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 This is a rather old game by Knizia that I've recently discovered and got to play a few times, and I like a lot. It has constant interesting decisions, small conflicts with all other players, while having a reasonably limited rules overhead. The game usually looks like this:  .I... have made a few changes to make it playable online. It does the job:  Tell me it's not a thing of beauty. This will be a 4 player game. I will summarize the rules here in a more concise form, but if something is unclear you will have to either ask me, or check the rulebook online (here for instance. Players take turns in a set order. Each turn will consist of exactly two actions, each of which can be one of the following: a) Invest in a railway company, extending its track. The 7 differently-coloured hexes with a big fat dot in the middle of them are the starting towns of 7 railway companies. A player may use an action to extend track by one hex. At first this can happen in any direction, but once any track is built, it can only continue either in a straight line, or at a soft curve. Sharp curves are not allowed. This action has a number of steps: - The active player declares where they want to extend the track, and takes one share of that company (oh yeah I haven't yet mentioned, the companies have shares). - Any player holding at least one share of that company may declare a veto. If a veto is declared: --- Clockwise from the active player, each non-active player has one chance to bid a number of shares of the company so that they may decide where the track will go (note: this might be exactly the same as it was before). Any bid must be larger than a previous bid. --- Finally, the active player only needs to match the top bid, not exceed it, in order to win the bid. They then get to select where the track goes (this can be different from where it went originally). - If the track that was just laid down enters a hex occupied by a different player's station, and if this was the active player's doing (i.e. there was no veto, or the active player won bidding), then the active player gains a Passenger token. - Finally, we check if the newly laid track touches either a city (yellow, marked with letters, and with symbols/tokens on them), a town (black), or another railway's track. I'll come back later to what happens in these events. b) Invest in a city, improving its industry (= taking one of its tokens). There are 4 types of tokens in the various cities on the board, representing 4 types of industry. A player may, as an action, take any one of these tokens that they desire. c) Build a station Each player has 7 station pieces. As an action, a player may take a station either from their supply, or from another place on the board, and may place it on any empty hex, or hex containing only track, as long as it not adjacent to either another station, or the end of a railway line (this does not include the line's starting town). We move on to scoring. First, a note on 2nd places and ties. For each and every scoring event I will mention here, the second place winner will gain half the points the winner gains, rounded down. Note that a player must fulfill the relevant condition in some shape to qualify (i.e. if only one player has stations on the line, the other players don't all count as "second"). At every point, if there is a tie of any size, the amount of points that the tied players would win will be added up and split between them, rounded down. Example: The winner of a scoring event is due to score 5 points. 2nd place will score 2. If the two are tied, then those amounts are added up (7), and divided (rounds down to 3). a) Cities Every time a city is connected to a specific railway for the first time (i.e. the railway has built track in an adjacent hex), the player holding most tokens from that city gains 2 points. b) Towns Every time a town is connected to a specific railway for the first time, the player controlling most stations on that rail-line will gain a number of points equal to the total amount of special hexes (i.e. cities, towns, and starting towns) connected to the railway. c) When a railway touches track of another company, the railway that has just been extended is immediately dissolved. The player holding the largest amount of stock in that railway will gain a number of points equal to the total amount of special hexes connected to the railway. Furthermore, all players must turn in all their shares of the dissolved railway, and will gain 1 share in the other railway for every 2 shares turned in. Finally, at the end of the game, scoring b) and c) (i.e. most stations, and most shares) occur for every still active railway. Also at the end of the game, we look at the passenger and industry tokens. First, any industry tokens from cities that have never been connected to any railway are lost. Then, for each type of token (including passenger tokens), the player holding on to the largest amount is rewarded 6 points. Finally, two exceptions: Firstly, if at any point a railway is in a situation where, given any number of extensions, it could not possibly reach a new special hex, or be merged into another railway, then it counts as "isolated". It continues existing, but will no longer award any shares (due to extension, or another railway merging into it). Secondly, a railway may never be extended into a hex where it could trigger into either of two other railways. I believe I've covered everything, so at this point I'm accepting sign-ups. Choo-choo, motherfuckers. Actually, an important detail I have forgotten: What triggers the end of the game? a) Exhaustion of the 60 track tiles that come with the game (Note: the rail-heads of still active railways do not use a track tile, so they do not count towards this limit) b) 6 out of the 7 companies being either dissolved or isolated (i.e. no longer awarding stock) Dancer fucked around with this message at 01:54 on Mar 29, 2018 |
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Mar 29, 2018 01:38
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| # ? Apr 18, 2024 19:21 |
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Sign me up for trains game.
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Mar 29, 2018 02:08
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Looks like Chicago Express. I'll watch and maybe sub in if you end up needing one. edit okay FINE I've been bullied into playing. This game had better end within a few weeks cause holy crap I'm going to lose all my time at the end of april. Also all my sleep. silvergoose fucked around with this message at 18:05 on Mar 29, 2018 |
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Mar 29, 2018 03:13
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Okay I'll bump it too because apparently we need more players.
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Mar 29, 2018 18:08
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I'll participate in the train shenanigans
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Mar 29, 2018 19:27
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Sign me up.
