by zolobolo
ofNeverendingDreams wrote:
There's only three triple routes on the entire board and they're all on the east coast and they're all only one space. I have to believe this was designed this way for a reason. We don't play cut-throat but why would you want somebody to waste cards and turns when they don't have to according to the rules as written? Do you also think [o]piggybacking[/o] should not be allowed?
I think the mechanic introduced later fit it perfectly and with our house rule it was even more meaningful so wouldnt have left it out.
Found this variant especially interesting: makes sense to not have it >3 players as it reduces the available routes to fit the player count in an already sizable and growing map.
Yes because there are only a limited number of 3 track routes and they are all in one location with alternate routes leading past them it didnt cause an issue during our playthrough. The 3 track connections also served a purpose thanks to that mechanic introduced later.
From all the games we had 2 games where the North-East got really busy to a point where people were blocked out from some options but it was towards the end where most money came in from other activities.
That said the campaign offers a lot of options to manipulate tickets, alter the value of routes and the mechanism mentioned practically denies the option to block other players unless a lot of rounds are invested in the effort and the other players let it happen.
In between games the campaign elements offer a lot of mitigation option too such as the last player starting first
We played competitively but not extremely so: the game felt swingy at first but in the end it did feel balanced out even with the Postcards and the house rule. With 3 players we had a ton of minigames to focus on and make more money with (and hinder others) then trying to dominate the cluster of 6 cities via the 3 track routes in the North
ofNeverendingDreams wrote:
We've been keeping them in a bag and dumping them out at setup. A tray would be better but it's not a big deal.
Yes it was bit bit tedious but not a big deal. The game lays a heavy emphasis on theme so I didnt want to insert a plastic bag in there for this component only.
It was worth the manual effort for me to have it like this but if there is ever a tray for them next time like the one for the map parts of the cards that would be perfect.
Wouldnt create a tray for the train cars themselves as they have a good grip to them and I mostly stored them within the company boxes anyhow: simply adding the additional amount after each game which has worked till the last two games: players poured out their trains and cards from the box and it was done.