Re: [Rails-devel] Emergency train purchases

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As always, the devil is in the details. An update, with notes added that
have arisen whilst I was trying to code these rules:

1. If a company has no train, it can buy any train on offer from Bank, Pool
or other companies (at any price) that is has enough cash for. 
It is always obliged to buy a used (Pool) train that it can pay for, if it
cannot afford a new (IPO) train. 
It is never obliged to buy a train from another company.
Only if no affordable train can be found this way, the President can and
indeed must add cash, and the below emergency train buying rules apply.

Note: one corollary is, that an emergency does not necessarily arise if the
company has at least $1 in its treasury, because for that price it can
always buy a train from another company, and everything is fine.  Only if no
other company offers a train for that price, the emergency situation arises.
For Rails this means, that in this case the game engine cannot know
beforehand if an  emergency situation will arise. That is only possible if
the company has zero cash.

2. Must buy the *cheapest* train from Bank or Pool:
1830/Kaas, 1856/70, 18AL/GA/TN, 1826: Yes.
1835, 18EU/VA/Scan: No.

Note: I'm awaiting Chris' response on games where it is not mandatory to buy
a Pool train. That would change this aspect.

3. May buy a train from another company (always up to list price):
1830/Kaas, 1835, 18EU/VA/Scan, 1826: Yes.
1856/70, 18AL/GA/TN: No.

Note: the "may buy a train for another company" part is in fact only
relevant if the company has zero cash.  Otherwise a train can be bought
normally from other companies at a price up to the company cash amount (see
note above).  For the games marked "yes" it does mean, effectively, that the
president may always add cash for prices up to the list price. But only from
cash at hand, no shares may be sold.

4. President may add extra cash above the agreed price (up to list price) if
buying from another company:
1830/Kaas: Yes.  It seems that this even applies if the company has
sufficient cash for the agreed price.
18EU: Yes, but only if the company had exactly zero cash.
All others: No or N/A.

Note: I'm not sure if the " extra cash above the agreed price (up to list
price)" is actually true.  This would mean that it is allowed to leave some
cash in the company treasure after an emergency buy.  Is that really true
for any game?  
I'm leaning to the conclusion, that it is not, and then this point is
irrelevant, as it then will coincide with point 3 (so we don't need a
special configuration option for this item).

(Maybe this is stuff for rules gurus, and should be directed at the 18xx
group.  But I prefer to remove any blunders here first...)

Erik.

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Erik Vos [mailto:eri...@xs...]
> Sent: Monday, July 25, 2011 3:37 PM
> To: 'Development list for Rails: an 18xx game'
> Subject: Re: [Rails-devel] Emergency train purchases
> 
> I think I must make the following amendment (at least 18EU spells this
out):
> 
> 4. President may add extra cash above the agreed price (up to list price)
if
> buying from another company:
> ===> ... but not more than the cash on hand. In this case no share selling
> allowed. <===
> 
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: Erik Vos [mailto:eri...@xs...]
> > Sent: Monday, July 25, 2011 1:42 PM
> > To: Development list for Rails: an 18xx game
> > Subject: [Rails-devel] Emergency train purchases
> >
> > I'm working to get the emergency train buying rules right.  Currently,
> > all
> Rails
> > games follow the 1830 rules, and several people have already
> > complained about that.
> >
> > In this stage I do not aim at getting all the details in all games
> completely
> > implemented.
> > However, I think I have identified the main options and sorted out how
> these
> > apply to most of the games that we have been working on so far.
> >
> > The below only applies to companies that must own a train.  That
> > excludes 1825.
> >
> > 1. If a company has no train, it can buy any train on offer from Bank,
> Pool or
> > other companies (at any price) that is has enough cash for.
> > It is always obliged to buy a used (Pool) train that it can pay for,
> > if it
> cannot
> > afford a new (IPO) train.
> > It is never obliged to buy a train from another company.
> > Only if no affordable train can be found this way, the President can
> > and indeed must add cash, and the below rules apply.
> >
> > 2. Must buy the *cheapest* train from Bank or Pool:
> > 1830/Kaas, 1856/70, 18AL/GA/TN, 1826: Yes.
> > 1835, 18EU/VA/Scan: No.
> >
> > 3. May buy a train from another company (always up to list price):
> > 1830/Kaas, 1835, 18EU/VA/Scan, 1826: Yes.
> > 1856/70, 18AL/GA/TN: No.
> >
> > 4. President may add extra cash above the agreed price (up to list
> > price)
> if
> > buying from another company:
> > 1830/Kaas: Yes.  It seems that this even applies if the company has
> sufficient
> > cash for the agreed price.
> > 18EU: Yes, but only if the company had exactly zero cash.
> > All others: No or N/A.
> >
> > Any corrections to the above summary?
> >
> > Any more fine details for these games, and extensions to other games,
> > are welcome, but will probably be end up in the for-later-study archive.
> > I had a brief look into 1880, but it's not clear to me what the
> > verdicts
> are for
> > this game.
> >
> > Erik.
> >
> >
> >
>
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