GeekList: Why Age of Steam is a Gaming System/AoS Survey Results

Why Age of Steam is a Gaming System/AoS Survey Results

Ted Alspach

(toulouse)

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Age of Steam’s popularity among its loyal followers continues to grow, even though the game is almost 5 years old. The bulk of this popularity is due to the variety provided by the large number of expansions available for the base game (more than 2 dozen commercial maps and a large number of free ones), each of which modify the basic game in some way; some dramatically, others marginally, every one of them giving players a unique gaming experience every time they play.

The Age of Steam base game and its “Rust Belt” (also known as Great Lakes) map by itself is a great game with enormous replayability. But it’s the ability of those expansions to maintain the core essence of Age of Steam while providing new and challenging elements that makes Age of Steam a gaming system all by itself. There’s no other game in the BGG top ten that has the seemingly endless potential that Age of Steam does; the only game with similar expansions is Power Grid, but due to the structure inherent in Power Grid’s play, it is limited to much more basic changes that don’t add or change as much as do AoS expansions. The only other game in the top 10 with a bunch of expansions is El Grande, and they’re of a whole different sort, on a par with the Puerto Rico expansion buildings. Battlelore (will it stay in the top 10) seems to have fairly strong expansion potential, both in scenarios and figures, but it’s way too early to know what will happen there.

Age of Steam provides the tools for players and designers to tweak most aspects of gameplay while allowing players to use the same basic set of components. With the exception of Italy, all the expansions use the existing track tiles. Only the board and the rules change.

I’m a huge fan of Age of Steam, having designed several expansions myself and published a few more by another designer, and I’ve played most of the expansions out there, both commercial and downloadable. While many of the people I regularly game with also play Age of Steam and we all have our preferences as to what we like and don’t like in an expansion, I wanted to know what the rest of the AoS playing community thought. Part of this stems from my marketing genes, so that as a publisher I’m offering products that the “consumer base” desires, but another part of it was really just good old gamer curiosity.

A few months ago I posted a survey to find out a little bit more about what Age of Steam players like and don’t like, want and don’t want, expect and don’t expect in Age of Steam expansions. After receiving more than 100 responses I’ve tabulated the results, and am presenting the significant/interesting data here for the first time. Some of the results were as I expected, while a few others were a little more surprising. My guess is that the more you play Age of Steam, the less surprised you’ll be with any of these results. Regardless, it’s good stuff.

I’ve represented the results below rounded to the nearest whole number %. In all cases this was sufficient to portray answers in a meaningful light.

For current and future designers/publishers of Age of Steam maps, a few words of caution: As with any data, this is a small subset of the (assumed) Age of Steam players out there. The responses are naturally biased towards more enthusiastic AoS players who don’t mind spending 10 minutes taking a survey for free. Just because this survey indicates one thing, don’t take it as gospel, and please don’t let it limit the creation of maps/expansions because it doesn’t fall within the majority of the responses.

So how have these results impacted my design/publication of Age of Steam maps? I’ve just announced a new set of maps (see the last entry here: Age of Steam Expansion - Mississippi Steamboats / Golden Spike for more details) that were designed and developed prior to my knowing the results of this survey. However, the desire for mounted maps shown in this survey was the thing that pushed me over the edge in terms of production style. I’ve taken the plunge (and a greater financial risk than ever before) by getting this new set of maps professionally printed and mounted on gameboard by the same production company that made the original Age of Steam and Warfrog mounted maps.

If you’re interested in adding your responses to the survey (though updated results will not be posted unless there are significant changes), it remains open at http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.asp?u=223672846725

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Posted On: 2007-01-16 10:51:00

Edited On: 2007-01-16 10:51:00

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1. Age of Steam [Average Rating:8.03 Unranked]

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Ted Alspach

(toulouse)

How often do players play Age of Steam?
Less than 10% of the respondents played Age of Steam 2 times or less. Over 70% of the respondents played Age of Steam “several” times or more, with 32% of them self-labeling themselves as addicts. This goes directly to the natural bias of enthusiastic players who are interested in filling out a survey for free on a topic they have great interest in.

