OpenTTD Tutorial

If you're familiar with the classic "Transport Tycoon Deluxe" by Chris Sawyer, then "OpenTTD" is the open-source version of that game. It was recreated to look and run better. It has also been ported to numerous operating systems such as Linux, Mac OS X, and Android.

The game is truly great and captivating once you understand the core gameplay. You can compete against random players online or collaborate with them.

Game Objectives

In OpenTTD, your goal is to build a profitable transportation company. You'll need to overcome various challenges and become a successful "businessman".

If you want to connect cities, industries, and other facilities to satisfy supply and demand, there are various vehicles you can build. Transporting passengers and mail is the easiest way to start.

However, vehicles can also age and break down. Therefore, it's important to keep an eye on costs. You'll need to develop your own solutions to optimize routes and plan economically.

You can also compete against AI opponents in the game or play in multiplayer mode with other players over a network or the internet.

There's no time limit in the game, unless you set one for yourself. Sometimes you can build crazy game maps to let your imagination run wild, for example, flooding cities with water, in the spirit of "The Great Flood". This often leads to frustration in multiplayer mode, while other players may find it funny.

Installation

First, you need to download the game.

To do this, go to the OpenTTD website: openttd.org and click on "Download OpenTTD" on the right side.

Several versions are listed; click on the latest stable version "Windows 7 / 8 / 10 / 11 (64-bit) (installer)".

Once you have downloaded it, you need to transfer it to your computer. Click on the setup program to do so. After you have installed it, you can start it.

OpenTTD opens, now we need to download the base sounds. You can also download other music and sounds according to your preferences. But first, we should change the graphics options to adjust the scaling to your screen; for many, the font is too small and difficult to read.

To do this, go to the game settings and to the Graphics tab. There, set the interface size to 2x, depending on how it looks for you. Personally, I use 2x on very large displays. You can also activate VSync, which provides a better graphics flow.

In the General tab, change the currency to Deutsche Mark (DEM), which will automatically be converted to Euro (EUR) from the game year 2002, as this is the year the Euro was introduced. Now we go back to the start menu.

If you want to download extra sounds and extra music, click on "Download Content". For example, you can check the boxes for Base Music OpenMSX and Base Sounds OpenSFX and then click on "Download", which is on the bottom right. As in the screenshot below:

The content can significantly expand the game and add new features.

Game Mechanics

We start with a new game on the green plane. The playing field can be from 256x256 to 4096x4096, with 512x512 being ideal for one player. 4096x4096 is a very large game world and you have to scroll a lot. The cities also continue to grow, and this is intended for a long-term game, because you want to keep an overview of where you are.

You can set whether it is hilly or flat, or whether you start later than 1950, because at early game dates, of course, only locomotives are available, just like in reality in the old days.

Further down you can set AI players, scripts and NewGRF, for example. NewGRF is the game extension for OpenTTD, more about that later in a separate article.

With a click on Generate you create the randomly generated game world. Once the new game is started, you will see a randomly generated map.

You can move the map by holding down the right mouse button. And you can zoom in or out on the map with the mouse wheel.

At the very top of the screen is a menu with which you can perform various actions. Mostly it is a drop-down menu, which means that several buttons are hidden behind one button.

Building Your First Transportation Company

First, we need to build our first transportation company. To do this, we look for a nice place for our company. First, you look for a medium to large city whose next city is also large enough. A very short distance between the two cities makes little sense, as the income will be very low, for example, less than 20 game fields away.

You can also expand a small town into a large city, but it will take many decades until you have enough income to offset the loss.

Choose a nice city with at least 2500 inhabitants.

Alternatively, you can first transport the coal from the mine to one of the power plants, which is also possible at the beginning of the game.

After you have selected a nice city, switch to the train station mode by clicking on this button "Track Construction".

Select the train stations, a length of 7 units is a fully loaded train with 7 wagons, which is often the maximum length of a train. Select the desired location on the map and click with the left mouse button to build. For a simple track connection you need 2 stations. At the other end you build another station.

Building Tracks for Stations

Now we want to build the tracks, to do this you switch to the track construction mode and with the buttons you can lay the tracks in the desired direction. But be careful, too many gradients and slopes make the trains slower and the journey takes longer. If you want to use electric locomotives, you also need electrified tracks for them.

Sometimes the terrain has to be leveled so that the tracks can run straight in one direction. For this you have to switch to the landscaping mode, too many changes to the land cost a lot of money. So be careful not to spend too much money on landscaping.

Example of a track with one track

When you have finished the track, you need the trains next. For this you need a train depot, which is directly connected to the track. Build one and then click on the train depot, in the window you can buy a train, choose e.g. a strong steam locomotive and the required wagons, e.g. passenger or coal wagons. Different wagons can also be combined. In the train depot menu you can line up the wagons. When you are finished, click on the arrow and the train switches to green mode. This means that the train is departing.

Nothing runs in the game without a vehicle depot

Next, we need to define the commands. To do this, click on the train if the train window is not already open. One of the buttons in this window is for the commands. Here you can set the route of the train, whether everything or only part of it should be loaded, or whether the train should stop at several stations.

Trucking or Bus Company?

You can not only build train stations and tracks, but also start a bus company or a trucking company.

On the road, the distance to be covered is much shorter, but the vehicles also travel slower than on rail, by plane or by ship. Accordingly, the revenue could be higher and the maintenance costs lower.

You build roads instead of tracks and connect 2 cities. You can also build several stops in the middle of the city and thus transport people.

Shipping

With ships you can also transport oil from oil rigs to land or deliver goods from island to island.

With the waterway construction you can build waterways, preferably along rivers to keep the construction costs low, because building waterways is very expensive. There are also the options shipyard and harbor.

The position buoys are useful so that the ships can find their way alone on the open sea, otherwise they could get lost.

Airport

The airport has the highest operating costs in the whole game, so this option should be chosen carefully and very good locations such as 2 large cities should be chosen. Because airports also bring very high revenues if they are well frequented.

Accordingly, they cost much more money to build and also need extremely much space if it should be a large airport.

Signal Systems

Now it gets complicated. With the signals you can control the trains, how they have to behave, for this several trains can drive on the tracks. On the Wiki page of OpenTTD the individual signals are explained, because to list them individually here becomes very complex. If you feel like it, this wiki page also explains other things. It is fun to program the signals. But if you make mistakes, the train will crash.

Economic Mechanisms

First you have to understand that there is supply and demand. As soon as you open the first station or bus station, you see the demand in the stop window, which shows how many people are waiting at this stop or how many mailbags need to be transported.

If you want to maximize your revenue, you have to be fully loaded and transport faster, because customers who wait a long time may be in a bad mood and move on, maybe even to the competition.

If you already own long trains, but the demand is low, you can go to the mayor of the city and organize an advertising campaign for yourself to increase the demand and fill the empty trains with more passengers, which will affect your own revenue.

How well the stop is utilized can be seen in the rating menu when you click on one of the stops.

Final Remarks

Practice makes perfect. Practice, practice, practice, then you'll understand this and that, then you might become a born businessman? Who knows? The game can be addictive and fun, especially in the long run when the cities become megacities and you can hardly find a suitable plot of land for your project. But beware, demolishing city-owned property such as roads or buildings leads to a worse reputation with the citizens of the affected city.

With the multiplayer over the internet, the game will certainly never be boring and long-lasting.