"Transport Fever 3" turns railway romance into hard business
Putting a train on the tracks and waiting for it to fill my pockets with good dollars is a thing of the past. Urban Games has significantly tightened the economic screws in 'Transport Fever 3' and fundamentally changed many systems.
My account balance is deep in the red, with a downward trend. Again. Depressed, I open the financial overview and see more worrying numbers. The maintenance for my railway infrastructure is melting away the profits it generates. Should I take out another loan? I am already heavily in debt, but without fresh money, I can hardly improve the utilization of my trains.
But can I really guarantee that things will look up after another cash injection? For now, I decide against another loan and reach for the red pen instead. In the line and vehicle overviews, I almost always find potential for savings. If necessary, passengers from a remote location will have to switch back to the bus if the train line is not profitable. Such cuts hurt, but they help.
I am talking about «Transport Fever 3», not Deutsche Bahn. But the comparison is obvious: my rolling stock is outdated, the trains are unpunctual, the stations are overloaded. Except that in «Transport Fever 3», I am sitting in the boss's chair myself and have to prove that I can do better.
Basically, the third installment remains true to the «Transport Fever» series: My task in the economic simulation is to build up the freight supply and passenger traffic for an entire region and lead it from the early 20th to the 21st century. To do this, I establish transport lines on land, on water, and in the air.
Cities with well-supplied businesses and happy people are visibly growing, which brings new challenges, such as traffic jams on the roads and more noise. I have to take care of that, too. A special feature of the series is the journey through time, which constantly brings new vehicles that also exist in the real world.
Trains are eating me out of house and home
With the latest installment of «Transport Fever», the Schaffhausen-based developer studio Urban Games is focusing on the tycoon aspect. In other words: it is significantly harder not to go bankrupt. In the predecessor «Transport Fever 2», train lines would shower me with millions in profit after a short time, the first mandatory loan was quickly paid off, and unprofitable but prestigious lines were paid for out of petty cash.
«Transport Fever 3», on the other hand, is tough business. New acquisitions and maintenance have become much more expensive. Even building a simple bus stop on the side of the road costs 270,000 dollars (compared to 1,200 dollars in the predecessor), not to mention stations, airports, and depots – and their maintenance. To recoup their costs, vehicles must be well utilized. This is particularly challenging at the beginning of a game because the cities are still small and do not have a high demand for goods.
Trains cause me the most problems. In the predecessor, they are the best choice for the fast transport of large quantities over long distances. Under certain circumstances, this also works in «Transport Fever 3» – until the train has cleared out the warehouses and the factory is not producing the goods fast enough. Then the transport volume decreases and the train slips into the red. I can accelerate production with the help of boosters – such as workers and fertilizer – but those have to be procured first.
Expanding a train line can also turn out to be a money-burning machine: if the train is supposed to supply another city with goods, it will not be fully utilized for a long time and will cost me the entire profit it generates. Being the boss in «Transport Fever 3» is therefore not that easy.
And that's a good thing. I love thinking things through and optimizing processes. For «Transport Fever» veterans like me, however, the transition is difficult at first because I still have the game mechanics of the predecessor in my blood. They only work to a limited extent in «Transport Fever 3». That is why overly extensive transport projects keep tripping me up financially at first, because I don't yet know the new stumbling blocks.
Partially fiddly interface operation
Urban Games has completely overhauled the distribution of goods. Goods are no longer stored at stops and stations until they are picked up, but in warehouses. For me, this means an additional mandatory building for most lines.
And more importantly: the distribution of goods works completely differently. In the predecessor, the game distributed goods automatically and according to demand to various customers. In «Transport Fever 3», however, the principle applies: only while supplies last. By default, every truck now helps itself at the warehouse until it is full or the warehouse is empty.
The fine-tuning of the distribution is up to me. However, the adjustment screws for this, such as which and how many goods should be taken along at each stop, are sometimes well hidden in the options of the line management (the so-called line manager). Their purpose is also not always recognizable at first glance. Sometimes the configuration feels too much like fiddly micromanagement. If a train is to supply several cities with one product, I have to specify for each stop what percentage of the goods it should still have with it when it departs.
How I set the priority with which vehicles take along desired goods is still not clear to me even after more than 50 hours of play. For example, a ship is supposed to transport stones and fuel. It always seems to decide on stones, while the fuel rots in the warehouse. Then the only thing that helps is to forbid the transport of stones for the time being. There should be better options for that.
On the other hand, there are also many positive innovations in operation. I really like that I can also buy vehicles when creating a line. This saves me from having to search for a depot. A small but nice improvement is the button for automatic line naming. The game then offers me three sensible suggestions to choose from.
In-time deliveries force me to make decisions
In addition to the changed distribution of goods, the assessment of delivery punctuality is also new. If goods are in transit for too long, this is reflected in city satisfaction, which in turn slows down their growth and indirectly costs me money. With specialized warehouses, I can pause the punctuality timer and also reduce the loading time. However, they are twice as expensive. Here, too, I have to weigh my options.
