Dev Blog – Episode 2: Industries and Cargo
The second video in the First Look series focuses entirely on industries and cargo in Transport Fever 3, and how it has been significantly upgraded both in appearance and functionality in the new game.
Cargo no longer have a destination set when they are first produced. Instead they can be picked up at any time and shipped anywhere within your network. This gives you complete control over what is delivered to where. Rather than being stored at stations to be picked up, these same cargo now reside at their point of origin until they are collected.
Loading Upgraded
Industries now come with an integrated loading dock. This is the simplest and most straightforward way to pick up cargo, but it comes at the cost of speed. Whilst integrated loading docks are undoubtedly the cheapest and fastest way to get started, loading speeds are slower than any of the alternatives. A situation, that will almost certainly lead to queuing at factories, farms and mines as the volume of traffic increases.
To increase the speed of loading, players can build additional stations within an industry’s catchment area. These can be specialized further with new modules for specific cargo types, allowing for much faster loading and unloading, at the cost of higher expenses, greater pollution, and noise. A universal loading station is the most basic option and is the slowest, but more efficient in terms of costs, emissions, and flexibility. Specialised loading platforms give you maximum speed, but are limited in the product types they can handle, and will increase your costs and both emmision and noise pollution. Truck stations also now allow multiple vehicles to load or unload simultaneously at the same time, provided the station is long enough.
Newly introduced delivery deadlines for different cargo types make short loading times potentially decisive for financial success or failure in Transport Fever 3. End customers in towns will not be pleased if they’re kept waiting for cargo waiting at a warehouse. With enough money invested, a supply chain can be massively accelerated, but often at the price of higher environmental impact, which in turn may bring other consequences.
For transfers between lines, or ongoing storage, modular warehouses are now available. These can also be specialized for the four different cargo categories. Warehouses make it possible to build central freight hubs, and with full control over cargo distribution, players can design complex, efficient logistics chains.
Customizable Constructions
What was already possible with airports in Transport Fever 2 is now extended much further in Transport Fever 3: multi-purpose constructions. Examples include airports with integrated hangars, industries with built-in truck docks, or new combinations like harbors with ship piers and helipads. Whatever the setup, the info window always keeps all relevant data visible for the player.
The underlying interface also offers great potential for modders. Possible examples include mobility hubs with multiple transport modes, industries with integrated rail terminals, or combined depots and stations. A further interface upgrade allows lanes for vehicles and passengers to be defined via scripts rather than static models. Since construction scripts can now be updated live without having to restart the game, iteration during development is far more efficient. No time-consuming save reloads are required, and modders can create much more powerful, parameterized constructions.
Variety of Cargo Types
With a total of 37 cargo types, it’s more important than ever to keep track of which vehicles support which. Players can invest in more expensive, specialized vehicles for specific cargo types. Cargo also differs in how it is stored and handled at warehouses and stations. All cargo types fall into four categories:
- Liquid cargo, e.g. oil, fuel, are stored in tanks or barrels and transported in tankers.
- Bulk cargo, e.g. sand, grain, are stored in silos or heaps and transported in open wagons and trucks.
- Flatbed cargo, e.g. logs, steel, are stored openly, loaded by cranes and transported on flat vehicles.
- Goods, e.g. canned food, glass, are stored in freight sheds and transported in closed vehicles.
Universal vehicles can be a great way to get started since they have the flexibility to carry anything, but Transport Fever 3 also offers specialized transporters that can load and unload their category’s cargo much faster but are not able to take on cargo of other categories. Combining specialized vehicles, stations, and warehouses can amplify these effects, with all the usual extra costs and potential additional impact on pollution.
Players can always see at a glance how many cargo are waiting for pickup or already in transit, thanks to overlays above industries, warehouses, and vehicles. Cargo are also visible directly in the game world. For example, full grain silos at farms, coal piles at steel mills, or oil tanks at refineries. On ships and other open vehicles, the visible load even matches the transported amount.
For modders, these cargo specializations bring practical advantages. New vehicles can be assigned to the proper category and will automatically support all cargo types within it, including any added by other mods. The same applies to stations and warehouses. Conversely, mods that add new cargo types can assign them to the correct specialization, ensuring proper handling and display. Each specialization also comes with conventions for model formats, so all cargo types can be displayed consistently across the game.
