Aside from the rules, other changes between the two editions include:
Map: Detroit now correctly shows a '3'.
Income Display: Now correctly wraps around at 49; income reduction above 50 is again -10.
Box: French text is included, IGA logo is included, French rules provided.
Rules:
PAGE 4, 1st column, I inserted a clarification sentence between "Link. A".
"A group of Track tiles may not directly connect a City or Town to itself."
I thought this was clearly implied, but enough folks had questions about it to justify the sentence.
PAGES 5 and 6, Track Building Costs section, has been rewritten to allow Complex Track to be directly Placed. This change provides further tactical options for advanced players. Note that the existing Building Track rules and their requirements are unchanged, the only difference is that Complex tiles may now be Placed and I have provided the costs for this capability. Below is the complete text for this section:
"Track Building Costs
Placing
Placing a Simple Track tile costs $2. If the hex the track tile is placed in has a river, the cost is $3. If the hex the track tile is placed in has a mountain, the cost is $4.
Placing a Complex Coexist Track tile costs $3. If the hex the track tile is placed in has a river, the cost is $4. If the hex the track tile is placed in has a mountain, the cost is $5.
Placing a Complex Crossing Track tile costs $4. If the hex the track tile is placed in has a river, the cost is $5. If the hex the track tile is placed in has a mountain, the cost is $6.
Note that the above mentioned additional terrain costs are only incurred when the first tile is placed on the terrain, not when that tile is replaced or redirected.
Placing a Track tile in a Town costs $1 for the Town and $1 for every Track to the Town. The least expensive Town tile is the Dedicated Town tile with one Track, this costs $2. The most expensive Town tile would be a Complex track with a Town counter placed on it. This costs $5.
Replacing
Replacing a Simple Track tile with a Complex Crossing Track tile costs $3.
Replacing a Track tile in a Town costs $3, no matter the added connections.
All other replacements cost $2.
Redirecting
Redirecting any Track tile costs $2."
PAGE 6, Move Goods section.
In the example, replace the two words 'red' with 'blue'. This error caused the vast majority of all questions concerning Age of Steam. Please note that in the original Winsome edition of Age of Steam all the red cities were blue and the blue cities were red. At the last minute these were changed in the first printing of the game by the graphics artist, hence the error.
We have added clarifications to the rules text in the Move Goods section:
Replace "color and" with "color as the Good and".
Replace "color it" with "color as the Good it".
Replace the word "Commodity" with "Good".
PAGE 6, Pay Expenses section, clarification:
Replace "paying their" with "paying all their".
Insert the following sentence between "owe. If"
"This should be immediately recorded on the income track by moving the player's disc."
Most folks understood this implicitly, but I should have had this sentence in the original rules.
PAGE 6, Income Reduction section
We are returning the English language text to the Winsome original text. Note that the German language text for this section was always correct. Replace the entire paragraph with the following:
"If a player's railroad's income is over 50, the income is reduced by 10. If a player's railroad's income is 41-50, the income is reduced by 8. If a player's railroad's income is 31-40, the income is reduced by 6. If a player's railroad's income is 21-30, the income is reduced by 4. If a player's railroad's income is 11-20, the income is reduced by 2. This should be immediately recorded on the income track by moving the player's disc."
PAGE 7, Goods Growth section. I have made some improvements to this section. Some folks thought that one could only place New Cities A-D in the western part of the map, some folks thought that they should slide cubes up on the Goods Display. Hopefully these improvements should forestall any further misunderstanding.
Here is the complete text for this section:
"The Goods Growth phase takes Goods from the Goods Display and places them on Cities on the game board. The Goods Display is in two parts. The light section, on the left above, is done first. Then the dark section, on the right, is done second.
Roll as many dice as there are players at the start of the game. Put any 1's rolled above the '1' column, 2's above the '2' column and so on. A Goods cube is taken from the column indicated, from top to bottom, for each die rolled for that column and placed in that City on the map. Goods are placed in New Cities on the map, but not on New Cities that are not yet on the map.
EXAMPLE: It is the second turn of a three player game and 3 dice are rolled: 3, 3, 4 . The cubes in column '3', boxes '1st' and '2nd' are placed in Kansas City. New City 'A' is not on the map yet so no blocks are moved to it. The first cube in the '4' column, '1st' box is empty due to prior Goods Growth, so the cube in the '2nd' box is placed in Des Moines. New City 'B' was placed during the Urbanization action in the Indianapolis hex, so it is on the map. The cube in the '1st' box of the 'B' column is placed on the New City 'B' tile.
If more dice are rolled for a City than the number of Goods in that City column they are just excess dice.
A player who has chosen the Production action may randomly draw two Goods cubes from the cup and place them on any two empty boxes on the Goods Display, one cube per box, before Goods Growth dice are rolled."
PAGE 24, The back of the rulebook now has a summary of the Track Building costs:
"Track Building Costs
See page 5 for detailed text on these costs.
Placing Track
Simple - $2, $3 in River, $4 in Mountains.
Complex Coexist - $3, $4 in River, $5 in Mountains.
Complex Crossing - $4, $5 in River, $6 in Mountains.
Town - $1 plus $1 for each track leading to the town.
Replacing Track
Simple to Complex Crossing - $3
Town - $3
All others - $2
Redirecting Track
All - $2"
SUMMARY
That is it, folks, the only real change is the ability to directly Place Complex track tiles within the constraints of the existing "Building Track" rules, which remain unchanged. Imagine placing a Simple Acute Curve out of Pittsburgh in the Mountains south of Pittsburgh. (Cost: $4) This rules change now allows one to directly Place a Complex tile on the Ohio River. For example, a Complex Crossing (two straight), with one straight track connecting to Pittsburgh aimed at Cincinnati with the other straight track connecting to the acute curve and aimed toward Lake Erie. This placement would cost $5.
This development expands the tactical capabilities of the game and is valid for all existing and future expansions. If you have any questions, I cordially invite you to send an email to me at winsome@fyi.net
John Bohrer
Winsome Games
Pittsburgh, USA
Copyright J. Bohrer 2004. All Rights Reserved.
Last edited on 2008-08-02 05:32:58 CST (Total Number of Edits: 2)
Posted Mon Dec 20, 2004 5:37 pm
