Laying Tile in the Emerald Isle [18IRELAND]

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Mr. Squishy: Mar 22, 2010; A country where you can always get richer.

Rules

Sheet

Player Order
Fellis
blackmongoose
Mr. Squishy
Admanb
Jordan

Minor Order

Mr. Squishy fucked around with this message at 16:45 on Oct 26, 2018

# ? Oct 23, 2018 16:00

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# ? Apr 25, 2024 20:18

Mr. Squishy: Mar 22, 2010; A country where you can always get richer.

Mr. Squishy posted:

I'm looking for 2 to 5 other people to play 18Ireland, a recent game in the 18xx family. I'd describe it as a mutant '49; poor country, with bad terrain, and an arcane stock market. There's a lot of weird things in the game, so I'd advise people to read the rules, but I'll just detail three of the gimmicks that have made me want to play this game as soon as I saw it. It's just recently got a Board18 module, and a Sheet that works for it.

Rules

Rust and Rot
Ireland has hex trains that move a number of hexes (rather than a number of destinations) which are uniquely durable. When Trains first rust, they are still removed from companies hands, but are not out of the game entirely. Instead they flip over to a rusted version:they can only go half as far, but they only cost half the price! This implies that at some point, you might be so hard up you'll buy a train that can go 1 hex, but only costs �40. Then, when the next batch of trains rust, they rot away entirely.

Narrow Gauge Track
'Ireland has Narrow Gauge track which is useful for improving cities by connecting them to smaller towns. Player trains cannot run on them, but if a city is connected by narrow gauge to a town (or towns) that is only connected by narrow gauge, that city adds the town's �10 payout to its own. A small, abstract local stopping service is improving the economy by connecting all these whistlestops for you. Useful when your train can only go 1 hex. Let's take an example from the rulebook.

Here, both Sligo and Dunway are paying out �70, due to each being connected through narrow gauge to four �10 towns. It would be possible from here to wreck that cosy little set-up by connecting some of those towns onto standard gauge track.

Minors, Majors, and Mergers
Honestly what I'm most excited for. Lots of games have mergers, but they're always very cosy. Here, a President can have a shareholder revolt and lose a company into a bigger one against their choice. Let's start off with the difference between Minors and Majors. Minors are 5-share companies who pay 20% dividends and are able to double-jump on the stock market. Unfortunately, they can only have 1 station, and have a lower limit on trains held. Then there are Major companies which are 10-shares paying 10% dividends, can have up to 3 stations, and a higher limit on trains held.
Between the last OR and the new SR there is a Merger Round, where each player, starting with the Priority Dealer, can propose a merger between two or more Minor companies. Then every share in the involved companies held by players or in the market votes. Shares in the market decide yay or nay by whether they would be worth more after the merger goes through. Shares are exchanged 20% for 10%, and there's quite a lot of restrictions on this (you can't merge if the resulting company would have two stations on a tile, or have more than 60% held by a player or 50% in the market) but such a weird and mean mechanism, I really want to play with it.

This is meant to be a long game, and obviously a fair bit of it is fairly complex, but if you're not having fun you can only go bankrupt and leave early.

Ireland looks like this

A large-ish map with a lot of towns. All of those company logos represent Minor companies, which have to be bought in a pre-determined order. There is only one off-board location, which is tied to a Private.

Mr. Squishy fucked around with this message at 20:16 on Oct 23, 2018

# ? Oct 23, 2018 16:07

Jordan7hm: Feb 17, 2011; Lipstick Apathy

I�m in.

# ? Oct 23, 2018 16:25

Fellis: Feb 14, 2012; Kid, don't threaten me. There are worse things than death, and uh, I can do all of them.

49-like you say :heysexy:

Im in, Board18 is Fellis

# ? Oct 23, 2018 16:47

blackmongoose: Mar 31, 2011; DARK INFERNO ROOK!

I am very interested, hex trains are great and the narrow gauge rule is a beautiful expression of a concept I've been playing around with house ruling into existing games for a while now.

I don't really know what board18 is, do I need to download it or sign up for it or something?

# ? Oct 23, 2018 17:05

Mr. Squishy: Mar 22, 2010; A country where you can always get richer.

