We did it! We did a thing! A Train Thing!
Operating Rounds, how do they work?
You may have noticed, those of you playing in our game, that we have completed an Operating Round! To be technical and precise, we completed an Set of Operating Rounds that consisted of a single Operating Rounds. Later in the game, based on what “Phase” we are in, we will complete Sets of 2 ORs and eventually Sets of 3 ORs between Stock Rounds.
Phases
The game occurs in Phases. We begin the game in “Phase 2” (no, that is not a typo). The Phase number in this (and many 18xx) game is based on the number on of the last train bought (except at the beginning of the game that just arbitrarily states that you begin in Phase 2 with 2-trains available).
The Phase we are in has a lot of impact to the game. As we progress through phases, things happen. A change of phase will occur when a new type of train is bought – more on that later.
For the moment, we are in Phase 2, that means (in 1889):
- Yellow Tiles are available, but not Green or Russet (brown)
- A company can have up to 4 trains
- We perform 1 Operating Round per Set of Operating Rounds
The Anatomy of an Operating Round
In Stock Rounds, we, the players, took turns taking actions. In Operating Rounds, the corporations take turns; each corporation’s turn will be taken by its Director/President. The order in which corporations take their turns is based on their Stock Market price – the highest goes first, ties between same-valued-spaces on the Stock Market are broken right-to-left, ties between tokens on the same space are broken first-to-last to be on that space (the token that’s been on the space the longest will go first).
Privates
The first thing we do in an OR is Pay the Privates. Each of the private companies that was auctioned off at the start of the game pays whomever or whatever owns it; at the moment, it’s just players – in the future, corporations may own a private company; in that case, the corporation will receive the revenue of that private.
Corporations
Afterwards, all of the corporations that have Floated will take a turn in highest-to-lowest turn order. The Director of that company will do the following things in the following order:
- (Optional) Lay Track, which means one of:
a. Place a Yellow Tile on a beige/empty map hex, paying any cost printed on the board
b. Upgrade a Yellow Tile to a Green Tile, paying any cost printed on the Yellow Tile
c. Upgrade a Green Tile to a Russet Tile, paying any cost printed on the Green Tile
- Place a Token:
a. On a Corporation’s first turn, it must place its Home Token. This does not count for the company’s Token action.
b. (Optional) Place a token in an empty Station. The Corporation must be able to trace a path (of any length) from the Corporation’s Home Station to the newly Tokened Station
- Operate Trains – We’ll talk more about this a bit later
- Pay or Withhold Revenue
a. To Pay Revenue, each share held by a Player is paid dividends: 10% of the total Revenue generated by the Operate Trains step. Additionally, shares of the company in the Bank Pool (not the IPO) pay dividends to the corporation’s charter. If a company pays more than ¥0, its Stock Market token moves Right 1 space.
b. To Withhold Revenue, the corporation retains 100% of the revenue generated by the Operate Trains step and it is placed in the funds available to that corporation.
c. In either case: if shareholders were paid ¥0 (either by withholding or by not generating revenue), the Stock Market token for the corporation moves Left 1 space.
- Buy Trains:
a. A corporation may buy a train for face value from the IPO. Only the cheapest available train may be purchased; i.e. if there is a 2 train available, you may not elect to buy a 3 train. If the last 2 train has been purchased, then 3 trains become available. Phase changes occur when a new train is bought, not when it becomes available for purchase.
b. Later in the game, we’ll see how sometimes a corporation may be forced to discard a train; these trains go to the Bank Pool. If, for some reason, there are multiple types of trains available in the Bank Pool, any of them may be purchased at face value. (buying from the Bank Pool is fairly rare in 1889)
c. A corporation can buy a train from another corporation. And they can do it for any amount. It must be at least ¥1 but there is no upper limit, as long as the buying company can afford it. The Directors of both Corporations must agree to the amount. 99.9% of the time, this is performed between two companies that are controlled by the same Director. Specifically 1889 has a degenerate gamestate that often occurs that sometimes requires two different directors to collude – we’ll talk about that another day.
d. If a corporation has a valid route, it MUST own a train. If no valid route exists for the corporation, train buying is optional. If the company cannot afford any train available (and remember, you can buy a train from another company for ¥1, assuming the other company is willing), the Director Must Supplement The Corporation’s Funds in order to buy the cheapest available option from the IPO or the Bank Pool (none of the Director’s funds can be used to purchase a train from another corporation). If necessary, the Director will be forced to sell Shares (more on this later) to fund the purchase of the train. If the Director cannot raise enough funds, that player is Bankrupt and the game ends immediately.
And then, finally, at any point during a Corporation’s Operation, assuming we’re in Phase 3 or later, a corporation may buy in any private company. The owner of the private company must agree to the transaction (again, usually this is the Corporatioin buying its Director’s privates; not technically required but almost universally the case). The amount paid by the corporation to the owner of the private can be anywhere between half to twice the marked Value of the private (Pv * x, where x >= 0.5 and x <= 2)
An important note about train buying:
Trains are only bought, they are never sold. Meaning you cannot transfer a train to another company on the “selling” corporation’s turn.
Later on in the game, we’ll see how turn order for corporations can change even within a single Set of Operating Rounds due to token movement on the Stock Market.
Running Trains (but not Jogging Trains)
What would a train game be without trains? (Why, that would be Power Grid, but that’s another subject altogether).
So you’ve got yourself some track and a train or two (or three, or four). 1889 is, thankfully, a stock standard 18xx run-your-trains style (other games make it complicated, looking at you, 1862!). There are a few key points:
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A valid route consists of at least 2 revenue locations (Cities - large circles, towns - black squres/dots, off-board hexes - red tiles)
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Every train must touch a Station Token of the corporation for which it is running
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Every train may run any number of hexes but may not extend beyond a number of Revenue Locations as the Train’s Number. A 2 train may only run between two revenue locations. A 3 train may run through a revenue location and terminate at either end at a 2nd and 3rd.
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A city with no empty stations may not be run through unless one of the corporation’s tokens in present in the city. That is: if a corporation has placed a token in a city, it cannot be “tokened out” and will be guaranteed to be able to run through a city. If a corporation is “tokened out” of a city, it may still terminate a route at that city and count its revenue. Additionally, if there is an unoccupied Station on a city, any route by any corporation can run through that city.
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“Off-board” hexes may not be run through - they must be one of the endpoints of any route they are included in.
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No track may be reused, either by the same train or by a different one. This only applies to each Corporation’s turn; two different corporations can use the same track. An easier way to think about this stipulation is “no hex edge can be crossed more than once in a corporation’s operating turn”.
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For the purposes of the previous rule, a city with 4 or more connections in/out of it still can only be ran through once (consider the city itself to be a tile edge)
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Different Trains may count the same revenue location each.
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A route’s revenue is the sum of all the revenue value of all locations served by the route
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A Corporation’s Revenue is the sum of all of its trains’ routes’ revenue i.e. sum the numbers
It looks very complicated! But I assure you with a little practice, it’ll become second nature.
