Some exciting news, as you can see Rail Walkers is now live!
I think we're a smidge ahead of schedule too, here in Australia it's the 18th but technically it's still the 17th in some places, so we're going to tell our boss we released early :)
Thanks everyone for your interest so far and please don't be a stranger, reach out to us on the Steam Forums and let us know what's what...
John
Releasing in 10 Days
May 18 Release
The Rail Walkers are buffed and polished, the rails have been greased and the ammunition supplies are starting to arrive and go into storage.
Pretty sure the insect swarms are starting to prepare too.
And now we wait...
Operations FAQ
Frequently Asked Questions
The Rail Walkers Operations Guide contains loads of detail about the game and its various functions and features. Included in that guide is an FAQ section which we have repeated here because we think it helps to paint a picture of what Rail Walkers is all about...
The full Operations Guide is also available on our Discussion Forums here if you're super keen.
How do the ammunition projectiles work?
You may notice that individual insects (and therefore the swarm as a whole) become weaker as projectiles go near them. An insect does not need to be hit directly, rather, each projectile has an effective radius where damage is caused. The Rail Walker is a sophisticated weapon, capable of firing these energy-damaging rounds.
Projectiles are not destroyed by insects either, meaning a single projectile fired through a swarm of insects can cause damage to multiple insects on its way through.
How do insect swarms attack?
You will notice that when a structure is under attack the insects tend to swarm around it, moving in and out, flying past and back again. By doing these actions they are weakening the bonds that these structures consist of, vibrations at the molecular level.
Steel and other human constructs cannot withstand too much of this foreign vibration. This attack method is still not fully understood by the scientific community which is why destroying these insects and selling their organic matter back to research universities will earn funds that can be spent on Rail Walker upgrades.
How do I win?
When you defeat level 40…good luck with that…
How do I lose?
When your your Operations Base is destroyed, if it reaches zero health the show’s over folks…
Why can’t I just abort a wave if things aren’t going well?
Well you can, as many times as you want in fact. However, like all things in life, this comes with some penalties. There are times when you will absolutely need to though, for example, your one deployed Rail Walker just ran out of ammo in the middle of a swarm attack. It would need to be sent back to Base to reload but you many decide the time it will take to do so is too long and may result in the loss of key infrastructure.
If choosing to (or having to) abort, the current penalty value is displayed at the top of the screen. This value is the sum of the scrap value of all the currently active swarm insects. If you time it right you can abort in the middle of a wave with no penalty.
How does that saying go “failing to plan is planning to fail”.
My Rail Walker is on the ground, what do I do?
This can easily happen, for example, if you go into Rail Construction mode, delete the rail the Rail Walker is sitting on (do they sit, hmmm), and then go back out of Rail Construction mode. To fix this, simply go back into Rail Construction mode and add a rail somewhere nearby the Rail Walker. Upon exiting Rail Construction mode the Rail Walker will be automatically placed back onto the nearest rail it can find (within a small radius that is).
My Rail Walker is not shooting at anything, why not?
Check ammunition remaining is greater than zero
Check battery charge remaining is greater than zero
Check damage amount
Check DISARM is off
Check the range, perhaps the enemy targets are too far away
My Rail Walker is moving and shooting slowly, why is that?
You will need to upgrade your Rail Walker to a more sophisticated version. Killing the swarm insects provides funding that can be invested into faster more efficient Rail Walkers. Remember, there are 8 types of Rail Walker and each type can have 4 different chassis (what the heck is the plural of chassis) and 4 different motors.
Invest in a new Rail Walker type or upgrade an existing Rail Walker?
If you have enough funds to choose between upgrading an existing Rail Walker, or obtaining a brand new Rail Walker type (there are 8 remember) then this is an interesting question. A fully upgraded Rail Walker (chassis level 4, motor level 4) is a powerful weapon, even if it’s only the lowly Type 1 Rail Walker. Obviously having more than one Rail Walker is absolutely necessary, but the timing around when best to do this is left up to you…let us know if you find a good answer because we don’t actually know either :)
One piece of advice we can offer, having too many Rail Walkers out on the field at the same time can become difficult to manage. It may sound like a good problem to have, but in the heat of battle trying to juggle multiple Rail Walkers with ammo, damage and batteries can become overwhelming.
Why is my Rail Walker draining battery when doing nothing?
It is in standby mode and that requires power. All of the Rail Walker sensors and command inputs are still active and they all require power. Mind you, they use very little power when idle compared to when the Rail Walker is moving, targeting and shooting.
Help and Gameplay
PDF Uploaded
Quick note advising the Rail Walkers Operations Guide PDF document is now available in case you're interested in a quick read. No doubt we will be enriching this with more content as we progress, but for now it's quite complete and presents good information regarding general help and gameplay.
We'll also be making it available in our Steam Discussions area.
Fancy Pants Videos
Two Videos Uploaded
Quick note advising the Rail Walkers' Gameplay and Track Laying videos are now available.
They're only short (but longer than all recommended advice says, oops) but well worth a look. Rail construction and layout is an important part of the game with regard to swarm attack and defense strategies...
You've possibly already noticed them, but if not, they are up with the other game screenshots on the main Steam page.
Releasing on May 18, 2022
Woohoo!
We're super excited to formalise a release date, May 18 2022.
We'll make sure the Rail Walker batteries are fully charged and the rail pieces have all been delivered on time. Until then keep an eye out for further updates including the Rail Walker Operations Guide and a video or two on gameplay and those pesky swarms...
