The Starter Package in Rail Nation is specifically put together to give your game just that – a great start.

The Starter Package is a premium feature of the game – it will cost you some precious gold bars – but, in my opinion, it is an investment well worth making.

Let’s take a look….

Can I buy the Starter Package any time?

The starter package is a single-time offer. It can only be purchased one time during your game.

More importantly, it is only available to you up until you have collected 600 prestige. After that, the offer is off the table.

One way to keep your prestige low until you are ready to commit to the starter package is to avoid redeeming your medals.

Cross out of medals until you are ready to redeem them

By closing the medal notification via the cross at the top right-hand corner – instead of hitting the tempting green button at the bottom – you can ‘save up’ that prestige until you are ready to redeem the medal and collect it.

Count shows number of unredeemed medals

Your medal is safely secured until you collect it.

A count above the medal icon shows the number of medals you have available to collect at any time.

What’s included in the Starter Package?

As you can see, the Starter Package will boost several station buildings by one upgrade; this includes the Engine Shed, the Laboratory and the Bank.

It will also max out your lab Research Points and give you a couple of each of the most basic era 1 wagons.

The Starter Package inclusions. Click to enlarge

What is it worth?

Whether or not the Starter Package is worth the premium cost of 125 gold will always be a matter of opinion. For me, its value far exceeds the asking price…. providing you are smart about it.

There is no point rushing in and buying it right off the bat. You only get one opportunity to purchase this item so you’ll want to make it really count.

If you can get your Engine Shed to level 6 before you purchase, that bump up to level 7 will save you a tidy $600,000 on its own!!!

Obviously also, after the Engine House, the higher you can get your Laboratory, the more you will save in upgrade dollars and the more Research Points you’ll receive.

In my current game, the Starter Pack saved me over $1.5 million in station upgrades and extras. Here’s a quick screencast:

Rail Nation - Starter Pack