If you are playing Unrailed 2: Back on Track solo, your success entirely depends on understanding exactly how to assign instructions to bot Unrailed 2 efficiently. Unlike human teammates who can adapt on the fly, the AI companion relies on strict context-sensitive commands and specific visual markers. To command the bot, you must either swap places with it while holding a specific tool (like an axe or tracks) to dictate its next task, use the in-game emoji wheel to draw custom flag paths across the map, or double-tap the command button to force an emergency item drop. Mastering these advanced AI mechanics is the only way to survive the relentless pace of the late-game biomes and boss fights.
The bot in the original Unrailed was little more than a glorified roomba. In Unrailed 2, following its full 1.0 release on June 11, 2026, the AI has been overhauled into a complex—and sometimes easily confused—co-worker. Because the game's base train speed scales up with the number of players (and bots count as players), bringing an AI into your session actively increases the game's difficulty. If you do not micromanage its pathfinding and resource gathering, it will become a liability rather than an asset.
The Basics: How to Assign Instructions to Bot Unrailed 2 Using Contextual Swaps
The fundamental way to control your AI companion is through the contextual swap mechanic. You cannot simply point and click to give the bot a list of chores. Instead, the bot inherits a task based on what your character is currently holding at the exact moment you initiate the swap command.
If you hold an Axe or a Pickaxe when you swap, the bot assumes mining duty and will target the nearest trees or rocks. If you hold Railway Tracks, it takes over track placement, running back and forth from the Crafter Wagon to the end of the line. If you swap with Empty Hands (or while holding raw resources), it defaults to wagon logistics. In this logistics mode, the bot will gather loose resources, refill the Storage Wagon, operate the Crafter Wagon, and—most importantly—grab the water bucket if the engine overheats.
Resource management in the sequel is far more demanding than in the first game. You must remember the golden ratio: 1 tree = 1 wood, and 1 rock = 1 iron. Furthermore, Unrailed 2 introduces the Compressor Wagon, a mid-game upgrade that combines 5 wood into 1 compressed wood (and 5 iron into 1 compressed iron). If you assign the bot to logistics, it will automatically feed the Compressor Wagon when standard storage is full, allowing you to stockpile materials for long, double-arrow maps.
Advanced Pathfinding: How to Assign Instructions to Bot Unrailed 2 With the Flag Emoji
During the Early Access period, solo players frequently complained that the bot was unusable for pathing. Left to its own devices, the AI would carve one-tile-wide paths through forests, leaving zero clearance for the player character to pass, or it would trap itself in corners behind wandering cows.
The developers solved this in the July 2025 Quality of Life update by repurposing the emoji wheel into a literal pathing tool.
To dictate a specific route, open the emoji wheel and select the flag emoji. You can then paint a continuous line across the tiles. The bot will automatically orient its track-laying along this drawn route, ignoring closer but more dangerous diagonal shortcuts. Furthermore, if you drop a bridge emoji on a water tile, it forces the bot to prioritize that specific crossing. This is vital when you want to force the train through a narrow choke point rather than allowing the bot to waste precious wood building a massive, unnecessary bridge across a lake.
Managing Bot Dashing and Aggressive Behaviors Under Pressure
One of the most significant under-the-hood changes to the AI occurred during the experimental v-884-ccf28f2 patch phase. The developers realized the bot was too passive during crises, often stopping to recalculate its path while the train derailed.
Now, when the train is perilously close to the end of the track, the AI enters a hardcoded Aggressive Dashing state.
In this state, the bot utilizes more dashing and takes fewer pauses. It actively considers building tracks around rocks and trees rather than waiting for you to clear them. You can use this clutch behavior to your advantage: when the train is seconds away from crashing, leave the track placement to the bot. Its Aggressive Dashing allows it to slam down tracks faster than a human player, freeing you up to sprint ahead and mine the next bottleneck. This behavior is especially essential when fighting the Torpeboss in the Boiler Badlands, where lava blobs constantly force sudden route changes.
