Railroad Tycoon II

Railroad Tycoon II is a game released for Microsoft Windows, Mac OS, PlayStation and Dreamcast in the Railroad Tycoon series following on from Railroad Tycoon and Railroad Tycoon Deluxe. The Dreamcast version was released as Railroad Tycoon II: Gold Edition with improved graphics and gameplay. This version would also later be released on Microsoft Windows.

Gameplay is displayed in dimetric view, contrary to the top-down view of Railroad Tycoon. Most game mechanics are the same.

There are several new classes of goods, like iron, bauxite and aluminum.

Missions
The original game features eighteen missions, divided between North America, Europe and the rest of the world. For each mission, the player must choose between three alternatives that may modify strategy. Examples include choosing one of three routes across the US to complete (New Orleans-Los Angeles, St. Louis-Sacramento, or Minneapolis-Seattle), or different cost reduction bonuses for the "Knitting with Iron" scenario. The missions can be played on three difficulty levels, and each also includes three listed objectives. Completing only the first objective awards the player a bronze medal, the first two a silver medal, and all three a gold medal. The player may play any mission in each set as many times as they wish; they may also continue even though a mission has been failed. The final score for the whole 18 mission campaign is calculated by the difficulty level and the number of each type of medal achieved, with gold providing more points than silver, which in turn provides more points than bronze. Railroad Tycoon 2 is considered as one of the best in the Railroad Tycoon Series. The game got one big negative critique for not having an option to build tunnels.


 * Tutorial: Britain (not an actual mission, nor scored as one, just included to familiarize new players)

North America
 * The Iron Seed: Mid-Atlantic states
 * Handle on The Breadbasket: Eastern USA
 * Bridging a Nation: Western USA
 * Silver Booms and the Market Busts: Southwestern USA
 * Whistle Stop and Promises: Northwestern USA
 * Crossing the Great Divide: Canada

Europe
 * Birth of the Iron Horse: Britain
 * Excess on the Orient Express: Europe
 * Knitting with Iron: Germany
 * Next Stop the 20th Century: France
 * Through The Brenner Pass: Alps
 * When Walls Come Down: Eastern Europe

World
 * Croissants vs Crumpets: India
 * Which Way to the Coast?: Australia
 * The Samurai Rides an Iron Horse: Japan
 * The People's Train: China
 * Dilemma Down Under: Australia
 * Cape to Cairo: Africa

The Second Century expansion pack
Railroad Tycoon II: The Second Century is an expansion pack concentrated on the time between 1930 and 2030. The expansion pack also features eighteen scenarios. Some new locomotive types had been added.

The first act concerns World War II and the surrounding events. The second act is about the Cold War era, and the third act is a series of science fiction scenarios set up around a geothermal plant in Spain.

Some of these missions are in the "metra" mode, where the player takes care of public transportation in a metropolitan area.

Locomotives available include:


 * Pen-y-darren
 * Stephenson's Rocket
 * John Bull (locomotive)
 * DeWitt Clinton (locomotive)
 * Prussian 4-2-0
 * American-C
 * GWR Iron Duke Class
 * 8-Wheeler
 * 2-4-0 Vulcan
 * 2-8-0 Consolidation
 * 3-Truck Shay
 * 4-8-0 Mastodon
 * 4-6-0 Ten-Wheeler
 * 2-6-0 Mogul
 * 1-3BoBo
 * 4-4-2 Atlantic
 * Camelback locomotive
 * 4-6-2 Pacific
 * 0-10-0 Class G10
 * 2-6-2 Prairie
 * 4-4-0 D16sb
 * 2-10-0 Class 13 H
 * USRA 0-6-0
 * 2-8-2 Mikado
 * such as
 * 4-6-0 Class B12
 * [List of stock used by Swiss Federal Railways|Ee 3/3] de:SBB Ee 3/3
 * Class 1045
 * USRA 0-8-0
 * LNER Class A4
 * GG1
 * Class E18
 * 4-6-4 Hudson
 * 4-8-4 Daylight
 * 4-6-4 J3A Streamliner
 * Ae 8/14
 * Union Pacific Big Boy
 * Class 1020
 * 4-4-4-4 T-1
 * F3A+B
 * Alco PA1
 * F9
 * GP9
 * 
 * GP18
 * V200
 * Penn. E44
 * Class 55 Deltic
 * Shinkansen Bullet
 * FP45
 * SD45
 * SDP40
 * TGV
 * E60Cp
 * E111
 * E656 FS
 * Dash-9
 * AMD-103
 * Thalys Bullet
 * Eurostar
 * DB 18 201
 * Class 232
 * Mag-Lev TBX-1, a fictional Maglev train
 * Mag-Lev TBX-1, a fictional Maglev train
 * Mag-Lev TBX-1, a fictional Maglev train

Virtual General Managers
Your game performances in Railroad Tycoon II are affected by which virtual General Manager you choose. These virtual managers are illustrations of real-life historical figures in Railway history. Some 30 different General Managers to choose from, while playing the game, will each modify, in their own particular ways, the output, productivity, on time performance and other parameters of the game. It is interesting to notice that the variations introduced in the gameplay by each manager are somewhat based on the given managers' real-life personae, history and impact on exploitation and management methods. For example, hiring Eugene V. Debs as a General Manager will procure your exploitation with spectacular benefits that somehow fit well with Debs' personal involvement in the world of early 20th Century labor. As Debs' view of labor was socially oriented and aimed at the Common Good, so will hiring Debs as a Manager will increase your railroad's popularity in the communities you serve. As Debs strove to procure a safest workplace for Train Crews during his early involvement as a Railway Union Representative, so will your railroad become safest and less prone to derailments and breakdowns. However, in order to make things harder on you, the game developers have decided that you can't hire Mr. Debs as manager until your railroad becomes very prosperous (it needs to be, since hiring Debs comes at a cost of $95,000 a year). In the meantime, you will have to be content with hiring any Jack, Jim or Johnny at five grand a year, with just a marginally favorable impact on your exploitation. The General Managers mechanics is an aspect of the game that was dropped on the on the 2003-released, 3D-modellized Railroad Tycoon 3.

Railroad Tycoon II: Gold Edition
This is a collection of Railroad Tycoon 2 and Railroad Tycoon 2: The Second Century, in one package.

Railroad Tycoon II: Platinum Edition
This is equivalent to the Gold Edition packed with over 50 custom made maps.