An Industry Tree with Many Paths
At the start of a game, towns only demand simple cargo such as fish, vegetables, or planks, and only the required industries exist on the map. In sandbox mode, this can be changed at will. As towns grow, so do their needs: larger quantities of basic cargo, as well as up to six complex end products. The industries needed to produce these multi-stage products appear dynamically on the map as demand arises, forcing players to adapt and rework existing transport routes.
Let’s look at one example of the new cargo chains in Transport Fever 3: canned food.
Canned food is a multi-stage end product demanded by larger towns. They always require tinplate as a base component, but for the fillings, players can choose between meat, fish, or a mix of both. This ties into the reworked economic system of Transport Fever 3, where different raw materials are available depending on climate zones. In arid zones, for example, no fish farms exist, so canned food can only be produced with meat. In subarctic zones, both meat and fish are available, giving players an additional option. Since meat and fish are also demanded directly by cities, and raw materials like grain or tinplate are needed by other industries, the result is a complex logistical challenge. Careful planning is needed to balance supply, demand, and production routes.
If an industry’s production isn’t keeping up with demand, industries can now be boosted by supplying workers from nearby towns. Resource industries can also be enhanced further: farms with fertilizer, mines with tools or machine parts.Â
These boosters allow increased output even with few industries connected, providing your infrastructure can keep up and enough capacity can be provided from your already existing or new lines.
The same considerations as with every part of your network apply however: additional costs, pollution, and noise may make you decide to source items elsewhere or simply accept the lower production level.
Smoke and Fire
Not only the amount of cargo but also the production-level of each industry plays an important part. We’ve spent extra time to help players see and feel the level of activity in the industries of the world, making activity levels visible even from a distance. Industries show off their activity through animations and effects: conveyor belts, carts, cranes, chimneys with smoke, even gas flares at oil industries visible at distance in the night. Warning lights at breweries and other nighttime effects further highlight activity.
Industries don’t just look alive, they sound alive too. A wide range of new sound effects adds immersion and makes the world feel more vibrant.
As with the majority of game features, these visual and audio effects are also available to modders. Texture animations can cover everything from simple conveyor movements to sprite sequences like billboard displays. Objects can move along paths to represent items being carried on belts. Combined with day-night cycles, modders can add rotating warning lights, particle effects, or authentic smoke and fire simulations.Â
The new particle system supports variations in color, shape, transparency, and more, with dynamic changes over time. Particles with gravity are easy to set up and can create, for example, a water fountain in no time. Color and brightness changes make flames and smoke possible, and with random scattering and rotation, realistic turbulence emerges. These and many other particle and lighting effects can be configured and tested directly in the Model Editor.
A Completely New Challenge
The days of simply setting up a few lines and letting cargo deliver itself are over. In Transport Fever 3, the flow of cargo is in your hands. With this control comes responsibility: only those who plan transport chains smartly and balance their networks well will see their cities and economies thrive.
But more on that another day…
Matthias Gürtler
Lead Product Engineer
42 Responses
Can’t wait for the game, It looks and sounds so good!
Ich hoffe sehr, dass bei all den guten Verbesserungen die entspannte und charakteristische “modelleisenbahn”-Atmosphäre der TF-Spiele nicht verloren geht.
Z.B. mit dem neuen Industrie Giant 4.0 bin ich irgendwie nie warm geworden. Da fand ich die Vielfalt an Warenketten zwar grundsätzlich gut, aber man musste viel auf einmal umbauen, optimieren und umständlich einstellen, dass ich irgendwann auch keinen Bock mehr hatte, “schön” zu bauen, sondern einfach alles irgendwo hingeklatscht habe.
I’m really excited for this game, but I’d like to see more challenges and not just a linear simulation of the game like in other simulations. For example, I’d like to see accidents, vehicle losses, train derailments, factory strikes that slow down production, problems that then translate into actual financial losses.
Very excited about this game. You guys really look like you know a good balance between fun and complexity.
There was a post on Reddit talking about how different architectural styles and reflecting different countries maybe could be painted on the map which seemed like a good idea. Is there any possibility of this happening?
