Overview:
-Estimated achievement difficulty: 2/10
-Offline: 24/24 (1000)
-Online: 0/24 (0)
-Approximate time to earn 1000: 3-4 hours for the first 700, 10-15 hours of mostly AFK simming for the rest.
-Minimum number of playthroughs needed: one game on each of 8 maps.
-Number of missable achievements: None.
-Do cheat codes disable achievements?: None
-Does difficulty affect achievements?: No difficulty settings.
-Glitchy achievements: 'National Conquest'
-Unobtainable achievements: None
-Extra equipment needed?: None
Some portions of this guide and road map were adapted from efforts of borandi in his quick start guide written in 2008.
Introduction:
A-Train HX is a railroad simulator available in PAL and NTSC-J regions (not stackable gamerscore, however). It was not a commercial success and to date is the only Xbox title released by ArtDink. The general concept of the game is to start with some basic infrastructure and build railroads and supporting infrastructure throughout a map to earn money. The game ships with 8 maps although more are available for download via LIVE. There is no DLC.
Instructions on how to use the controls
serves as pause when in game. While it doesn't bring up any new menus, it does stop time, enabling you to manipulate the menus at will. Generally, moves you physically around the map, and are used to move within the menus. and control part of the menu as well, with primarily being used to access the speed and depth menus, while changes sub-menus in the primary menu section.
At the start of each game, it is important to set the speed to maximum. Do this by pressing and then holding until the arrow in the upper right corner of the screen reaches maximum.
Later in the game, especially when going for the Subway Mall achievement, you will need to build underground. To access that area, press twice and then press once and then . Press to exit and resume playing. Your viewpoint should be underground at this point, and you can build tube stations and rail lines. You can build inclined rail to link underground rails with surface rails as well.
Using the D-Pad to scroll the main menu is fairly easy, and things tend to be labeled well. 99% of your gameplay will be done through the main menu. Pay attention to when you can press to change sub menus, such as changing from laying rail to deleting rail, selling vs buying stocks, etc.
How to win a scenario
To "clear" or win each scenario, you have to accumulate $10 billion in cash on hand. This can be cash from operations, loans, or trading in the stock market. Typically, the fastest way to accumulate this is from retail operations and loans. You can continue playing after clearing the scenario.
How to make money
At the start of each scenario, pick a location at the edge of the map where you have flat land all the way to the edge. Each map has at least one edge with enough room, and most have more than one eligible edge.
At this location, you are going to build what is essentially a resource center. Most structures in the game require resources to build, and freight trains deliver those resources. Start by laying five parallel rails from the edge of the map. You want them to be seven spaces long and directly adjacent to each other. At that point, choose Stations in the menu and use to scroll to the Marshaling Yard. Press 9 times to change it from a short 1 line yard to a long 5 line yard. If you look at the yellow image on the map, note that one edge of the image shows blocks at the edge of the tracks. These blocks indicate the end of the lines, and when placing the yard on the map, they have to be at the far end from the incoming rail lines or they will prevent the trains from running. Press to rotate the structure to ensure the blocks are away from the rails you laid.
The next step is to build trains, one for each line. Go to the train menu, use to select an empty train slot, and press to buy a train. Scroll through and find the DC4 and use to toggle it to layout 7 (Max Cargo 12). Place it on one of the available tracks by using to move to the track and pressing . Repeat this for each of the five tracks, and then while the selector over one of the tracks in the marshaling yard, press . Change the bottom choice from "Load and Unload" to "Unload", then press to apply that choice to all trains at the yard.
Now that you have resources coming in, you need a place to put them. In the Station menu, choose Material Yard. This is a flat square where resources get placed and are ready for use. Build a U-shape around the Marshaling Yard, three deep in all directions. On maximum speed, this will fill up in a hurry.
All around the edge of the material yards, start building convenience stores. These are small, cost around $4 million each, and become more profitable over time. They will be your primary source of income throughout the game. If you wrap around the material yards six deep with convenience stores, you can win any given scenario in about 30 minutes. Note that you don't have enough money at the start of any scenario to build that many stores, so you have to build some, wait for income, build more, etc. Be cautious to avoid running out of cash. You need some for operation of the various trains, while on April 1st you pay income tax and on May 1st you pay property tax. Those can each run over $100 million even in the early game, and several billion later.
Once you have an outer U-shaped layer six deep of convenience stores, your resource center is complete! Just wait while the money rolls in. If you are looking simply to clear the map and not play after that, you can borrow enough money to win by the time you have around $3 billion in cash on hand.
First map - Clear River and Rice Paddies
For your first game, rather than doing the first map that is in the scenario list, choose Clear River and Rice Paddies. This gives you the most money for your starting pile, so it makes it easier when learning the game. You will start by making a resource center as detailed above, unlocking Company Expansion, and then focus on earning $10 billion. When you win the scenario, you should unlock Harmony With Nature, The Great Leap Forward, and probably Industry Leader as well. Keep playing this scenario after saving to unlock these achievements: Property Baron, Sign of Success, Factory Head, Top Taxpayer, Station Expansion, Tube Expansion, Bullet Train in Service, Maglev Train in Service, Public Transport King, Port of Call, Take to the Skies, Tourist Trap, Leisure Industry Leader, and City Expansion.
Second Map - A Town with Two Rivers
Start by building a resource center, and focus on building housing (use the Flat 5) to slowly build up the population. Don't go too fast however, as the taxes on the housing is ridiculous. Once you have over $5 billion, start playing the stock market. When you win the scenario, we will have three goals to do in the end-game: Bustling Metropolis, Top Trader, and Subway Mall Expansion.
Third Map - North/South of the Mountains
The goal here is Railway Microstate. Build a resource center and wait for 30 minutes until that unlocks.
Fourth Map - Isolated Region
The goal for this map is Railway Kingdom.
Final Four Maps - National Conquest (potentially glitchy achievement)
Just beat the final four maps by building a resource center and waiting to clear the scenario. Each map should take 30-60 minutes. For some people it may not unlock after beating the 8th map. To reduce the chances of this happening, you can keep your final win save for each map as you go, and make sure you don't download any maps from the servers. However, if you do experience the glitch, simply clear the first map again and it should unlock, giving you the full 1000 in the game.
[x360a would like to thank Creech for this road map]