent comes up that you want to bid on, but it opens you up to the potential of a hostile takeover.

20th August 2006

Interview with Firaxis' Barry Caudill

A very interesting interview with Barry Caudill of Firaxis has emerged at Hooked Gamers, its well worth a read! Click here to see it.

And here is an extract:

Firaxis has a history of 'springing' games on us. Sid Meier's Railroads! was announced in May and currently has a shipping date of October 2006. How -and why- do you do that? Most other games are known a year or longer in advance.

Barry: I’m not convinced that having a really long lead time in the marketplace is necessarily a good thing. There are so many games out there now and it’s too easy to get lost in the shuffle over a long period of time. I would rather see focused marketing and information that builds up interest right to the release. For the record, Railroads was in development for quite a while before it was announced.

After Railroads! was announced, most people wondered what happened with the Railroad Tycoon name. Why this change of name?

Barry: We felt the Tycoon name had been overused in the marketplace and didn’t carry the same meaning it did when Sid first invented the genre. For every solid game like Roller Coaster Tycoon or Monopoly Tycoon (a vastly underrated game), there are numerous stinkers like Mall Tycoon or heaven forbid, Prison and Hell Tycoons. Also, we didn’t want people to assume this was RRT4 because it is much more of a return to the train-focused gameplay of Sid’s original title... and Sid is designing this one.

Should we consider Railroads! a totally new game, or more like a remake of Railroad Tycoon, like Sid Meier's Pirates! has been updated some time ago?

Barry: It’s a little of both. It is definitely a spiritual successor to the original game, but it’s built around a new prototype from Sid which makes it a totally new game as well. It’s a return to what we thought was fun about the original title but there are also lots of new things like the introduction of great multiplayer.

Railroads! IGN Preview

IGN have published an in depth preview of Railroads. Check out the interview here.

Here is an extract from the preview:

In order to make money, players will have to create working railroads connecting resources to cities and run trains back and forth to deliver the goods. Natural resources are worth less money than manufactured goods like cars farther down the line. Players can make a lot of money delivering goods between different industries and finally where the final goods are demanded. Players can also eventually buy into industries and make a longer ranged profit that way.

Laying track in between destinations looks to be an easy task as the land and track will conform to any plans. The click and drag interface allows players to create paths anywhere on the map while the game adds tunnels, rises, and bridges where necessary. The trick is just laying track in a way that will be cost effective and help shipments get to new locations in a short amount of time.

Railroads! Trailer

The first trailer for Railroads has emerged on the web, and we have a version at Express World for you to download. Click here to download Official Trailer One

16th August 2006

Express World To Get A Makeover!

A radical redesign of Express World is in the works, in preparation for the forthcoming release of Sid Meier's Railroads, and the future of the Railroad Tycoon series. It will unveiled in stages this Autumn.

Railroads! Gamespot Preview

Gamespot has released an "updated impressions" preview for Railroads! Check it out here. Here is an extract:

Railroads! will offer multiple lengthy scenarios that will let you build up a railway empire by purchasing the fastest trains for the job of transporting mail, freight, and passengers; by being the first to lay out tracks into new territory; by controlling the flow of expensive goods throughout the land; and even by doing a little corporate raiding as you attempt to buy out your competitors in the stock market. The game's scenarios will take place in the four corners of the USA, as well as in Great Britain, France, and Germany. Each of them can be played during different time periods that can be adjusted easily at the start of each game with a slider. So, if you want to hunker down and carve a railway empire out of the American Northwest from 1831 all the way to 1970, you can, though you can just as easily play through only 30 years or so of a certain time period, which can take about 30 to 45 minutes of playing time.

Though all of the game's terrain has a colorful, pastoral look to it provided by completely separate rendering technology that the Firaxis team has developed for use with the GameBryo 3D engine (an engine that also powers Firaxis' outstanding 2005 strategy game, Civilization IV), each of the different territories has a different look and feel. The game's artists didn't attempt to painstakingly create exact replicas of real-world locations but instead created abstracted versions of each territory, taking the same approach as a hobbyist train modeler would to building out sandy deserts outside of Santa Fe or leagues of limpid ocean off the coast of Cornwall.

Railroads! New Movies

See the game in action! New movies featuring footage from the game have also just surfaced! (the files are archived in a .zip file, and should be extracted with a programme such as Winzip or WinRAR). The gameplay movies first appeared at Gamespot.

Gameplay Movie One

Gameplay Movie Two

Gameplay Movie Three

3rd June 2006

Railroads! Official Site Opens

2k Games has created a small official website for the forthcoming Railroads! game from Sid Meier & Firaxis Games. Click here to visit.