For this reason I didn’t bother asking what they’ve rated Age of Steam, or more questions related to the base game. It is assumed (fairly or not) that the bulk of respondents are mostly Age of Steam enthusiasts.

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Posted On: 2007-01-16 10:51:00

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2. Age of Steam Expansion #1 - England & Ireland [Average Rating:8.21 Unranked]

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Ted Alspach

(toulouse)

How many expansions have these players played?
15% of the respondents have never played any Age of Steam expansions. The inverse is much more telling: 85% of them have played expansions, and more than half of those have played at least 4 different expansions.

17% of respondents have played 8 or more expansions, with an abnormally large group of 12% having played exactly 8 expansions (some strange data blip, or something more sinister??? Hmmmm).

When doing the survey, I did separate commercially-available maps from downloadable/free ones. The only significant result here was that 58% of the respondents have never played a downloadable map. To those 58%, I would encourage you to check out the files section of the BGG entry for the Age of Steam base game and download a few to play.

I also asked about how many maps were owned (and of those owned, how many were played) by respondents, but this result merely mirrored the “expansions played” results.

When analyzing the results of this survey, I did filter out the “played Age of Steam 2 times-or-less” and “no expansions played” players to see if the results were significantly changed (this was more of a marketing exercise than anything else). I also looked at the players who owned expansions (as they would be more likely to purchase in the future than non-owners). The end results were pretty much identical to the overall group’s responses, however.

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Posted On: 2007-01-16 10:51:00

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3. Age of Steam Expansion - China / South America [Average Rating:8.24 Unranked]

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Ted Alspach

(toulouse)

What are the most important aspects when considering an Age of Steam Expansion?
A broad question, and one whose results most likely mirrors the typical Eurogamer desires, with the possible exception of a lower-than-expected interest in the designer of the map (but that’s very likely my own ego’s expectations affecting my perceptions of what I thought the results would be). In fact, just over a third of the respondents deemed the designer of the expansions irrelevant (though this is in slight contrast with a later follow up question regarding designer preferences, which clearly indicated a bias towards Martin Wallace-designed expansions).

The most important aspect by far was Mechanics, with 86% of respondents viewing this as very important or critical to their consideration (those are the top two choices). Contrast that to Designer, where only 7% of respondents marked the top two fields.

Keeping with the Eurogame nature of Age of Steam, Theme was also much less important to respondents, with only 40% marking the top two fields. Responses to pricing and production quality were middling and definitely took a backseat to mechanics.

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Posted On: 2007-01-16 10:51:00

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4. Age of Steam Expansion - 1830's Pennsylvania / Northern California [Average Rating:7.71 Unranked]

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Ted Alspach

(toulouse)

What graphical style of maps is preferred?
This was one of those questions I really didn’t know the answer to, as the anecdotal evidence was all over the, um…map. My own background in graphics has always had me wishing for “better” AoS graphics (more focused on the terrain and less on the hex grid), while the ability for Winsome to instantly sell out of new expansions with a bare-bones “outline” (white background with black hex frames and colored triangles to indicate terrain) meant that a reasonable number of people really like that style ( for instance, J C Lawrence, Age of Steam player/designer, professes a great liking for that style over the classic AoS look, but he is also a big 18XX player).

The results indicated that players really like the “classic” Age of Steam look (the style which is used by the Great Lakes/Rust Belt map included in the box) significantly more than any other style, with absolutely NO responses in the lower three fields. Compare that to the “outline” mode, where 67% of respondents indicated that they were unlikely (or worse) to purchase an outline-style map.

So why is Winsome able to pull off consistent sell-outs whenever they introduce an outline-style new expansion (there’s actually a waiting list to get on the actual list to get these maps)? I believe it has to do with the whole “mechanics” question. John Bohrer’s designs are consistently engaging and innovative, which overrides the graphics. There’s a certain level of quality expected with a new Winsome mapset, and players are rarely disappointed. My first purchase (I’m finally “on the list”) of Winsome maps occurred this past year when I picked up Age of Steam Expansion - Eastern US & Canada, which has innovative mechanics (Marketing action which allows you to deliver through a same colored city on your way to a destination, shared routes) and the innovation of placing this map next to the Great Lakes “base” map for Gameplay (something that initially is visually distracting, but quickly fades as the game is played).

