Welcome to part two of the Pocket Trains beginner’s guide! Click here to go back to part 1 of the guide.
There are two places where you can go to pick up new routes. Either tap the Map area or tap the Jobs area, as they will both pop up the map, but the map button will pop up a much larger map. Tap the “+” button in the corner to zoom in or out. Tap one of the cities that’s grayed out in order to buy it, and tap any route that’s grayed out in order to build the route. Then, you can take it over with a train.
More cities will unlock as you purchase more cities. You can’t see any of the cities that are available next to any city where you don’t have a station, but once you build a station in a city, then the other cities that are immediately down the road from it will become available immediately, at least until you get to the continental boundary.
Once you get to the continental border, you will have to buy a new license to operate in another continent, which costs a whopping 50,000 coins. This means that you have to work a LONG time in order to buy a continental license. Your runs will earn you either coins or Bux, and your Bux can be traded in for more coins at the bank. The exchange rate changes once per day – sometimes you get less coins for you Bux, and sometimes you get more.
Each completed run gains you experience points as well, and once you fill the experience bar, you will gain a level. Gaining an experience level will earn you a large bonus in coins, Bux, and in train crates, which contain train parts. Train crates (and Bux, for that matter) can also be earned be specific train runs that pop up rather frequently. Any “train crate” delivery earns you more crates, and any Bux deliveries will show what you earn in Bux, rather than coins.
Go to the Craft area, and you can make use of your train crates. Each crate costs ten Bux to open, and earns you parts to a specific train. Once you earn enough parts, you can build either a train engine or a fuel tank. Train engines can be used to make new railroad lines, or (if a train’s maximum engines are more than 1) can be added to an existing train, which can enable it to carry more cars. Fuel tanks can be added to an existing train to double the maximum amount of fuel.
Stay tuned for part three of the Pocket Trains beginner’s guide!