I think it would be fun to be able to have different architectural styles that reflect different countries that share the same map. You guys introduced multiple biomes across maps, so maybe multiple architectural styles/ countries would be fun also. Modders could make most of the models and tag them with appropriate countries.
Also- Is there going to be a video for this Blog? Thanks.
This is a good idea, but an enormous amount of work. We’d have to carefully consider which country/region styles to include, then replicate each building in each era for however many regions we’d chosen to cover. It’s not impossible or even particularly difficult to achieve, but it would add at least an extra year to the development of the game. It’s also something that can readily be tackled through modding, which also then removes the limit on the number of possible architectural styles.
Where do we sign up for the beta test program?
Pretty sure it closed June 18th of this year. I wish I had gotten in too, didn’t even know this game was in the works until about a month ago and people mentioned it on the Cities Skylines forum. I would have loved to have been involved also.
Unfortunately, we closed applications to the beta program a couple of months ago (and we’re already heavily over-subscribed.)
Will there be an option for cargo to have destinations?
You decide the destination. When cargo is created it stays in place until you pick it up. If you want to carry planks out to an oil rig, go for it! Unlike Transport Fever 2, whatever you decide to pick up at each stop will be picked up. The cargo won’t choose not to get on a train or truck because that’s not where it’s supposed to go, it’ll go where you take it.
My concern is it might be too much micro for my taste but we’ll just have to see how it goes.
Why does specialisation increase pollution? A proper set up (eg all the pipework for oil vs an open platform) should improve efficiency and decrease pollution?
I love the idea of graphical improvement but not at the expense of gameplay. Country asset packs are a must for console gaming, I’ve no interest in assets unless they are UK looking and the trouble is I can’t remove stuff I don’t want to save my storage so I’m stuck with using vehicles that don’t fit in with my map. If you are doing mod.io again, please make sure console gamers are considered properly. Mod.io was a great idea but it doesn’t really work well, too many maps being approved and not enough focus on proper mods and lack of modders creating console versions of their assets as there is no incentive. To make matters worse we have barely enough space for assets to make the game configured for our tastes, and when we do play it runs like a dog in the late game as the cities get too big.
This on a Ps5 pro. With the current game graphics! so unless you are doing some serious optimisation work for console these graphic enhancements will only serve to slow the game down more. This is what ruined collosal orders console release of cs2… They announced console but realised it simply didn’t run well… And we know how that’s impacted their PR
For in game, hoping that you also consider the way maintenance works, it should be possible like in OTTD to setup replacement vehicles and all vehicles should have to go for maintenance once a year, having to find and replace bad condition vehicles is an absolute pain in the backside.
I did register for consideration for console beta testing but not heard back. Also, kudos to Sam the community manager who has been really helpful.
Our aim is that the new game will run at least as well on consoles as Transport Fever 2. We’re deep into optimisation at the moment and this is a big area to tackle.
When it comes to mods we’re limited in regard to what can be released as it first has to be submitted – there simply aren’t as many “content” mods submitted through Mod.io. This will improve over time, but it falls to the modders to want to have their creations seen by the full audience rather than just those on PC.
Der Spaß am aufbauen von Lieferketten steht und fällt mit den Informationen die man hat. Wenn ich bei einem offenen system ala industrie Gigant 2 immer ewig Ausprobieren muss bis ich den Durchsatz und die Abnahme bekomme geht mir irgendwann die Luft aus. Eine klare Metrik pro Transport-Route wie viel Güter pro Minute oder Tag oder Stunde von an nach B wandern und wie viele abgenommen werden muss einfach Zentral in der UI stehen.
Ich bin wahnsinnig gespannt welche wilde Scenarios wir in der Kampagne bekommen. Hoffentlich setzt ihr noch einen drauf im Vergleich zum Vorgänger und werdet nicht langweilig 😉
Ihr Wunsch nach sehr detaillierten Statistiken wird aus Ihrem Kommentar deutlich, aber wir müssen bei unserer Herangehensweise an das Spiel eine Balance finden.
