Transport Fever 3 Campaign Guide: Saving Mardi Gras

Transport Fever 3 launched on September 29, 2026, and its campaign mode is one of the biggest reasons fans are excited. The first Transport Fever 3 campaign mission, "Saving Mardi Gras," drops you into 1906 New Orleans after a devastating storm — and it doubles as a brilliant tutorial for the game's core logistics systems. In this guide, we'll walk through every objective, share practical tips for earning three stars, and help you get the most out of the mission's charming story before unlocking the next of the eight total campaigns.

Campaign Overview: What Is Saving Mardi Gras?

The campaign menu in Transport Fever 3 offers eight historical missions, but they're locked in sequence — you must complete each one before the next unlocks. The opener is set in New Orleans, United States, in the early 1900s, mere weeks before the Mardi Gras festival.

Official screenshot · Source: Steam store

The setup: a major storm has battered the city, flooding streets, washing out roads, collapsing a rail bridge, and even driving alligators out of the bayou and into town. With tourism revenue vital to the city's finances, Mayor Beauregard LaFontaine needs your help restoring infrastructure so the festival can go ahead.

Here's how the mission's completion requirements break down:

Note how vague the middle tiers are — the game won't spell out exactly what "helping more" means. In practice, completing every task chain the story throws at you earns the full three stars.

Mission Walkthrough: Step by Step

The first Transport Fever 3 campaign mission functions as an extended tutorial, teaching you camera controls, line creation, depot management, and multi-stage delivery chains. Here's the general flow:

Phase 1: The Alligators

Flooding has drawn alligators into the city, and the lumberjacks refuse to enter the forest until they're dealt with. You'll need to find and catch five of them — one at the logging camp, one near a street gate, one among the trees, one hiding in a shack, and one more nearby. This section is secretly a camera-control tutorial, so take your time zooming and rotating. The special reward tier rewards doing this quickly, so sweep the map methodically.

Phase 2–3: Roads and the French Quarter Hotel

With the roads cleared and rebuilt, the mayor asks for a luxury hotel to draw wealthy visitors. The French Quarter Hotel requires just six wood — a one-time delivery. Your steps:

1. Build a road depot near the construction site.
2. Buy a cargo wagon.
3. Create a line from the logging camp to the hotel site.
4. Send the wagon on the line and let it deliver.
5. Delete the line once construction finishes — it's a one-time route, so keeping it wastes money.

Phase 4–5: Seafood and the Rail Bridge

Katie Baker, who runs the orphanage and represents the Zulu charity crew, insists Mardi Gras is a festival for everyone — including a proper gumbo. That means rebuilding a universal warehouse at the port (these work like truck stops that accept multiple cargo types) and buying the fishermen a new boat. You can choose between fish from the New Orleans fishing grounds or shrimp from the Terrytown shrimp farm; shrimp is closer and delivers faster.

There's also a delightful side quest: the mayor privately wants shrimp delivered to the hotel to replace the "British food" its kitchens are serving with proper Cajun cuisine. It's a win-win that boosts both revenue and community goodwill in the story.

Then disaster strikes again — the rail bridge across the Mississippi has collapsed, cutting off tourists arriving by train from Kenner. Simply drag a new bridge into place, restart the train, and visitors begin flowing in.

Phase 6–7: Buses and the Parade

Katie's young musicians — many from farming and fishing families in the Bayou — are stranded after the storm. Extending the existing New Orleans bus line with one extra stop at Lakeshore connects them (and Lakeshore's residents) to the festival without buying new coaches. Finally, create the parade route from City Park along Canal Street, add any required waypoints, and send the decorated floats from the depot next to the Prince of Wales Hotel.

Complete everything and you'll earn three stars, unlock mission two, and get to watch the Mardi Gras celebration play out — complete with a young cornet prodigy named Louis. Yes, that Louis.

Tips for Earning All Three Stars

Based on player experience from early playthroughs and community videos, a few habits make this mission smoother:

• Watch your maintenance costs. Community reports on the official Steam Community hub note that vehicle upkeep can quietly spiral — one player reported returning to find their company millions in debt after idling. Delete one-time lines (like the wood delivery) as soon as they're complete.
• Choose the closer cargo source. The Terrytown shrimp route is shorter than the western fishing grounds, meaning faster deliveries and quicker mission completion.
• Don't duplicate vehicles unnecessarily. For small one-off deliveries, a single wagon or boat is enough. Reversing or duplicating vehicles is only worth it for recurring routes.
• Add extra stops correctly. When extending the bus line, make sure the new Lakeshore stop is inserted in the right sequence — you may need to double back on the route to return to the terminal.
• Use universal warehouses strategically. They function like multi-cargo stations, and goods stored inside can be collected by any vehicle whose stop falls within the building's radius.

How the Campaign Compares to Tycoon and Sandbox Modes

The Transport Fever 3 campaign sits alongside tycoon and sandbox modes, and each serves a different purpose. As Paradox Interactive's official game page explains, the campaign missions let you "relive or rewrite history" through handcrafted historical scenarios, while tycoon mode focuses on managing evolving city demands like pollution, noise, and population satisfaction.

The Saving Mardi Gras mission is an ideal entry point because each objective introduces exactly one new system before building on the last. By the end, you'll have practiced roads, rail, water, and bus networks — everything you need to thrive in the open-ended modes.

Should You Play the Transport Fever 3 Campaign First?

Absolutely — even veterans of Transport Fever 2 will benefit. The sequel introduces new tools, deeper vehicle management, dynamic weather, and reworked cargo chains, so the campaign is the safest way to learn the changed systems without the financial pressure of tycoon mode. The story is a genuine highlight too: the tension between Mayor LaFontaine's budget-first politics and Katie Baker's community-first activism gives the mission real personality, and assistant Andrew's ambition to "build bridges" around the world sets up future chapters nicely.

Once you've saved Mardi Gras, mission two unlocks immediately — and with eight campaigns in total, there's plenty of historical variety ahead, from early steam-era scenarios through to modern transport challenges.

FAQ

How many campaigns are in Transport Fever 3? There are eight campaign missions in total. They unlock sequentially, so you must complete Saving Mardi Gras before accessing the second mission.

How do I get three stars in the Saving Mardi Gras mission? Complete every story task chain: catch the alligators, repair the road, build the hotel, deliver seafood, rebuild the rail bridge, extend the bus line, and set up the parade route. Finishing the main objectives earns one star; the additional "help New Orleans" tasks earn the rest.

Is the Transport Fever 3 campaign a good tutorial for new players? Yes. The first mission teaches camera controls, road and rail construction, line creation, depots, and multi-stage cargo delivery in a guided, low-pressure environment — ideal before jumping into tycoon mode.

Can I replay Transport Fever 3 campaign missions? Yes, completed missions remain available from the campaign menu, so you can replay them to improve your star rating or chase the special reward for subduing the alligators quickly.