Transport Fever 2 recently went on sale again, and I'm sure many friends have jumped into the pit. If you're finding the Campaign Mode a bit too long-winded and just want to build your own empire, you've come to the right place.
Transport Fever is, as the name suggests, a transportation simulation game. Your goal in the game is to continuously develop transport networks, make money, and then expand further.
When you first start a game, there are no railways, waterways, or air routes connected. You might feel a bit lost, but let me explain the operational mechanics of this game, and you'll get it instantly.
First, look at this image. There's an oil barrel icon (that's an Oil Well). The barrel points to liquid oil (an Oil Refinery), and the liquid oil turns into fuel (a Fuel Refinery). Finally, cities need fuel for production. You need to haul the raw materials to the refinery, then to the processing plant, and finally transport the finished goods to the city.
Each city has two or more industrial demands. Once you satisfy a city's needs, it will begin to produce, grow, and its population will increase.
As you can see in this image, the supply of fuel is driving the city's population growth.
If resources are close to the city, you can choose trucks. If they are far, use trains. If there's water, use ships. I don't recommend planes for cargo; they aren't very fast, carry little, and have high maintenance costs.
After the city population grows, you can develop passenger lines. Open the layer view in the top left to inspect the zone distribution. Every zone center can support a station. If you build train stations or airports, make sure to build bus/tram stops nearby (people will get off the train and take the bus, increasing your revenue).
The secret to staying profitable is ensuring that the utilization rate of most of your vehicles is quite high. This generates a lot of profit. If you find that many vehicles are only half full, or a train with 100 seats is only carrying 60 or 70 people, you need to scale back (reduce the number of wagons, etc.). Maintenance costs money, so "just enough" capacity is the most profitable strategy.
There are many small tricks to increase profit. For example, on busy sections, you can elevate either the train tracks or the road to create a bridge, avoiding wait times at crossings to increase efficiency. When buying trains, consider the speed limit of the tracks. If you have bridges or viaducts, pay attention to how the material affects the speed limit. The speed of the locomotive and the wagons should ideally match; otherwise, the game rounds down to the lowest speed.
For short distances, standard tracks are fine—running a 120km/h train is sufficient. If you use high-speed rail on a short line, the train might reach its destination before it even hits top speed, wasting money.
Additionally, factories will continuously upgrade. Once a factory upgrades, its production increases. You can create a "passing loop" or "siding" on a single train track. This involves branching out a second track for the length of a train and then merging it back into the main line (you learn this in Chapter 2 of the Campaign). By adding two signals, you can run two trains on the same single-track line to increase capacity.
Shipping is also a great transport method, especially in the modern era. It's slower, but you can haul a massive amount of cargo in one go.
Once you master the basics, there are advanced operations like Cargo Hubs. You can use ships and trains to bring cargo to a central point, and then use trucks to deliver it to surrounding cities (perfect for when a hub is situated right between two cities) to complete the "last mile" delivery.
If you're still a bit confused, playing through two or three chapters of the Campaign Mode will basically get you up to speed!
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