In the aftermath of the Great War, the Czechoslovak Legion finds itself stranded in the heart of Russian territory, as a vicious civil war tears the country apart. With a small force of soldiers and limited supplies, you’ll have to use all your cunning to survive the harsh wastes of Siberia to make it to Vladivostok in one piece.
You’ll make the trip to your motherland via locomotive, and you’ll need to maintain this vehicle if you hope to make it all the way to Vladivostok. Fending off attacks from both sides of the conflict won’t be easy and you’ll need to consider the maintenance of your train, the wellbeing of your soldiers, battle strategy, and much more.
Here are our top five tips for surviving your journey.
Maintain the train
Whether you live or die in the Siberian wastes depends entirely on your mode of transportation staying intact and fit for purpose. You’ll need to maintain a steady flow of fuel to keep the wheels turning, and ample supplies to keep the crew alive and well. You’ll also need to assign staff to run the various mechanisms that keep the train running on time.
The train is home to your crew and soldiers for the duration of your journey, and as such plays a crucial role in their health and wellbeing. Injured soldiers can be treated in the Hospital Car, where your assigned doctor will tend to their wounds, but you’ll need to have enough recovery beds to house all of the soldiers that require treatment. Soldiers will also recover in the Infantry car, but at a much slower rate.
Pick your crew wisely
Every member of your troop has unique skills, strengths, and weaknesses. Some will be better suited to maintenance activities over combat, while others will have invaluable uses on the battlefield. You’ll want to keep your combat team stocked with different types of soldiers – long-range attackers, grenadiers, stealth experts, medics, and more.
Things get more complicated when the running of the locomotive comes into the equation. Each day on the train is split between day and night shifts, and often, certain crew members will have to fulfill multiple roles. Try not to overwork them, though, as when their stamina runs out, they’ll become exhausted and be removed from their post.
Take cover
A surefire way to keep your crew safe on the battlefield is to take cover. In the field, you’ll find two types of cover – hard and soft. Soft cover offers limited protection, reducing the chance of being hit by 40%, while hard cover reduces the chance of being hit by 80%. Knowing where to position your units to give them optimum coverage can often mean the difference between life and death.
As you make your way through the battlefield, you’ll become accustomed to looking for places to take cover, as well as identifying routes to circumnavigate enemies’ cover. Carefully consider the angles you use to attack, and try to pick the path of least resistance.
Tread lightly
If you want to make progress through hostile land without sustaining casualties, your best bet is to take things quiet and slow. Use the Silent command to put your squad into a crouched position, where they will move slower, but with significantly reduced risk of being detected by enemies. In this mode, you can perform silent takedowns on enemies and even scavenge for supplies while avoiding enemy eyes. When good positioning is combined with the Silent Mode mechanic, you can pick off your enemies effectively without being detected.
Ponder your choices
While Last Train Home is a linear game, with all playthroughs heading to the same goal, there are multiple ways you can choose to get there. Story choices will send you down different paths, so think long and hard about who you ally with, and who you choose to trust.
The traits of your soldiers will affect which options are available to you, thus impacting the narrative. When it comes to interacting with other characters, the most important traits to consider are character, belief, and nature.
Character includes such traits as Aggressive, Caring, Humorous, Selfish, and many more. Belief encompasses political stance – i.e. Communist, Monarchist, or Nationalist – as well as religious beliefs. Finally, there’s Nature, which affects characters’ key stats based on traits such as Anxious, Charismatic, Focused, Impulsive, and many more. You’ll need to consider how these traits will affect the decisions available to you and offset the more destructive traits of your characters with ones that will balance them out.
Embark on an unforgettable wartime journey in Last Train Home, available now on Steam.