Railroads! Features List

Firaxis has issued a product feature list for Railroads!

Real-time action - lay track, route the trains, and the world comes to life. Cities and industries grow up around you as you service them, hauling raw materials to market and carrying manufactured goods away; Cargos are loaded onto train cars and passengers shuffle between cities.

Easy to get started - laying track is as easy as clicking and dragging. Bridges, tunnels, railroad stations and switches sprout up automatically where they're needed.

Challenging to master - with a new market system that tracks supply and demand and complex random events that can cause a boom or bust at any time, players must stay on their toes at all times or risk obsolescence, financial collapse, or hostile takeover.

It's all about the trains! - over 30 trains to use, from the primitive 0-4-0 Planet to the Super powerful 4-6-6-4 Challenger, from the classic diesels to ultra-modern bullet trains.

LocoBuilder - design your own steam engine from the ground up, and deploy it across your rail empire! Customize your train liveries, from colour schemes to custom logos.

We've got the goods - over 20 different goods to harvest, produce, and sell, and 30 unique industries, from lumber mills to war factories, each with detailed, unique animations.

Scenario and map editor support - enables user-created maps and scenarios. Want to create a race to complete a transcontinental railroad in 30 years using only steam engines? No problem!

Something for everyone - build your dream train layout in train table mode, or challenge historical giants like Cornelius Vanderbilt, J.P. Morgan, and others in single-player scenarios.

Multiplayer - Ruthless real-time LAN and Internet play. Buy out your rivals or cash in favours to sabotage their shipments! Whether you prefer heads-up competition or the camaraderie of cooperative team play, you'll find a fantastic multiplayer experience here.

Sounding good so far!

10th May 2006

Express World is 8 Years Old!

Express world turned 8 years old on 26th April 2006, so I just would like to take this opportunity to thank you for your continued support! Heres to the next year!

Railroads! New Info

Things regarding the recently announced "Railroads!" have been quiet until now (as was expected), but the E3 event began today, and as expected further info about "Railroads" has been released. We will have new screenshots up tomorrow!

Here is the new press release:

Sid Meier's Railroads! marks the return of the watershed title in simulation/strategy gaming that launched the popular "tycoon" genre, and inspired a new generation of games. Sid Meier's Railroads! comes home to its original creator, the legendary Sid Meier, who, together with his team at Firaxis Games, will take this game to a whole new level of fun!

The greatest railroad building game of all time is back in a vibrant 3D world delivering exciting multiplayer options, in-game customization tools, streamlined interface and unmatched gameplay, that's easy to learn yet challenging to master. Combining the best of real-world and model railroads, Sid Meier's Railroads! puts you in charge of building the greatest rail empire in the nation - managing trains, cargo and your bottom line - while engaging in all-out corporate warfare against rival tycoons, slick entrepreneurs, and robber barons!

Features:

Easy to get started - laying track is as easy as clicking and dragging. Bridges, tunnels, railroad stations and switches sprout up automatically where they're needed.

It's all about the trains! - over 30 trains to use, from the primitive 0-4-0 Planet to the Super powerful 4-6-6-4 Challenger, from the classic diesels to ultra-modern bullet trains.

LocoBuilder - design your own steam engine from the ground up, and deploy it across your rail empire! Customize your train liveries, from colour schemes to custom logos.

We've got the goods - over 20 different goods to harvest, produce, and sell, and 30 unique industries, from lumber mills to war factories, each with detailed, unique animations.

Scenario and map editor support - enables user-created maps and scenarios. Want to create a race to complete a transcontinental railroad in 30 years using only steam engines? No problem!

Something for everyone - build your dream train layout in train table mode, or challenge historical giants like Cornelius Vanderbilt, J.P. Morgan, and others in single-player scenarios.

Developer: Firaxis Games
Publisher: 2K Games
Platform: PC
Release Date: October 2006

16th March 2006

MAJOR NEWS! Poptop Closes, Next Railroad Tycoon Announced!

There has been some major news developments over the past 7 days.

- The first point is that Poptop Software no longer exists. Last week Take 2 Interactive (owner of Poptop) announced an in-voluntary merger between Poptop and their other studio, Firaxis Games. The new development studio will operate under the Firaxis name, with Sid Meier leading the studio. No information about redundancies at Poptop have been disclosed.

- The new combined studio, Firaxis is working on a new Railroad Tycoon game, which will carry the title Sid Meier's Railroads, and is due for release at the end of the year.

