- Empire Builder® computer version for 1 to 6 players
- Supports all common crayon rail game rules, terrain and events
- Play on a wide variety of game maps
- Play vs. AI (bots), others at your computer, or others at remote computers (online)
- Fast: humans can complete a match in under 20 minutes
- Fast: AI can complete a match in less than 5 seconds
- Hall of Fame logs the top scoring matches
- Works on most Windows computers (98 or newer) without the need of special drivers
- Designed by a top-ranked Empire Builder player and tournament champion
Home Network
- Play online at your option for fresh, live competition beyond the AI bots
- Just connect with a friend via the Internet and play (no need for a special server)
- Play locally via your home network (router) too
- Up to 6 online players can participate in the same match
- Up to 70 spectators can observe the match
- Watch in real time as remote opponents build track
- Send messages to one or all players
- Reconnect and resume in case connection drops
- Employs a standard Windows user interface for familiarity and ease of use
- Zoom and scroll map
- Full color maps and load icons
- Mouse over cities to see what they supply, or loads to see where supplied
- Ask the AI to suggest a good pickup/delivery plan for you
- Scrollable game history automatically logs all match activity
- Contracts of all players are displayed in scrollable window
- Click on one of your contract demands to raise a reminder flag
- Cash and on-board loads of all players are displayed
- Point and click to move train or build track
- Automove moves your train to a distant location you designate
- Autobuild suggests a good build route and displays total cost
- Loads window lets you drag and drop loads for pickup and delivery
(enable or disable
at your option)
- Backtracking - trains can turn around after loss of a turn
- NEW! Blitz mode - everyone plays simultaneously yielding an intensely fast match
- Borrowing - players may receive cash loans to build or rent track
- Circus - the Circus load remains in the city at which it was dropped
- Crossgrading - Fast/Heavy Freight trains can be exchanged at a lower cost
- Equal-turns victory - each player gets the same number of turns
- Events - events can be enabled or disabled as you wish
- Extra-contracts start - each player starts with up to 6 demand contracts
- Extra load - each train can carry one more load than usual
- NEW! Fast trains - trains move at 1/3rd greater speed
- Honeymoon 2-player - reduces load quantity, city access, and locks deliveries
- NEW! Light trains - trains carrying fewer loads can move faster (+1 to +3)
- No Discarding - disallow pitching of contracts
- NEW! Open contracts - discarded contracts become available to all
- Pilgrims - Pilgrims can be transported for payment even without a demand contract
- Restarting - allows players to restart if they get into a bad situation
- Slow freight - players start with a slow speed (usually speed 6) train
- Sudden death - play until contract supply is exhausted
- Switchback start - turn order reverses during initial build rounds
- Ultra freight - players can upgrade to an extra fast (usually speed 16) train
- Warehousing - one load can be stored at each city
- Choose AI play style and skill level
- Modify demand contracts or randomize them
- Import contracts from the Crayon Rails Deck Generator
- Change money settings for starting cash, winning cash, terrain build cost, track rental fee, etc.
- Change play settings such as number of major cities to connect, ferry operation, warehousing duration, and more
- Choose which contracts are assigned Circus demands
- Randomize city locations: it's like playing on a whole new map
- Over 16 million different such randomized layouts possible for each game map
- Reports of city, load and terrain data
- Contracts and events already seen during match, and those still pending
- Most frequently used travel corridors
- Total load deliveries by load type
- Load deliveries by city
- Graphs of history of player cash and net worth during match
- Player statistics: track spending, payoffs collected, average payoff, use fees paid, use fees collected, number of deliveries, number of speculative deliveries, event hits, total distance moved, payoff/distance, turn time spent, and more
- Most reports can be printed, or copied to the clipboard
- Choose the text font and size you prefer
- Select the colors you prefer for terrain, rivers, desert, etc.
- Use icons or text for on-map display of loads supplied by city
- View contracts of all players in a separate window (great on widescreen or dual monitors)
- Show or hide map background
- Choose map zooming direction of mouse wheel
- Turn automatic map zooming on/off
- Turn train animation on/off
- Turn sound effects on/off
- Enable and choose an audible "my-turn" notification
- Modify or create maps with the EBPEdit map editor
- Mileposts: normal, hidden, mountain, alpine, jungle, forest, city, desert, swamp, water and tunnel
- Draw: rivers, ferries, ocean coastline, volcanoes, borders, and barriers
- Contracts: edit individually, as a group, or text import from other sources
- Events: Derailment, Earthquake, Fog, Meteor Strike, Rainy Season, Revolution, Shortage, Snow, Special Demands, Storms, Strikes, and more
- Print map, across multiple pages if desired (photo of assembled 6-panel print after lamination)
- Print payoff chart, loads chart, contract and event cards
- Compute the "best trip" for any set of contracts
- Set up AI-only match, played repeatedly to gather statistics and analyze maps and strategies
- NEW! Sum stats from multiple instances running on multi-core computers
- View impact areas of any/all Events
- Compresses saved game files to minimize their storage space
- Context-sensitive help system supplied in both HLP and CHM formats
- Authorized by Mayfair Games