Let's dive a bit deeper into one of the core ideas in Times of Progress. As you know, the Industrial Revolution was a global phenomenon and in ToP that is represented by the fact that your city does not exist in a void.

As I discussed in a previous announcement (if you missed it you can read more about it here), new inventions are happening throughout the game world, not just in the local Research Institute in your own city.

You can import those new technologies by spending Research Points. One of the ways in which you can earn them is by showing to the world that your city is at the forefront of industrial progress, in terms of quantity, quality and efficiency of your industries, products and transportation networks. You can do that by setting, and achieving, quantitative Goals for your city and building a sort of reputation in the game world.

This is how choosing new Goals works:

You will be given some alternatives of what you would like to obtain, and for each Goal there will be a Reward associated with it, as well the corresponding amount of Research Points that will be earned.

Goals can be reached, for example, by reaching a certain population, or transporting a specified amount of a resource, or upgrading a predefined number of houses to their next level.

On the other hand, examples of Rewards can be an increase in efficiency of a specific building, or a reduction in the cost to build a new factory, or a type of vehicle traveling faster or transporting more.

Rewards are usually incremental quantitative improvements to your buildings. They are designed so that individually they don't contribute a whole lot, but by choosing wisely which ones to pursue, their effects can definitely stack up and in turn make certain future Goals easier to achieve.

You can set more than one Goal for yourself to work on at the same time and once you reach one, pick another. There are also upgrades that let you increase how many active Goals you can have, as well as expand the choices available when setting them.

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Times of Progress is part of the Planes, Trains, and Automobiles Fest!

Trains are a key mode of transportation in the game. They are used to deliver materials and goods, as well as extending the area of effect of relevant buildings, if there is a passenger train station in range.

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