Subject:
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Re: Stephenson's Rocket
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Newsgroups:
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lugnet.off-topic.fun
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Date:
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Sat, 15 Apr 2000 03:48:22 GMT
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Viewed:
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2299 times
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In lugnet.off-topic.fun, Larry Pieniazek writes:
> > Board. It is of German origin. It's by Reiner Knizia and distributed in
> > English in the US by Rio Grande Games. It's a fairly abstract board game, • but
> > is very very challenging. I most highly reccommend it.
>
> Sounds good. Can you tell more about it? For example, I consider 1830 more
> "abstract" than eurorails. One of the reasons I like 1830 is the stock market
> manipulation. What do you mean by abstract..
OK. Knizia's games (the ones that I know at least) seem to have a fairly small
ruleset by which the players manipulate stuff within a fixed space. These
game/rule/logic systems have a veneer of theme pasted on. Often, even the best
jobs of matching the game to the theme is somewhat transparent. In the case of
SR, you could be building aquaducts in old Rome and it would be fun.
Before I go on too much, you can see it at
http://www.riograndegames.com/ourgames.htm#Stephensons Rocket by following the
links around a bit.
Basically, the games board is of part of England. There are several train
companies (7?) operating, each has a stack of shares to one side of the board.
The point system is Pounds, but it's really just points. (You never spend
them.) Each round, you get to take two actions. There are three types of
actions you can take, either one each of two, or two of one of them. And you
very often really need to have just one extra action to complete your little
plan...
There are four kinds of hexes on the map. They are: blank hexes, railway
starting hexes, cities, and railway towns. The three possible actions are:
move a train of any one company (and take a share of that company) (this can be
vetoed (or attempted at any rate) by other share holders), play a station (on
any empty hex that's not adjacent to another station or to a railhead (as
marked by the train)), or collect a cargo token from one of the cities.
Scoring (for you) is accumulated through the game by connecting any train
company to a city where you hold one or more of the three cargo tokens, by
running a train company next to a railway town if you have majority (or second)
number of stations on that line, and by causing mergers. A merger happens
whenever two rail lines become adjacent. The one that moves folds into the
other one. stocks are traded in at 1:2 and the company that's folding scores
for the two majority holders of both stocks and stations.
At the end of the game, scoring is done in similar ways and also, people who
have majorities of the various types of cargo markers get more. It is
generally pretty close with some surprises when the points are tallied at the
end of the game.
If this has been unclear, the rules are available at the link above.
> For flat out beer and pretzels, it's tough to beat railway rivals... a bit of
> business at the beginning about who gets through what passes first, and then
> it's just pure luck.
I've played, but I recall it being pretty simple, and nice enough, but it
didn't scream "buy me." And so I didn't.
> > I also like the PC version of 1830. I mostly play with random maps now.
>
> I have a rather old CD at this point of this which we played a fair bit, but I
> like the board version better, multiplayer on the PC was cumbersome, and • single
> player not as fun as against humans. (it's great to send someone up the river
Right...I've only played single player. I'd rather play on a board with
players too, but I can drive through a game in 1 hour which I just can't do
with humans on the other end.
> with a well timed dump, and you can't do that against the PC players, they
> can't be suckered...)
Agreed. But I can. So they get the best of me. And on the 1 in 3 where I win
, I feel like I earned it.
> > I prefer 1870 of the 18xx games that I've played (1830, 56, 70, • 53(?...Imperial
> > India), and 35.
>
> I've only played '29 (? the english) '30 and '35 (which I found quite hard to
> fathom, I don't grok the intermediate stage). Why do you like '70?
Oh yeah, I've played '29 too, with one or two of the little expansions. Maybe
for social reasons more than game reasons. It was my second try with the
system, after '56. I think it's quite better than '56 which is dominated by
the socializing of the Canadian lines (as it's supposed to be). I also lived
in the area 1870 covered (the south midwest: Chicago to Texas). OTOH, I've met
others from around the nation who also like it best. <shrug> Have you ever
looked at http://freespace.virgin.net/chris.lawson/18xx/index.htm ? It's a
great 18xx site.
> > Eurorails is my fave of the crayon games, but Iron Dragon has some nice rules
> > additions. (I don't care for the foreman rules) Nippon (especially) or
> > Australian or Brittish rails both make better two player games than the large
> > boards.
>
> Yes. Between my brother in law and me, we have all of them except british
> and the original, strangely enough, and Nippon is good for a fast 2 player.
I have the original Empire builder, first printing, in a big flat 1-inch high
box and crappy cards. I've never replaced it with a newer one.
> > I've played Silverton, and I think there are some good ideas burried in it, • but
> > it's really boring and cumbersome.
>
> I've had good luck getting mundanes to try Silverton, better than say, empire
> builder or rail baron, believe it or not. I agree with you, I too think
Wow, I've made gamers out of people with the crayon games. I think they are
second only to _Settlers of Catan_ for interesting non-gamers.
> I haven't played these. Have you played Streetcar?
I think so. Is it set in New Orleans? Or is that Railway Rivals? Is
Streetcar the same system as Linnie1? I think I have once or twice quite a
while ago.
> I should also mention Transport Tycoon which I like a lot (and which you can
Wow. I hated it :-) It never clicked with me. I could sometimes make money,
but never with planes or trucks, trains and boats only - if I'm remembering it
right. I think there was just some paradigm thing that I never phased with and
so I didn't spend the time with it that I might otherwise have.
> see the bones of in RollerCoaster Tycoon, my current fave PC game).
Is that actually good? What's the premis? I mean, I guess you're making money
at a theme park, but what's the hook?
> I just got the Lionel Trans Con PC game which I stumbled across at KBKids • while
> looking for other stuff, haven't tried it yet.
Never heard of it. Good luck.
Chris
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Message has 2 Replies:
 | | Re: Stephenson's Rocket
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| (...) <snipped synopsis> (...) Perused them. Seems to have a bit of Acquire-ish thinking, in how stuff merges. Well, I'll give it a go if I see it. (...) Ya, it's simple. Good mundanes game. I tend to buy every railroad game I encounter, so I did. (...) (25 years ago, 15-Apr-00, to lugnet.off-topic.fun)
| | | Re: Stephenson's Rocket
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| (...) Interestingly, the computer version of 1830 sold me on the real board game. I had played 1829, but when 1830 first came out, I passed on it because I thought the smaller board would make the game less interesting. Definitely not so. (...) I (...) (25 years ago, 17-Apr-00, to lugnet.off-topic.fun)
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Message is in Reply To:
| | Re: Stephenson's Rocket
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| (...) Sounds good. Can you tell more about it? For example, I consider 1830 more "abstract" than eurorails. One of the reasons I like 1830 is the stock market manipulation. What do you mean by abstract.. For flat out beer and pretzels, it's tough to (...) (25 years ago, 15-Apr-00, to lugnet.off-topic.fun)
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