Thirty-Two Worlds

There are 32 worlds now, and each server draws its next world at random when it resets. Sixteen of them are new real-world maps. Markets have events such as droughts, plagues and wars. The network bonus now goes to healthy networks rather than to the company with the most routes.

Thirty-two worlds, drawn at every reset

The eight generated worlds are joined by twenty-four real-world maps. When a server resets, it draws its next world from all 32. The draw is weighted. A world never runs on two servers at once, and a server never draws the world it has just run. The servers page no longer names a next world, because it is decided at the reset. Each server's Discord channel follows the world it is running.

A real map sometimes comes up as Toyland, as before.

The sixteen new maps, with their authors:

• #17 Turkey - temperate, from 1970, 1024 by 512 tiles. Map: Turkey 16k-8k Heightmap by IamtheGlobGLoGabGalab (CC-BY 3.0).
• #18 Ukraine - temperate, from 1945, 1024 by 512 tiles. Map: Ukraine by Fixer (CC-BY 3.0).
• #19 Greece - temperate, from 2010, 1024 by 512 tiles. Map: Greece Region by Munno (GPL v2).
• #20 New Guinea - tropical, from 1990, 1024 by 512 tiles. Map: New Guinea by Moriarty (CC-BY 3.0).
• #21 Vancouver - arctic, from 2000, 1024 by 512 tiles. Map: BC, Canada - Low. Main. 2x1k by EpicSmashMan (CC0).
• #22 Korea - temperate, from 1985, 512 by 1024 tiles. Map: the Korean peninsula heightmap by telk5093 (CC-BY 3.0).
• #23 California - temperate, from 1965, 512 by 1024 tiles. Map: California by Erato (CC0).
• #24 Southern South America - arctic, from 1960, 512 by 1024 tiles. Map: Southern South America by Moriarty (CC-BY 3.0).
• #25 France - temperate, from 1955, 1024 by 1024 tiles. Map: France (4096 x 4096) by UseYourIllusion (GPL v2).
• #26 Denmark - temperate, from 1995, 1024 by 1024 tiles. Map: Denmark 8k by JohnFranklin523 (GPL v2).
• #27 West Norway - arctic, from 1980, 1024 by 1024 tiles. Map: West Norway by jengelh (CC0).
• #28 The Black Sea - temperate, from 1975, 1024 by 1024 tiles. Map: The Black Sea by Moriarty (CC-BY 3.0).
• #29 The Caspian Sea - tropical, from 1970, 1024 by 1024 tiles. Map: The Caspian Sea by Moriarty (CC-BY 3.0).
• #30 Arabian Peninsula - tropical, from 2020, 1024 by 1024 tiles. Map: Arabian Peninsula by Moriarty (CC-BY 3.0).
• #31 Venezuela - tropical, from 1980, 1024 by 1024 tiles. Map: Venezuela (4096x4096) by curdh (CC0).
• #32 Alaska - arctic, from 1940, 1024 by 1024 tiles. Map: AlaskaRivers by maxtimbo (GPL v2).

The new maps by Moriarty (New Guinea, Southern South America, The Black Sea, The Caspian Sea and Arabian Peninsula) are much hillier than the real places, because their heights are spread evenly across every level. Alaska is almost flat. The season's Cartographer challenge now reads: Finish a session on 16 different worlds.

Network health

The network multiplier on the TRANSPORT board, up to three times, now reads how healthy your networks are. Each network is judged on three things, each counted up to full: how much of its cargo moves instead of waiting, how many destinations it delivers to, and how far it carries its cargo.

• A freight network needs 4 destinations for full marks. A passenger or mail network needs 20 stops, however far apart they are.
• Distance earns full marks at 25% of the map's average side.
• Your health is the average of your networks, weighted by the cargo each one delivers. Separate routes do not add up, so building more of them does not raise it.

The reach premium and the brand boost from networks work as before. Your Network in the story book shows the three parts for each cargo. The Rankings tab on Headquarters shows how much more health would lift you a place.

Market events

A market event changes the price of a few cargoes for 6 to 14 months. There are twelve of them: drought, bumper harvest, heatwave, plague, war, gold rush, oil shock, building boom, blizzard, tourist season, sugar rush and toy craze. Some only happen on the climates they suit. The first can start 24 months into a session. After that, every 12 months there is a 60% chance of a new one, with no more than two running at once. A price that falls during an event stops at plain vanilla pay.

The news tells every company when an event starts and ends. The Market page in the story book names the event beside each cargo it touches. The Market tab on Headquarters has a card for each event.

Towns

• Passengers and mail count both ways. A town's row adds what was delivered to it and what was picked up from its houses, so you can ship people and mail in from other towns.
• Food, goods and water demand is a third of what it was.
• A town nobody supplies grows at the 30% floor again. Big towns had been creeping above it.
• A stored cargo shows how long its store will last, such as "5 months stored", instead of the amount in stock.
• The bank row asks for the cargo the town's banks take, such as gold or diamonds, instead of a single delivery.

Subsidies

A subsidy you win pays for five years instead of one. An offer nobody has claimed stays open for five years. The game would normally withdraw it after a year.

Station and airport upkeep

A station up to four tiles long in each direction pays no size premium. The premium starts at five tiles. Airport tiles were being billed twice, once as an airport and again as station tiles. They are now billed once, by airport type.

Headquarters

• The balance sheet lists every expense, from running costs and loan interest to new vehicles and construction. Each month's lines are checked against your bank.
• A new Infrastructure tab (key I) shows your infrastructure bill as it was charged, what you own, and each station's cost by its size.
• Point at a research track's name to see what one level of it does.
• Rankings opens with a scoreboard of portraits and logos.
• A strip of photographs has a Play time-lapse button that steps through the years.
• Clicking a holding's picture on the overview opens that holding.
• The territory map shows the land and sea beneath it.
• Photographs now show the broadcast's weather at the moment they were taken.
• The Market tab shows a card for each market event, and a notice pops up when one starts or ends.
• Photographs are kept for one day. The last photograph of each headquarters and each holding is kept for 7 days. AI companies are not photographed.

Train kits on the rail talents

Every carrying train and wagon line now unlocks on the rail talent that pays for its cargo. Commuter Fares unlocks the Commuter DMU with its coaches and mail wagons. Wholesale Deals unlocks the Boxcar DMU and the goods wagons. Armoured Runs unlocks the Bullion Express and the valuables wagons. Store Shelves, Hopper Fleets, Tonnage Deals and the two Bulk Rates talents unlock the food, hopper, ore, log and tank wagons. The Commuter DMU had never been reachable before. The talent board also lists the monorail and maglev wagons from v102 now. Nobody needs to respec.

Records and results

• A monthly record is announced only in its own world's chat. All-time records are still announced everywhere, including Discord.
• The results post on Discord and the final standings end with a link to that match's recap.

Recaps

• Recaps from busy worlds keep their territory map. It had been dropped when a world had many companies.
• The territory and busiest links maps show the land and sea beneath them.
• AI companies no longer get network or health cards.

On the broadcast

• The big dollar figure over a delivery shows the whole pay: the fare plus the market bonus, brand pay and reach premium.
• Birds stay put on the map when the camera moves.
• AI companies no longer get postcards.
• The broadcast's segments on brands, holdings, research, fleets, towns and the market now have their data. So do the brand, holdings and research rows on the head-to-head card. Both had been empty.