6 ms·

In this genre, Mini Metro is really fun, highly recommend. https://dinopoloclub.com/games/mini-metro/ https://dinopoloclub.com/games/mini-metro/

squeedles 1y ago
Seconded. Big fan of network optimization rail games like the Empire Builder series, but Mini Metro is just simple fun!
_vqpz 1y ago
Mini Motorways is also really good if you like solving traffic problems
pm2222 1y ago
This game got me hooked on a long-haul flight and it's so much fun.
deleted 1y ago
[deleted]
etrautmann 1y ago
I like it but it always felt like there was an escalating kill screen that happens way too quickly. Either that or I'm bad at it.
- andrewblossom 1y ago
  You're not alone.
- chasingthewind 1y ago
  I am also bad at mini Metro but the thing that makes me crazy is that when the game ends it says something like “your city shut down.” That makes absolutely no sense and the endgame message should’ve been “you were fired!” Such a missed opportunity!
  - rkomorn 1y ago
    Maybe it does make sense: public transportation is vital to your city. If you fail at it, your city fails?
  - xattt 1y ago
    Serves this city right for putting all its eggs into one basket. Where are the alternate forms transport: the bike paths and bike shares, LRTs/buses, and yes, roads? What about other upstream policy levers such as WFH mandates, and a decentralized urban core? /s
Y_Y 1y ago
I love Mini Metro, so chill, but challenging. One catch is that riders only need to get a particular "shape" of station (roughly analogous to residential, commercial, industrial, stadium, etc). That is to say, they normally don't insist on going to a particular station. Also and it's free in time, money, and political captial to change routes. The model is, I feel, slightly too simple to feel like real transport infra. That doesn't stop it being hella fun though.
- wlonkly 1y ago
  I figure all the triangle stations must have well-connected bus routes going to the same area, and so on down the shapes. I mean surely you're not responsible for building an entire transit system!
  - macintux 1y ago
    It’s obvious in hindsight, but before I lived in the Boston area I never appreciated just how critical it is to have buses to supplement a subway, subway & buses to supplement light rail. Whenever the idea of light rail came up in my hometown, I would point out to my enthusiastic friends that without a better bus system, there’s not much point to rail.
    - brewdad 1y ago
      My suburb has solid light rail to the city but a poor bus system to complement it. My closest bus doesn't run at all on weekends. There is a huge park and ride lot but, since I'm already in my car driving towards my destination, it always ends up being a question of whether I want to deal with a rail ride that might be equivalent to driving inbound but will be at least 30 minutes longer on the return. The deciding factor tends to come down to parking costs in the city or whether I plan to drink and need the long return ride to sober up.
- KolibriFly 1y ago
  It's the kind of game you can lose hours to without realizing, even if it's more "transit-inspired" than a full-on sim
mdtrooper 1y ago
I love this game. And I have been waiting for the Mini Motorways for years...but for now it has not Linux version.
- bigyabai 1y ago
  Mini Motorways is Platinum rated on Protondb, you should be able to play the Windows version on Linux just fine: https://www.protondb.com/app/1127500 https://www.protondb.com/app/1127500
  - mdtrooper 1y ago
    Well, it is a option, but Mini Metro was linux native....I hope that Mini Motorways the same quality.
- bobbylarrybobby 1y ago
  IMO, Mini Metro is the far better game. In Mini Metro it always feels like the congestion can be solved, it's never hopeless... in Motorways the congestion does really feel impossible to work around, and then you lose. Not sure if that's due to my lack of skill or the difference between rail (discrete, must connect stations) and roads (continuous, can be drawn anywhere on the map)
  - nkoren 1y ago
    Transport planner here. Haven't played either game, but it sounds like Motorways has an accurate model behind it. That's how the real world works, too.
    - russellmz 1y ago
      c'mon man just build us one more lane, we can get you additional traffic flow next year, you know we're good for it just one more lane will fix all our the problems
jstummbillig 1y ago
The moment I have been waiting for: Top 1% player in all scenarios, both Mini Metro and Motorways. AMA. No, they are both really fun (and highly addictive in my case). I like that you can do a scenario in 30-ish minutes (and even pause if you need to). I personally prefer Motorways over Metro, but alas, both highly recommended. Fantastic game design.
- arh68 1y ago
  Wow. AMA, you say? When do you prefer loops, or lines? Additional lines, or carriages? How much do you tear down at once? if you don't mind me asking I'm like median on Metro, ~60 hours over years (though perhaps just the one hour, 60x, &c). Never too late to learn some strategy, I guess. Never played Motorways.
  - jstummbillig 1y ago
    Loops vs lines: Loops only in a dense core where you can keep shapes alternating and include a square. Use lines for suburb<->core and river hops. Lines or carriages: Early add lines, midgame add a loco, then carriages on the trunk that is actually redlining. Late add an interchange at the first overloaded transfer before more cars. Tear-down: Hm... how much, not sure how to quantify. Definitely something you must do in every long running game but the extend is different. As a heuristic: Pause and rebuild when queues outrun a single weekly upgrade. Reorder shapes, make sure every line touches a square, split any mega-hub into two nearby transfers. As you probably have guessed: There is no real silver bullet. Knowing the best move is basically impossible, the space is too complex. As a most useful general skill, it's important to recognize problems very early and optimize ruthlessly.
    - stingraycharles 1y ago
      How did you learn strategies? There are very few reliable sources of strategy for both games, compared to other, more common simulation games.
      - 1y ago
KolibriFly 1y ago
Subway Builder seems like it's aiming for the opposite end of the spectrum
rob74 1y ago
I had fun with Mini Metro for a while, but in the long run it's a really frustrating game, because it always ends in failure - you start with a few stations and a few lines, but the game keeps throwing more and more passengers at you until you end up frantically trying to plug the holes in your network or "rewiring" it on the spot, and sooner or later everything inevitably blows up in your face. Plus of course it's wildly unrealistic with the way you are able to just delete your existing "tracks" and instantly construct completely new connections between your stations out of thin air, or just "teleport" trains/carriages from one line to another.
- kkapelon 1y ago
  >it's wildly unrealistic with the way you are able to just delete your existing "tracks" and construct completely new connections between your stations out of thin air You can disable that in the settings.

