Game: Age of Steam

Thread: Re: Looking for help Starting out with AGE OF STEAM

everingham — 2008-05-13T03:48:51+00:00

eightbit wrote:
Excellent! Glad you made it Did we meet? Sorry I'm really bad with names.
I'm not sure if we met or not, I am also terrible with names. I was at a table right in the middle of the room, I played; "Modern Art" & "I'm the Boss" with a guy from Lansing and the 3 young ladies that I brought. We walked around to the other tables and watched several other games. The only name I could remember was David Vanderark??? (something like that), mainly because he invited me to the game day a couple of years ago. He was at a table right next to mine. Any way, I wish you guys were closer,... I would be there more often! I will keep checking for the next game day... my daughter LOVED it!

Thread: Re: Looking for help Starting out with AGE OF STEAM

wkwillis — 2008-05-12T05:38:36+00:00

If your team of players likes to win too much (as I do) you can agree in advance to only play the first half of the rounds and end. Then people can salve their self respect as it isn't a defeat or a victory. After all, you don't know what was going to happen in the other half of the game!

Thread: Re: Looking for help Starting out with AGE OF STEAM

eightbit — 2008-05-12T02:15:10+00:00

everingham wrote:
Thanks Guys!... I have been to this game day before so I decided to take your advice. I traveled to G.R. (about 1 hour drive) and attended the Grand Rapids Gamers Day from about 3:00-7:00 and got to try some other games and see some that I've been wanting to see played, but I didn't see Age of Steam there at all. I was there with my daughter, her friend and my adopted sister (all 12 year old girls) and we had a great time. I will keep looking for future game days to see if I can see this game played in person.Excellent! Glad you made it? Did we meet? Sorry I'm really bad with names. Michael Webb, http://www.boardgamegeek.com/user/CortexBomb, is the Age of Steam junkie and he wasn't there. Matt and I were interested in playing railroad tycoon but didn't find anyone else interested in playing. I know RRT is not AOS but its a similar game. I bought it because AOS is so hard to get and eventually AOS will be reprinted (when the law suit is settled) in some form and then hopefully won't be so expensive.

Thread: Re: AoS tournament

darky — 2008-05-12T01:22:06+00:00

And now the result of the 4th annual AoS tournament... trumpet!!

GRAND-PA Mario!!!

We had great time playing our favorite game.

We played 3 exciting rounds and at the end Mario won the final.

Thanks to everybody for your fantastic participation and see you geeks at WBC this summer.

Martin

Thread: Re: Looking for help Starting out with AGE OF STEAM

everingham — 2008-05-11T11:19:34+00:00

eightbit wrote:
qzhdad wrote:
You might check out GRAB (Grand Rapids Area Boardgamers). I think there are a few guys that attend that group that play.
Game day tomorrow noon to midnight, I know there are a couple guys that play this game every chance they get but I'm not sure if they'll be there tomorrow or not. I am sure that there will be people there that know how to play though. I'll be there tomorrow but I've only played once.

Thanks Guys!... I have been to this game day before so I decided to take your advice. I traveled to G.R. (about 1 hour drive) and attended the Grand Rapids Gamers Day from about 3:00-7:00 and got to try some other games and see some that I've been wanting to see played, but I didn't see Age of Steam there at all. I was there with my daughter, her friend and my adopted sister (all 12 year old girls) and we had a great time. I will keep looking for future game days to see if I can see this game played in person.

Thread: Age of Steam Rust Belt session report

dedefortin — 2008-05-11T02:42:59+00:00

The Rust Belt may seem easy for some players but within our group, it's considered one of the toughest map due to its geography. The long distance in the western part of the map and many choke points in the middle and in the eastern part make this map a very challenging one. We we all feeling great tonight and we decided to choose the Rust Belt map.

