Game: Silverton

Thread: Silverton PBEM

LordCthulhu — 2008-10-29T19:19:32+00:00

Would anyone be interested in a PBEM Silverton game? I'm up for any number of players. I would think that probably one turn per day would be the normal speed. Please GM me if you're interested.

Thread: Re: Rules Question 1: Order of player actions

GaryP — 2008-10-17T13:08:04+00:00

Yes, the order of player actions is fixed. They way they are laid out in the rules suggests that they all fall into one, big, amorphous phase, but the order of actions is specific. The passenger route timing is probably the best example of why.

Thread: Re: Rules Question 2: Commodity Sales Limits

robf — 2008-10-17T02:13:27+00:00

Thanks for this answer (as well as your answer to my other question).

My guess is that it represents the capacity of each market to either use any given commodity or ship it back east...so Denver can absorb/export more coal than Salt Lake City.

Though why that would be per player, I'm not sure...maybe each player deals with different purchasing agents, who can each only handle so much volume.

Thread: Re: Rules Question 1: Order of player actions

robf — 2008-10-17T02:10:30+00:00

Thanks for the answer--and I think that makes sense. At first I was leaning toward the other answer, but as I'm trying it out, the "fixed order" just feels right, somehow.

Thread: Re: Rules Question 2: Commodity Sales Limits

cparrott — 2008-10-16T18:22:02+00:00

Couldn't say if the Two Wolf ed is different from the Mayfair ed (I have that one) but the commodity limit is per player. The price adjustment is based on the total delivered from all players.

As a side note, I have no clue what the commodity limit is supposed to represent in real life. Station unloading capacity maybe?

Thread: Re: Rules Question 1: Order of player actions

cparrott — 2008-10-16T18:14:57+00:00

It's been a while, but going from memory your answer would be A. The steps are done in order. To prospect a passenger route, the route must be already constructed. I seem to recall something in the rules stating to that effect, but I'd have to check later.

Great game BTW, I wish I could get it on the table more with my group.

Thread: Rules Question 2: Commodity Sales Limits

robf — 2008-10-16T03:26:57+00:00

For many commodities, there is a limit to the number that can be sold to a particular market.

Does this limit apply to:

A. Each player individually?

or

B. All players total?

Thus, if the answer is B, if the first two players reach the limit for, say, silver in Denver, no other players could then sell silver in Denver...but if it's A, each player can sell silver in Denver, up to the printed limit.

(Incidentally, I have the Two Wolf edition, if that makes any difference in the rules).

Thread: Rules Question 1: Order of player actions

robf — 2008-10-16T03:23:29+00:00

Just figuring out Silverton now, and I'll have a few questions over the next day or two.

For starters:

When taking my "operations" turn, do I take the actions:

A.in the order they're listed in the rules and on the player card

or

B. in any order I choose?

This makes a difference, for example, in building a passenger route...if the answer is B, I can choose to build track first and connect two cities, which could make me eligible to take the passenger card I've prospected; if it's A, I would have to connect the two cities in one turn, and then get the passenger card in a later turn.

Thread: Re: Settlers of Silverton :o)

rvinyard — 2008-10-08T19:30:03+00:00

Or use acrylic nuggets... black for coal, silver for silver....

Thread: Re: Settlers of Silverton :o)

TGov — 2008-10-08T15:27:29+00:00

I actually bought an old copy of RISK at a thrift store recently for the sole use of hijacking the wooden cubes to use in Silverton

Works perfectly

Thread: Re: Settlers of Silverton :o)

Rick Grandia — 2008-10-08T15:12:58+00:00

Good point. Pity that Mayfair didn't think of that - would have saved LOADS of time putting all the b****y stickers on, too.
I won't try this at the game club, though. The Power Grid bunch wouldn't be too pleased - "Dude, where's our coal and garbage gone?"

Thread: Re: Settlers of Silverton :o)

TGov — 2008-10-08T15:00:32+00:00

Save yourself the trouble of messing with the goods chips, and buy two sizes of wooden cubes to use for all of the goods. Small ones are value 1 and big ones value 5. Since you are putting the goods on the mine cards anyways and when you sell them you put them in the appropriate spaces on the board, there is no need to differentiate all of the different goods IMO. Saves a TON of setup time and is way less fiddly.

Or you can do like I do and every time I play Silverton, I hijack the coal and garbage counters from Power Grid. I use the coal cubes for the 1's and the garbage tokens for the 5's.

