Unrailed! A beginner’s notes

 
 

Focus and cooperate

 

 

Focus on a main role

 
It is a kind of fun when it is chaotic and messy. Everyone adapts and does a little bit of everything. Sometimes to accommodate each other, sometimes to troll, etc. 
 
At the same time, it helps to focus on a role especially when you need to rush at the start of each station, reduce bumping into one another, and reduce guessing what your teammate wants to do. It’s also helpful when you need to complete certain challenges (e.g. only one player holds a tool). 
 

Roles

 
For a 4-man team, focus on a primary role: 

• Axe-user: Mainly uses axes to cut trees for wood, sometimes helps with bombing / bridges / collection 
• Pickaxe-user: Mainly uses pickaxe to mine rocks for iron, sometimes helps with bombing / bridges / collection 
• Track-layer: Places track and collects resources on the way back 
• Bucket-keeper: Keeps the train cool and collects resources

 
 

Be flexible and accommodate each other

 

 
When your teammate is killed, is stuck or is respawning, or the train is severely short on a specific resource (iron/wood) to create urgently needed tracks, please prioritize mining or collecting the urgent resource. 
 
Try to avoid clashing into each other – Instead of pushing your teammate till you reach your destination (and end up stuck in a position), leave the resources near the train, or give way. Let the track layer can lay the tracks – especially if urgent. 
 
Some teammates want to alternate roles, or want to lay tracks. Let them have it. It can get confusing if two or more players lay tracks at once. 
 
If they are sabotaging your game, good luck. If you are the host, kick them. If you are not a host, vote kick (2 votes required). Or somehow adapt and enjoy the troll game. 
 

Communicate

 

 
You can communicate – use your emotes and movement, or use left-click or press ‘Q’ to point around the map. This solves a lot of problems. 
 

Stuck on one side of the train!

 

 
Try respawning – please hold the tool/tracks that the team in front/behind needs! you just might respawn on the right side of the train in 5(?) seconds. 
 
Do whatever you can on the side where you are – try to dig an alternative route, fly off-map (in space/mars, gather resources and place them nearby, etc. 
 
 

Axe and pickaxe users

 
Focus on clearing a path forward (to the right) at all times. 
 
Choose clear paths and avoid the obstacles that can’t be mined/cut. 
 
Create a walkway parallel to the trackway. 
 
In extreme mode, this is sometimes not possible. If so, create a much larger path to the right of the bottle neck – the track layer would need to place more tracks in advance. 
 
If the path forward includes a need to switch from pickaxe to the axe (i.e. there is some stone and then some forest), create a path for the axe/pickaxe user to get there soon – so they can start making a track path while you continue creating a walkway. 
 
When there is enough path for the train to go forward, then keep mining other places nearby for additional resources. Or help with resource collection. 
 
Generally, I would prefer to create the path for the trackway first (maybe 3-6 tracks), and then the walkway. This gives the track layer an option to lay tracks and then continue collecting resources. 
 
 

Track layer

 
Consistency:If there is only 1 walkway is below the trackway, maintain this 1 walkway below the trackway throughout. If it is above, maintain it above. If you switch the walkway placement between below and above the track, you and your unrailed-mates are going to get stuck. 
 
Above/below:If most of the resources to be collected are below the trackway, maintain the walkway below the trackway. 
 
Hug the edges of the map/wall/boulders: Easier to avoid having a teammate stuck on a wrong side of the train. 
 
Collect resources on the way back from the track front to the crafting wagon. 
 
If your mates need time at a junction to look for direction and there are enough tracks, create zigzag tracks to slow down the train. 
 
If you need to minimize resources used / complete a challenge – try to create the straightest path to the next station. 
 
 

Bucket keeper

 
Please bring the bucket to the train when the bucket wagon is purple/pink/red/burning. 
 
If the train has burned a few seconds, you might need to use a lot more buckets of water. 
 
Always refill the bucket after usage. 
 
Bring the bucket with the train as the train moves. If the bucket is left behind, off screen, and you don’t have enough tracks to turn back, GG. 
 
In the snowing biome, use the bucket to melt snow – so your teammates can move around faster and find a path. 
 
