[Rails-devel] Playtest report of 1837 under Rails 2.0.beta3

[John D. G. <jd...@di...>]

Playtest report of 1837 under Rails 2.0.beta3 on 2015-08-01. jdg

1. After filling in the first three players' names, using the mouse to
select the blank for player 4 doesn't work.  I can get there by hitting
Tab, but not by using the mouse.

2. The map looks correct except for some cosmetic problems.

a) There is NO visual indication of Italy (marked off by a red line in
Lonny Orgler's version of the printed map), which becomes off limits
when a 4-train is purchased.

I suggest showing it by making those hexes a little darker than the
usual starting pale-green color (say RGB 62,193,118).  I would also make
Bosnia a lighter shade of yellow so as to avoid giving the impression
that green tiles are to be laid there (as in the Erie and B&O home hexes
in 1830).

b) Coal company start hexes show a "dit" (sometimes badly drawn) but do
not show either their company name or run value (until the company is
purchased; then a black "token" is placed).  The run values are
adequately displayed as tooltips (though in the case of ZKB they forgot
to mention the 10K dit in the same hex!), but I'd like to preprint a
black square "mine" on each one (probably using a graphical overlay),
and not show "tokens" for them at all.

c) All company start spaces except S5 are labeled on the map even though
it means that "Sd" clobbers "S1", "KK" clobbers "K1", and "Ug" clobbers
"U1".  1835 has this problem too.  I'd like to have an option in Rails's
game definition XML to turn off these labels for individual companies or
hexes.

d) The token (and share chart) color for coal companies should be white,
and for CL should be black (they are reversed).  The lettering for BK
should be white (because of its dark background color) and for MS, SB,
and TH should be black (because of their light background colors).

3. The square stock chart is what I expected (though I'd like to try
fixing that as a cosmetic feature for this specific game later).
However, the Game Status window ought to show the fixed par prices of
Sd, KK, and Ug right away (and similarly in other games where some
companies have fixed par prices, even when those shares aren't available
right after the start round, as they will be in 1837).

4. The "info" hover-buttons on the Start Round window do reveal which
private companies come with minor companies, but only if you know how to
read the XML object names.  I think it would be clearer if the buttons
in the Item column actually said, for example, "SmB+S1" rather than just
"SmB".  This goes for all games where two certificates are sold or
auctioned together.

5. The mechanism for reducing prices for the next purchase if everyone
passes during a start round works correctly -- up to the point where the
prices of some of the items available reach zero.

The save-game file "1837_20150801_2003_Kermit.rails" demonstrates this
problem.  Everyone passed consecutively starting with John and ending
with Kermit, multiple times through.

What actually happened then (from the Game Report window) is:

    (**)Kermit passes.
    All players have passed.
    Price of EKT is now reduced to 0K
    Price of AB is now reduced to 85K
    Price of ZKB is now reduced to 0K
    Kermit buys EKT for 0K
    EKT floats and receives 100K

    And it is still Kermit's turn -- with AB and ZKB available for their
reduced prices! (but EOD is at its normal price of 100).

What SHOULD have happened is this:

    (**)Kermit passes.
    All players have passed.
    Price of EKT is now reduced to 0K
    Price of AB is now reduced to 85K
    Price of ZKB is now reduced to 0K

    Now it becomes John's turn.
    Pass is grayed out, forcing John to buy one of the three companies
on offer (AB for 85, or EKT or ZKB for free).  Once he does so, all
prices return to normal, Pass is re-enabled, and it becomes Kent's turn.

6. When the "first start packet" is sold out, a second one (K1 through
K3) pops up and becomes available.  However, once all players have too
little money to buy from that second start packet, the start round ends
and -- the game hangs.

   The second save file, "1837_20150801_2021_John.rails", is at this point.

   What SHOULD happen next is an operating round.  Only the first start
packet is required to sell out before operating rounds can begin.