18Steam (fan expansion for Age of Steam)
18Steam Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Rule Changes
Coloured disks represent corporations rather than players. Hence, there are 6 different corporations. Players can buy shares of these corporations as in any 18xx game.
The share certificates replace the shares issued track on the income / shares / locomotive board. All other features of this board and of the goods / roles board are used as in normal Age of Steam, but remember that coloured wooden disks represent corporations, not players.
All players start with $20. Corporations start with nothing.
Players are allowed to give money from their personal treasury to any corporation(s) at any point in the game.
Use two markers (wooden disks) for each corporation on the income track. At the beginning of the goods movement phase these are on the same space (move the lowest to the highest). In the goods movement phase, only move the top disk. The difference between the two disks represents that corporation's earnings for that turn.
Game Phases
The game phases are as follows. Phases 1, 5 and 7, and the share price adjustment part of phase 8, are changed or added by 18Steam (printed in italics in the designer's post):
- Stock phase
- Auction for turn order
- Select actions
- Build track & urbanize
- Move 2 goods or move 1 good and upgrade locomotive
- Collect income
- Pay expenses
- Income reduction and share price adjustment
- Goods growth
- Advance turn marker
Phase 1: Stock Phase
Turn Order
The starting player in the first game turn is determined randomly (roll a D6). Give that player a starting player marker. After that, the last player to buy or sell shares in the previous game turn is the starting player.
In all other phases, the corporations are active rather than the players, and turn order is the same as in normal Age of Steam.
Initial Share Prices
At the beginning of the game, initial share prices are determined with a D6. Roll a D6 once for every corporation. In case of a 3 or 4 result, place the marker of that corporation on the 5 spot in the middle of the stock market. In case of a 1 or 2 result, place it on the 4 to the left of that; in case of a 5 or 6, place it on the 6 to the right.
Buying and Selling Shares
Starting with the starting player, in clockwise direction, all players can buy or sell shares. The phase continues until all players have passed. In a turn, a player can either buy one share certificate or sell one or more share certificates. The first share sold in a corporation is the president's share. After that, the player with the highest percentage in that corporation gets the president's share (trade it for two regular share certificates). The corporation's president gets that corporation's treasury mat and all money on it.
The selling and buying price of all shares is marked with coloured wooden disks in the stock market (see the stock market board).
A player cannot buy and sell shares of the same corporation in the same game turn.
A player cannot own more than 5 share certificates (the president's share counts as one!) in the same corporation.
Share certificates are owned by the issuing corporation (before they are issued), by a player, or by the bank (if a player sells shares, he sells them to the bank).
Shares are sold to the bank. Hence, when a player sells a share certificate, he gives it to the bank and receives money equal to the value of that share. The last 20% (president's share) cannot be sold.
When a player wants to buy shares in a certain corporation and there are shares available in both the bank and that corporation's treasury itself, the buying player can choose which ones he wants to buy. There is no price difference, but only shares sold by a corporation bring more money into that corporation. The corporation's share holders decide democratically (50% +1 of the votes) whether the shares in that corporation's treasury are for sale and how many. This is announced by all presidents at the start of the Stock phase. If a corporation has no president, because no shares have been sold yet, all shares of that corporation are available.
All money spent on shares sold by corporations (and bought by players) is placed in that corporation's treasury.
All money spent on shares sold by the bank (and bought by players) goes to the bank.
The last player to buy or sell shares in the phase gets the starting player marker and will begin the phase in the next game turn.
After all players have passed, but before price adjustments (see below), all corporations can buy their own shares owned by the bank. (The red corporation may buy red shares from the bank for the normal share price (see stock market) if the bank has any.) This has two effects: (1) it reduces dividend payments; (2) it may (further) increase share value. (In general this is only beneficial if the share price is extremely low.) The corporation's president decides whether the corporation is buying shares.
Price Changes
At the end of the Stock phase (after everyone has passed), prices are adjusted (note that prices are adjusted again in phase 8).
If there is one share bought of a certain corporation, that corporation's price marker moves to the right. If more than one is bought, it moves up.
If there is one share sold of a certain corporation, that corporation's price marker moves to the left. If more than one is sold, it moves down.
If a price marker cannot move any further to the right, it moves according to the printed arrow; same if it cannot move any further to the left. If a price marker cannot move any further upwards, it moves to the right; if a price marker cannot move any further downwards, it moves to the left.
Activating Corporations
As soon as the president's share is sold (the first 20%), a corporation becomes active. This means that it participates in all other game phases. The president receives the corporation's treasury mat, its treasury and its remaining share certificates (which are part of that corporation's treasury).
The first and second corporation start at locomotive / engine level 1. All corporations after that start at the second lowest locomotive / engine level of corporations already active. (Hence, if 4 corporations are active at engine levels 1, 2, 2, 3, a 5th corporation will start at locomotive / engine level 2.)
Phase 5: Move Goods
Move the income track marker at the lowest corporation for each company to the highest. In the goods movement phase, only move the top disk. The difference between the two disks represents that corporation's earnings for that game turn.
Phase 7: Pay Expenses
Corporations pay expenses as players would do normally, except that corporations pay a dividend of 1 per 10% shares to the owner of those shares (rather than to the bank in the standard game). Note that the bank may be the owner of some shares. The only shares that do not 'produce' dividend are those still owned by that corporation itself.
Phase 8: Income Reduction and Share Price Adjustment
After income reduction, share prices are adjusted again. Cross-check the income in that game turn with the starting position on the income track for each corporation, and place corporation markers accordingly on the profitability track. (The profitability track is right below the stock market; the table you need for cross-checking is below that, on the left.)
The share price marker of the corporation with the highest position on the profitability track moves up; the second position moves to the right; the second-last position moves to the left; the last position moves down. If there are fewer than 4 corporations active, see the table in the bottom right part of the stock market to see what happens.
If two or more corporations share a position, they all suffer the weakest effect. Hence, if two corporations share the top position, they both move to the right, and if two corporations share second place, their share prices do not change.
End of the Game and Victory Conditions
The game ends after the standard number of turns.
In the last turn, phases 9 and 10 are replaced by a final dividend round. All corporations multiply their income track position by three, add the number of links built, and add what is left in that corporation's treasury. That number is divided by 10 and rounded down. The result is the final dividend. For every 10% owned in that corporation, a player gets this final dividend. This includes shares owned by the bank! Whatever remains, because of rounding down, goes to the corporation's president.
The wealthiest player wins the game. Wealth is money plus current share value (number of shares times value of those shares).
Transcription Notes
- The designer's post contains a closing invitation to comment, which is not part of the rules and is omitted.
- Three obvious typos were corrected in the transcription: "starting player market" is read as "starting player marker"; "money spend" as "money spent"; and "only shares sold by a corporation bring in more money" is read as "bring more money". The post's "(see picture below)" is rendered as "(see the stock market board)" because the picture is not in the transcription. No rule wording has otherwise been changed.
- The post's rules are a complete specification of the deviations from Age of Steam, but the components it refers to (share certificates, corporation treasury mats, and the stock market board with its profitability table and "bottom right" table) were not reachable, so those are described only as the rules text describes them. The stock market board is referenced in the rules but its contents are not reproduced here beyond what the text states.
- Replies in the BGG thread discuss earlier versions and alternative ideas (such as dividend changes and relative-profit tables). The designer confirmed that the revised post includes the profitability track, and that revision is the text transcribed here.