Wir müssen den Punkt treffen, an dem diejenigen, die feinste Detailtiefe wünschen, zufrieden sind – ohne dass andere Spieler, die sich durch zu viele Informationen oder zu viel Mikromanagement überfordert fühlen, abgeschreckt werden.
Es ist ein schmaler Grat: Das Spiel soll weiterhin große inhaltliche Tiefe bieten, aber nicht so weit gehen, dass es den zugänglichen Charme verliert, den es schon immer hatte. Wir glauben, dass wir auf einem guten Weg sind – allerdings könnte der Detailgrad, den Sie sich wünschen, etwas über das hinausgehen, was wir anstreben.
Eu como alguém que já acumulou mais de 900 horas de Transport Fever 2 na Steam, estou extremamente ansioso para jogar Transport Fever 3 e explorar todas as novas mecânicas que foram apresentadas até agora. Essa franquia tem me proporcionado incontáveis horas de entretenimento, e tenho certeza de que continuarei me divertindo com essa sequência.
Meus parabéns à equipe da Urban Games por oferecer ainda mais liberdade aos desenvolvedores de mods. Eles enriquecem a experiência de jogo e trazem uma variedade incrÃvel de possibilidades para nós, jogadores.
Ich hoffe, das wir dann mehr Einfluss auf den Städtebau haben und die KI uns die Städte, Straßenbau nicht mehr vermasselt wie in den Vorgängern.
Zonen für Wohngebäude, Gewerbe und Industrie wie z. B. in Cities Skylines wären super, so könnte man dann auch endlich Vanilla Schön-bauen!
Die Transport Fever Reihe lebt schließlich von den Schönbauern und Modder, bitte unbedingt daran denken!
Auch Zugfahrpläne die man realistischer einstellen kann wären ein großer Fortschritt.
Sie werden im Spiel Einfluss darauf nehmen können, wie sich Ihre Städte entwickeln – aber Transport Fever war noch nie ein klassischer City Builder.
Die Städte wachsen und verändern sich als Folge Ihrer Handlungen. Daran hat sich auch im neuen Spiel nichts geändert – allerdings haben Sie nun mehr Möglichkeiten, Einfluss zu nehmen, und können die Entwicklung der Städte auf unterschiedlichere Weise steuern.
Dazu wird es in einem unserer kommenden First Look-Beiträge noch deutlich mehr Informationen geben.
Für alle, die mit besonderem Augenmerk auf Schönheit und Gestaltung bauen möchten, bleiben die bisherigen Werkzeuge natürlich erhalten. Wer mithilfe von Mods malerische Dioramen, Bahnhöfe oder Strecken erschaffen möchte, wird das auch weiterhin problemlos tun können.
I’m so excited for the release of this, hope to see it come to PlayStation
Yes, we will be releasing on PlayStation (and Xbox) at launch.
Developers i have one question are you going to put gas station for vehicle and for the city cars and the vehicle that We’re going to own for the transport Company
With day and night culycke introduced, I assume that it will impact the traffic ( less AI traffic at night) and passenger transportation ( you can expect full load buses, trains at 2 AM)..is this also being considered?
The day and night modes are purely cosmetic, so have no impact on the use of your services. You can choose to play “forever dark” if you wish, and the way your network performs will be the same as if playing in “forever day”.
Wird die Kampange andere Missionenen enthalten als der zweite Teil.
Weiß nicht wie es beim ersten war…
This second developer blog is absolutely fantastic, thank you for the deep dive into the industries and cargo systems in Transport Fever 3. The level of detail and thought put into the mechanics, from production chains to the dynamic cargo flow, is truly impressive. It’s clear that the team is not only building on the strengths of the previous games but also innovating in meaningful ways that will make the gameplay more immersive and rewarding. I especially appreciate the visual improvements and the way cargo types are now more logically structured. It’s exciting to see how these changes will impact strategy and city development in the game.
I’m really looking forward to future updates and hope the next blog will focus on public transport. It would be amazing to learn more about new additions like trolleybuses, electric buses, and IMC (In-Motion Charging) buses. These technologies are becoming increasingly relevant in real-world transit systems, and their inclusion would add a modern and sustainable layer to gameplay. Exploring how these vehicles interact with infrastructure and affect passenger flow would be a great topic for the next episode. Keep up the great work, this series is shaping up to be something truly special!
