Post originally by Cedric Chin at 2005-01-12 10:12:53
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Great review. Despite this being your first Rails game, your review is quite accurate about the Rails series.
Communism Falls is the only mechanic that's different for this Rails game, so I'd like to know more. Did the event cause players to play (eg. plan) differently? I'd see how the 20% loss would affect players late in the game, but other Rails games have Taxes, which pretty much does the same. I'm guessing that the 2M fee late in the game doesn't affect players much. At best, I think players would just build routes to avoid, say, zig-zagging across the USSR border. But if the best routes are taken, some players may be foreces to build this way.
Post originally by Sol Binar at 2005-01-12 11:17:46
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Actually, Russia Rails has a tax card AND the 20% devaluation that occurs when communism falls. This slows the game somewhat compared to the other 8 variations, as players can take two cash hits.
The bonus cards are a little different, not all of the variations have them In Russia Rails a card says something like Unrest in the West, first person to deliver armor (tanks) and vodka to (some city) gets 20 or 25 million rubles. Other games have bonuses of 10 million for the delivery of food stuffs (wheat, corn etc) or fuels (coal, oil, uranium, wood). In other words, you don't have to wait to get a coal card to try for the bonus, you can set out immediately despit your three cards.
You can not really zig-zag to stay in Russia and avoid the 2 million ruble fee after communism falls. There are too many cities in the other former soviet republics to do well with going for goods or delivering there.
Post originally by Shannon Appelcline at 2005-01-12 11:54:38
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<i>You can not really zig-zag to stay in Russia and avoid the 2 million ruble fee after communism falls. There are too many cities in the other former soviet republics to do well with going for goods or delivering there.</i>
Beyond that, I think the map encourages zig-zagging by the particular placement of cities on either side of the border; it ends up being a short-term gain vs. long-term loss issue, and as with many of the EB games, you usually fall on the short-term gain side of things.
Post originally by Chris Goodwin at 2005-01-16 20:33:14
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These are available at Wal-Mart, Target, etc. They have all of the advantages of crayons and erasable markers (easy to wipe off, don't come off when you don't want them to, easy to distinguish colors) and none of the disadvantages.
Linear Mode