Oh yeah I should have said. Board18 is a free PBEM service for 18xx's. Register there and give me your handle and I'll invite you to the right board. It has all the assets (map, tiles, tokens) that make up the board. Things held by players (money, company charters, trains, etc) are done on a google Sheet, which I'll also post and I'd appreciate if you ask for an invite edit to.
Board18 is pretty simple, the biggest snag is it's not click and drag, but click and click. There's a toolbar at the top that lets you switch between the map and the stock market (shortcut is the M key), and a way to hide tiles to see exactly what you've covered up with a rail service (shortcut the H key). The Sheet's liable to be a bigger pain but we'll get to that.

# ? Oct 23, 2018 17:23

admanb: Jun 18, 2014

I'm still learning 18xx but I'm in if you don't mind a newbie.

# ? Oct 23, 2018 17:39

Mr. Squishy: Mar 22, 2010; A country where you can always get richer.

Everyone's welcome. I'm not an expert in them by any means.

# ? Oct 23, 2018 17:47

admanb: Jun 18, 2014

Sweet! Just registered on Board18 -- same name as here.

# ? Oct 23, 2018 17:49

blackmongoose: Mar 31, 2011; DARK INFERNO ROOK!

Registered on board18 as blackmongoose

# ? Oct 23, 2018 17:52

Mr. Squishy: Mar 22, 2010; A country where you can always get richer.

OK, I'm calling it here as 6 players might be foolhardy. I've added everyone to the board, except Jordan who needs to give me a username.
Here's the Sheet. Ask for edit permissions and you'd get em. It's quite a swish one, and has randomized player order which is:
Fellis
blackmongoodse
Mr. Squishy
Admanb
Jordan.

'Ireland also randomizes Minor companies. They are stacked, and must be started in order. In Phase 4 on, they can merge to form Majors, from 6 on, you can start Majors from the off, and Phase 8, all un-started Minors are removed from the game. Here's the order transposed on the map.

GJR in Sligo is removed from the game from the off. Bear in mind we're only removing companies, not the cities they're based in. Starting a company here is auctioning off the president's share, minimum bid is �100, no maximum bid. Obviously some spots are better than others so you may want to keep some money to hand.

Also randomized are the Private Companies, which I'll copy from the sheet here

First and last are in every game, but the remaining three are random. The auction for these is a cascade auction like '30, except if everyone passes after DAR is bought, all unbought privates are discarded. Starting w/ Fellis, players have an option to pass their turn, buy the cheapest company (so, DAR) or place a bid for a more expensive company. Bids must be �5 more than the value of the company, or �5 more than a pre-existing bid. When the cheaper company is bought, all companies that have bids on are also purchased for the bid price (companies w/ 2 or more bids start an auction between those w/ bids on it). This continues until we hit a company nobody's bid on, then we go back to either Pass, Buy, or Bid.
I think all the abilities are reasonably clear. DAR's Wicklow hex is J14, TDR's Tralee and Dingle hexes are A19 and B18, so pretty good for whoever gets WLR near Limerick.

e: so Fellis, Pass, Buy, or Bid?

Mr. Squishy fucked around with this message at 20:15 on Oct 23, 2018

# ? Oct 23, 2018 20:11

Fellis: Feb 14, 2012; Kid, don't threaten me. There are worse things than death, and uh, I can do all of them.

Gonna need a few hours to skim the rules/board and stuff!

# ? Oct 23, 2018 20:18

Mr. Squishy: Mar 22, 2010; A country where you can always get richer.

A little thing, because it confused me. Company logos on tile-less hexes (ie, everywhere except Dublin) aren't sitting on cities. They're just showing what city they're based on. There aren't freak three-city hexes out there.

# ? Oct 23, 2018 20:33

Orvin: Sep 9, 2006

Good luck here everyone.

I have gotten about half a dozen plays of 18Ireland in with my group before we shelved it. It has some really interesting concepts, but the fact that the game is incredibly cash poor kinda hampers it.

