A-Train 9 V4.0: Japan Rail Simulator |OT| Let’s Take the A-Train!
Developer: Artdink
Publisher: Degica
Platform: PC (Steam)
Release date: 21st of October
Price: $59.99/54.99€
Click here for full list of prices in different currencies
A discount is available for owners of previous versions of A-Train on Steam.
Steam Store Page
A-Train 9 V4.0 is the latest version of Artdink’s long running transport simulation and city building game series. The new version has many new features and changes that
improve the gameplay experience. For the first time players in the West can use authentic Japanese trains with the addition of 36 new types of rolling stock licensed from
West Japan Railway Company (JR West).
In A-Train 9 you run a transportation company. Your task is to construct and manage a transportation network and subsidiaries to attract people and companies to your city
with the ultimate goal of earning 100 billion dollars. To accomplish this goal you must develop your transport network, construct subsidiaries and invest in the stock market.
Your transportation network and subsidiaries influence how the city develops. Various different buildings will form around your holdings as you construct railways, bus routes
and subsidiaries. You can construct a wide variety of subsidiaries, varying from your company headquarters to power plants, factories, ports, office and apartment buildings
and lots more. To be able to construct subsidiaries you need materials. Materials are produced by factories and stored in warehouses. You can construct a factory and set up
a freight train to transport your materials to parts of the city where you need materials for construction. It should also be noted that all other construction done by the AI also
uses up your materials. The gameplay offers a variety of ways to accomplish the goal of becoming a successful company as you can go from managing your railway timetables to
constructing warehouses and factories and office buildings to generate additional income to your company. Constructing subsidiaries is extremely important as they will
encourage development which will in turn support your transport business with more passengers.
The game also includes a map editor which allows you to create your own maps and scenarios.
The game features an in-depth manual that can be accessed by clicking the Game Manual option in the main menu.
It can also be accessed by navigating to the Steam installation folder for A-Train 9
and opening the index.html file in your web browser.
Unfortunately the manual doesn't help much when trying to get started with A-Train 9, and there are no in-game tutorials. I strongly recommend following this guide to get started.
There are other useful guides listed in this thread on the Steam community forums.
New features added in Version 4.0
New time factor: 3X. In 3X mode, for each second that passes in real time just 3 seconds pass in game, allowing more accurate and genuine scheduling than ever before.
Expanded number of vehicles in service. Limit of trains, buses and trucks active at once in a region has been increased to 200.
Group colour settings. You can assign individual colours to your trains, buses and trucks for use in train lines or guides. The colour selection is also reflected on the satellite map
and vehicle information tag.
Sorting functions. New sorting functions have been added to the Train menu. You can move trains up and down the list and also remove and add empty boxes to the list.
Driving mode. You can now drive cars, boats and trains. To drive a train, select the train in the train menu and click Driving to move to driving mode. The train driving mode is
reminiscent of Taito’s Densha de Go! series, you drive from station to station trying to adhere to speed limits and keeping to a schedule. Your driving can affect the schedule of
other trains, so make sure to save beforehand.
Speed limits. You can now apply speed limits to sections of your train lines with speed limit signs. Installed signs affect all trains that pass. Speed limit will not be lifted until the train
passes a speed limit lifted sign. Another speed limit can be applied even if the previous limit hasn’t been lifted. Speed limits can affect train schedules.
Change maximum speed of custom trains. You can now change the cruising speed of custom trains by selecting from 5 km/h increments in the custom menu.
Custom maps in projects. You can now use maps from the map editor in the project menu.
Shorter intervals for signal settings. When using time factor of 30X or 3X, the interval for traffic lights in intersections can be set in 16, 12, 10, 8, 6 and 4-minute intervals.
Additional track parts. Slip switch and Y-branch can now be extended in a straight line.
Additional new buildings. Low-rise office building 1-8, Amusement facility, New Kabuki theatre, Opera tower, University hospital, Park (corner) 1 & 2, Convenience store (small) and
Cafe (small) have been added.
Additional new items. Over 50 new decorations have been added and the maximum number of items installed per map has been increased from 1000 to 3000.
New scenario maps. Three new scenario maps have been added. You can enjoy Overcrowded City, Riverside City and Beach And Waterfront scenarios.
Pass all function added. You can now set the selected vehicle to pass all bus stops.
New graphical effect added. A water spray has been added to boats in operation.
New shortcut. Esc key cancels hidden status for all menus.
Introduction of new trains from Japan.
A-Train 9 V4.0 features 36 types of rolling stock licensed from West Japan Railway Company.
- 103 Series (Sky Blue)
- 103 Series (Vermilion Orange)
- 125 Series
- 205 Series (Sky Blue)
- 207-1000 Series
- 221 Series
- 223-2000 Series
- 419 Series
- KiHa 40 Series (Scarlet)
- KiHa 58 Series
- KiHa 58 Series (Hiroshima)
- KiHa 58 Series (Tsuyama)
- KiHa Class 120 (Kansai)
- KiHa Class 120 (Kisuki)
- KiHa Class 120 (Kisuki)
- KiHa Class 52-100 (JNR)
- KiHa Class 52-100 (Old JNR)
- KiHa Class 52-100 (Scarlet)
- 117 Series
- 281 Series "Haruka"
- 283 Series
- 285-0 Series
- 287 Series
- 381 Series (Kuroshio)
- 381 Series (Super Yakumo)
- 381 Series (Yuttari Yakumo)
- 583 Series
- 681 Series
- Class EF81 + 24 Series
- KiHa 181 Series
- KiHa 187-500 Series
- 0 Series
- 500 Series
- 700 Series
- Class C57 + 12 Series
- Class D51 + 12 Series
Developer: Artdink
Publisher: Degica
Platform: PC (Steam)
Release date: 21st of October
Price: $59.99/54.99€
Click here for full list of prices in different currencies
A discount is available for owners of previous versions of A-Train on Steam.
