When comparing Simutrans vs Warzone 2100, the Slant community recommends Warzone 2100 for most people. In the question“What are the best open-source games?” Warzone 2100 is ranked 12th while Simutrans is ranked 33rd. The most important reason people chose Warzone 2100 is:
Although it can be confusing to get the tech you want at times, Warzone has a complete tech tree that ranges from vertical take-off and landing crafts to laser guns and missile launching cyborgs, and includes four hundred different techs and upgrades.
Specs
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Pros
Pro Passengers & goods have their own travel destinations
Each product has a chosen destination and they will only use your company if you deliver them where they want.
Pro Multiple paksets
There are multiple graphic packages to choose from, each with different dynamics. So even though you have mastered one pakset you can have a different gameplay with another.
Pro Cross platform
Available for Windows, Mac, Linux & Steam-OS.
Pro Available through Steam
Simutrans is available through Steam for those who prefer automatic updates and game management through Steam.
Pro Transportation
For fans of transportation games it has lots of vehicle options and things to transport. The multiple graphical packages also mean a, kind-of, multiple games in one, as each graphical package can be completely different from the others.
Pro Multiplayer
Multiplayer support still has bugs and disconnections happen, but it works and is easier to setup with version 120.3 and up. It also allows you to setup servers without announcing them to other players, though that requires manual work.
Pro Map customisation
The map has multiple customisation options, like map size, climate zones, terrain 'roughness' and number of rivers, cities, industries and tourist attractions, & more.
Pro Modding
Creating new objects is not too hard, as long as you have some drawing skills you just need a text file with some parameters and then you can compile it to enjoy. Some paksets even rely on rendering from 3D objects.
Pro Community
Even though the game is old the community is active and open to developers and modders who want to improve the game. Decisions on how the game evolve also accept the decision of the majority of the community.
Pro More complex version called "Extended" for hardcore gamers
A fork of the project called Simutrans Extended extends the standard game with more complex and realistic features for extra complexity and realism for those who like hardcore gameplay. The fork is available in their official forums.
Pro Big tech tree
Although it can be confusing to get the tech you want at times, Warzone has a complete tech tree that ranges from vertical take-off and landing crafts to laser guns and missile launching cyborgs, and includes four hundred different techs and upgrades.
Pro Custom unit assembling
The game permits you to research vehicle tech under three main forms, weapons, chassis, and locomotion. The player must then assemble their own design, from the tech they have discovered. This permits a wide range of customizability in units.
Pro Big game scale
Although there is a limit to a number of units, Warzone permits pretty massive armies.
Pro Open source
It's free so you can't lose anything if you don't like it and anyone can help in the development by taking the sources of the game.
Cons
Con Unfinished, deprecated packsets or child's drawings instead of realistic buildings
Con Strange packsets mechanism
Con Strange default packset
Con Units stay stuck everywhere
It's like there is sticky glue on everything, units just hit things and stay stuck. This creates bottlenecks in armies, and often impedes on army mobility and reliability.
Con Must micromanage, despite the fact commanders should avoid that
On the other hand, they do avoid a lot of micromanagement if the land is easy enough.