Re: [Rails-devel] 1830 Reading

[Stefan F. <ste...@we...>]

Erik:

is there any reason, why you put the driveThroughStation on map.xml instead in 
tile.xml, other than the one discusses previously, that tiles.xml is not game 
specific?

However the tiles you defined are (very) game specific already.

Both from logical and implementation issues I would prefer to define 
attributes of stations in the station tag instead of the hex tag.

Coalfields:
For the coalfield hex a mechanism to buy the coalfield tokens is needed first. 
Then it is easy to add the adjustment to the revenue calculator via the static 
modifier approach similar to the bonus tokens.

Stefan

By the way:

I have thought about similar issues in my mailing last year (04/29/10) on 
"Changes to the Station objects", which cover some more cases due to a more 
general approach.

A) Each station adds the following (additional) attributes:

tokenAllows = {RunThrough, RunFrom, NoAccess, N/A}
If a token is laid it allows to run through, to run from or no access?

openStationAllows = {RunThrough, RunTo, NoAccess, N/A}
If a token is laid it allows to run through, to run to or none?

closedStationAllows = {RunThrough, RunTo, NoAccess, N/A}
If the station is fully tokened and the company does not own a token there, 
what are the possibilities?

To allow an easier definition I suggest to use station type definitions like 
the company types etc.

A station is closed if the number of tokens equals the number of slots, 
otherwise it is open. 

By this definition a town is always closed, but by setting closedStationAllows 
to RunThrough that is not an issue.

B) Different off-board locations:
There is a substantial variation of different kind of off-board locations. 
There are at least four cases, may be more.

1) Standard off-board locations (as in 1830)
The off-board areas act as sinks for all companies.
No tokens allowed.
(tokenAllows = N/A, openStationAllows = N/A, closedStationAllows = RunTo)

2) Tokenable off-board locations (example: SP base in 1870)
A base token can be layed in at least one of the areas.
The rules claim that off-board areas are still sink for all companies, except 
for the company with a token which can start a train there.
But it cannot run its trains through the hex (thus SP cannot have the same 
train enter from NE and then continue to the E).

(tokenAllows = RunFrom, openStationAllows = RunTo, closedStationAllows = 
RunTo)

3) Run-through off-board locations (as Hamburg in 18EU)
A non-tokenable station (similar to towns), that allows running through it.

(tokenAllows = N/A, openStationAllows = N/A, closedStationAllows = RunThrough)

And another from an non-implemented game:
4) Tokenable run-to off-board locations (as in 18Scan)
Here a base-token is needed to run to the station.

(tokenAllows = RunFrom, openStationAllows = NoAccess , closedStationAllows = 
NoAccess)

In  general a station is fully tokened if the nb of slots equals the nb of 
tokens. This implies that (default) towns are fully tokened (0=0), but the 
fullyTokened attribute would be set to RunThrough. 

StationTypes should be added to provide defaults.

C) Other new station attributes
runStationType = {Major, Minor}
Is it counted as city-type or town-type for plus-trains and express-trains?

name = {...}
I would like to add is a "name" attribute for stations on 
tiles. Identical names would imply that those stations are mutually exclusive 
for train runs. They would be automatically added to the list of exclusions 
to the revenue calculator.



On Thursday, April 28, 2011 11:24:49 am you wrote:
> Stefan,
> 
> 
> 
> I don't know if you are ready to restart doing bits of work for Rails, but
> here I have a problem that you might want to look into.
> 
> 
> 
> I found (not unexpectedly), that in the 1830 Reading variant, the H14 city
> is not closed for driving through by non-Reading trains, if there is no
> token in that city. See the attached saved file.
> 
> I did not test the original and new Altoona (H12) hexes, but I suppose
> these will behave similarly.
> 
> 
> 
> (BTW the strange route path shown is probably caused by the fact that the
> displayed SVG tile (-30006) differs from the tile that defines connectivity
> in Tiles.xml (-30007). I don't really worry about that.)
> 
> 
> 
> What we need, I think, is the ability to mark a hex to disallow driving
> through a station (city) except when there is a token.
> 
> That could for instance be accomplished by  an extra attribute in Map.xml,
> like 'driveThroughStation="tokenOnly"' (the other two -implicit- values
> being "yes" for normal tiles and "no" for off-map tiles).
> 
> Not sure if that would fit with your route determination logic. Anyway, I'm
> largely dependent on you to write the Java code for this fine-tuning
> detail.
> 
> 
> 
> Best regards,
> 
> Erik.
> 
> 
> 
> Van: Erik Vos [mailto:eri...@xs...]
> Verzonden: donderdag 28 april 2011 0:51
> Aan: 'Development list for Rails: an 18xx game'
> Onderwerp: Re: [Rails-devel] 1830 Reading
> 
> 
> 
> OK, added.
> 
> I have also created the Reading home hex (H14) tiles -30006 (displayed) and
> -30007 (internal, connectivity) and put these into the map.
> 
> BTW you also specified such a tile on H14 for Coalfields, but that is
> incorrect.
> 
> Erik.
> 
> 
> 
> Van: Scott Petersen [mailto:sc...@re...]
> Verzonden: woensdag 27 april 2011 23:46
> Aan: Development list for Rails: an 18xx game
> Onderwerp: [Rails-devel] 1830 Reading
> 
> 
> 
> While we are on a roll with making updates, here is a first pass at the
> Reading variant for 1830.  Note that this variant allows the C&A owner to
> select either the PRR or the RDG as the free share--this needs to be
> cleaned up a little with some nicer text.  I put in an extra variant
> option to accomodate for this, but ultimately, it would be nice to get
> this selection into the game.
> 
> 
> 
> I'm not sure how much interest there is in these variants, but I could see
> some BGGers getting excited about them.  Of course, until there is another
> release, very few people have access to the new stuff.
> 
> 
> 
> Personally, I now refuse to start any PBEM games that make systematic stock
> trashing a core strategy to doing well--it just takes too long.  Live games
> via Rails are okay of course.