More details on each of these topics follows below. Imagine the possibilities of the original creator of Railroad Tycoon leading development on the next title in the series. I'd just like to re-iterate, that even though Poptop software has closed, Express World will continue to operate following the games from the new combined studio.

The new Firaxis games studio has also announced development on an expansion pack to Civilization IV & a new CIV spin off series called CIV-CITY: Rome.

Sid Meier's Railroads! Announced

The next game in the Railroad Tycoon series, has been announced as "Sid Meier's Railroads!" due for release in Autumn 2006. The game is in development at the Firaxis Games studio, which now incorporates some elements of Poptop Software. The game appears to be developed with the GameBryo graphics engine that powered Civ4 & Pirates.

Quick Links for Railroads!

First Information - an archive of the initial information released about the game
Messageboard - The Express World forum for Sid Meier's Railroads!
Screenshots - An archive of Screenshots for Railroads!
Railroads! Wishlists - Post your wishes, hopes & desires for the game!

Here is the official press release (from http://ve3d.ign.com )

2K Games, a publishing label of Take-Two Interactive Software, Inc., and the Company's world-renowned development studio Firaxis Games, today announced the next edition of the award-winning Railroad Tycoon franchise, Sid Meier's Railroads! for the PC.
The Golden Age of railroading is back with Sid Meier's Railroads! Combining the best of real-world and model railroads, Sid Meier's Railroads! puts you in charge of building your own railroad empire, running everything from steam-powered locomotives to more modern diesel and electric trains, managing cargo and your bottom line, all while engaging in corporate warfare against rival tycoons, slick entrepreneurs and robber barons.

"In addition to winning countless awards, the Railroad Tycoon franchise pioneered the simulation and strategy genres by introducing limitless gameplay," said Christoph Hartmann, Managing Director of 2K Games. "Building on the franchise, Sid Meier's Railroads! will deliver a simulation experience that caters to both strategy gamers and locomotive fans alike."

"We're thrilled to have the opportunity to bring this game back home," said Sid Meier, Director of Creative Development for Firaxis Games. "Railroads is near and dear to our hearts and we're looking forward to delivering the endlessly fun gameplay experience fans of our games have come to expect."

Cities and industries grow up around you as Sid Meier's Railroads! enables players to lay track and route trains, haul raw materials to market and carry manufactured goods throughout the land. Sid Meier's Railroads! introduces a large number of different single-player game scenarios and a variety of play modes including the "sand-box" modeling mode, real-time LAN and Internet play.

Sid Meier's Railroads! will be released for the PC this fall.

The following is an article from www.gamespot.com

Sid Meier is set to be inducted into the Walk of Game tonight for a career's worth of highly regarded PC strategy games including Civilization, Pirates!, and Alpha Centauri. He doesn't seem content to rest on his laurels; this morning, 2K Games announced that it would be publishing the next game in the developer's body of work, Sid Meier's Railroads! for the PC.

Currently in development at Firaxis Games (Take-Two Interactive's recently acquired studio, of which Meier is director of creative development), Railroads! is the next installment in the Railroad Tycoon PC strategy game series.

"We're thrilled to have the opportunity to bring this game back home," Meier said in a statement. "Railroads is near and dear to our hearts, and we're looking forward to delivering the endlessly fun gameplay experience fans of our games have come to expect."

Sid Meier's Railroads! will challenge players to create their own railroad empires and keep them up to date with the times. Working with trains ranging from steam-powered locomotives to modern diesel and electric trains, players will not only have to worry about getting cargo to its destination on time, but will also have to worry about business rivals and robber barons, among other things. 2K is promising a variety of gameplay options for Railroads! (including real-time LAN and Internet play), as well as a "sand-box" modeling mode.

Sid Meier's Railroads! has not yet been rated. It is scheduled for release this fall.

Here are some screenshots: Click to enlarge:

22nd November 2005

Shattered Union / 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?

25th September 2005

Welcome To Express World Seven

We are proud to finally unveil the new look of Express World to you, named Express World Seven. The site is still under re-construction, and the new look is being introduced in phases of the next week or so. So far the new look has been applied to the main site pages section. Please note the new "Contact Us" page, and the altered methods for contacting the site. Also, the old links page where you could upload your own links to the site has been discontinued. We have a new links page here.

The Express World Shop has also been revamped, and a North American version is in the works! The Shattered Union and Tropico sections are the next phase of the implementation of Express World Seven. Please bare with us through these changes.

27th July 2005

All Quiet Still!

Everything is still really quiet on the Poptop games news front, there seemes to be little new info on Shattered Union at this time. I guess once Poptop gets the go ahead to launch an official site there will be more news! Anyways, we are still here and as always we will being you what we have.

