Edward

Edward the Man-Eating Train is the titular antagonist of the game, and the main threat players will face during their travels between stations.

## Overview

Edward the Man-Eating Train is a steam locomotive with a humanoid face in place of a smokebox door. The face lacks most human features, with only a pair of eyes and a mouth locked in a manic smile on it. The eyes also serve as headlights of sorts, which can be seen more easily when he uses it to track players during his melee attack patterns. His entire body is colored in a shade of red, beneath which the original steel-grey unpainted chassis can be seen in some places. Whether this coloration is caused by rust or the showers of blood that appears whenever he kills his victims is unknown.

Instead of locomotive wheels, Edward's primary method of locomotion is six triple-jointed legs reminiscent of a spider's, connected to where a normal locomotive's wheels would be. This allows him to traverse the untamed terrain between stations with more ease than a traditional wheeled vehicle, and allows him to move unconstrained by train tracks. He also has a pair of crab-like pincers connected to the front of his chassis, and a somewhat pristine cowcatcher attached below his face.

On higher difficulties, Edward may sport additional weapon modules such as a machine gun mounted on top of his chimney or a mortar welded into the back of his cab. Whether he equips these weapons himself or if he receives aid from an unknown party remains unknown.

Edward is extremely aggressive in his assaults upon the train. It should be noted that Edward's main focus is *not* to destroy the train and its cargo - his attacks that wreaks havoc upon the railcars are only his attempts to reach the juicy humans within.

Depending on the difficulty, Edward will spawn after some time has passed since players spawn on the train. On average, he will appear around 30 seconds into the trip with an audible audio cue. . Edward may start attacking the train as early as 10 seconds into the journey

When sufficiently damaged or enough time has passed, Edward will retreat, although there is a chance that he will attack again before the journey ends. Never assume that you've seen the last of the Man-Eating Train. Damage dealt to Edward carries over between his appearances except when his health is emptied or it becomes dangerously close to. In this case, Edward will take up to twice as long to reappear, but he will be fully healed, with destroyed modules replaced and rearmed.

Depending on whether the railcar the player(s) are on is still intact or not, Edward will modify his attack pattern accordingly. He will commonly start by using the Body Slam on low-danger routes, either a Body Slam or a Machine Gun Barrage on moderate and high-danger routes, and a Missile Barrage on high danger routes. This is not set in stone, and he will not follow this exact pattern at all times.

## Attacks

### Body Slam

Edward will position his body parallel to a railcar, before ramming it sideways with great force. This attack deals more damage to walls on the other side of the one he's hitting, usually destroying it in only two attacks for railcars with low durability. This attack does not deal much damage to players, with the highest amount recorded being a measly 6%.

The greatest danger of this attack is the amount of knockback it deals to players. Since the walls would be badly damaged, if not destroyed in only a few attacks, the next one may launch the player out of the speeding train into their death. One way to counter this attack is to jump right as he hits the train - most of the momentum the player gets will be directed upwards instead of sideways, and lack of fall damage makes this a safer alternative than being knocked off the train.

### Pincer Attacks

Edward will face the railcar as his eyes shine a light on the player he's tracking. He will then attempt to attack the player using his pincers. This attack deals massive damage, taking out up to 40% health in one hit.

If the body of the railcar is still standing by this point, Edward will either try to destroy them using his pincers, or revert to using his Body Slam attack. His pincers deal higher damage to structures, but its effects are more localized. Occasionally, this will create debris that blocks access into and away from a carriage, trapping players and making them easier to be hit.

Edward can attack players directly on passenger cars with broken windows and the roof.

The pincer attacks is capable of destroying supply boxes and crates. It usually takes between two to three hits to destroy a box, while crates can withstand up to five direct hits.

If a player dies to the Pincer Attack, a special animation will play where Edward will lift their lifeless body up, before he either tosses them away and resume his assault, or run away carrying the unfortunate passenger. The chance of either to happen seems to depend on how long he's been attacking and how much health was lost. The latter becomes much more uncommon as of the 1.01.04 Patch in an effort to stop him from going out of bounds.

### Machine Gun Barrage

A unique audio cue will play, and Edward will pick a random target to spray with his machine gun. Each hit deals 20% damage and will rapidly destroy most unarmored railcars. Fortunately, it is somewhat inaccurate - at very long or short distances, simply waking perpendicular to him makes most of the shots go wide.

During this attack, Edward will remain stationary, although he will still use his Pincer Attack on players that wander too close.

### Missile Barrage

Edward will move away from the train, though instead of retreating, he will face the train again a certain distance away. He will then use his missile launcher to shoot explosive homing projectiles on players, picking targets randomly every shot. Each projectile deals up to 50% damage on the epicenter of the blast, down to around 20% damage at the edges. You will know when Edward will use his missile launcher by a 2 beep sound that distinctly play when Edward is about to shoot. The explosions will also ragdoll players, which can be dangerous when the railcar's been badly damaged and the player ragdolls near the edges.

Edward can also use this attack while using the Pincer Attack, although with limited accuracy and less frequent launches.

## Strategies

In general, to maximize efficiency of most weapons, players should stay one or two carriages away from Edward. This ensures that most weapons get to deal their maximum damage while allowing enough time to react to Edward's attack patterns.

Standing on top of the carriages gives players unobstructed vision on Edward, but they will be vulnerable to his machine gun and pincer attacks. It is recommended to not stand on rooftops unless players are using scoped weapons far away from the Man-Eating Train. Make sure to jump to a new carriage when he prepares to slam the carriage you're standing on.

**Route Difficulty Tips:**

On Low Difficulty- There's nothing much to say, Edward only attacks via Pincers or Body Slam, Any Loadout works well on Low Difficulty. Constantly walking is enough to prevent Edward from killing you

On Medium Difficulty- Same tips on Low Difficulty, With a few added: When Edward fires his gun, take care that you do not lead his spray of bullets to other players if not necessary. If you have an accurate weapon (Rifles, Sniper Rifles), deal damage to the Turret if possible. When under fire from the machine gun, don't expose yourself in the roofs and use your stamina to sprint through open railcars.

On High Difficulty- Not much fighting, the best way to survive is to keep walking, conserve your stamina to get past obstacles from Edward's attacks. Shotguns are highly discouraged in this difficulty, and Trauma Kits or Surgical Kits are advised. When Edward fires his missile, its best to seek shelter at the bottom-most level of a railcar, preferably Premoline Bilevel Coach or any Military Grade coaches.railcars.

## Known Bugs

* When the player ragdolls or disconnects in the middle of Edward's pincer attack killing animation, Edward may despawn or fall through the map. If this happens, Edward will not reappear during that journey anymore.

## Trivia

* Edward is based on Choo-choo Charles, the titular antagonist of a game with a similar premise set to release on Steam on December 2022.
* When Edward retreats it goes out of the map and stays there until it decides to return back to the train.