1830 dilemma

I’m playing a 4-player online game of 1830 and I faced quite a dilemma. The solution I’ve chosen probably wasn’t the good one 😀

It’s OR3.1 and I’m operating for the first time in the game. My freshly floated B&M has $820 in its treasury. I own P2 and P5, bought for $45 and $250, respectively. There is one 4T left in the bank. I have to buy it* and the next company to act will certainly buy a 5T.

Here’s the problem: I can either buy a cheap permanent train (5T) or both my privates for $400. This is a difficult problem since two unwritten rules of 1830 (and similar games) can’t be both observed:

  • the purpose of privates is to get sold for twice the face value
  • if you can grab a cheap permanent train, you do it

So I’m either left with no money for my privates and with a healthy company or I have additional $400 and a broken company.

After a long hesitation I decided to bough the 5T (before that I extracted $29 for P2…). Almost immediately I started regretting it. In the next SR I would act second, so with that money for privates I would start a nice company.  Maybe it could even be possible to engineer a purchase of 2 cheap permanent trains (the new company floats with $1000, buys a 5T for $450, then buys 4T from B&M for ~$500. B&M is then forced to buy a train—hopefully a 6T—and I gladly contribute)… Now I don’t have enough money to start a new company unless I sell a share of B&M that then could be taken over, along with that damned 5T.

That’s the first time I’ve faced that dilemma, so my reaction was far from optimal.

By the way, the P4 got exchanged for a NYC share so the owner could have some value from it 😛

*maybe actually I should have bought a 3T from the market, thus blocking the access to 5T to the other company?

EDIT: apparently there shouldn’t be 3T in the market on the screenshot (I undid the BM’s operations to have an illustration, but forgot about the train in the market).

 

 


 

W 4-osobej partii 1830 online, w której właśnie biorę udział, miałem niezły dylemat. I ostatecznie chyba źle wybrałem :D

Sytuacja jest taka: OR3.1. Moja świeżo otwarta firma (BM) rusza się jako ostatnia, ma 820$ w skarbcu. Został jeden 4T do kupienia. Mam P2 i P5, czyli prywatne, które można sprzedać za w sumie 400 (za pierwszą dałem 45, za drugą 250). Jak wiadomo, przy kupnie pierwszego 5T, prywatne od razu wylatują z gry.

Nie mam pociągu, muszę kupić 4T. No i teraz pytanie: potem lepiej kupić te prywatne czy, zamiast tego, 5T? Mieć więcej kasy na ręce i firmę w złej kondycji czy mniej gotówki i firmę, która spokojnie będzie się pięła w górę do końca gry?

Zderzają się dwie zasady gier z rodziny 1830:
1. prywatne służą temu, by je sprzedać za dwukrotnosć wartości
2. jeśli tylko się da, trzeba kupić tani permanentny pociąg

Po dłuższym wahaniu zdecydowałem się na 5T (a prywatne sprzedałem za całe 29). No i najpewniej popełniłem błąd. Będąc drugim graczem, z 400$ więcej, mógłbym sobie otworzyć mocną firmę (trzy jeszcze były dostępne), zgarnąłbym nią 5T (a w najgorszym razie 6T, co i tak jest dobrym układem). BM bym wyprzedał, coś by do skarbca dzięki temu wpadało, i jakoś by to było. Teraz nie stać mnie na otwarcie nowej spółki, o ile nie sprzedam udziału BM, które wówczas mogłoby zostać podebrane, wraz z tym nieszczęsnym pociągiem.

Na marginesie, P4 zostało w trybie nagłym wymienione na udział NYC, by zupełnie nie przepadło.

 

EDIT: nie powinno być 3T na rynku wtórnym, to pomyłka spowodowana niepełnym cofnięciem mojego ruchu.

4 thoughts on “1830 dilemma”

  1. I think you paid too much for P5. Without knowing anything about the board state, I’d consider embezzling $369, and buying the 5-train. If my math’s correct, that would leave the company with $1. Does that make sense?

    1. Embezzling $369 isn’t right, because there is a 4-train left.

      If you had enough priority to start another company, buying in the privates for full value feels like the right play. And probably the 3-train.

      1. Oops, apparently I wasn’t paying enough attention. Don’t mind me. (I thought this was too easy…)

  2. Buy the last 4-train for $300 and your privates for $400. Between $465 cash, a round of dividends and the share price of NYNH and PRR you should easily have over $600. In stock round start a new company with par price of $100. Depending on SR manipulation should be able to have your new company buy either two 5-trains (B&M will buy one) or one 5-train and the 4-train from the B&M (B&M force buys a 6-train with ~$500 from 4-train sale + personal cash). You’ll then have a permanent train in each company that will pay full dividends for the rest of the game.

    The main point is to fill up on paying shares. The first 5-train will close your private companies leaving you last in the share count. Buying your private companies will leave you with at least 11 shares (possibly 12). Buying the 4-train and 5-train with the B&M leaves you with 7 shares and little personal cash to buy more (1 or 2 at most)

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