squeedles 1y ago

Seconded. Big fan of network optimization rail games like the Empire Builder series, but Mini Metro is just simple fun!

_vqpz 1y ago

Mini Motorways is also really good if you like solving traffic problems

pm2222 1y ago

This game got me hooked on a long-haul flight and it's so much fun.

deleted 1y ago

[deleted]

etrautmann 1y ago

I like it but it always felt like there was an escalating kill screen that happens way too quickly. Either that or I'm bad at it.

andrewblossom 1y ago
You're not alone.
chasingthewind 1y ago
I am also bad at mini Metro but the thing that makes me crazy is that when the game ends it says something like “your city shut down.” That makes absolutely no sense and the endgame message should’ve been “you were fired!” Such a missed opportunity!
- rkomorn 1y ago
  Maybe it does make sense: public transportation is vital to your city. If you fail at it, your city fails?
- xattt 1y ago
  Serves this city right for putting all its eggs into one basket. Where are the alternate forms transport: the bike paths and bike shares, LRTs/buses, and yes, roads? What about other upstream policy levers such as WFH mandates, and a decentralized urban core? /s

Y_Y 1y ago

I love Mini Metro, so chill, but challenging. One catch is that riders only need to get a particular "shape" of station (roughly analogous to residential, commercial, industrial, stadium, etc). That is to say, they normally don't insist on going to a particular station. Also and it's free in time, money, and political captial to change routes. The model is, I feel, slightly too simple to feel like real transport infra. That doesn't stop it being hella fun though.

