On Asset Stripping (Again)

As I've stated before, I want Britain Under Steam to have companies that change in value throughout the game, so that players are continually faced with investment decisions. This means that the game must have many companies in operation. In turn, this could provide many opportunities for asset stripping.

Asset stripping is an important factor in many 18xx games. One company can buy a train from another at a grossly inflated price, or a measly undervalued one, thus transferring wealth between them.

This is a potential problem in my game. A player could start a new company, strip it of its assets, and sell it back to the bank. This could leave several companies that are such poor value that there is no point in buying them, which would defeat the object of the design. Many 18xx games restrict the sale of shares so that it is harder to get rid of asset-stripped companies, but I want players to be able to swap shares freely. I just want to ensure that companies that are of little worth at one point may become more valuable later on.

I will need to see what happens in playtests. It may be that the asset-stripped companies take loans to buy new trains and thus end up becoming more valuable. Nonetheless, here are some thoughts on ways to limit excessive asset stripping.

• Require each newly-floated company to buy its first train from the bank. So it can't just give all it cash to an existing company. (It could, of course, sell the new train cheaply)
• Forbid a company from buying the last train of another company, unless the purchasing company has no trains. (This rule is used in 1860. It should combine well with the previous point).
• If a company sells a train for less than half price, drop its share price. Conversely, drop its share price if it buys a train for more than full price. (This gives more volatility to the stock market, as well as limiting asset stripping per se).
• Additionally, an insolvent company may not sell a train for less than half price or buy a train for more than full price.
  
• When a player sells the director's certificate of company, give him only the value of a single share instead of the two represented by the certificate.
• Additionally, if a company is insolvent, its shares sell for half value (so directors are discouraged from maladministration).
• If the above are too feeble, do not allow companies to sell trains until phase three (or some other phase as fits the design).