Steam Store Page
A-Train 9 V4.0 is the latest version of Artdink’s long running transport simulation and city building game series. The new version has many new features and changes that
improve the gameplay experience. For the first time players in the West can use authentic Japanese trains with the addition of 36 new types of rolling stock licensed from
West Japan Railway Company (JR West).
In A-Train 9 you run a transportation company. Your task is to construct and manage a transportation network and subsidiaries to attract people and companies to your city
with the ultimate goal of earning 100 billion dollars. To accomplish this goal you must develop your transport network, construct subsidiaries and invest in the stock market.
Your transportation network and subsidiaries influence how the city develops. Various different buildings will form around your holdings as you construct railways, bus routes
and subsidiaries. You can construct a wide variety of subsidiaries, varying from your company headquarters to power plants, factories, ports, office and apartment buildings
and lots more. To be able to construct subsidiaries you need materials. Materials are produced by factories and stored in warehouses. You can construct a factory and set up
a freight train to transport your materials to parts of the city where you need materials for construction. It should also be noted that all other construction done by the AI also
uses up your materials. The gameplay offers a variety of ways to accomplish the goal of becoming a successful company as you can go from managing your railway timetables to
constructing warehouses and factories and office buildings to generate additional income to your company. Constructing subsidiaries is extremely important as they will
encourage development which will in turn support your transport business with more passengers.
The game also includes a map editor which allows you to create your own maps and scenarios.
The game features an in-depth manual that can be accessed by clicking the Game Manual option in the main menu.
It can also be accessed by navigating to the Steam installation folder for A-Train 9
Code:
Default: Steam\SteamApps\common\A-Train 9 V4.0 Japan Rail Simulator\data\documentUnfortunately the manual doesn't help much when trying to get started with A-Train 9, and there are no in-game tutorials. I strongly recommend following this guide to get started.
There are other useful guides listed in this thread on the Steam community forums.
New features added in Version 4.0
New time factor: 3X. In 3X mode, for each second that passes in real time just 3 seconds pass in game, allowing more accurate and genuine scheduling than ever before.
Expanded number of vehicles in service. Limit of trains, buses and trucks active at once in a region has been increased to 200.
Group colour settings. You can assign individual colours to your trains, buses and trucks for use in train lines or guides. The colour selection is also reflected on the satellite map
and vehicle information tag.
Sorting functions. New sorting functions have been added to the Train menu. You can move trains up and down the list and also remove and add empty boxes to the list.
Driving mode. You can now drive cars, boats and trains. To drive a train, select the train in the train menu and click Driving to move to driving mode. The train driving mode is
reminiscent of Taito’s Densha de Go! series, you drive from station to station trying to adhere to speed limits and keeping to a schedule. Your driving can affect the schedule of
other trains, so make sure to save beforehand.
Speed limits. You can now apply speed limits to sections of your train lines with speed limit signs. Installed signs affect all trains that pass. Speed limit will not be lifted until the train
passes a speed limit lifted sign. Another speed limit can be applied even if the previous limit hasn’t been lifted. Speed limits can affect train schedules.
Change maximum speed of custom trains. You can now change the cruising speed of custom trains by selecting from 5 km/h increments in the custom menu.
Custom maps in projects. You can now use maps from the map editor in the project menu.
Shorter intervals for signal settings. When using time factor of 30X or 3X, the interval for traffic lights in intersections can be set in 16, 12, 10, 8, 6 and 4-minute intervals.
Additional track parts. Slip switch and Y-branch can now be extended in a straight line.
Additional new buildings. Low-rise office building 1-8, Amusement facility, New Kabuki theatre, Opera tower, University hospital, Park (corner) 1 & 2, Convenience store (small) and
Cafe (small) have been added.
Additional new items. Over 50 new decorations have been added and the maximum number of items installed per map has been increased from 1000 to 3000.
New scenario maps. Three new scenario maps have been added. You can enjoy Overcrowded City, Riverside City and Beach And Waterfront scenarios.
Pass all function added. You can now set the selected vehicle to pass all bus stops.
New graphical effect added. A water spray has been added to boats in operation.
New shortcut. Esc key cancels hidden status for all menus.
Introduction of new trains from Japan.
A-Train 9 V4.0 features 36 types of rolling stock licensed from West Japan Railway Company.
- 103 Series (Sky Blue)
- 103 Series (Vermilion Orange)
- 125 Series
- 205 Series (Sky Blue)
- 207-1000 Series
- 221 Series
- 223-2000 Series
- 419 Series
- KiHa 40 Series (Scarlet)
- KiHa 58 Series
- KiHa 58 Series (Hiroshima)
- KiHa 58 Series (Tsuyama)
- KiHa Class 120 (Kansai)
- KiHa Class 120 (Kisuki)
- KiHa Class 120 (Kisuki)
- KiHa Class 52-100 (JNR)
- KiHa Class 52-100 (Old JNR)
- KiHa Class 52-100 (Scarlet)
- 117 Series
- 281 Series "Haruka"
- 283 Series
- 285-0 Series
- 287 Series
- 381 Series (Kuroshio)
- 381 Series (Super Yakumo)
- 381 Series (Yuttari Yakumo)
- 583 Series
- 681 Series
- Class EF81 + 24 Series
- KiHa 181 Series
- KiHa 187-500 Series
- 0 Series
- 500 Series
- 700 Series
- Class C57 + 12 Series
- Class D51 + 12 Series
on GMG.