YMMV.

Thread: Settlers of Silverton :o)

Rick Grandia — 2008-10-08T14:36:53+00:00

Hello all,

just finished putting my copy of Silverton together and I came up two blue chips (silver) short. OTOH, I have 7 whites, 1 red, 5 green and 3 yellow chips left over.
So the question is: is there anyone with a similar problem who has at least two spare blue chips left over and a shortage in one of the other colo(u)rs who might be willing to trade?
(So you'll be getting up to 1 lumber, 5 copper, 3 gold and 7 white chips in exchange for 2 silver. If that isn't a bargain, I don't know what is )

Thread: Re: New easier to read custom map, along with other facelift ideas

TGov — 2008-09-06T16:26:17+00:00

Glad you like it!

I also had mine professionally printed.

Thread: Re: New easier to read custom map, along with other facelift ideas

blockhead — 2008-09-06T16:01:14+00:00

Great map!

I had trouble printing it at home, couldn't get Adobe to treat it as 6 pages or whatever, but I took it to a commercial printer who put it all on one sheet at full size for $24. Best money I ever spent!

Thread: Re: New player mistake (prospecting mines) & suggestion for dice rolling

atomzero — 2008-09-05T05:52:27+00:00

I played my first solo campaign tonight and man, there's a whole new level there as well.

JS, I think you'll have more luck once you learn what cards tend to show up where. I can also make a few recommendations, but pardon me if you know all this...the passenger routes are nice if you get them, but the money is in the shipping. Don't go overboard trying to make passenger connections. In a solo game, try and consolidate your shipments into "big scores" if possible. Finally, the best piece of advice I can give is...don't start building to mines until they have a good load ready to go. It stinks to build tracks to a mine that peters out before it's worth it.

Good to see another person playing this game. I've had it for less than a month, and it's already one of my all-time favorites.

Thread: Re: New player mistake (prospecting mines) & suggestion for dice rolling

Stoffel — 2008-09-04T13:55:40+00:00

After a couple of games since using the correct rules, this is quite a different game. I'm running out of money like nobody's business (where I could barely spend it before). On the whole an improvement, now to just figure out how to win. (One slight victory so far ...)

Thread: Re: New player mistake (prospecting mines) & suggestion for dice rolling

citizen k — 2008-09-04T01:55:33+00:00

Don't give up yet JS - you've already displayed the enterprising spirit it takes to handle Silverton's only drawback, the commodities market die rolls.

I've found they quickly become second nature, but the spreadsheet macro Gerald mentions is fantastic as well.

Game on !

Thread: Re: New player mistake (prospecting mines) & suggestion for dice rolling

gamesgrandpa — 2008-09-03T15:21:54+00:00

TGov wrote:
Keep going! You will find there is a lot more there than you think. You might also try using one of the online price chart tools. If you have a laptop it makes using the markets a breeze. Somebody needs to make one for the iPhone though

I highly recommend this one:

http://www.boardgamegeek.com/file/info/21393

Saves a lot of time and computation, and the display is excellent. We've used it several times. We don't keep the individual player's records in it, just use it for prices, but I think it might be handy for a solitaire game, to keep your records, too.

Thread: Re: New player mistake (prospecting mines) & suggestion for dice rolling

TGov — 2008-09-03T02:24:17+00:00

Keep going! You will find there is a lot more there than you think. You might also try using one of the online price chart tools. If you have a laptop it makes using the markets a breeze. Somebody needs to make one for the iPhone though

Thread: New player mistake (prospecting mines) & suggestion for dice rolling

Stoffel — 2008-09-03T00:32:22+00:00

I just got this game a couple of days ago and have been playing solitaire Denver. So far I've played to a draw once, but lost spectacularly (turns 17 or 18+) every other time.

Thanks to the session thread here (http://www.boardgamegeek.com/thread/265281), I realized why I was getting my butt handed to me. Prospectors can be played on mines even if you don't have track running there yet. It's only for the passenger routes that you need track connecting. I realized this when the session report showed a mine at Canon City on turn 1, re-read the rules and sure enough you don't need track laid to prospect mines. I was waiting until I had track laid there to claim the mine -- wrong!

