As Samuel Horti reported last month, Railway Empire is on track for a January 26 release, bringing with it more stations, micromanaging, and staff hiring and firing than you can toot a conductor’s whistle at. Now, its latest trailer explores its sophisticated AI system and, crucially, how you’ll work around it.
Can you beat the AI?, asks publisher Kalypso in a new blog post, before outlining all the considerations you’ll face in doing so. One decision the AI will often consider, so says Kalypso, is whether or not clearing a path directly through a mountain and laying tracks is economically feasible, or whether or not it’s best to circumvent obstacles instead.
“It’s not always an easy decision for players,” says the post, “but it’s no problem at all for your computerized rivals, who are more than capable of planning and building complex rail networks on any terrain and will no doubt prove a tenacious competitor in your battle for supremacy of the tracks.”
That’s perhaps easier understood in motion:
In the face of careful, meticulous human planning (and, of course, error), Railway Empire’s AI can navigate villages, farms, and rival routes without thinking. Kalypso underscore this fact by saying:
A well-planned route is a great place to start, but it isn’t everything. There are many factors to consider in the railroad business: Are you recognizing and fulfilling the needs of your passengers and contractors? Have you put the right locomotives on the right routes? Remember—the road to success is not paved with good intentions, but with economic skill and the steel of industry.
Kalypso’s latest Railway Empires blog can be read in full here. More information on the game itself can be gleaned from its Steam page.