Hi Sam, what about macOS? Release at launch?
Hi Chris, we will be confirming all the platforms we’re launching on a little closer to release. Sorry to be vague but that’s the only answer we have for the moment.
Will the day/night cycle be just cosmetic or will there be some gameplay element to it? E.g. rush hours for passenger train, timetables, scheduling cargo trains mostly at night and passenger trains mostly during day, etc.?
Day and night modes are entirely optional, and purely cosmetic.
Amazing thing guys
Cant wait to see the game
hopefully we will have curved modules in train stations supported out of the box 😀
With the delivery of specialty parts and workers to factory I think I have a grasp on how part of this would work, with parts clearly the facility will use them up over time and you’ll need to deliver more as time goes on.
But with workers I have a question, are these going to be people, from say the town the factory/facility is named after, that will need transportation to and from that town in a limited number of people? And with a limited number I take it a small route is needed to this facility? Or is there a different system in mind for this?
I look forward with great anticipation for this game, I’ve loved both of the predecessors and I can see that this one is already leaps and bound greater.
You’ll deliver passengers in the same way as usual, but the number required is very small. A single bus line from a local town will be enough to supply workers and bring them home again.
Thanks for this blog post! Will you shed some more light on the topic of delivery deadlines? I’m interested to learn if this similar to the logic employed in IndustrieGigant 2, for example, where the revenue gained from transporting goods across a specific distance was also affected by speed, but this was different among the goods. For example, transporting a train full of coal or ore from A to B did not yield more money if done faster, but for transporting passengers or food, speed did play a vital role and you would not earn much using slow vehicles for this. I missed this mechanics in the previous TF versions, as it was basically always better to use faster vehicles. Especially for rail, it is much more challenging if you have to balance high-speed passenger trains with heavy-duty (but slow) coal trains in your railway network 😉
Very cool new mechanics
I can’t wait to test them all.
If you need testing of how the game works on the Mac M1 Air 2020, I’m ready to assist with testing.
It is really exciting to hear some news ahout Transportfever3，the new mode you mentioned in the blog is fasinating.While beside those things,I noticed that you didn’t mention a few change of air transportation industry.In Transportfever2,I found that a single airport can accomodate up to 8-10 airplanes without being crowded enough to require hover and waiting for landing.This may have an impact on the efficiency of air transportation. In addition, each airport can only have a maximum of two runways, and once built, they will be the same. Players cannot build airports with unique styles, such as runways in different directions or terminals in different locations, which greatly affects the playability of the game. I am curious if you have made any modifications to this in the new game. In short, thank you for listening to players’ opinions and working hard to develop new games. Wishing you all the best!
Hola me gustarÃa que en los modelos de trenes implementasen modelos de trenes de renfe como cercanÃas (como pusisteis hace poco en transport fever 2) además que incluyan los modelos anteriores 447 de cercanÃas muy conocidos en España, además de incluir los famosos trenes de media y larga distancia de renfe asi como los AVE. Un saludo,
when has the new First Look？
We’ve a little further to go before the next First Look, but the new trailer gives you some idea of how the game is shaping up.
Will it be possible to mod industries and add self made industries to the game? I like to make things as realistic as possible, so I personally like to add limestone as a third input material for the steel plant and change coal into cokes (and then add a cokes oven as a new industry) etc.
It is entirely possible to mod in new industries, this was done already in Transport Fever 2 and we fully expect the same will happen this time around.
Die Komplexität zu TF2 scheint ja noch einmal einen deutlichen Sprung zu machen. Bedenken habe ich nun, dass mir das dann als Gelegenheitsspieler auf die Füße fällt. Wenn ich dann im Spiel schon etwas vorangeschritten bin und mit unter 2 oder 3 Wochen nicht spielen konnte, fehlt mir vermutlich der Überblick und der Wiedereinstieg ist zu zeitaufwändig. Ich hoffe, die Komplexität lässt sich über die Schwierigkeitsstufen etwas abmildern. 😉
Ansonsten bin ich aber schon sehr positiv gestimmt und freue mich auf weitere Aussichten auf TF3