Also, there's a whole lot of dice rolling to adjust markets. Here's what I do now:
- Pull all your d6s from other games/D&D bag (or d12s and subtract 6 if >6)
- Take a cardboard box top (I'm using Bohnanza)
- Roll all the dice at once into the cardboard top
- Tilt the box top till all the dice are lined up on the edge (and scoot them if needed, don't cheat )
- Use the rolls from left to right.

So I can't say if this is a great game yet since I haven't played it right to date, but it looks cool!

Thread: Re: Basic or Advcanced?

rvinyard — 2008-08-21T01:26:57+00:00

Basic with Iain's house rules.

Thread: Re: Basic or Advcanced?

gamesgrandpa — 2008-08-20T20:35:33+00:00

GaryP wrote:
I have only played solitaire Basic thus far. I figured I would give myself something to look forward to later. Plus, should I get my wife to play sometime, we will stick with Basic.

I'm curious to hear from someone who has played at least a couple games each way. My main concern would be if players ever get stuck buying loads they later realize they can't deliver. On the same note, how much time does it add to have folks calculating how much they can carry on which routes?

Being stuck with production you can't deliver adds to the challenge. You don't automatically try to produce everything every turn, since you have to think about transport limits. It's not difficult to calculate your load maximums in your head, after you've done it once or twice.

Like you, I played the solitaire games with the basic rules, but prefer the advanced rules in face-to-face play.

Thread: Re: Basic or Advcanced?

citizen k — 2008-08-20T20:13:27+00:00

Advanced with our own house rules, auctions etc.

Thread: Re: Basic or Advcanced?

GaryP — 2008-08-20T16:20:09+00:00

I have only played solitaire Basic thus far. I figured I would give myself something to look forward to later. Plus, should I get my wife to play sometime, we will stick with Basic.

I'm curious to hear from someone who has played at least a couple games each way. My main concern would be if players ever get stuck buying loads they later realize they can't deliver. On the same note, how much time does it add to have folks calculating how much they can carry on which routes?

Thread: Re: Basic or Advcanced?

Bearcat89 — 2008-08-20T12:33:32+00:00

I played exactly one session of the basic game. After playing the advanced game, I would never go back. The basic game just seemed uninteresting.

Thread: Re: Basic or Advcanced?

DarrellKH — 2008-08-20T12:25:19+00:00

I've only ever played advanced, as it makes money tighter and the game becomes more interesting.

Thread: Basic or Advcanced?

atomzero — 2008-08-20T12:12:44+00:00

Do any of you stick to the Basic rules or do you all play Advanced? There seem to be advantages to both.

Thread: Re: Surveyors and Prospectors: A Question

atomzero — 2008-08-18T20:54:57+00:00

I played it for the first time yesterday...then I played it for the second time, then the third time. What a game.

Thread: Re: Surveyors and Prospectors: A Question

gamesgrandpa — 2008-08-12T13:07:16+00:00

Hey, Verkisto, you're going to love this game (I hope).

Thread: Re: Surveyors and Prospectors: A Question

dougadamsau — 2008-08-11T23:25:35+00:00

Verkisto wrote:
To clarify: Does each player color receive 2 S stickers, 1 S+1 sticker, 1 S+2 sticker, 2 P stickers, 1 P+1 sticker, and 1 P+2 sticker? I want to make sure I have the distribution correct before I start slapping stickers all over the bits.

Thanks.

That's correct - start slapping stickers.

Thread: Surveyors and Prospectors: A Question

Verkisto — 2008-08-11T21:18:14+00:00

To clarify: Does each player color receive 2 S stickers, 1 S+1 sticker, 1 S+2 sticker, 2 P stickers, 1 P+1 sticker, and 1 P+2 sticker? I want to make sure I have the distribution correct before I start slapping stickers all over the bits.

Thanks.

Thread: Re: Question on building consecutive track segments

King Cotton — 2008-08-03T14:54:14+00:00

Thank you.

Thread: Re: Question on building consecutive track segments

citizen k — 2008-08-03T02:01:46+00:00

King Cotton wrote:
To build consecutive track segments, is it necessary to have a surveyor on both of the segments.

Yes.

Of course, it scenarios where each surveyor is dedicated to a separate network, consecutive track builds won't be possible until the merger.

Enjoy!

Thread: Re: Question on building consecutive track segments

TGov — 2008-08-03T01:15:03+00:00

ya you do, I wasn't sure either until I asked.

