18OE — Game Rules Summary

Quick reference for the core rules of 18OE. Intended as a developer cheat-sheet alongside the full rulebook at rules/18OE_Rulebook_v_1.0.txt.

Company Types ✗ todo

Game Phases (Railroad) ✗ todo

1. Auction — buy privates, minors, concessions
2. Concession (Train Phase 1) — 10 float actions in numbered order (deferred)
3. Regional/Minor — until 18 regionals + all 12 minors floated; 6 regionals removed
4. Major — secondary shares available; majors can float; level-3 trains available
5. Consolidation — first SR after Phase 5; remaining minors/regionals merge or abandon

Auction Phase ✗ todo

Items sold in a 7-row waterfall. Each row is fully sold before the next opens. Within a row, items sell left-to-right. On their turn a player may buy the leftmost unsold item of any open row, or pass.

Minor auction card — purchasing one immediately floats that minor at £120 par; home token placed in the Regional/Minor Phase.

All-pass price reduction (not yet implemented) — if all players consecutively pass before the opening packet is sold, each item in the topmost open row pays its printed dividend, then every item in that row drops £5. Repeats; any item reaching £0 must be taken by the next player.

Train Phases & Rusting ✓ done

Level 8 becomes available after the 4th Level 7 purchase (not at a fixed phase).

Train Limits by Phase ✓ done

Stock Market Movement ✗ todo

• RIGHT: dividend ≥ share value (also +3 RIGHT on first OE run)
• LEFT: zero dividend paid
• UP: all shares in players' hands at end of SR
• DOWN: each share sold
• No move: dividend > 0 but < share value; or at £550

Operating Round (per company) ✗ todo

1. Lay track (tile pts: minor/regional=3, major=6, national=9; nationals pay no terrain costs)
2. Place token (one per OR; regionals/minors restricted to home zone)
3. Run trains & calculate revenue
4. Pay/split/hold (nationals must pay ALL as dividends)
5. Transfer tokens (majors only — between same player's majors)
6. Buy trains
7. Buy or sell shares (majors only)

Dividend Options ✗ todo

• Full-pay — all revenue paid to shareholders pro-rata; share price moves RIGHT if revenue ≥ share price, else no move
• Half-pay — half to shareholders, half to treasury; share price never moves (minors/regionals exempt from movement entirely)
• Withhold — all revenue to treasury; share price moves LEFT
• Nationals — always full-pay; all revenue distributed, nothing retained; share price moves RIGHT/no-move as normal

Track Rights Zones ✓ done

Orient Express ✗ todo beta

• Majors only; route must include Constantinople + one of Paris/London/Berlin/Madrid/Sankt-Peterburg; must include some land track
• Constantinople is on-map pre-printed yellow at AA82 (eastern map terminus)
• First run bonus: £30 (Phase 2–4), £60 (Phase 5–6), £100 (Phase 7–8) + RIGHT×3
• Trains level ≤4 can be combined (combined level = sum); level 5+ cannot combine

National Revenue (unique) ✗ todo

Nationals have virtual tokens in every city/town in their home zone:

1. Linked cities/towns in zone → counted at face value (D trains double)
2. Remaining capacity → filled at £60/city or £10/town (no linkage required)

Implementation: Graph.new(home_as_token: true, no_blocking: true) — see Engine Concepts.

Cross-Water Costs ✗ todo

• Track: Ferry = +£5 × distance; Sea = +£10 × number of sea zones
• Tokens: Ferry = +£20 × distance; Sea = +£40 × number of sea zones
• 6 sea zones: North Sea, Baltic, Western Mediterranean, Adriatic, Aegean, Black Sea

Minor Abilities ✗ todo

Each minor has a unique special ability. Ability transfers to the major on merger (→ beta).

Private Abilities ✗ todo

Privates are auctioned in rows 1–4; minor auction cards in rows 5–7.