When comparing Simutrans vs Oolite, the Slant community recommends Oolite for most people. In the question“What are the best open-source games?” Oolite is ranked 16th while Simutrans is ranked 33rd. The most important reason people chose Oolite is:
Space battles happen without the player starting them, or even being involved. Criminals and fugitives shoot at police. Police shoot at criminals.
Specs
Ranked in these QuestionsQuestion Ranking
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 Non player centric
Space battles happen without the player starting them, or even being involved. Criminals and fugitives shoot at police. Police shoot at criminals.
Pro Improves on the Elite formula while not straying too far
Pro Lots of mods
Mods to customize the game's look and mechanics means that you can pretty much customize your gaming experience. Add new planets, station types, stories, and a whole lot more.
Pro Mods create missions, ships and equipment to totally change the difficulty
The mods make every ship from every movie and TV series available, which is fun.
Cons
Con Unfinished, deprecated packsets or child's drawings instead of realistic buildings
Con Strange packsets mechanism
Con Strange default packset
Con Too addictive
This can be a serious time thief.