Thread: Question on building consecutive track segments

King Cotton — 2008-08-03T00:43:47+00:00

To build consecutive track segments, is it necessary to have a surveyor on both of the segments. The rules don't say that you must, but, in explaining what happens in the case of an unsuccessful dice roll, the instructions say "The second surveyor performs no additional services this turn...," which makes me think that the second surveyor must have been on the second segment.

Much thanks to anyone who can help me out with this question. Thanks.

Image

Pitarque — 2008-07-28T15:15:11+00:00

There are at least 18 places named Eureka in the USA...

Image

TGov — 2008-06-24T04:19:06+00:00

Silverton on vacation in Colorado

Image

TGov — 2008-06-24T04:15:10+00:00

My parents playing Silverton on vacation in Colorado

Thread: Re: Deliveries Question

cparrott — 2008-06-15T01:37:50+00:00

Correct, you can deliver all of it in your example. I would say though to go ahead and play with the advance rules and the train deliveries. It provides a much better game for not that much rules overhead.

Thread: Re: Deliveries Question

ipgyst — 2008-06-14T16:50:16+00:00

1) You collect revenue from all your passenger routes
2) You deliver and sell freight from up to 2 claims

In your case, you do all 5 items (3 passengers, 2 claims). The only exception is that your passenger routes do not pay in the winter if they contain a white track segment.

Thread: Deliveries Question

Mondior — 2008-06-14T14:46:34+00:00

In the basic game I have a Lumber and a Coal card plus 3 passenger cards. Can I only deliver 2 of the 5 or can I transport all passengers in the "Collect Passenger Revenue" phase and both loads during the "Deliver Loads" phase?

Thread: Re: New easier to read custom map, along with other facelift ideas

TGov — 2008-06-13T23:04:01+00:00

Bearcat89 wrote:
Very nice work. I have only two suggestions:

1. Color coding the cities for the claims available at that city is a great idea from the Two Wolf edition and would really be helpful.

2. The route length really needs to be placed beside the track and not on it. When a player places their claim market on the track, the length is covered up. This information is vital for determining delivery capacity and challenging passenger route claims.

The box is big enough that the cube just covers the price and the length is still visible, at least on the one I printed. If you print the map out smaller it might not.

Thread: Re: New easier to read custom map, along with other facelift ideas

Bearcat89 — 2008-06-13T22:51:05+00:00

Very nice work. I have only two suggestions:

1. Color coding the cities for the claims available at that city is a great idea from the Two Wolf edition and would really be helpful.

2. The route length really needs to be placed beside the track and not on it. When a player places their claim market on the track, the length is covered up. This information is vital for determining delivery capacity and challenging passenger route claims.

Thread: Re: Too much like hard work?

TracyB — 2008-06-10T19:00:09+00:00

Thanks everyone - looks like I got the wrong end of the stick as far as the spreadsheet is concerned, thankfully!

This is now one of my top two choices for my next order. I feel another post coming on.....

Thread: Re: Too much like hard work?

ipgyst — 2008-06-10T18:12:32+00:00

The spreadsheet simulates dice rolls - that's it. At most, you will roll two dice thirteen times and apply modifiers. When you are skilled at it, it takes about a minute and a half. The spreadsheet also takes about that long to use. If there is a chance the table is going to get bumped, the spreadsheet is superior since the black wooden cubes which mark the prices aren't going to get jostled. Then again, there are a lot of pieces in Silverton and if your table is going to get bumped you should probably be playing something else anyway!

Thread: Re: Too much like hard work?

unic — 2008-06-10T17:12:26+00:00

No, it is not like hard work at all. You have to do a few die rolls at the end of each turn to adjust prices - but that is it.

I can't see the need for a spreadsheet for this... seems very much like an overkill. Just assign somebody to do the die rolling, and it goes quite quick.

(... 18xx, on the other hand, you might view as hard work. Me, I like the juggling of numbers in there - but can see the potential usefulness of a spreadsheet. Silverton, however, no - it's a comparatively light game and not math intense at all; you have to do more math in Lost Cities!)

Thread: Re: Too much like hard work?

JasonRMax — 2008-06-10T16:48:29+00:00

I prefer to use this:

http://finne.homelinux.org/silverton/

Over the spreadsheet. Cleaner interface with game-appropiate graphicvcs.

Thread: Re: Too much like hard work?

gamesgrandpa — 2008-06-10T15:00:23+00:00

citizen k wrote:
TracyB wrote:
Is this one more of a bookkeeping exercise than a game?

