What if ... lower income?

In the previous post, I pondered whether adopting the standard 18xx finance mechanism would have a major impact on the game.  In this post, I consider what consequences might arise if I then reduced the income generated by trains to compensate, so that less income was generated in the first place.  Basically, I would be attempting to bring the average income back down to that generated by my non-standard mechanism.  For example, I might reduce the values of some cities.

One consequence of this change would be that companies would be less likely to achieve double jumps on the Stock Exchange in the early game.  Without this change, companies can often float at £70 and gain an income of £140.  With trains generating less income, companies would probably have to run three trains to get the double jump.  Not all companies are positioned to run three trains so this change would alter the balance between starting companies.

I would also need to revisit the likely incomes for different companies in the opening game.  Currently the game is designed to make the companies roughly equal in starting income, while having different options for the longer game.  There are some exceptions to this general rule, either companies with less initial income and likely long-term prospects, or vice versa, but roughly speaking I consider the companies to be balanced.  Removing the rounding rule, and additionally changing the value of cities, could noticeably affect this.

In the later part of the game, this change would reduce the income of companies with permanent trains, again affecting the number of jumps in stock price.  This might actually make for a tighter game, with a closer balance between those companies that maintain a high stock price and those companies that withhold and then race to catch up.

Another consequence is that companies might take longer to reach the top of the Stock Exchange.  This would make the game would last another OR or two, whereas at the moment I think it is quite well balanced.  So I might need to remove a space or two from the top of the Stock Exchange.

All this would require some careful analysis to adjust the balance and a lot of playtesting to check whether the changes worked in practice.  I'm not sure I have the stomach for this right now!