Transarctica walkthrough
1) Introduction
2) Tips
3) Town List
3) Walkthrough
1) Introduction:
I recently became aware of this game, and could see right away that it was something special. Back then, game designers still had good imaginations, which this game is proof of. Unfortunately I got stuck and was unable to find a walkthrough. Eventually, though, I managed to progress in the game, and I have now decided to make a walkthrough in the hopes that it might help someone else to enjoy this beautiful game.
2) Tips:
When you start the game, don't worry too much about this walkthrough, just take your time to enjoy the game and explore a bit. You're going to need money (coal), so it's a good idea to head for the mines. If you don't see any right away, just wait a bit and you'll be informed that a new mine has been found, and you'll be able to see it as a flashing red dot, on the large map. This happens regularly, so you won't run out of places to go. While you're running around after mines, it's a good idea to stop in every town you pass, and maybe do a bit of trading. Since you're going to do a lot of mining, it's a good idea to get a couple of cranes, some prison wagons (or even better: some Alcatraz's), and a couple of livestock wagons. The prison and livestock wagons, you'll have to fill up with slaves and mammoths, respectively. You can buy slaves, in certain towns, or capture them when fighting enemy trains or mole men. You can buy mammoths at mammoth fairs, or capture them if you run into a herd on the map. These three things (cranes, mammoths, and slaves) decide how much coal you get when mining. Another factor is how soon you get there, but don't worry too much about that.
At first you should try to avoid enemy trains as many of them will be well armed, but later, when you can afford some cannons and machine guns, not to mention a lot of soldiers, you can begin taking them out. If you win, you get slaves plus all cargo wagons that you didn't destroy (including cargo of course). A good tactic if you're chased by an enemy train is to send a line inspection cart armed with a missile to get it. Now, this won't destroy the train, but it will stop it for a while, which means you can escape, or if you have a missile launcher, you can drive on a little further and fire a missile at it. It's so much easier to hit if the enemy train doesn't move.
This shouldn't be necessary to say, but make sure you only use anthracite to fuel your engines if you have any. It can be a good idea to try to seek out an anthracite mine once in a while, since they're not as numerous as the lignite mines.
3) Town list:
Commercial Crossroads:
Name Location Wares
Amsterdam 23,22 Plans, Alcohol, Oil, Salt
Athens 52,46 Missiles, Wolf Meat, Fish, Caviar
Babylon 85,53 Plants, Fur, Mammoth dung, Caviar
Copenhagen 34,13 Rails, Wood, Wolf meat, Caviar
Djirgalant 153,30 Antiques, Gasoline, Fur, Fish
Gorky 85,12 Wood, Fur, Salt, Mammoth dung, Fishing rods
Granada 13,48 Plants, Fur, Fishing rods
Helsinki 54, 1 Wood
Istanbul 62,42 Rails, Missiles, Line inspection cars,
Alcohol, Oil, Fur, Wolf meat, Salt, Fish,
Mammoth dung, Caviar, Fishing rods
London 17,23 Plants, Wolf meat, Fish, Fishing rods
Kiev 64,25 Line inspection cars, Alcohol, Gasoline
Krasnojarsk 156,12 Rails, Missiles, Line inspection cars,
Plants, Alcohol, Gasoline, Oil
Kuwait 88,59 Rails, Missiles, Line inspection cars,
Wood, Gasoline, Oil, Fish
Marrakesh 4,57 Rails, Gasoline, Mammoth dung
Paris 24,29 Line inspection cars, Alcohol, Fur,
Mammoth dung, Fishing rods
Saratov 86,23 Missiles, Oil
Sebastopol 69,34 Rails, Missiles, Fur, Fish, Mammoth dung
Taoudeni 9,68 Oil, Wolf meat, Salt
Tibesti 43,70 Gasoline, Oil, Salt, Mammoth dung
Tunis 34,48 Oil, Salt, Caviar
Turin 29,37 Rails, Line inspection cars, Wolf meat,
Mammoth dung, Fishing rods
Garrison Towns:
Name Location Types of personnel
Abu Dhabi 100,67 Soldiers
Berlin 37,20 Soldiers and spies
Moscow 74,13 Soldiers
Sparta 49,49 Soldiers and spies
Taskent 123,41 Soldiers
Industrial Towns:
Name Location Available wagons
Baku 92,43 Tank (350), Spy-wagon (500), Refrigerator
(300), Tender (90), Livestock (250),
Bio-greenhouse (400), Harpoon (600), Oil
tank (300)
Gdansk 47,15 Barracks (300), Cannon (450), Spy-wagon
(500), XL Barracks (450), Machine gun (450),
Livestock (300), Missile launcher (2000)
In Salah 24,60 Tender (100), Bio-greenhouse (450),
Merchandise (250), Machine gun (500), Tank
(400), Prison (150), Barracks (300),
Livestock (300)
Omsk 130,14 Tender (100), Barracks (300), Boiler (1500),
Alcatraz (250), Merchandise (200)
New Peking 148,40 Tender (100), XL Barracks (450), Prison