Also, please keep your maps, articles or anything you'd like to submit for inclusion on the site to expressworld@hotmail.com. I'm particularly interested in anyone who has Poptop game related content they may wish to contribute.

Railroad Tycoon 4 Wishlists: Ideas of The Day!

Here is the best ideas from the RT4 wishlists:

Being a Multiplayer purchaser of RT1 2 & 3, I'd like the stock market to be fixed. It bugs out after 2 hours consistently on my machine and others. Haven't tried the 1.05 patch yet, perhaps that fixes this. In future releases, please focus more on the Multiplayer aspects. I love them so far, but I feel you could improve. After all the maps are played and won, MP keeps me playing. :) - Adam, [Reply]
Authentic Company Cars and Engines... Would love to see the historic B&O Chessie, PA RR, Conrail, CSX, Union Pacific, Santa Fe... in the next RR Tycoon game. Also station coverage of the cities needs to be revamped.... theres always 1 building in a city outside of the station coverage. Finally, I think it would be cool to be able to actually engineer a train on one of your routes... - Engineer Scotty, [IMAGE] [Reply]

To reply, click the reply button at the end of the post! To post your own wish list, visit the RT4 Wish Lists Board!

- click here to enter Express World: RT4

24th June 2005

Railroad Tycoon 4 Wishlists: Idea of The Day!

Here is the best idea for the RT4 wishlists:

Station addons as ADDONS. It'd be nice to be able to simply select a handful of stations and click an "add tavern" icon, instead of having to go to each city and add them.This holds particularly true when adding all the addons at once. - Nazdak, 0 [Reply]

To reply, click the reply button at the end of the post! To post your own wish list, visit the RT4 Wish Lists Board!

- click here to enter Express World: RT4

17th June 2005

Catchup With Phil Steinmeyer

As you may, or may not know, the founder of Poptop, Phil Steinmeyer left Poptop last year to pursue new interests. Well, for anyone interested, he now has a website so you can keep up with him! Click here to access

Railroad Tycoon 4 Wishlists: Idea of The Day!

Here is the best idea for the RT4 wishlists:

REAL sandbox mode! Maybe I just havent discovered it yet, but I cant find a sandbox mode that includes rival companies, or even economics. It'd be nice to set up a sort of quickie match. Select a map, designate strength/maturity of economy, set number/wealth of opponents, etc. Maybe a Tournament type system where you face off against 12 increasingly difficult rival tycoons over a span of 12 maps. - Nazdak, [Reply]

To reply, click the reply button at the end of the post! To post your own wish list, visit the RT4 Wish Lists Board!

- click here to enter Express World: RT4

2nd June 2005

Mirror, Mirror

There is now a second domain that can be used to access the site. If you goto www.express-world.org.uk you can now access Express World. For now this simply redirects you here, but we may put up a full mirror of the site there in the near future. Remember, its www.express-world.org.uk!

As a side note, Express World will soon be launching the spin-off site ExpressWorldForums.com which will give a new home to the Express World Messageboards, and will allow the upload of map files!

Railroad Tycoon 4 Wishlists: Idea of The Day!

Here is the best idea for the RT4 wishlists:

please in the new rt 4 have it wear you can have a company build its own factoriels and be able to have train yards, and sideings, and be able to make roads and freight depots, and make trains longer, and be able to chose your companys train colors, and cooler logos, and better graphics than the third tycoon, thanks. - jimmy, [Reply]

To reply, click the reply button at the end of the post! To post your own wish list, visit the RT4 Wish Lists Board!

- click here to enter Express World: RT4

10th March 2005

Railroad Tycoon 4 Wishlists: Idea of The Day!

Here is the best idea for the RT4 wishlists:

In RT3 I do not find much use for specifiying different cargo. The safest way of making money seems to be to tick off "Any Cargo". It would be more fun if at least Express in a higher degree could be separated from Freight. If that also demanded different Locomotives it would be a more interesting game experience - Tordenskjold, [Reply]

To reply, click the reply button at the end of the post! To post your own wish list, visit the RT4 Wish Lists Board!

- click here to enter Express World: RT4

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 4 Wishlists: Idea of The Day!

Here is the best idea for the RT4 wishlists:

I would like to have a screen where I could sort all the existing industries by profit, cost of purchase, production, year they were built in or ROI. It could really help me decide easier which one to buy, which are the new industries and so on. - Cristian. [Reply]

To reply, click the reply button at the end of the post! To post your own wish list, visit the RT4 Chat Board!

- click here to enter Express World: RT4