Mario choose his favorite strategy of biding on turn 1 for the urbanization action. Mario and Martin began their build in the east, Marc-Andre in the center and Pierre choose the western area. The game was still very young but there was already many battles between Mario and Martin in the east and the bets went very high. On turn 4 Mario and Marc-Andre had a classical battle during the initiative phase but they were lucky as they both had the action they wanted. Mario gave a tough blow on Martin when he took the Detroit -Toronto link that Martin needed absolutely to make big deliveries. Instead it was Mario who made 2 deliveries of 5 income each. Marc-Andre also had a good turn 4 when he choose the loco and made 2 nice deliveries. MArc-Andre, Martin and Mario were fighting hard for the initiative. Marc-Andre won the loco action but Mario had a sweet revenge when he launch a nuclear bomb (urbanization) on Marc-Andre's network to deny him many big deliveries. Pierre was watching the other players fighting hard and try a low share strategy but his loco was still at 4 in the end and this wasn't good for him. Even with many turn order Pierre wasn't able to have the loco action during the game since there was too much fighting for the initiative. Mario consolidated his lead with many deliveries of 5 and 6 income in the end but the other players would fight hard for second place.

As expected we had a very tough game like we love them. Even of we played this map several times we still enjoy very much.

Final score:
Mario: 99
Martin; 85
Pierre: 81
Marc-Andre: 78

Thread: Re: Looking for help Starting out with AGE OF STEAM

eightbit — 2008-05-09T07:47:35+00:00

qzhdad wrote:
You might check out GRAB (Grand Rapids Area Boardgamers). I think there are a few guys that attend that group that play.

I second Clearclaw's advice. :)
Game day tomorrow noon to midnight, I know there are a couple guys that play this game every chance they get but I'm not sure if they'll be there tomorrow or not. I am sure that there will be people there that know how to play though. I'll be there tomorrow but I've only played once.
http://www.grgames.com/

Do you have any one in your group that knows how to play Railroad tycoon? While its not AOS there is a lot of similarity in the building track and shipping of goods part of the game. I played AOS first which made learning RRT very easy for me.

Thread: Re: Looking for help Starting out with AGE OF STEAM

ekted — 2008-05-09T05:55:21+00:00

http://themetagamers.com/index.php?post_id=255224

Thread: Re: Looking for help Starting out with AGE OF STEAM

qzhdad — 2008-05-09T05:48:28+00:00

You might check out GRAB (Grand Rapids Area Boardgamers). I think there are a few guys that attend that group that play.

I second Clearclaw's advice. :)

Thread: Re: Looking for help Starting out with AGE OF STEAM

montu — 2008-05-09T05:40:16+00:00

With beginners, we often also play with the "mercy" rule, allowing players to take one extra share at any time during the game. So if you happen to miscalculate and find yourself a dollar short, which would otherwise cause you to go bankrupt, you can take an extra share at the end of your turn. This way, the player still learns how to manage money (after all, he/she would have gone bankrupt) but gets to play on.

Thread: Re: Looking for help Starting out with AGE OF STEAM

rockusultimus — 2008-05-09T05:37:36+00:00

Verkisto wrote:
Turn Order Pass (this becomes more used in 5+ player games, but only because the other choices at that point are usually useless)
I would say Turn Order starts becoming viable in 4-player games and it's value increases with every additional player after that.

Turn Order can be a very important option and when planned properly and will often get you 2nd or 3rd place (in the next round) for little or nothing. In certain instances in many of our games, Turn Order was the second or third most popular action for the discerning strategist.

Don't forget, you can bid in the auction and save your Turn Order Pass for another round in the same auction, esp. if the bid is low and you think many others will be bidding.

Thread: Re: Looking for help Starting out with AGE OF STEAM

everingham — 2008-05-09T04:54:03+00:00

clearclaw wrote:

The goal of your first games should be simple: Don't go bankrupt. That's it. Just don't go bankrupt. If you can also manage to be profitable by the end of the game, so much the better. Staying solvent is a victory of no mean order. Achieving profitability is just icing on the cake in those early days. Be proud if you accomplish either. Set that expectation clearly for your players. It will make the resulting game far simpler for your players as they'll have the right basic model heading in.
I really like this advice!
Thanks.

Thread: Re: Looking for help Starting out with AGE OF STEAM

clearclaw — 2008-05-09T04:10:44+00:00

everingham wrote:
1. Is there a best or better area to start out?