Hopefully I am not overstepping, but here is a bit of advice with regards to small gauge track. Take a look at the tiles and keep them in mind. While narrow gauge track looks attractive as it doesn�t pay terrain costs, and boosts your city tiles, it takes a really long time to develop. The yellow town tiles do not go through, so you have to spend a turn upgrading to green before you can keep expanding the network. In our group, every game at least one player would buy a minor near a bunch of small dots and think they were going to connect them all to the home for a big run. Only to realize that it will take half the game or focusing on the narrow gauge track just to get a $20 or $30 bonus on one city.

In general, look closely at all the track, especially what the special tiles upgrade to. The EM tiles stay poor, and the BC don�t connect through until late.

The designer of the game admitted that the obsolete trains are in the game primarily to give trainless companies a lifeline to make it to the next OR for a merge to happen. So if they seem like a terrible deal, it�s because they are.

# ? Oct 23, 2018 20:48

Mr. Squishy: Mar 22, 2010; A country where you can always get richer.

Haha, not kidding. EM tiles cap at green on a �20 payout, half the green BC or DUB tiles, which keep developing to a �60 grey tile

Orvin posted:

...While narrow gauge track looks attractive as it doesn�t pay terrain costs,

Definitely a rule I caught when perusing the rulebook.

Mr. Squishy fucked around with this message at 23:11 on Oct 23, 2018

# ? Oct 23, 2018 21:26

blackmongoose: Mar 31, 2011; DARK INFERNO ROOK!

I think I've fallen in love with the track tiles in this game, especially the brown plain track. Also enjoyed the rulebook quote "Bankruptcy stalks you like Death in 18Ireland." I'm really excited to get eliminated in OR1.

# ? Oct 23, 2018 21:51

Fellis: Feb 14, 2012; Kid, don't threaten me. There are worse things than death, and uh, I can do all of them.

Bid 85 on RSSC

# ? Oct 24, 2018 03:50

blackmongoose: Mar 31, 2011; DARK INFERNO ROOK!

Bid 125 on DKR

# ? Oct 24, 2018 04:00

Mr. Squishy: Mar 22, 2010; A country where you can always get richer.

�45 on BOW.

# ? Oct 24, 2018 11:13

admanb: Jun 18, 2014

50 on BOW

# ? Oct 24, 2018 16:21

Jordan7hm: Feb 17, 2011; Lipstick Apathy

I�ve only got view only access to the sheet for some reason.

Bidding 90 on RSSC.

# ? Oct 24, 2018 18:24

admanb: Jun 18, 2014

Jordan7hm posted:

I�ve only got view only access to the sheet for some reason.

Bidding 90 on RSSC.

You have to request edit access.

# ? Oct 24, 2018 18:30

Mr. Squishy: Mar 22, 2010; A country where you can always get richer.

Yeah, there's a button in the (iirc) top right that sends me an email.

# ? Oct 24, 2018 18:37

Fellis: Feb 14, 2012; Kid, don't threaten me. There are worse things than death, and uh, I can do all of them.

130 on DKR

# ? Oct 24, 2018 19:57

blackmongoose: Mar 31, 2011; DARK INFERNO ROOK!

55 on TDR

# ? Oct 24, 2018 21:13

Mr. Squishy: Mar 22, 2010; A country where you can always get richer.

I'll buy DAR and bid 60 for the next one.
e: uh i mean 55, on BOW.

# ? Oct 24, 2018 21:29

admanb: Jun 18, 2014

So now we auction BOW between you and I, right?

Bid 60

# ? Oct 24, 2018 21:47

Mr. Squishy: Mar 22, 2010; A country where you can always get richer.

You've got it! Then i think mongoose wins the next one, and then something else happens. I'm phone posting.

# ? Oct 24, 2018 21:55

admanb: Jun 18, 2014

Oops missed a bid.

admanb fucked around with this message at 22:16 on Oct 24, 2018

# ? Oct 24, 2018 21:57

Fellis: Feb 14, 2012; Kid, don't threaten me. There are worse things than death, and uh, I can do all of them.

Jordan will win RSSC for 90 immediately, I have $130 on DKR and can�t outbid them

# ? Oct 24, 2018 22:09

Mr. Squishy: Mar 22, 2010; A country where you can always get richer.

