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OpenTTD 1.0.0 Released
Gmer writes "Eming.com reports that OpenTTD, the open source clone of the Microprose game Transport Tycoon Deluxe, has reached a milestone. OpenTTD 1.0.0 has been released 6 years after work started on the first version, with the help of hundreds of contributors and thousands of testers/players. Over 30 language translations are considered complete, and OpenTTD is available for *BSD, Linux, Solaris and Windows. OpenTTD is a business simulation game in which the player is in control of a transport company and can compete against rival companies to make as much profit as possible by transporting passengers and various goods by road, rail, sea or air."
A while ago they added NoAI which allowed for user coded AIs. Several of these user coded AIs are quite good and certianly much much better than the original.
http://www.tt-forums.net/viewforum.php?f=65
I remember back in 1994 or so on my first computer when I got a demo of Transport Tycoon from some British UK magazine we imported. You were only limited to few (five?) years of building and I had no idea what to do. I later got the very first original version of Transport Tycoon, the one with the real vehicle names, I honestly don't remember much what I did with that version.
I then got the Transport Tycoon Plus version, the one with the "mars terrain" as alternate graphics. I remember spending most of my childhood with that version, looking at envy at the "Deluxe" version which had maglev and one-way signals. You can bet I was happy when I eventually got the deluxe version, and I thought anything was possible with one-way signals... I had no idea about pre-signals or path signals yet. ;) I used TTDPatch to run Windows TTD under Win XP, then later got openTTD 0.3.x. That's when I was hooked again. One of the best things with openTTD compared to TTD or even TTDPatch is a fully working multiplayer. In both TTD and orginal transport tycoon, you were lucky if the game went past thirty years as it desynced very easily. OpenTTD is much more stable in that degree, and fails more gracefully if it does desyncs (which is rare, and the orginal versions would just crash or glitch up).
This gallery have some examples of TTD AI stupidity.
Have a explanation why the orginal AI is poor, note that the "glitches, cheats and bugs" mentioned in the FAQ have been fixed in openTTD since a long time ago. ;)
The AI received a major upgrade recently, which allows for different AIs that each behave differently. Personally, I prefer playing without AIs and simply enjoy building a transport network as complete as possible. Everyone who plays the game enjoys it for their own reason, but when you consider that the game that OpenTTD is based on was released in 1994 and that (a) people are still playing it and (b) that a 6 year old project to update it is still going strong - well, that alone should tell you that there's something about this game that's pretty damn good.
From stable download page:
For OpenTTD you can use the original Transport Tycoon Deluxe data files (you need to own a Transport Tycoon Deluxe CD). There are also the free alternatives OpenGFX (graphics), OpenSFX (sound) and OpenMSX (music) which can be installed automatically by the Windows installer.
Have you tried SimuTrans instead? I found it very challenging even on single player mode.
'For we walk by faith, not by sight.' II Corinthians 5:7
Better yet was the opportunity for murder. Run your highspeed trains back and forth over their truck / bus roads, wiping them out. You could even create train disasters by running a line to one end of their stations, wait for their fully laden trains to arrive and then set your own train off to crash into them. Puts them out of business in no time...
FYI, there is a patched version flying around the openttd forums which implements cargo and passanger destination, which means that cargos and passangers want to go to a specific location not just to any city,
this gives the game much more depth
http://wiki.openttd.org/Passenger_and_cargo_destinations