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Mar 29, 2018 19:41
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Sounds interesting /in
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Mar 29, 2018 20:25
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WOOHOO I'll bow out as a sub then. 
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Mar 29, 2018 20:29
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I guess we're ready to begin. Here is the player order: taser rates blackmongoose Jordan xelada Here's an extremely basic google spreadsheet for tracking shares and tokens: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/15z9lPR07dtfiYrKFUk-oJenJwbGYaZWIDoiuCB6Ob3k/edit?usp=sharing Taser rates may begin. Please number your turns (not actions; so taser rates' both actions would just be turn 1). The "turn" cell in the spreadsheet indicates the last turn I've fully updated. If you want to plant a station, since I forgot to add coordinates to the image, trace a route from the nearest landmark (e.g. the hex right in the middle of purple and red starting town would be purple town-NE-E) For now it's not relevant, but for later it will probably be necessary for every share-holder to actively post that they're passing if they will not veto a rail extension. So please keep that in mind; even if it's not "your turn", you might need to post a pass.
Dancer fucked around with this message at 23:46 on Mar 29, 2018 |
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Mar 29, 2018 23:18
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Oh yeah, and all players please message me on Discord so I know who you are. It is my habit to poke people when it's their turn when I'm online and I notice it, to keep the game flowing.
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Mar 29, 2018 23:19
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1. Station on the hex two spaces NW of green, move green NW.
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Mar 29, 2018 23:24
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I had forgotten to point out how I intend to visualize stations. I don't think colours would be very handy, so I decided to use greek letters.
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Mar 29, 2018 23:40
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taser rates posted:1. Station on the hex two spaces NW of green, move green NW. Just for the record "K-East" would've also worked .
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Mar 29, 2018 23:47
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Can we do numbers? It’ll be easier too type while on mobile.
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Mar 30, 2018 00:01
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If you're referring to coordinates, I'm afraid it's too late for that. That whole picture was made in MS Paint, so it would be rather difficult to add them in now. As for stations, you shouldn't need to ever type them? Alpha is taser rates, beta is blackmongoose, gamma is you, delta is xelada. You just tell me where the station goes, and I plop it down.
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Mar 30, 2018 00:11
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2. Take star token from city K, move green NW
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Mar 30, 2018 00:13
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Mar 30, 2018 00:18
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taser rates passes on the veto, Jordan to play (I'll be less "baby-sitty" once the game has started properly. For now I just want to make sure everything is clear for everyone).
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Mar 30, 2018 00:33
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3. Take a star token from H Orange W.
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Mar 30, 2018 13:59
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4. Build station W of I Purple NW
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Mar 30, 2018 14:09
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 xelada, please message me in the board games discord so I have your handle there. Here's an invite if you need it: https://discord.gg/Hqxsjc I'm Dancer#7015.
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Mar 30, 2018 14:12
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5. Station two NE of K, move green NE
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Mar 30, 2018 16:05
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6. Take star token from G, move grey SE
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Mar 30, 2018 16:12
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taser rates posted:5. Station two NE of K, move green NE For demonstration purposes: This move scored 3 points for taser rates (because the railway connected to the railway town, and taser rates had most stations on it, and the railway was now connected to 3 special hexes; its starting hex counts). 
Dancer fucked around with this message at 17:36 on Mar 30, 2018 |
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Mar 30, 2018 16:58
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A few rules clarifications, one of which might have impacted your actions so far, had you known it, so I apologize for that: 1) When a merger occurs, the railway being dissolved becomes 100% part of the surviving one. So, if the surviving railway scores, special hexes connected only via the dissolved railway count for scoring purposes 2) Unlike what I said in the OP, stations cannot be placed on track hexes. The only way to get a station on track is to drive the track into it.
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Mar 30, 2018 17:24
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7. Take a heart token from E. Move orange track NW.
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Mar 30, 2018 19:01
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8. Triangle from I Place a station SW of G
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Mar 31, 2018 00:11
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Mar 31, 2018 00:20
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9. Green NW, station west and northwest of H
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Mar 31, 2018 12:59
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Veto Green move with one share, move NE instead. Regardless of whether it is overridden or not: 10. Station directly above (NW, then NE of) G, move grey east
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Mar 31, 2018 20:56
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Accept veto.
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Apr 1, 2018 02:27
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 BTW, for the record, if I ever post a map update, you can assume that the spreadsheet is also up to date (whether it's entirely correct is a different matter).
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Apr 1, 2018 02:47
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11. Take triangle from H. Orange NW.
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Apr 1, 2018 15:58
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12. Take a Triangle from H Take a Pentagon from E
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Apr 3, 2018 13:00
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13. Green NW, Orange W
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Apr 3, 2018 13:54
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14. Take Heart from I, Grey NE
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Apr 3, 2018 16:12
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For the record, Jordan has veto potential on taser rates' turn 13.
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Apr 3, 2018 17:34
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I don’t veto. 15. Green NE and Orange NW.
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Apr 3, 2018 17:52
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Status after turn 14: I've also decided to stop updating the spreadsheet when I don't have a chance to update the map at the same time. I think it's less confusing this way?
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Apr 3, 2018 18:53
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No veto on the green move, merger happens, veto orange for 1 share, head W instead.
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Apr 4, 2018 05:01
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