Fellis posted:

Jordan will win RSSC for 90 immediately, I have $130 on DKR and can�t outbid them

Oh I see. You couldn't have placed your bid for B surely as that takes you down to -15. I wasn't paying enough heed obviously, but there's a thing in a rulebook about bids locking up the money until ownership is resolved (which I interpret as until the thing is purchased). So even if you had made up your mind to rake back the money offered to RSSC after Jordan had outbid you, it wasn't yet back in your hands to bid on DKR.
I don't know where we go from here, I'm most tempted to just let it ride and let Fellis and mongoose bid it out for DKR, but that might be unfair to mongoose and so we could change Fellis' bid to a pass, or we could rewind the whole thing a few posts. Any imput would be welcome.

# ? Oct 24, 2018 23:17

Jordan7hm: Feb 17, 2011; Lipstick Apathy

My input is that I�m ok no matter what we do.

# ? Oct 25, 2018 00:52

admanb: Jun 18, 2014

I'm fine either way, but letting it ride gets us moving forward quickest so I'd vote that way, but ultimately I think mongoose has the most important vote.

# ? Oct 25, 2018 01:03

Fellis: Feb 14, 2012; Kid, don't threaten me. There are worse things than death, and uh, I can do all of them.

Ah whoops. I knew my money was tied up while I had an active bid, but I thought once I was outbid I was good to use it again.

E: welp nevermind that�s how it�s worded in other 18xx, you just usually have a lot more starting capital so it doesn�t come up. My bad.

Blackmongoose: I would have bid on TDR if I didn�t bid on DKR (which was actually my action till I realized that BM could buy DAR and cascade) so you can let it proceed as played or have DKR for 125 and we bid on TDR

Fellis fucked around with this message at 01:12 on Oct 25, 2018

# ? Oct 25, 2018 01:09

blackmongoose: Mar 31, 2011; DARK INFERNO ROOK!

Fellis posted:

Ah whoops. I knew my money was tied up while I had an active bid, but I thought once I was outbid I was good to use it again.

E: welp nevermind that’s how it’s worded in other 18xx, you just usually have a lot more starting capital so it doesn’t come up. My bad.

Blackmongoose: I would have bid on TDR if I didn’t bid on DKR (which was actually my action till I realized that BM could buy DAR and cascade) so you can let it proceed as played or have DKR for 125 and we bid on TDR

I would prefer the latter because we can resolve it right now - under your alternate scenario, had you bid on TDR I would have passed and you would have it for 55 after DAR was bought. Alternatively if we keep my bid on TDR you bid 55, I bid 60, and I would pass if you chose to over bid me. Either of those outcomes lets us finish it now. If we're bidding on DKR, I would have to wait until I get home to decide my bid which might be several hours. If everyone is ok with waiting though I'm fine with acceding to the thread consensus to let it ride

# ? Oct 25, 2018 01:54

blackmongoose: Mar 31, 2011; DARK INFERNO ROOK!

Another thought is we could just rewind and say Fellis bids on TDR, I pass, and it's Squishy's turn

# ? Oct 25, 2018 02:01

Fellis: Feb 14, 2012; Kid, don't threaten me. There are worse things than death, and uh, I can do all of them.

blackmongoose posted:

Another thought is we could just rewind and say Fellis bids on TDR, I pass, and it's Squishy's turn

Let's do this, its relatively easy and makes the actions correct. This is what the private auction looks like now:

Squishy's turn

# ? Oct 25, 2018 02:48

Mr. Squishy: Mar 22, 2010; A country where you can always get richer.

OK, I still buy DOW, don't up my bid on 3 so Ad gets it, Fellis gets TDR and gets into an auction w/ Jordan

# ? Oct 25, 2018 12:43

Fellis: Feb 14, 2012; Kid, don't threaten me. There are worse things than death, and uh, I can do all of them.

Pass so Jordan gets RSSC for 90 and BMG gets DKR for 125

# ? Oct 25, 2018 14:54

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# ? Apr 25, 2024 20:18

Mr. Squishy: Mar 22, 2010; A country where you can always get richer.

DKR insistently turns from a private to a minor of stock price 60, and buys a train with 80 of that 125. Uh, is it Ad next in the Stock Round proper?

# ? Oct 25, 2018 15:21

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