(110), XL Merchandise (400), Observation
tower (1500), Cannon (500)
Ruhr 30,20 XL Barracks (450), Observation box (700),
XL Merchandise (400), Tank (400), Alcatraz
(250), Crane (1300), Oil tank (350), Tender
(100)
Rum 6,11 "The Drill" (800)
Mammoth Fairs:
Name Location
Bhopal 132,68
Casablanca 4,53
Temir Tan 126,25
Slave Markets
Name Location
Louxor 68,65
Serov 107, 3
Towns:
Name Location
Bayreuth 36,24
Delhi 134,59
Kanosa 76, 1
Machad 106,49
Mont Saint-Michael 12,29
Rome 36,41
4) Walkthrough:
When you're just starting out you'll need money. My advice is to get it from a combination of mining and trading, but it's up to you. Once you feel you have enough to last a while, you should seek out the town of Rum (location: 6,11) and buy "The Drill". You'll need to take some rails along as you'll have to build a bridge to get there. Once you have "The Drill", you need to go to location 32,67 where Transarctica will now be able to drill through the mountain (Important: "The Drill" must be either in the very front or at the very back or your train, or it won't work). Once at the other side of the mountain, you'll meet Urga, who will give you a key. You should now go to location 35,32. It will look like the rails end there, but they don't, just keep driving. You need to get to location 52,32 which is an old cemetary. You can explore this section to get there or just follow my guide; From the start (location 35,32) go right at the first intersection, go past the next, then right when going back, go straight at the five next intersections and you'll be there. Write down the number (I'm not sure if it changes from game to game. I had 58947). Now you need to go to Oslo (that's right, Oslo is in the game although you can't see it yet). To get there, you have to cross Loch Ness (location 11,10). Unfortunately the Loch Ness monster will you if you cross, unless of course you have the harpoon wagon, which you can get at Baku (92,43). When you have the harpoon, feel free to cross and you'll automatically kill the monster. It's a good idea to save now. It's also a good idea to bring some rails and some line inspection carts for this next part. The rails are booby trapped and you will die if you drive into a trap. I don't know if there actually is a trap-free way through, since I just sent some line inspection carts ahead, which detonated the mines. You will then have to rebuild the rails where the mines exploded, but it's easier than reloading 15 times, trying to find a trap-free way through. When you reach Oslo, you need to type the code from the cemetary (remember that the game only accepts input from the numpad), and you'll find a geiger counter.
Alright, before going any further you should send a spy to any one of these coordinates: 63,20; 64,20; 65,20; 63,21; 64,21; 65,21. If you don't have any spies/spy wagons, you need to get those first. When you have sent a spy to one of the mentioned coordinates, you will receive a note saying that he's discovered the vikings secret base. Select the spy from the spy panel and tell him to blow his dynamite charge. This will open up the viking tunnel in the Himalaya.
After getting the geiger counter in Oslo you will have received an SOS from Omsk, saying that the town is under attack. you will need to hurry to its defence. Reaching Omsk is a small nightmare, which I will leave for the reader to get through. I'll just say that the blue bridge you need to cross is only open between 12 and 2 pm. In Omsk you need to buy a boiler, so that Transarctica can get up those steep Himalayan slopes. Of course, if you got the boiler earlier in the game, and assuming that you still have it, you can skip this step (which also means skipping the wolf fight outside of Omsk).
Now you're all set to go to the secret Viking base, in Himalaya, where the sun project supposedly took place. Well, you're almost set. First you should gather a whole lot of money, and then you should ditch all non-essential wagons (everything but barracks, livestock, cannons, machine guns, boudoir, general quarters, tender and of course the extra boiler. I'd also keep one spy wagon and one missile wagon (with one merchandise wagon for the missiles). Then you need to fill up your barracks with soldiers, you're gonna need them! The secret Viking tunnel, which is now open can be found at 157,68. When you're almost at the end of the track you'll find the fabled Minotaurus waiting for you, and the final battle ensues. After you win the battle, you're treated to the final cutscene. Congratulation, you've won!
This walkthrough was written by Nikolaj W. Andersen AKA Flop.