Yes. Where it is varies from game to game. That said, on the great Lakes map the player that starts in the west will almost invariably lose. The cities are too far apart and such a player must depend on Urbanisation and Engineer too often when those same actions are in demand by the other players.

2. I realize it probably depends on what other players do, but what amount of money should you try to start with (w/shares)?

Issue between 1 and 3 extra shares inclusive. I suggest trying to stay at the lower end of that range. Do make sure to do your costing arithmetic up front.

3. Is the only way to make money, by moving blocks and can this only be done between cities, not on track that is not yet connected?

Correct.

4. Can you move goods on someone else's track?

Sure, but they get the income.

5. When is it best to go first, go last, etc.?

Good question. The simple answer: It depends. What action do you want? How important is it that you get it versus someone else? What would failing to get that action do to your long term performance? What do the other players want?

6. Going first (winning the bid) just means picking an action first, right? Then you would need to choose the action (Move first) to actually go first???

No. All phases are done in turn order. Move and Build First break that pattern for the owners of those actions during their subject phases.

7. What actions are chosen most often & why?

Locomotive is the single most valuable action in the game. Urbanisation is second and Engineer third. The two First XXX actions are almost always wastes of time and money, except when they're not. Turn Order Pass is worthless in a three player game, and increasingly valuable the more players you have. Typically Turn Order Pass will get you second or third for free in the next turn.

8. Which actions are most unwanted & why?

Production is usually poor, as are the two Firsts. Turn Order Pass is completely valueless in a 3 player game.

9. From what I've read, it's common to spend money and earn nothing. Is this true and how would you explain this to newbies?

It is actually very simple and is called [url=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deficit_spending]Deficit Spending[/url]. I suggest spending a few minutes discussing the base ideas of deficit spending before you start the game as Age of Steam revolves around that concept.

10. I printed out cards to use for the actions...

Did you get the cards with the brief explanations of what each action does? I've found those useful when teaching newbies as the only cards they get are the ones still available and the cards quickly inform and remind them of their decisions.

...and the tracking board is just cheap paper,..

Sure laminate it. Or print out any of the many nice replacements available.

Any other suggestions to get new people started out, and to help the game be immediately more enjoyable, feel free to post!

The other little spiel I use when teaching Age of Steam, and I've taught it many many times, is:

Let's get the basics down: First, this game doesn't like you. It doesn't like anybody else either, but it particularly doesn't like you. If you ever have a question on the rules or how the rules apply to a particular situation then pick the answer that hurts the most. You'll almost certainly be right.

The goal of your first games should be simple: Don't go bankrupt. That's it. Just don't go bankrupt. If you can also manage to be profitable by the end of the game, so much the better. Staying solvent is a victory of no mean order. Achieving profitability is just icing on the cake in those early days. Be proud if you accomplish either. Set that expectation clearly for your players. It will make the resulting game far simpler for your players as they'll have the right basic model heading in.

Thread: Re: Looking for help Starting out with AGE OF STEAM

everingham — 2008-05-09T03:45:44+00:00

Thanks for all the help!

The link is a LOT of help and the individual posting of each question I had really helps me make some sense of it.

I would love to hear other opinions or help also.

thanks!

Thread: Re: Looking for help Starting out with AGE OF STEAM

jdludlow — 2008-05-09T03:33:25+00:00

everingham wrote:
My guess is,
...most people are taught this game by someone who knows how to play it.
I will be teaching 2 or 3 others and I have never played.

My group started cold. We survived. You can spend as much time as you want trying to explain strategy to newbies, but until they go bankrupt it's not going to sink in.

I'm going to skip your strategy questions, as most of them are answered correctly with "it depends."

3. Is the only way to make money, by moving blocks and can this only be done between cities, not on track that is not yet connected?

4. Can you move goods on someone else's track? or do you focus only your own?

Correct. This is a game about making deliveries. You don't have to use your own track entirely, but each link that the good moves over increases that link's owner's income by 1.

6. Going first (winning the bid) just means picking an action first, right? Then you would need to choose the action (Move first) to actually go first???

Not quite. If no one else picks "first move" then the first player still moves first. Same with first build.

9. From what I've read, it's common to spend money and earn nothing. Is this true and how would you explain this to newbies?