No, but there is dice rolling between turns ... unless you use the spreadsheet. The game has a good economic engine, based upon supply and demand.

Trust people's comments and go with your gut. Most of us have jobs and no desire to play games that are mathematically intensive. Silverton is not mathematically intensive, it is dice intensive. You roll to probabilistically determine how prices for commodities fluctuate. There is no math outside of adding two six sided dice together a dozen times between turns.

If you hate addition, then use the spreadsheet (which looks more complex then it is).

And the game isn't particularly dice intensive. I believe you'll roll fewer dice during a game of Silverton then you will during a game of Stone Age, Queen's Gambit, or a plethora of "bucket-o-dice" games. But you do roll dice, and often for inter-turn price change calculations.

In short, don't be afraid. Silverton is one of the best railroad empire games ever. It's rich theme more then offsets the "maths" required.

Amen to all of the above!

Thread: Re: Too much like hard work?

citizen k — 2008-06-10T14:47:14+00:00

TracyB wrote:
Is this one more of a bookkeeping exercise than a game?

No, but there is dice rolling between turns ... unless you use the spreadsheet. The game has a good economic engine, based upon supply and demand.

Trust people's comments and go with your gut. Most of us have jobs and no desire to play games that are mathematically intensive. Silverton is not mathematically intensive, it is dice intensive. You roll to probabilistically determine how prices for commodities fluctuate. There is no math outside of adding two six sided dice together a dozen times between turns.

If you hate addition, then use the spreadsheet (which looks more complex then it is).

And the game isn't particularly dice intensive. I believe you'll roll fewer dice during a game of Silverton then you will during a game of Stone Age, Queen's Gambit, or a plethora of "bucket-o-dice" games. But you do roll dice, and often for inter-turn price change calculations.

In short, don't be afraid. Silverton is one of the best railroad empire games ever. It's rich theme more then offsets the "maths" required.

Thread: Re: Too much like hard work?

cradleofmilk — 2008-06-10T08:00:21+00:00

Rolling a ton of dice each turn does blow a bunch, but otherwise the game is cool and not at all like work. However, I like Eurorails much more.

Thread: Too much like hard work?

TracyB — 2008-06-10T07:56:02+00:00

After reading all the reviews on this game I was quite keen to buy but then I saw the Excel spreadsheet in the files section - eek!

Does the game really warrant the use of such a tool? I’m ok at maths, not especially speedy, but wouldn't enjoy spending 50% of my game time totting stuff up. Is this one more of a bookkeeping exercise than a game?

Thanks in advance for any advice.

Thread: Re: bingham

cparrott — 2008-05-01T16:01:37+00:00

Just getting back into this game...

Disputes are all resolved before any player turns. Player order doesn't matter in resolving disputes. If both survey and prospect disputes occur, both are resolved completely. Then the order of decision to buy occurs during the player turn by player order. So the first player in his turn would have the option to exercise his dispute win, with the disputed item becoming available next turn if not bought. Then the next player during his turn can make his decision to buy the item he won the dispute for and so forth.

Building the Bingham route is not blocking by the rules. Blocking occurs when one player is already building a route and another surveys a segment that can only serve to stop a player from completing the route. For instance, player 1 is building from A to C. One segment is left B->C. Player 2 cannot survey C->B if this would completely prevent player 1 from finishing the A to C route. If alternate routes to C are available for Player 1 then Player 2 can survey this segment. This last case is one of the times a special dispute can be called.

In the Bingham case, it's a dead end branch line off of SLC so would not block a player in any way from finishing a route elsewhere. You can freely survey a route that only goes to a mine with the intention of sharing profits with the mine's owner. It's part of the speculative investment nature of the game.

Image

TGov — 2008-04-15T23:36:25+00:00

Custom Silverton map I created

Image

ShowTunes — 2007-11-23T23:50:11+00:00

Silverton 1st ed. Train Card

Image

ShowTunes — 2007-11-23T23:49:44+00:00

Silverton 1st ed. Rule Book Cover

Image

ShowTunes — 2007-11-23T23:49:19+00:00

Silverton 1st ed. Passenger Card

Image

ShowTunes — 2007-11-23T23:48:53+00:00

Silverton 1st ed. Money

Image

ShowTunes — 2007-11-23T23:48:27+00:00

Silverton 1st ed. Claim Card

Image

ShowTunes — 2007-11-23T23:47:54+00:00

Silverton 1st ed. Box Cover