Once you’ve played an outline style map, I think you’ll be more accepting of other maps. However, everything else being the same, I want my maps to follow the classic look.

Oh, and regarding a better, more enhanced look? It seems players really don’t care one way or the other (it certainly isn’t going to be a deciding factor when purchasing maps).

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Posted On: 2007-01-16 10:51:00

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5. Age of Steam Expansion #2 - Western US & Germany [Average Rating:7.98 Unranked]

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Ted Alspach

(toulouse)

What type of production format is desired?
While players definitely want hard copies (PDFs and JPEGs were the least desirable of choices), there was only one clear winner here: players wanted mounted gameboard maps. While all other formats had results stating that players were unlikely or worse to purchase/download them as a result of the production format, nobody (0%) said they didn’t want mounted maps.

This provides an interesting issue for designers/publishers. The cost of producing a mounted board is significant relative to any other form of production, and the number of copies that have to be printed to keep the individual cost of each map below the stratosphere is incredibly high considering there are only 6000 copies of the base Age of Steam in existence (as of January 2007). Until now, only Warfrog has produced mounted Age of Steam maps, and they haven’t produced any new expansions for over a year now (since the Warfrog version of Age of Steam Expansion #4 - France and Italy was released at Essen 2005).

In addition, the relative explosion of new maps by designers in the last year means that the market is somewhat diluted, making it less likely for a small publisher to break even on such a big investment. That said, this result was the factor that pushed me over the edge with my just-announced maps, Age of Steam Expansion - Mississippi Steamboats / Golden Spike, combined with overwhelmingly positive response from playtests. Hopefully this will prove successful for Bezier Games, enough so that other publishers will follow suit…I for one would love a big box full of “real” mounted expansions…kind of like what you can get for Formula De now (but it’s Formula De…so it’s kinda irrelevant).

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Posted On: 2007-01-16 10:51:00

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Robert Braddock

(xethair)

Quote:

there was only one clear winner here: players wanted mounted gameboard maps.

Well, that's rather disappointing. I hate mounted boards for these expansions, because it just wastes so much space and weight. Mounting all the expansion maps is just untenable for people that want more than a few of them. This is a surprising result.

Quote:

While all other formats had results stating that players were unlikely or worse to purchase/download them as a result of the production format, nobody (0%) said they didn't want mounted maps.

Your survey is a problem here, because you asked how likey people were to buy assuming the theme, mechanics, etc. appealed. That is entirely different from asking if people want mounted boards. I certainly do not want mounted boards, but would I not buy a great expansion just because of that? No, of course not. A less appealing one, on the other hand... Forget about it.

In fact, I'd have already ordered the Mississippi Steamboats map if not for the mounting, although the Golden Spike map sounds to me pretty weak Age of Steam-wise, so a better one there would have made the buy much more likely.

The more maps there are, the more mounting them becomes a negative. I wonder how much the survey takers are considering the people that carry/store the maps...

Posted On: 2007-01-18 12:08:15

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Michael Webb

(CortexBomb)

I think there are a couple of factors that people should take into account though:

#1: The hardboard mounting has positive connotations for people because it screams out "quality" and "finished product". I agree that there are limitations of this format, and if any more hard maps come out beyond Mississippi, I am going to have to start deciding what maps I bring with me instead of just automatically hauling them all along. Cardboard and laminated printings have the advantage of fitting in my bezier Games cardboard mailing envelope, which means that they can always come along with me to any gaming event.

#2: Part of the negative reaction to cardboard or laminated maps doubtless is because of the cost. The Warfrog hard maps were about 15$ in online stores, and 20$ retail. All of the cardboard and laminated maps that have been released so far have sold for the retail price of Warfrog maps. I know that when I have the choice between a hard map for 25 and a cardboard map for the same, then I am definitely going to opt for the hard map. I think if the cardboard / laminated maps were released for a lower price, then people would react more favourably to them.

Posted On: 2007-01-18 12:31:14

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J C Lawrence

(clearclaw)

xethair wrote:

In fact, I'd have already ordered the Mississippi Steamboats map if not for the mounting, although the Golden Spike map sounds to me pretty weak Age of Steam-wise, so a better one there would have made the buy much more likely.

