How to play guide for Transarctica

This page will serve as a basic how to play guide for .

Basic gameplay

 * First, take it easy. You are on the run from the Viking Union, but that doesn't mean you're dead. The game has two basic modes: Adventure and train combat. In adventure mode, you travel the frozen Eurasia, trade for items, excavate coal, and upgrade your train, piecing together the story. Train combat is exactly what it says on the tin. In general, there is little guidance for what you're supposed to do. Note that the game has many death messages, so it might be worth failing deliberately sometimes to see them all.
 * In general, don't sweat it. The game is kind of relaxing and until you become determined to see what the story's about, you can just cruise along the tracks, fight trains, and make a tidy little fortune in coal.

Controls

 * The entire game is controlled with a mouse, and the interface gets a bit of getting used to. The clock in the lower left for instance, accelerates time and is useful for traveling, but keep in mind that you don't want to accelerate time for too long while loading coal into the locomotive, or the Transarctica goes boom.
 * To move the train, you pick the direction, load coal into the firebox at the locomotive, then set the desired speed on the control panel in the back. You can monitor the current boiler pressure and temperature there as well - keep in mind that the heavier the train and the higher the desired speed, the more coal you need to spend, so it's always a tradeoff in terms of speed and economics. Don't load it with lignite either, you want to keep that for trade.
 * You can gather coal by mining at coal mines or trading at commercial towns. You cannot sell wagons, only scrap them. Any wagons you buy or salvage from train combat are added to the end of the train and ultimately, you need to reorder them at repair stations.
 * In general, try to get a feel for the game before trying to complete it.

Tips and tricks

 * Focus on mining, rather than trade: That means stocking up on slaves, mammoths, and a crane and waiting for them to appear.
 * Line inspection cars, missiles, observation wagons, and you can wipe enemy trains out with ease.

Walkthrough

 * Before attempting to complete the game, be sure to grab a harpoon (Baku), observation box (Ruhr) or observation tower (New Peking, and a drill from Rum. Also have at least a hundred fifty soldiers and slaves each, plus several missiles, rails, and line inspection cars.
 * Put the drill at the front of the Transarctica and head down the north-south track leading away from Tunis. At the dead end, the drill will tunnel through to Urga (see storyline locations). You will receive a key from here, stored at the table in the boudouir.
 * Next, find the mausoleum. It's northeast from Turin, down the dead-end track to the east. It's a maze hidden in the snow, navigate it until you find Merrick's mausoleum and the combination (58947).
 * It's time to find Oslo. Head north on the track east from Rum, killing Nessie with the harpoon (don't attempt it without it, Nessie's hungry and she's pissed). After the bridge, halt, then set all the track branches to travel down the southern track. Send a line inspection car ahead to detonate hidden explosives that would have otherwise instakilled you.
 * Enter Oslo. Use the numeric keypad to enter the combination from the mausoleum (58947). Retrieve the Geiger counter.
 * You need to locate the power control center for the VU's security grid. It's Chernobyl, north of Kiev. Send spies to the 63.19 - 66.19 coordinates until they uncover it and you receive a message. Use the spies or a missile launch to destroy it (you'll receive confirmation).
 * Head to Omsk, picking up machine gun cars on the way to get rid of wolves. Buy a boiler. Head to Delhi, dump any extra cars, leaving just combat ones and tenders, then start the trek up the slopes of the Himalayas in the south-east. You'll eventually find a red, lone train, the Minotaur. It's the ultimate challenge. Once you defeat it, continue onwards and find the Gycode - and Project Sun!