'20 review post-Portland

[J C Lawrence]

We played '20 at Portland. Primary notes:

Loans are still too fiddly, especially the 2/3 business and by
extrapolation, 10- and 20-share companies (which are starting to
appear faster) are too safe from take-over. Additionally when loans
change or don't change, stock prices is a mess around take-overs.

The new cost of business chart is too steep. The old chart had
problems in brown where the extra income of brown trains wasn't
compelling compared to their cost over blue trains. I then
over-compensated with the new chart. Which also suggests that the brown
trains are failing to hit the sweetspot of being better than the blues
while still being rather weak and the start part of an income lull in
the game.

Given the presence of a train rush (perhaps not a given) Maintenance
costs moving forward as a new colour was broken and again at the bottom
of the OR was too fast. That's a jump plus one and once there is a train
rush, it adds needless punishment to the beating of the increased
maintenance.

Privates are too weak now that public companies don't have to pay
income tax. They can't keep up and are no longer viable as a core
strategy.

I've flip-flopped on tokens for companies as they changed issue
sizes. (Does a company get place-able tokens as it increases its issue
size?) Time to resolve that.

Exactly how do share prices change for shares in the market? (Another
flip-flop)

$1,500 was too much starting capital in a 5-player game.

Proposals:
==========

1) Loans are $200. Stock price goes down once per loan taken or loan
acquired in a take-over. Stock price goes up once per loan paid off.
A company cannot take loans that would put it into the gray except via
take-overs. All other limits are the same.

2) All companies have two tokens on float, no matter their issue size.
Companies do not gain additional tokens when increasing their issue
size. The only way for a company to acquire additional tokens is via
take-over. The station-limit changes as companies change their issue
size, not the supply of tokens to place. If you want a token: buy or
float & buy a company.

3) Privates get 4 track-points per OR. (2 is clearly too few, 5 is
clearly too many, so 3 or 4 should be right) This will put back some of
their income disadvantage, but will also accelerate incomes for
neighbours while also giving privates impressive levels of
track-control. Not an obvious set of trades there.

4) Go back to something closer to the old cost of business chart,
but accelerate blue maintenance a little. I've attached the original,
Portland and new proposed charts.

5) *Maybe* make the brown trains a bit better. The current weakening
of the blues on the CoB chart may have already accomplished this need,
so not sure on this (thinking: no). If it is needed, then I'm thinking
of making the browns into 8++Ts where the ++ means that they double dits
(perhaps as part of a rural resuscitation/revitalisation programs). I
don't like the fiddly/unique rules for ++ trains.

6) Give a bonus to privates ala: "Can buy a train from the supply at
any point in their operations, including just before running
it." The intent is to recreate some of the profit and control margin
that privates had over publics due to income tax without adding significant rules overhead.

6) Don't change the movement of maintenance at all. Let the slower
chart do its work with the new trains and then re-evaluate.

7) Put back the game end at $500 stock price. I removed it for reasons
that are no longer true.

8) Share prices fall once per 5% in the market at the end of an SR but
do not fall into the gray (bounce on the floor at the top of gray).
(Once per share seems too soft in the early game and too much in the
end-game -- I am concerned by the fiddliness of 5% and by degenerate
end-games as money flees for cheap shares) Much of the problem is
caused by not having share prices fall upon sale, but adding back that
rewards a dumping/dump-threat/priority-order/niggling aspect that seems
out of character for the game and causes many other difficulties.

9) New starting capital figures: 3-player: $1,400, 4-player: $1,450,
5-player (new): $1,400.

-- JCL

[Db]

Mostly good. Needs play test and results will vary by player count!

Sent from my iPhone

> <OLD-market_maintenance-outline-letter.pdf>
> <PORTLAND-market_maintenance-outline-letter.pdf>
> <NEW-market_maintenance-outline-A4.pdf>