Catching a runaway leader

I hope the design of 18GB avoids the effect in which one player gets an early lead which nobody else can catch. I am fairly confident that if a company starts strong, it can face sufficient challenges in the middle and late games that other companies may be better investments.  The need to raise cash for new trains, the potential of routes being blocked, and the possibility of share price falling from hostile sales (particularly before the company converts) can all help to pull a leading company back, while the multiple jumps on the stock market may make other companies more attractive investments.

I am a little anxious that the same may not be true if a player manages to stake out an early lead.  With good play, someone who has earned more from revenues and the stock exchange will often be able to shift their investment into new companies.  If the early lead is too strong, I’m worried that the other players may not be able to catch them.

There are some ways to pull back a leader.  One is the classic tactic of depressing the price of stock they hold by selling shares in those companies.  It’s not clear whether this threat is sufficient, given that:

1. the sale of shares may give a director the chance to buy over the normal 60% limit, #
2. the depressed value might be regained by multiple stock jumps and
3. the price only drops for every 20% sold by a non-director 

I often see players hanging on to minority holdings in successful companies, for fear of falling even further behind; I’m not sure whether this is the right play but if it is, the consequence is that there is one fewer way for pulling back the leading player.

So one further change that I am considering is as follows:

• Until the Grey Phase, all sales of stock drop the Share Price one space for every share sold, instead of every 20%. 
• From the start of the Grey Phase until the first time that a 6X train is removed at the end of an Operating Round, a sale of a Company’s shares by a player who is not the Director of the Company will reduce the Share Price one space for every 20% of the Company’s shares sold - as in the current rules.
• After a 6X train is removed at the end of an Operating Round, sales of a Company’s shares by a player who is not the Director of the Company will not affect the Share Price.

v26 released to playtesters

I've just uploaded 18GB version 26 to the Google Drive where playtesters can access it.

As the change notes say, the changes in this version reflect feedback and observations from playtests with a broader group of players.

Rules

Insolvent Companies may no longer lay track or place Station Markers.  This makes the option of entering Insolvency incur some disadvantage.

The rules for the Orange zone of the Stock Exchange have been modified.  Shares valued in the Orange zone do not count against your certificate limit at all (instead of counting half).  If you buy shares from this zone above your share limit, you do not have to sell back down to your limit until the shares are worth more than £115.  (More precisely, you may ignore any shares worth £115 or less when determining whether you have to sell back down to the certificate limit).

The rules for Characters and for WW1 have been grouped together as the Advanced Game and are described in the main rule book.  The remaining optional rules are listed as variants in the Setup and Scenarios booklet; they are not recommended for normal play.

Scenarios

Grey tiles are no longer used in the four-player scenario; the number of equivalent brown tiles has been increased to match.  I found that the grey tiles were undoing the impact of station markers placed in the late game so that the markers became just a minor irritation instead of significant game players.

Companies

The Director’s Certificate of the LNWR costs an additional £20 when first purchased (i.e. from the Initial Offering).  I noticed that the LNWR was usually a better buy than the other companies at the start of the game; this £20 cost is an attempt to balance that advantage.

The Midland Railway has a free upgrade for its Home city. It is the only Company to have a special ability.

The GSWR has only three Station Markers, like the LYR and MSLR, for game balance.

Private Railways

The ability of the Taff Vale has been changed to give a free upgrade for Cardiff.  The station marker in Cardiff was rarely used or useful.  The ability of the Leicester & Swannington has also been changed.

In East Anglia, the NE has been replaced with the EU, to reflect the map changes.

Map

There are a number of minor changes throughout the map.   In Scotland, Aberdeen is one hex further away.  Trains may not run to Inverness until the Blue Phase (although track may be laid to connect to the Inverness red hex).  These changes stop the Caledonian from being too strong in the first pair of ORs.

London increases income in every phase (30/40/50/60/70).

In the Midlands, Warrington has been removed.   In the South-West, Exeter has been removed and Taunton added.  In South Wales, Merthyr Tydfil has been added in the TV’s hex.  Two extra brown hexsides have been added in Mid-Wales.

The representation of East Anglia has been changed.  This doesn't actually affect the game much; it just makes the routes more historically accurate.

Holyhead now has a fixed income of 20.  The Irish Mail bonus has been increased to 40 and may be scored for any one of Holyhead, Pembroke or Aberystwyth.

Characters

When setting up the game, randomly select a number of Characters to auction equal to the number of players, instead of having all Characters available in every game.  This adds more variety to the game setup.

Characters are no longer auctioned.  Instead, players choose one each after the Private Railways auction.  They choose in reverse player order and then commence the first Stock Round in normal player order.  There are a number of tweaks to the Characters' abilities, for game balance.

Minor Changes

4+2 trains now cost £300, the same as 4+1 trains.  5+2 trains cost £500 instead of £450 and 4X Trains cost £550 instead of £500.  Companies can now be started at £115 during the Brown Phase.