Railway Empire Crossing the Andes DLC Review – Test

What’s in the Railway Empire Crossing the Andes DLC, and how does it play?

Hi, here is the Zap. In this article, I will show you a short summary and a small review of the Railway Empire DLC Crossing the Andes. The “Crossing the Andes” DLC has recently been released, and some might wonder if it’s worth the purchase and what’s in it.

Railway Empire – Crossing the Andes DLC Review

So here is a summary of the content and a small preview of the scenarios. I was kindly provided with the DLC by Kalypso Media as a test sample, my thanks at this point for that. I’ll do my best not to let this influence my judgment. By the way, I bought the main game at full price and have played it for about 125 hours so far, just because I enjoy it, and I think it is simply the best railroad business game after Railroad Tycoon 1&2.

Review – Railway Empire DLC Video:

German Voice-Over, English Subtitles

Crossing the Andes DLC – What’s included?

The DLC costs 7.99€ base price, but is currently also sold with a 15% discount so for 6.79 and for that it offers compared to previous DLCs to Railway Empires a lot more. Of course, there is first of all the new South America map, which you can use in free play and in model building mode, on which there are a total of 34 cities.

There are also all sorts of new goods, such as llama wool or guano fertilizer and 2 new locomotives are also included. The map offers very varied areas, from seashore to flat land with many rivers to highly rugged mountains and plateaus, there is all kinds of things to challenge a railroad enthusiast.

But probably among the most important, at least for me, are the 3 new scenarios that the DLC offers. Previous DLCs have delivered only one scenario for the same price, so here you have already fundamentally a lot more content for the same money.

Reading recommendations and videos about the game

All around Railway Empires, the DLCs, all Railway Empires Tips und Tricks and Lets Play Videos [German]

I will briefly present the three scenarios here:

Railway Empire DLC – Scenario 1: External Capital

The first Scenario is set in the period from 1900 to 1920 and is called “External Capital”, and it is rated on difficulty “Medium”. The description says, “Prosperity in Argentina has increased in recent years, and more and more people from the old world are coming here to find their fortune.

In order not to stand in the way of progress, the country has been opened up more and more to foreign money in the past. So it is little surprise that even the railroads are now firmly in the hands of European investors.”

You are stuck with Beatrix von Pomp for character selection. According to the new character system, this lady offers more income from passengers and mail and gets more bonuses on express trains, but with 20% less income on freight, has a very precise commitment to passenger and mail transport. But that’s what this scenario is all about, too.

Because the first tasks of the quest series “Return, Return, Return” require besides 7 connected cities and 1000 passengers to transport, especially the task to generate a quarterly profit of $250,000 from passengers. The playing area on the map is limited at the beginning, and you are rather in the lowlands, with all kinds of rivers through lush meadows. When starting out, it’s probably a good idea to establish a connection from Buenos Aires to Córdoba via Rosario.

Szenario 2: Coffee Barons

The second scenario, “Coffee Barons”, which is also set in the period from 1900 to 1920, on the other hand, is about freight, and as the name suggests, mainly about coffee. The difficulty level is also “Medium” and the description reads:

“Coffee barons – At the beginning of the new century, rich coffee farmers and large landowners have the power in Brazil firmly in their hands, but the goods of their plantations get so far only with difficulty from the vast hinterland to the coastal cities from where they are shipped all over the world. All of a sudden, the railroad appears to be a welcome tool to deal with this problem – but will there be other profiteers than the landowners?”

As a personality, we are also well-prepared here with Don Lorenzo, which offers 15% more revenue from freight and has the disadvantage here of generating less from mail and passengers. A shortcoming with the blocking of office workers is moderately compensated with 5 auctioneers at the beginning. Also, on this map, you start in the flat country on a limited area, which is however at another place of the total map and thus already times like a completely new area works. The first task starts with a very tight time frame because you have to add 8 land farms to a route network within one year. This makes the selection of the starting location an extremely important point, I suspect the area around São Paulo offers the best starting conditions here.

Szenario 3: Summit Rushers

The third scenario “Summit Rushers” is immediately marked with a rating of “Hard” as the great challenge. Also set in the 1900s to 1920s, and here the main challenge is to conquer the very difficult and harsh scenic conditions of Argentina and still establish profitable rail service there in the mountains.

The mission description is “Summit Rushers – Ever since the birth of locomotives, there have been plans to conquer the peaks and passes of the Andes by rail, but the extreme challenges of the unforgiving landscape have so far made all efforts come to naught. Connecting rich mineral deposits by rail is the key to success and prosperity, but to date, no one has been found who seems up to the challenge.

This is where the factory owner comes into play, who, according to the new character system, brings with him a huge disadvantage in auctions, but in exchange can easily acquire factories in the city without an auction and can also rebuild them for half the price. The first tasks are again limited to the year 1900 and require 80,000 quarterly profit, thus requires hasty actions. However, a connection from Lima to Ica and the incorporation of the corn deposits on the mountain above Lima should make this possible.

Then it becomes more complex, and we are supposed to supply Ica with saltpeter and reach 50,000 inhabitants in Iquique in 3 years, which is already very difficult because not only is time short, but this city is also very, very far away. 30 clothes to produce is then still demanded, which should become however also very difficult because there is not yet even somewhere a suitable factory for it, there must be made thus some at structure work and in very scarce time.

Railway Empire DLC: Crossing the Andes – Conclusion and Rating

Of course, in the short time I have had, I have not yet been able to play through and evaluate the scenarios in their entirety, but I have played each one for about an hour. And I must say, the tasks in South America offer a good challenge, and thus again wonderful Railway Empire fun. The map is very varied and large, in the missions the building areas are limited in each case, so you build on completely different areas in all 3 scenarios.

For the title “Over the Andes” it could have been a bit more mountain challenge. Now I don’t have the scenarios all the way through yet, though, so maybe there’ll be more in the way of mountains developing later on the first two maps, which start in the lowlands first. For Railway Empire enthusiasts, you get more or less the content of 2 to 3 normal DLCs here for the price of one. I think the value and playtime you get from Railway Empire Crossing the Andes is well worth the investment.

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