Tuesday 30 April 2013

What if ... Private Railways?

One place where removing the rounding rule for financing would definitely have an impact in 18GB is on the design of some of the Private Railways.  In particular, the Liverpool and Manchester (LM) is designed so that its +£20 bonus can tip the LYR from earning £20/share to £30/share, by increasing the nominal income from two trains from £130 to £150.  If that £130 were not rounded down, the increase would be less, from £26/share to £30/share.

As the LM provides an income of £30, it becomes less clear that assigning the LM to the LYR is such a worthwhile move.  This then affects the play of the game noticeably, changing it from its current design.

From a design point of view, Private Railways have to pay enough income to be worth buying.  Given that level of income, the value to be gained by assigning the Private Railway to a Company needs to be correspondingly significant.  It isn't clear to me that those Private Railways that give bonus income are going to be as worth assigning if I remove the 18GB rounding mechanism.  The consequense of this is that I might need to rethink which Private Railways are worth how much, or what special abilities they might have. 

As for other aspects considered in these "What if ... " posts, these changes would require significant playtesting to get right.

No comments:

Post a Comment