You start out the game two shares in debt with a 1-train to maintain. If you do nothing, you'll be bankrupt on turn 4. It's fairly rare for a company to turn a profit on the first couple turns (depends on the map and the goods distribution).

10. I printed out cards to use for the actions and the tracking board is just cheap paper,...Is there a replacement tracking board anywhere for the paper sheets? If not, I can see lamination in their future.

If you trim it tightly, it'll probably still fit in the box. I've never laminated them, and it's never been an issue. Using the sheet is probably going to be faster than using cards, but it doesn't really matter.

Any other suggestions to get new people started out, and to help the game be immediately more enjoyable, feel free to post!

You definitely want to use poker chips. The money that comes with the game is nearly worthless. If you're making the jump into train games, go check out the 18xx forums for a lot of info on poker chip banks. 18xx most typically uses a 12k or 8k bank, which will be way more than enough for AoS. Make sure that you load up on small denominations.

Thread: Re: Looking for help Starting out with AGE OF STEAM

Verkisto — 2008-05-09T03:18:49+00:00

everingham wrote:
1. Is there a best or better area to start out? (or does this depend on the blocks placed at cities?)

It all depends on how the cubes come out on the board. What can be the easiest game you've ever played can become the worst, just based on the cube distribution. Look for areas where you can move cubes between two cities, with one connection. This may not be possible, though.

2. I realize it probably depends on what other players do, but what amount of money should you try to start with (w/shares)?

Again, it depends on what you want to do. If you don't mind going last and getting the dregs of the special actions, you might be able to get by with taking one share (e.g., starting with $15). But if there's only one optimal build on the board, and you know others are going to be bidding high for it, you might want to take a little extra to stay competitive in the bid. Of course, if you think you might not be able to make a connection on the first turn, you'll need to consider taking enough money to cover expenses. So see the answer to question 1 for more elaboration.

3. Is the only way to make money, by moving blocks and can this only be done between cities, not on track that is not yet connected?

Yep.

4. Can you move goods on someone else's track? or do you focus only your own?

Ideally, you want to focus on your own, but late in the game, you might find yourself needing to use others' track for the longer deliveries. But you don't get income for using other players' track; THEY get it.

5. When is it best to go first, go last, etc.?

Well, it depends on what you want to do, and what you think everyone else wants to do. If you HAVE to have Urbanize on your turn, and you're fairly certain that the other players will focus on other roles, then you can conceivably go last and still get what you want. But don't count on it. Going first or second is almost always your best choice.

6. Going first (winning the bid) just means picking an action first, right? Then you would need to choose the action (Move first) to actually go first???

No, you go first in every phase of the turn, unless someone else picks Move or Build First. If no one picks those actions, then you pick the first action, you build first, and you move first in both rounds.

7. What actions are chosen most often & why?

Locomotive (the sooner you can get to your maximum links, the better, and it doesn't cost you moving one good to increase your link speed), and Urbanize (you can control where certain goods can go, and also wreak havoc with other players' networks at the same time, if you're savvy enough to know how) are powerful, as are First Move and First Build, even if you're already going first in the turn order. Engineer (building an extra piece of track can be useful on the western half of the map) is also useful, but you have to make sure you have the money for it.

8. Which actions are most unwanted & why?

Production (draw three cubes from the bag, and select two to place on the goods chart; there's still no guarantee that you'll roll the right numbers to get those cubes to the board) and Turn Order Pass (this becomes more used in 5+ player games, but only because the other choices at that point are usually useless).

9. From what I've read, it's common to spend money and earn nothing. Is this true and how would you explain this to newbies?

It's not common, but it's not uncommon. It depends on how the goods come out, who builds what track, and how the mid- to late-game develops. The best way I can think to explain it is that you're investing (building out) in the future (potential goods to move). Plus, when you can no longer issue shares, and aren't yet solvent enough to earn enough money to build out your network, you're going to hit a turn or two of the doldrums. This is normal.

10. I printed out cards to use for the actions and the tracking board is just cheap paper,...Is there a replacement tracking board anywhere for the paper sheets? If not, I can see lamination in their future.