Complex Tasks: How to Assign Instructions to Bot Unrailed 2 for Resource Management
As you progress into deeper biomes, you will encounter complex tasks that require precise timing. In build v-857-b284a4a, the developers introduced a literal lifesaver: double pressing the next command button.
This forces the bot to drop all items—including tracks—immediately. If the engine catches fire and your AI companion is stubbornly holding a stack of steel near the Crafter Wagon, this double-press emergency override forces it to drop the tracks and grab the water bucket.
Additionally, the bot is now programmed to recognize "only one player is allowed to xyz" tasks and "hold tools for max x seconds" tasks. If you are playing a custom level or a specific challenge modifier that restricts tool usage, the AI will not steal the pickaxe from you if you are currently holding it. It will also intelligently walk to the closest box wagon that feeds its actual target, rather than walking all the way around the train, reducing its travel time significantly.
Surviving Biomes and Bosses with the AI
Different biomes require different bot strategies. In the starting Monorail Meadows, you can largely leave the bot on logistics duty while you carve a path. But as you transition to harder zones, your strategy must evolve.
Take the Ocean biomes, for example. The tide mechanics mean the map expands and contracts. If you command the bot to mine tentacles at low tide, you can clear a massive forward path without needing to build extra-wide bridges when the tide rolls back in.
In the Boiler Badlands, the Torpeboss actively targets the area ahead of the train with lava blobs. If you leave the bot on track-laying duty here, it will constantly run into the lava and drop its tracks. Instead, swap with the bot while holding an axe. Let the bot mine the hardened obsidian on the edges of the map while you carefully place the tracks, dodging the boss's projectiles manually.
Common AI Limitations (and How to Fix Them)
Even with the 1.0 release updates, the bot is not flawless. Here are the most common AI bugs and how to manage them:
- The Cow Trap: The bot will occasionally wedge a cow between itself and its destination, freezing in place. Fix: Double-press the command button to force the bot to drop its items, swap places with it, and kill the cow yourself.
- Blueprint Tower Confusion: When working near a blueprint tower, the bot sometimes grabs the wrong items or tries to place tracks inside the blueprint area. Fix: Draw a strict flag path leading away from the tower to force the bot's pathfinding to recalculate.
- Bottleneck Blocking: If you and the bot get stuck in a 1-tile-wide canyon, the bot will freeze. Fix: Stand still. The latest patches added a short timeout; after a second of being blocked, the bot will automatically try to walk around you.
FAQ: How to Assign Instructions to Bot Unrailed 2
Can I set custom waypoints for the bot in Unrailed 2? Yes. While the original game lacked this feature, Unrailed 2 allows you to use the flag emoji from the communication wheel to paint a specific path across the tiles. The bot will follow this exact route when laying tracks.
Why won't the bot drop the tracks when the train is on fire? If the bot is locked into a track-laying loop, it will ignore the fire. You must double-press the command button to trigger an emergency drop, forcing the bot to drop the tracks. It will then automatically seek out the water bucket.
Does the bot speed up the train in solo play? Yes. The game's engine treats the bot as a second player. Because the train speeds up based on the number of active players, having a bot in your lobby will increase the base speed of the train compared to playing completely alone.
How do I change the starting cartridges for the bot? Currently, you cannot assign specific gameplay-modifying cartridges directly to the bot in the pre-game lobby. The bot scales based on the overall upgrades applied to the train and the tools it interacts with.
Sources
- Indoor Astronaut Patch Notes (SteamDB): Details on the July 2025 Quality of Life update, including the introduction of the flag emoji pathing tool and the Pecky character addition.
- Unrailed 2 Experimental Version Updates (Steam Community): Documentation of patch v-884-ccf28f2 (Aggressive Dashing mechanics) and v-857-b284a4a (Double-press drop commands).
- r/Unrailed Community Threads: Player strategies for managing the Torpeboss and overcoming Early Access pathfinding limitations.