wlonkly 1y ago
I figure all the triangle stations must have well-connected bus routes going to the same area, and so on down the shapes. I mean surely you're not responsible for building an entire transit system!
- macintux 1y ago
  It’s obvious in hindsight, but before I lived in the Boston area I never appreciated just how critical it is to have buses to supplement a subway, subway & buses to supplement light rail. Whenever the idea of light rail came up in my hometown, I would point out to my enthusiastic friends that without a better bus system, there’s not much point to rail.
  - brewdad 1y ago
    My suburb has solid light rail to the city but a poor bus system to complement it. My closest bus doesn't run at all on weekends. There is a huge park and ride lot but, since I'm already in my car driving towards my destination, it always ends up being a question of whether I want to deal with a rail ride that might be equivalent to driving inbound but will be at least 30 minutes longer on the return. The deciding factor tends to come down to parking costs in the city or whether I plan to drink and need the long return ride to sober up.
KolibriFly 1y ago
It's the kind of game you can lose hours to without realizing, even if it's more "transit-inspired" than a full-on sim

mdtrooper 1y ago

I love this game. And I have been waiting for the Mini Motorways for years...but for now it has not Linux version.

bigyabai 1y ago
Mini Motorways is Platinum rated on Protondb, you should be able to play the Windows version on Linux just fine: https://www.protondb.com/app/1127500 https://www.protondb.com/app/1127500
- mdtrooper 1y ago
  Well, it is a option, but Mini Metro was linux native....I hope that Mini Motorways the same quality.
bobbylarrybobby 1y ago
IMO, Mini Metro is the far better game. In Mini Metro it always feels like the congestion can be solved, it's never hopeless... in Motorways the congestion does really feel impossible to work around, and then you lose. Not sure if that's due to my lack of skill or the difference between rail (discrete, must connect stations) and roads (continuous, can be drawn anywhere on the map)
- nkoren 1y ago
  Transport planner here. Haven't played either game, but it sounds like Motorways has an accurate model behind it. That's how the real world works, too.
  - russellmz 1y ago
    c'mon man just build us one more lane, we can get you additional traffic flow next year, you know we're good for it just one more lane will fix all our the problems

jstummbillig 1y ago

The moment I have been waiting for: Top 1% player in all scenarios, both Mini Metro and Motorways. AMA. No, they are both really fun (and highly addictive in my case). I like that you can do a scenario in 30-ish minutes (and even pause if you need to). I personally prefer Motorways over Metro, but alas, both highly recommended. Fantastic game design.

arh68 1y ago
Wow. AMA, you say? When do you prefer loops, or lines? Additional lines, or carriages? How much do you tear down at once? if you don't mind me asking I'm like median on Metro, ~60 hours over years (though perhaps just the one hour, 60x, &c). Never too late to learn some strategy, I guess. Never played Motorways.
- jstummbillig 1y ago
  Loops vs lines: Loops only in a dense core where you can keep shapes alternating and include a square. Use lines for suburb<->core and river hops. Lines or carriages: Early add lines, midgame add a loco, then carriages on the trunk that is actually redlining. Late add an interchange at the first overloaded transfer before more cars. Tear-down: Hm... how much, not sure how to quantify. Definitely something you must do in every long running game but the extend is different. As a heuristic: Pause and rebuild when queues outrun a single weekly upgrade. Reorder shapes, make sure every line touches a square, split any mega-hub into two nearby transfers. As you probably have guessed: There is no real silver bullet. Knowing the best move is basically impossible, the space is too complex. As a most useful general skill, it's important to recognize problems very early and optimize ruthlessly.
  - stingraycharles 1y ago
    How did you learn strategies? There are very few reliable sources of strategy for both games, compared to other, more common simulation games.
    - 1y ago

KolibriFly 1y ago

Subway Builder seems like it's aiming for the opposite end of the spectrum

rob74 1y ago

I had fun with Mini Metro for a while, but in the long run it's a really frustrating game, because it always ends in failure - you start with a few stations and a few lines, but the game keeps throwing more and more passengers at you until you end up frantically trying to plug the holes in your network or "rewiring" it on the spot, and sooner or later everything inevitably blows up in your face. Plus of course it's wildly unrealistic with the way you are able to just delete your existing "tracks" and instantly construct completely new connections between your stations out of thin air, or just "teleport" trains/carriages from one line to another.

kkapelon 1y ago
>it's wildly unrealistic with the way you are able to just delete your existing "tracks" and construct completely new connections between your stations out of thin air You can disable that in the settings.