The Anniversary Update is now available on the Main Branch!

What an exciting day!

In the past (two) weeks, our latest update has been tested on the beta branch. Thanks a lot to everyone who gave feedback and reported bugs to us! With your help, we’re now finally ready for the next step:

The Anniversary Update is now available on the Main Branch!

Let’s dive right in and have a good look at all the new content and what we have adjusted in these past weeks:

The UI has gotten a fully new design! 🔄

Yep, it was about time! The User Interface has undergone various changes over the years, but it never felt cohesive. We've had a placeholder UI for a long time now, and it never really all fit together that well. Since the mood of a game can be strongly influenced by the UI, we have revamped the design that now matches flawlessly with the look and feel of the game world aesthetics!

So, how is it different now? Well… As you can see in the shots above and below, all the different menus, like the main menu and the construction menu have gotten a beautiful and much smoother design with more satisfying animations and transitions between screens. For further improvement of the UI usage, the new design comes with some useful feature changes, including better divisions and displays for more useful info on the spot and more intuitive interactions when constructing buildings, shopping for new engines or just getting around the settings in general.

You have always missed a preview of the different buildable items, so you don’t have to remember all the exact names and locations and scroll miles and miles down the lists to find anything? Yeeeah, we did too! The new construction menu gives a much better overview, being divided into four simple sections to easily find exactly what you’re looking for, while providing previews for each item and color option!

We could seriously go on and on about the new UI, like how there are beautiful changing wallpapers in the main menu now… But you better go see it all together for yourself!

We have finally added an Ingame Chat!💬

So, you’re playing a Multiplayer session with your friends and you’ve just read their minds for what they are planning on doing next.. Wait, you can’t read other people’s minds?? Don’t worry, we got something that will make you feel almost like a superhero😏

With the new ingame chat, you can finally chat with your fellow party members and tell them all about that crazy dream you had last night about a certain exciting Anniversary Update👀! No, but seriously. Railroads Online really needed a chat function and now it is finally up and running in the game! Communicating with each other and coordinating all your goals and tasks is now easier than ever and simply makes the game so much more alive! We hope you love this addition!

What happens when I click that “Prelaid” button? 🤔

Trying out all kinds of different builds can be fun and we all know how many possibilities there are. We also know how much fun starting over a game can be, especially with different friends, and you may just find yourself creating a new map every now and then. But let’s be real… Starting with nothing, over and over again and having to work your way up from 0 is not for everybody!

Now, what does happen when you click that button in the map selection screen? Prelaid maps provide you with an amazing base set of engines, logging cars and already placed industries and even some money to get you started into the actual game much faster! You’re not happy with the arrangement of the base build? Don’t worry, it’s not glued to the map, you can edit it anytime😉

To everyone new: If you feel a little overwhelmed when first opening the game, a prelaid map might be just the perfect choice to start off with and simply build up on! You will receive a great first impression on what to do and where to start, so you’re not getting lost right at the beginning.

Loading and Unloading made comfortable!

It’s annoying to get off the train every time you want to load or unload something from your logging cars? We get that! From now on, you don’t have to do that anymore! Loading and unloading can now be done from the comfort of the cars, without needing to ever get off! So much easier and of course faster!

Okay, great! But what else?

You really enjoy thunderstorms, but it takes ages until you finally get one naturally? Just get into the Gameplay Settings and select your desired weather and time of day! What that means? Jup, Dynamic Weather is back and fully customizable! You can even freeze the day or set a timer to change the weather condition after a certain time that you can also set yourself!

Going back to superheroes: Flying is now easier than ever, since the flight mode is now part of the radial menu! Finding everything in one place is just so much more convenient!

Bugfixes & what’s changed since the beta?

Okay, we have talked a lot about the new content that was tested on the beta branch these past weeks. Now, let’s see, what we changed in that time to get the update ready for today’s default release.

Within the last Hotfix we also implemented the new Multi Unit control system. That means you now can control several locomotives that are coupled together. Once you enter into your locomotive and work with the reverser, brake, regulator or whistle, it will control all other locomotives that are coupled in the same way. So now it is way easier, especially in Single Player mode, to haul long trains with several locomotives.

We also adjusted the level system and some prices:
Level 1 to Level 2: 0 - 1000 XP
Level 2 to Level 3: 1000 - 2500 XP
Level 3 to Level 4: 2500 - 5500 XP
Level 4 to Level 5: 5500 - 10000 XP
Level 5 to Level 6: 10000 - 20000 XP
Level 6 to Level 7: 20000 - 35000 XP
Level 7 to Level 8: 35000 - 50000 XP
Level 8 to Level 9: 50000 - 65000 XP
Level 9 to Level 10: 65000 - 80000 XP
Level 10 to Level 11: 80000 - 120000 XP
Level 11 to Level 12: 120000 - 155000 XP

The new prices and new XP you will gain for unloading a freight type can be found in the Ingame Wiki.

We also added a small notification for the Chat that pops up for some seconds if somebody writes a message to make sure you be aware of it. You can then open the chat as usual.

Bugs we fixed after the last Hotfix https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/1696810/view/4691153175743629180?l=english):