Aaron D.
10 hours into Logistical Earth 3
Sweet.
and I simultaneously have the feeling that I am blocked in too much (Germany) and having too much to do still (New Zealand)
- Always keep an eye on Main & Work contracts (the first 2 of 4 Contract filters). They'll guide you along the learning curve with hands-on goals. Don't feel like you have to 100% an area before moving on. In most cases you won't be able to anyway as you'll need additional goods from other countries to complete the current area. Just follow the bread-crumb trail of primary/work contracts, sticking around your current area only to boost cash reserves/ commodity stockpiles or enjoy some Zen-like "podcast gaming".
- Have you ventured into Australia yet? Feels to me like it's NZ pt. 2 in regards to the tutorialization. (Remember that new contracts pop up as you explore specific regions and complete prior contracts. You may have skipped ahead a bit with Germany.)
- I always try to explore a region as thoroughly as I can as it reveals new Industry types. It's like a loop in that uncovering new commodities can unlock prior progress roadblocks that you've stepped away from.
- Speaking of which, always be on the lookout for Road Fixes to access new areas. Pick up your vehicle on the gameplay field (not the side bar) and you'll see red circles on the road indicating a Road Fix that will move you to a new, unexplored area. You won't always have the right material to fix the road as the game is heavily puzzle-focused and the gatekeeping is by design.
- You'll get an early contracts to unlock shipping ports in NZ / AU. Can't remember the NZ contract name but AU is "Port in Sydney" (Botany Bay). Do these ASAP as it blows the whole game wide open (along with the AU contract that awards you a free 100T 5-wagon diesel train...you'll need that to complete Botany Bay). Pro-tip: Spend the extra $ on a used 800t ship in NZ instead of the cheaper 200t job. Costs about twice as much, but it's easily worth it near-term.
- A HUGE breakthrough for me was learning that once you have one port open (NZ) and purchase a ship, you can buy storage crates on the cheap ($15K) at the NZ port and then ship any goods the construction of Sydney port requires directly into Botany Bay
before that port is complete. For some reason I was thinking unlocking a port was landlocked to the specific port region's mainland. So for example I spent way longer than I care to admit looking all over for Brick industry in AU only to later discover that all I needed to do was simply ship the needed quantity over from NZ.
- Once you get a shipping port network open, material requirement unlocks become far easier to come by and can elevate that feeling of being stuck or stalled.
- Random aside: Completing towns will incur x mileage bonuses to the vehicle making the delivery (Boost, Power Boost, Unloading). So make sure you're spreading the last load to complete a town around to different vehicles to balance out the perks. Also, every 5 towns (business only) you complete will give you a permanent 2X speed boost to your vehicles (up to 6X)...it doesn't matter which vehicle you complete the towns with in this case, the bonus is distributed the the next vehicle in line regardless.
- If you're just trying to earn extra cash with easy towns, when you pull up the town info box (top-right), if the town name is written in White, that town will not consume goods between delivery loads. If the town name is in Blue, it will consume the product as you loop deliveries. Town icons on the map follow this white/blue rule as well.
For those keeping score at home:
So dumb, lol.