Of course, passengers are also not happy with long waiting and travel times. Who likes waiting for unpunctual trains? I have to decide: do I buy more trains in favor of a higher frequency and more satisfaction, but at significantly higher costs? Or do I stick with a single cost-effective train that is well utilized but causes dissatisfaction due to the longer waiting time?
It depends on the situation here. Sometimes it is worth switching to trains that can be operated more cheaply. Carriages with a higher comfort value can appease passengers. Or I try to cart passengers from surrounding towns to the station with bus lines to ensure better train utilization.
Almost like cheats: Subsidies
A new feature of «Transport Fever 3» is subsidies: optional transport contracts for which I am paid by cities or industries. Sometimes I am supposed to supply an industry with workers or required products, sometimes connect one city with another. If I accept the order, I get an advance payment. Upon successful completion, there is even more money or temporary bonuses such as higher transport remuneration or faster city growth.
The rewards often seem random and sometimes absurdly high: once I collect a 14 million dollar down payment and another 39 million upon completion of the order, for which I only have to send out a bus. Especially at the beginning, such subsidies prove to be a blessing for the balance sheet and are very welcome. Nevertheless, I am a little ashamed to accept such orders for which I have to do almost nothing. It feels like cheating. Another time, I am supposed to supply a city with a product for which I first have to haul products from the entire map. That is a huge effort – and as a reward, I only get a moderate reputation improvement.
Whether Urban Games intended these random rewards this way, I don't know. At the moment, I am benefiting from easily earned money – but logically, orders for which I have to make more effort should be paid better.
Not just good looking: Landmarks
A good reputation, punctual deliveries, little pollution and noise: these are all factors that are reflected in city growth or my line efficiency and thus in the potential to earn money. A strong new tool for influencing these factors are landmarks. These are unique, freely placeable buildings, such as an ancient pyramid, the Eiffel Tower, or an island with a lighthouse. I unlock them as soon as my company reaches certain milestones.
The construction of landmarks is free; I just have to deliver the required goods to the construction site. Once completed, the entire district benefits from a permanent bonus, such as faster ships or fewer emissions. Because I can only place each landmark once on the map, I have to think carefully about which district I want to build them in.
The first landmark, the ancient arena, is always available for construction first. It costs 800 stones and reduces the noise in the district by 25 percent. With this, I move the mediocre noise rating of my capital into the green and thus unproblematic range. That is definitely a strong bonus.
The unlockable level bonuses also include marketing campaigns, raw material prospecting, and greening measures. Marketing campaigns are expensive but encourage more people to use my passenger lines. With prospecting, a new raw material spawns in the desired district, and the greening of industries reduces their pollution and noise by 80 percent. So, without any mods, I have the possibility to change the rules and random conditions of a map: a super innovation!
Only look good: my headquarters and weather effects
Some innovations of a purely cosmetic nature are also on board with «Transport Fever 3». For example, I can equip my headquarters with domes, fountains, and even a tennis court. Unfortunately, that does nothing for me. I find that a pity. Expanding your own hut could certainly offer small incentives.
The weather also plays no role in the gameplay. Cloud shadows flitting across the ground as well as rain on the windowpane look dramatically good. Again and again, I notice how vehicles and buildings suddenly turn on their lights because of the cloudy sky. The weather effects are really something to see and contribute to a lively world. However, I regret that they don't influence the game at least a little bit.
I rule the chaos
But back to the gameplay. If I manage my company well, the cities in the area expand. That is satisfying to watch, but leads to new problems. Sooner or later, there will be longer traffic jams in which my trucks and buses get stuck. Supply bottlenecks because I cannot provide the urgently needed factory boosters. Overcrowded stops and warehouses. Stations that I originally built away from the city and that are now surrounded by residential buildings whose residents complain about the station noise. People, get a grip, you wanted to live there after all!
With such a cascade of chaos, a feeling of being overwhelmed quickly sets in. Where should I even start? But for exactly these situations, I love the «Transport Fever» series: I experience on my own screen what increasing traffic volume means for a formerly sleepy little village and thus understand the problems of many real-world major cities much better. Only in the game, I am not the one standing frustrated at a full station or in a traffic jam. Instead, I am responsible for making everything better.
Sometimes a changed right-of-way rule at a central intersection or an adjustment of the loading rules for a freight line is enough. Sometimes, however, only the demolition excavator or a wide-ranging diversion of road or rail traffic helps. The interlocking of city growth and the economic success of my company is even tighter in «Transport Fever 3» than in the predecessors – and the game provides me with a well-filled toolbox for this.
«Transport Fever 3» is available from September 29 for PC, MacOS, Linux, PS5, and Xbox Series X|S. The game was provided to me by Urban Games for testing purposes for the PC.
In a nutshell
I was happy to wait seven years for this game
Pro
- higher difficulty level
- Focus on strategic thinking
- meaningful innovations such as landmarks, boosters, and prospectings
- closer integration of urban growth and corporate success
- better traffic management
Contra
- partially fiddly micromanagement during line configuration
- Functions and displays are not always self-explanatory
- The balancing of the subsidy rewards feels unfinished
Feels just as comfortable in front of a gaming PC as she does in a hammock in the garden. Likes the Roman Empire, container ships and science fiction books. Focuses mostly on unearthing news stories about IT and smart products.
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