Rails across America (beta)

The game is won by prestige, not money, so as long as you're earning prestige you're not necessarily hobbled when you're in debt or bankrupt. Prestige accumulates as you build landmark routes, lay rails, earn money, and transport cargo and passengers. Since the bottom line isn't the bottom line, Rails doesn't play like your typical economic sim; it has a flow all its own and a snappy pace that doesn't bog down if you happen to run low on cash. This isn't a game like Tropico that will suddenly and rudely end if you're not playing well. Like SimTex's brilliant conversion of Avalon Hill's 1830, Rails across America is a strategy game you don't have to win to enjoy.

Although Rails only has a single map that can be played freeform with variable starting conditions, but Flying Labs has plans to include a number of scenarios in the game highlighting historical moments in railroading. Rebuild the rail lines after the Civil War, carefully manage your way through the Depression, race to connect the two coasts, or struggle to adapt during the conversion from steam to diesel engines. There are even some hypothetical scenarios. What if the Civil War was a draw and two separate nations were competing to expand into the West? Or what if the Mormons in Utah had the financial backing to carve out a place in the desert with their own railroad company?

The designers of Rails across America are two guys, Paul Canniff and Russell Williams, who left Microsoft to form their own company. 'From Microsoft?' you may ask, 'What do Microsoft refugees know about games?' Interestingly enough, the last time I wondered the same thing, it was about a fellow named Gabe Newell. Rails across America isn't going to be any Half-Life, to be sure -- this is a sophisticated strategy game that will probably have a limited appeal -- but it does look like it'll be yet another feather in Strategy First's crowded cap.

You can go to Strategy First's download section to get the demo for Rails across America.

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