The Golden Spike is a different map in that it changes some of the fundamental character of the game of Age of Steam from a simple economic race to a combination of the economic race plus timing the end conditions of the game. If you're looking for a simple variant on base Age of Steam you'll be disappointed. However as a different game that is yet strongly related to Age of Steam it works rather well and is far from an easy game to play well. In fact in some ways it is much more difficult than base AoS to play well.

I like the Mississippi Riverboats map. I think Ted has done better maps for my taste, maps like 1830's Pennsylvania, but Mississippi Riverboats is a fine map. What may be more impressive is that it even works fairly well as a teaching map for Age of Steam.

Quote:

The more maps there are, the more mounting them becomes a negative. I wonder how much the survey takers are considering the people that carry/store the maps.

I too strongly prefer unmounted maps. As I've discussed elsewhere I've been slowly redrawing all the heavy mounted maps to single sheet form which I then print on a large format plotter, laminate and carry in a map tube. Currently there are about a dozen maps in the tube, each with with all the charts and rules variation data built into the map image. I realise that many won't like the approach, but it sure makes carrying a fully set of maps to gaming events easier.

Posted On: 2007-01-18 20:49:52

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Robert Braddock

(xethair)

clearclaw wrote:

Yes, I realize that; however, the description of the game leaves me as cold as can be. It's *terribly* excited about it, but it's not telling how the map really plays/works. Mentions of fixed track on the map that gets revealed make it sound less flexible. Team play is neat, but it looks more like side-by-side two-player games, and the maps just don't look interesting. I haven't played it; I'm just saying it is unappealing so far, and that means the unwanted mounted board is more of an issue. That's why his conclusion from his survey question is not as clear as he's portrayed it. I'd have liked to hear how people really stood on this issue. I'd especially like to know what the maps would have cost if they'd been like Bezier's others but he stood the same per-map profit as this mounted printing.

Maybe if the last maps he made (true, Penn/CA were neat) hadn't been Disco Inferno and Soul Train (goofy and hideous looking), I could come up with more hopeful assumptions about these.

CortexBomb wrote:

#1: The hardboard mounting has positive connotations for people because it screams out "quality" and "finished product".

Granted, but I think that is much more relevant to separate games. These are expansions and require both designer-approval and (hopefully small) royalties to get sold, and are pure-niche market items, so quality questions will come here (BGG) more than having to guess from the production alone, I'd think.

Also, I think this is another way the survey question was problematic: some of the production choices were described by referring to other products, so likely only people with those can honestly comment. Bezier's AoS maps seem (to me) to be just as much a professional, quality product as a mounted board, just without the needless heft. Steambrothers' maps on the other hand, look more home-made, and were disappointing after Bezier's. Could people tell the difference from the survey descriptions without the publisher references?

Posted On: 2007-01-19 13:47:34

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J C Lawrence

(clearclaw)

xethair wrote:

clearclaw wrote:

I understand the concern. I had very similar concerns before I played. My assumption was that player interaction was almost entirely limited to the auction, which just didn't seem interesting enough. In practice it isn't that simple. There's a strange mix of collusion and competition among the players in and across teams. It isn't my favourite map of ted's (that would be Pennsylvania), but it is quite good.

Quote:

Maybe if the last maps he made (true, Penn/CA were neat) hadn't been Disco Inferno and Soul Train (goofy and hideous looking), I could come up with more hopeful assumptions about these.

Hehn. I'm among those who don't particularly care what the maps look like, and have a fondness for more clever themes. It is the /game/ that is important. I find Disco Inferno and Soul Train clever and well designed. The innovations in Soul Train particularly appeal to me (several resulted in the classic, Duh, why didn't I think of that? reaction).

Quote:

Steambrothers' maps on the other hand, look more home-made, and were disappointing after Bezier's.

I was not pleased with the quality and form of the laminating on the SteamBrother's maps. The extra fringes made the central join needlessly intrusive and the glossy surface can be a real glare problem in bright locations. Bezier's maps are not laminated and do damage fairly readily if abused, but they can be cold laminated in matte plastic cheaply enoug