Railroad Tycoon II is a game for the PC

IBM PC compatible

IBM PC compatible computers are those generally similar to the original IBM PC, XT, and AT. Such computers used to be referred to as PC clones, or IBM clones since they almost exactly duplicated all the significant features of the PC architecture, facilitated by various manufacturers' ability to...

, Macintosh

Macintosh

The Macintosh , or Mac, is a series of several lines of personal computers designed, developed, and marketed by Apple Inc. The first Macintosh was introduced by Apple's then-chairman Steve Jobs on January 24, 1984; it was the first commercially successful personal computer to feature a mouse and a...

, PlayStation and Dreamcast in the Railroad Tycoon series. The Dreamcast version is a Gold Edition with improved graphics and gameplay. Railroad Tycoon II: Gold Edition was ported to Linux

Linux

Linux is a Unix-like computer operating system assembled under the model of free and open source software development and distribution. The defining component of any Linux system is the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released October 5, 1991 by Linus Torvalds...

 by Loki Software

Loki Software

Loki Software, Inc. was a software firm based in Tustin, California, United States, that ported several video games from Microsoft Windows to Linux...

.

Gameplay is displayed in dimetric view, contrary to the top-down view of Railroad Tycoon

Railroad Tycoon

Sid Meier's Railroad Tycoon is a business simulation game. There are five versions; the original Railroad Tycoon , Railroad Tycoon Deluxe , Railroad Tycoon II , Railroad Tycoon 3 , and Sid Meier's Railroads! .Railroad Tycoon was written by game designer Sid Meier and published by MicroProse and...

.

Gameplay

Railroad Tycoon II is a railroad simulation that covers the history of railroads from the late 1700s to the 2000s. The player assumes the role of the chairman in a railroad company, trying to make profits for the investors (often but not necessarily including the player themself) and completing various other objectives while being hindered by rival companies, train breakdowns and train robbers.

Most of the gameplay consists of building tracks, stations and trains, which are used for hauling goods from one station to another. Money received from hauling is determined by the distance between the two stations, the demand and value of the delivered goods, station improvements and the difficulty level.

The game features a fairly complex stock exchange

Stock exchange

A stock exchange is an entity that provides services for stock brokers and traders to trade stocks, bonds, and other securities. Stock exchanges also provide facilities for issue and redemption of securities and other financial instruments, and capital events including the payment of income and...

 simulation. The player character's assets are separate from the companies' wealth, but the control held by the player over the company allows experienced players to exploit their companies by manipulating dividend

Dividend

Dividends are payments made by a corporation to its shareholder members. It is the portion of corporate profits paid out to stockholders. When a corporation earns a profit or surplus, that money can be put to two uses: it can either be re-invested in the business , or it can be distributed to...

s, share repurchase

Share repurchase

Stock repurchase is the reacquisition by a company of its own stock. In some countries, including the U.S. and the UK, a corporation can repurchase its own stock by distributing cash to existing shareholders in exchange for a fraction of the company's outstanding equity; that is, cash is exchanged...

s and stock issues. The player is allowed to buy and sell short, possibly resulting in massive debt.

Campaign

The original game features eighteen missions, divided between North America, Europe and the rest of the world. The missions can be played on three difficulty levels, and each also includes three listed objectives. Completing only the first objective awards the player a bronze medal, the first two a silver medal, and all three a gold medal. The player may play any mission in each set as many times as they wish; they may also continue even though a mission has been failed. The final score for the whole 18 mission campaign is calculated by the difficulty level and the number of each type of medal achieved.

Single scenarios

In addition to the campaign, Railroad Tycoon II features many single scenarios. As with the campaign, each scenario is based on actual geographical location. Most scenarios also have a medal system similar to that of the campaign, although any scenario may be played in sandbox mode as well. Many scenarios constrain the player to some specific point on the timeline and feature scripted events: for example, the Korea

Korea

Korea ) is an East Asian geographic region that is currently divided into two separate sovereign states — North Korea and South Korea. Located on the Korean Peninsula, Korea is bordered by the People's Republic of China to the northwest, Russia to the northeast, and is separated from Japan to the...

n map presents an alternative history

Alternative history

Alternative history may refer to a number of subjects relating to history, the chronology and study of the past. It may mean:* Alternate history, a subgenre of speculative fiction dealing with divergences from the world's actual history...

 as the player is informed about the averted Korean civil war.

Additional single scenarios may be created with the map editor included.

Railroad Tycoon 2: Gold

This is a collection of Railroad Tycoon 2 and Railroad Tycoon 2: The Second Century, in one package.

Railroad Tycoon 2: Platinum

This is equivalent to the Gold Edition packed with over 50 custom made maps.