# OpenTTD

Hacker Approved page: https://hackerapproved.com/p/openttd/

35 people recommended OpenTTD in Hacker News comments, 8 had mixed feelings and 7 criticized it, November 2025 to October 2026. It was recommended in 9 of 12 months, in 14 threads. It meets the Hacker Approved badge rule.

**Verdict:** Free, open-source Transport Tycoon successor that people praise for years of added features, easy installation and staying playable.

Summary written by Claude from 47 comments. It was written before the November 2026 recount, and 46 of those comments still count.

## Why people recommend it

- Years of added features and improvements (4 comments in the sample): "They've spent the last 20+ years adding nice quality of life features and keeping the game playable" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47381895)) "They have added a lot of new features and gameplay improvements." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46036862)) "all the improvements they've made over the years" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47445540))
- Free, independent, community-run project (3 comments in the sample): "This setup keeps OpenTTD community-run and independent, free to make decisions independent of a commercial agenda." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47443670)) "there's this really cool modern source port you can get for free" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47446744)) "I remember the big change of OpenTTD when it became finally all free software." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50271324))
- Easy to install and play (3 comments in the sample): "you can download it and play it as is right now, everything is included" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50186125)) "its installation is as simple as could be" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47447726)) "Easiest of all is `pacman -S openttd" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47447718))
- Better than the original Transport Tycoon (2 comments in the sample): "OpenTTD is so much superior in every way compared to the original TTD" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47382234)) "the exact same game except better in every way" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47445024))

## What people warn about

- Unrealistic cargo routing and economy (4 comments in the sample): "A coal plant will happily pay millions of dollars for coal hauled from the far side of the map…" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48696584)) "TTD and OpenTTD do not which incentivizes mechanisms to dump everyone at the edge of the map." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47381876)) "the economy is weirdly nonsensical" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48696171))
- Complex, inconsistent code (2 comments in the sample): "inconsistent coding styles, overly complex processes, unused(!) functions" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46928523)) "the code after 12.2 is just more complex with every version bump" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48697022))

## What people recommend instead

- [Transport Tycoon Deluxe](https://hackerapproved.com/p/transport-tycoon/): 11 recommend, 2 mixed, 4 criticize

## The badge

A product earns the Hacker Approved badge when at least 10 people recommend it, recommenders outnumber critics at least 2 to 1 (mixed feelings count toward neither side), it was recommended in at least 4 of the 12 months and in at least 5 different threads, and no single thread supplies more than half of the people who recommend it. Health and money products are never badged.

## Cite as

Hacker Approved, "OpenTTD", https://hackerapproved.com/p/openttd/ (35 recommend, 8 mixed, 7 criticize; Hacker News comments, November 2025 to October 2026).

Counts updated 2 Nov 2026, with data through October 31, 2026.