Sometimes, there will be a huge gap between water sources. So, just before the last water source disappears from your screen, refill the water wagon even if it is just purple. 
 
Most of your time will be spent collecting resources, while keeping an eye on the water wagon status. 
When the resource wagon is full, 
 
In some teams, it can be helpful to bring additional tracks closer to the front part of the tracks – so that your crafting wagon can continue crafting. In other teams, it can be helpful to place additional resources at places that are convenient to collect later on. 
 
In the space biome, place the bucket near whoever is mining – to protect them from lava attacks. 
 
 

Nearing the next station

 
Place additional tracks near the station. Don’t leave all of them as unprocessed resources. 
 
Keep some additional wood/iron (3-9 pieces) for creating bridges, recharging your dynamite maker, supercharger or other wagons. 
 
DO NOT place ANYTHING in front (to the right) of the station. Very often, it would block your view of what’s ahead of the train. So the track layer misplace tracks and the train crashes. 
 
 

At the beginning of each station

 
The pickaxe/axe users should immediately start digging a path for tracks – at least 3 tracks deep, and then run out if there is an incoming dynamite. 
 
The tracklayer should place tracks immediately after the path is dug (run out after 3 tracks) and bombed. 
 
If there is dynamite ready, 1 person should use it after the axe/pickaxe user has dug 3 tracks deep. 
 
Refuel the dynamite soon, so that you can use dynamites again soon. 
 
 

Wagon placement

 

 

Crafting wagon:

 

 
The crafting wagon should be the first wagon behind the engine. This makes it easier for the track layer to collect tracks urgently at the bottle necks (no walkway). 
 

Resource/storage wagon:

 

 
The resource wagon, which stores wood and iron, is often immediately behind the crafting wagon because it is used so frequently. 
 

Water wagon:

 

 
The water wagon should be at/near the back of the train. It is less often used, and usually not urgently required (compared to the other wagons). You can also cool the train by going to the front of the engine. 
 
However, in the space/Mars biome, it can be a good idea to place it near to the front – immediately behind the crafting wagon. It can protect tracks in front of the train from attacks and provide oxygen coverage. 
 
 

Shopping

 

Engine upgrades

 
 
 
The first engine is able to support 5 slots. The game starts with 3 basic wagons (water + resource + crafting). This means you can buy 2 wagons without upgrading your engine. 
 
Every engine upgrade unlocks your train’s ability to support +1 additional wagon. 
 
As you cover larger distances, the train moves faster. You’ll know it’s time to upgrade if the team is barely collecting resources in time to make tracks. Or in my case, I upgrade the engine when I’m bored of the biome / want to purchase an additional wagon. Haha. 
 

Wagon upgrades and additions

 
 
 
On easy mode, I have done the “No Space for Improvement” challenge with the support of the built-in one-player-support-bot. So I feel pretty flexible on additional wagons and upgrades. 
 
On anything other than easy mode, I prefer upgrading the basic wagons first before buying fancy wagons. 
 
Depending on your objective/playstyle, most of the wagons can be quite fun or popular. 
 

Dynamite:

 
Good for clearing/mining large areas quickly, especially after it is upgraded. 
 

Ghost:

 
Good when you have plenty of bottlenecks 
 

Supercharger:

 
Pretty good for boosting 2-6 wagons with 1 upgrade each. 
 

Transformer:

 
Good for maps with an unbalanced amount of resources (a lot of rock but few trees, or vice versa). It is still an extra step. So I would use this only in emergency. 
 

Auto-miner + auto-collector:

 
Good if you hate these tasks resources. You still have to manually clear paths and place tracks as they’re kind of slow. 
 

Light:

 
Good for keeping the area around the train bright at night (and finding a path) and good for melting snow. 
 

Buckinator:

 
Good if you keep forgetting the bucket (place your bucket on it to charge it up), and if you want to help miners/cutters work faster (1 hit instead of 3 hits) and be able to carry more things (extra strength). 
 

Milk wagon (or something like that):

 
Not as good as bucket wagon, I think – because you have to dash into the wagon to get charged up. It’s funny to see the animals tagging along the train. 
 

