Railway Empire 2 – Controlling Your Train’s Pathfinding

by Fernando Diaz / Game Guides, Railway Empire 2 / 01 Jan 2022

A critical aspect of your role as a trainmaster in Railway Empire 2 is controlling the path of your trains. This feature becomes increasingly crucial as your network expands and traffic intensifies. This guide explains the game’s pathfinding mechanics and teaches you how to use waypoints effectively to manage your trains’ routes.

Default Pathing System

Understanding the game’s default pathing system is crucial. Whenever you assign a starting point and a destination for your trains, the game’s system automatically selects the shortest possible path. While this feature ensures efficiency, there may be situations where you wish to divert your trains from the shortest paths for strategic reasons. This is where the use of waypoints becomes essential.

Decoding the Waypoint System

Waypoints are critical markers you can strategically place on your tracks to manipulate the path your train should adopt. Think of waypoints as scheduled stops that your train should pass through en route to the final destination. Using waypoints, you can divert your trains onto specific tracks, controlling their paths meticulously.

Methodology to Set Waypoints

Say you are setting up a line from Halifax to Moncton and you want this line to operate on a particular set of tracks. In such a scenario, you would place a waypoint on the chosen track. As long as there are no alternate paths, the exact placement of the waypoint isn’t critical. However, if there are alternate paths, you should carefully consider where you place the waypoint. The primary concern is that it’s situated on the track you wish the train to traverse.

Significance of Waypoints Order

One aspect of waypoints that requires careful attention is their placement order. Placing the waypoints in the wrong order can lead your train into unnecessary loops, resulting in inefficient routes and increased travel time. Therefore, the order of your waypoints should match the order of the stops on your train’s intended route. The initial waypoint should be on the track that directs the train out of the first station, and the final waypoint should guide the train into the last station.

Strategically Separating Passenger and Freight Lines

Waypoints can be utilized to segregate passenger and freight lines. For instance, if a station branches into four tracks and you wish to allocate two for passengers and two for freight, you can achieve this segregation by placing waypoints on the specific tracks designated for each type of service. This indicates to the trains which tracks they should use for each type of service.

Navigating Bypasses

In Railway Empire 2, trains don’t instinctively opt for bypasses around stations. They require explicit instructions via waypoints to use bypasses. Therefore, if your strategy includes a train bypassing a city, make sure to position waypoints on the bypass track.

Troubleshooting with Waypoints

If your train takes longer than anticipated or is making unnecessary loops, it is advisable to revisit your waypoints. The issue might stem from the waypoints being in an incorrect order, or from an unnecessary waypoint leading your train off course. Rearranging your waypoints to match the station sequence often resolves these inefficiencies and reduces travel times.

Fernando Diaz

Fernando is doing what he always did, sharing his honest opinions about games whenever he can. The difference is now he is writing and not talking about it.
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