Any Rail Baron Players here?

[Urban Ranger]

I think the impact is greater than that. It shifts the balance to buying railroads. Would you use the PA often enough that you'd save 30 grand in fees in the long run?

[Ming]

In a normal game, you are buying rails anyway... and once they are all bought, you are staying on your rails anyway... and unless you rail network sucks, you won't leave it often. So everybody is saving pretty much the same money.

The only impact is to speed up the game, and it makes sense to do it in tournament play.

[Urban Ranger]

Yeah, but you guys have stopped buying railroads, right?

[rah]

Only in three man games.
All the rails are still being bought in four+ man games.

RAH

[-Jrabbit]

I'm sure there are scenarios in 4-man where "run away and hide" would succeed, but we haven't gotten there yet. (Well, thinking about it, it may have happened once or twice, but with only a couple rails left over.)

[rah]

The best way to beat "run away and hide" is to purchase all the rails to double the penalty. In a three man game, it costs too much money, in a four man game it's much easier.

[Urban Ranger]

So, how do you rank the Big 3 rails? I myself have always liked Santa Fe.

[Ming]

Originally posted by Urban Ranger
So, how do you rank the Big 3 rails? I myself have always liked Santa Fe.

Depends on the number of players.

In a real game... where all the rails are bought... the PA is still the best. The ATS&F is probably number 2. If you mean the Big 3 are the ATS&F, the UP and the SP... the Santa Fe is indeed the best of those three.

[Urban Ranger]

Yeah, "Big 3" are the AT&SF, the UP, and the SP.

[Ming]

The ATS&F's strength is that it's fast and goes all the way to Chicago. The UP is fast and gives you some coverage in two regions... but without the WP, not being able to get to Oakland/SF is a big minus. At least it's usually easy to hook up to.
The SP is a great rail and gets to a lot of cities... but it's really slow, really doesn't give you any locks...

[Urban Ranger]

The SP is excellent if you travel between South Central and Southwest. Otherwise it's just very slow.

[rah]

If I already have the WP, I'll go for the UP.
If I have the Denver-Rio, it speeds up the SP some.
But with neither, ATSF is prefered.

[Urban Ranger]

In a normal game, would you not save up to buy one of them instead of getting WP or Denver-Rio?

[Paddy]

Good game

[Ming]

Originally posted by Urban Ranger
In a normal game, would you not save up to buy one of them instead of getting WP or Denver-Rio?

If you are saving for a big rail... It never hurts to buy one of those two while you are getting enough money.

6 or 8 thousand doesn't really hurt your ability to buy a big rail. Especially if you are on the West Coast, and you are only 10 short of what you need... the odds are, your next run will give you the money you need, and you will also have the small rail In our normal games, those rails go pretty early.