Brake wagon:

 
Stops the train for a few seconds, up to 2 charges only. For the amount of time it takes to activate (you have to dash into it 4(+?) times) and the limited charges, I think it’s not a good wagon right now. But fun to use. 
 

Compass wagon:

 
Points towards the station (or the best route when upgraded). I used this once maybe. Even if the best route is the technically the best, it’s not when I can’t guess what the best route would involve. An arrow isn’t enough. 
 

Slot machine:

 
I haven’t tried it. But it looks fun to use. 
 

For competitive unrailers

 
If you’re looking for a longest-run gameplay, or for further specifics, I suggest looking at: 
https://unrailed-wiki.com/page/Strategy and searching other guides for tips and references. 
 
 

Bolt Missions

 
It is nice to get the bolt hidden somewhere in the map. And fulfill the mission that appears on the top left corner of your screen. 
 
It is nice to stack 40 resources even when you’re nearing the end and don’t have much resources. 
 
But it is OPTIONAL. 
 
I have seen too many trains crash near the next station because some of us were eyeing the bolt or somehow abandoned laying the tracks for too long. 
 
Play enough rounds and you will have too many bolts. 
 
Remember, you don’t need to upgrade all the time. 
 
That said, if you want to unlock the Terminal Bus, you need to get each biome-special piece before you upgrade your next engine. 
 
 

Biomes

 
New biomes are unlocked as you upgrade your engine. 
 
The wiki on the plains, desert, snow, hell, space and mars is good 
(https://unrailed-wiki.com/page/Biomes). 
 
Some highlights: 
 

Plains:

 

• Rain helps to cool the train. So if you are near the terminal, sometimes it is okay if you forgot the bucket. 
• When near the next station, have some extra wood standby in case you need to build bridges at the start of the next station.

 
 

Desert:

 

• Camels can empty the water bucket.

 
 

Snow:

 

• The land will often be covered in snow. Use water bucket to see the map more clearly and move faster.

 
 

Hell:

 

• Refill the water bucket at the steam vents. 
• When near the next station, have some extra iron standby to build bridges at the start of the next station.

 
 

Space:

 

• You can move around with jetpacks in places without land, and even offmap below/above. 
• You need to refill oxygen in the coverage area of the bucket and the water wagon. 
• When near the next station, have some extra iron standby to build space-bridges/islands at the start of the next station. 
• There will be no crash warning sounds.

 
 

Mars

 

• There are green walls which cannot be bombed with dynamite. These take a while to mine/cut. I often bring the bucket close to these while mining/cutting – otherwise, be prepared to die by those flying lava bombs.

 
 
 

Emotes

 
Emotes are essential for communicating with people on random matching without voice any chat. 
 

1st scroll wheel:

 
Hold Ctrl. 
You’ll see the shortcut keys. This is covered in the in-game tutorial. 
 

• 1: Iron 
• 2: Wood 
• 3: Tracks 
• 4: Water 
• 5: Dynamite 
• 6: Bolt 
• 7: Thumbs down 
• 8: Thumbs up

 
 

2nd scroll wheel:

 
Hold Ctrl + tap Space. 
You’ll see the shortcut keys. This is not yet covered in the in-game tutorial. 
 

• F1 :hearteyesface: 
• F2 :laughingface: 
• F3 :hmm: 
• F4 :sadface: 
• F5 :angryface: 
• F6: :alert/danger: 
• F7: ‘?’ 
• F8: ‘GG’

 
 

3rd scroll wheel:

 
Hold Ctrl + tap Space + tap Space. 
You will not see any shortcut keys. My frequently used: 
 

• Still holding Ctrl + A + S: Challenge/Mission 
• Still holding Ctrl + A + W: Wave

 
 
 

Discord community

 
I liked playing with people whom I have found through the Unrailed Discord community. 
https://discord.com/invite/unrailed 
 
Lots of helpful unrailed people here if you want to play with voice chat or have questions. 
 
I think this community is alright generally. Not a lot of trash talking or trolls compared to some other games I have played. 😉 
 
 

Final note

 
Good luck and have fun! 
 

Here we come to an end for Unrailed! A beginner’s notes hope you enjoy it. If you think we forget something to include or we should make an update to the post let us know via comment, and we will fix it asap! Thanks and have a great day!