Ted Alspach recreated the two player mats, and you can download and print those and mount them however you wish. Look at http://games.bezier.com for those files. I've never had a problem with the paper mats, and I've played my copy about 30 times.

Good luck teaching the game. You're in for an extraordinary experience!

Edited for typos.

Thread: Re: Looking for help Starting out with AGE OF STEAM

Grildensnork — 2008-05-09T02:51:57+00:00

This may be more than you are looking for, but Karl Rainer has put together some excellent strategy articles. Start here:
http://www.boardgamegeek.com/thread/29841

Thread: Looking for help Starting out with AGE OF STEAM

everingham — 2008-05-09T02:34:13+00:00

Okay... I've been looking for, and bidding on Age of Steam for a few years and finally got a nice new copy of the 2nd Edition.

After just taking a quick look at things, it's obvious to me that when I finally set down with a few friends and try this game, I could start out by "guessing" at how to bid, where to start and how much stock to issue early on, and then we could all do terrible (& learn from our misery), or I could ask A.O.S. players at BGG for some suggestions for a completely new group trying this game for the first time.
My guess is,
...most people are taught this game by someone who knows how to play it.
I will be teaching 2 or 3 others and I have never played.

I certainly know that any good game rooted in strategy takes multiple playing and "learning" to master... A mastery of the game is not "yet" what I'm looking for. I just want to give my small group who first try this game, a few tips when they first give it a shot, so they feel that they had a fair chance and want to come back and try again. This is mainly because most of what I've read about the game says that it is very unforgiving for early mistakes.

Some of my questions are;

1. Is there a best or better area to start out?
(or does this depend on the blocks placed at cities?)

2. I realize it probably depends on what other players do, but
what amount of money should you try to start with (w/shares)?

3. Is the only way to make money, by moving blocks and can this
only be done between cities, not on track that is not yet
connected?

4. Can you move goods on someone else's track?
or do you focus only your own?

5. When is it best to go first, go last, etc.?

6. Going first (winning the bid) just means picking an action first, right? Then you would need to choose the action (Move first) to actually go first???

7. What actions are chosen most often & why?

8. Which actions are most unwanted & why?

9. From what I've read, it's common to spend money and earn
nothing. Is this true and how would you explain this to newbies?

10. I printed out cards to use for the actions and the tracking board is just cheap paper,...Is there a replacement tracking board anywhere for the paper sheets? If not, I can see lamination in their future.

Any other suggestions to get new people started out, and to help the game be immediately more enjoyable, feel free to post!

Thread: Age of Steam Japan session report

dedefortin — 2008-05-08T02:17:51+00:00

We had many great games on Richard Irving's Japan map with 3 and 4 players. Since we often have the chance to play AoS with 2 players we adapted the Japanese map to play with 2 players only and it worked great. This is quite simple to modify for 2 players since we removed the northern part of the map and we used the 2 players turn order rule from the Austria map.

Pierre began the game on the western island while Martin had a great start with a yellow urbanization and then linked Osake to Toyama. The production phase was nil in Pierre's area and he was then limited to deliveries of 2 income only. To make things worse Martin decided to push his network to the west to try to corner Pierre. Turn 3 was also very tough when Pierre was again limited in deliveries of 2 income only. Martin then took the first build action and Pierre had to pay a high price to connect Nagoya. Martin already had a great lead at this stage. Pierre tried to come back when he took the powerful japenese loco action on turn 5 but Martin saw the trick and he took the first build again so Pierre would be delayed in connecting Toyoma and couldn't shipped for high income. Martin continue his destructive work in blocking Pierre by taking some important tiles Pierre needed to connect Toyoma. On turn 7 Pierre finally connected the important city of Toyoma but he couldn't stop Martin in building a nice loop in the east.

Even if Martin had a big lead very soon the game was fun and the first build action again proved to be very important. I would highly recommend this map for 2 players game. The size of the map is good and the special rule for this map are great for 2 players game.

Final scoring:
Martin: 91
Pierre: 72

Thread: Re: Mayfair and 3rd Edition

vvrood — 2008-05-07T12:15:11+00:00

http://www.boardgamegeek.com/article/2173703#2173703