Age of Steam and Steam

 Martin Wallace is one of those designers who constantly refines his old games, releasing the same pleasure several times under different sauces. You don't have to go far for an example: Age of Industry, which is essentially a slightly updated Brass, is about to go on sale. In this article, we'll look at how big the difference is between the 2002 Age of Steam game and its modified version called Steam 2009 Edition. It should be taken into account that in addition to the normal mode, Steam has a light game mode, so we will have to compare three types of gameplay.

 The first phases of "regular" Steam and Age of Steam are identical: players must plan their spending and decide how much to borrow from the bank. Players collect cash from the bank, noting the number of loans taken on a special counter. In Age of Steam, this is a special scale, and Steam credits are directly marked by a decrease in the player's position on the income scale. It is more convenient and understandable for the player. In the light mode of Steam, this phase does not exist as such: players can take loans from the bank at any moment of the game - when they do not have enough cash to make a specific payment.

 The second phase of the normal mode of Steam and Age of Steam is the determination of turn order through an open auction. However, on Steam, unlike Age of Steam, a zero first bet is allowed. The turn order will affect all remaining phases of the round. The person who saved at the auction places his chip on the last free place on the ranking scale. Thus, the first to save becomes the last player of the round, and the winner of the auction becomes the first. At the same time, only the first and second players pay their bet in full. The last one pays nothing, and the rest pay half of their last bet, rounded up. In the simplified mode of Steam, a series of auctions takes place (separately for each place on the ranking scale). However, this process is carried out only at the beginning of the game, during the preparation for the game. In the future, the sequence in the next round is determined by the numbers of the roles that the players will sort out in the next phase.

 The third phase is obtaining roles. In regular Steam and Age of Steam, players choose a role (or action, if desired) from a pool in a queue. If one player has taken a certain role, it is no longer available to other players. The "Move order" role in this game mode allows you to save once painlessly for yourself at the nearest auction for the order of the move, without flying to the end of the queue. In Steam's light mode, players sort through the role tiles in the same way, with one exception: some of them (such as "City Growth" or "Urbanization") require a certain fee to the bank. The "Turn order" role in this mode gives a guaranteed first place on the ranking scale in the next round.

 The fourth and fifth phases of the move (building roads and transporting goods) are identical in all three analyzed types of gameplay. Just remember that only in the light version of Steam you can take bank loans at any time. In other cases, you will have to rely only on cash.

 The sixth phase—earning profits and paying off debts—is different in all three varieties of the game. In Age of Steam, the player receives income according to the appropriate scale, and then pays $1 for each bank loan and for the current level of development of the locomotives. If he does not have enough funds, the player loses one position on the income scale for every dollar not paid. If a player's profit drops below zero, he is declared bankrupt and out of the game (!). In both Steam modes, the earnings scale has a negative segment and the player is allowed to drop down to $10. The player, of course, does not receive income that is "in the red", but on the contrary, must pay the bank. In Steam's light mode, a player who can't pay off his debts must take out one or more loans, lowering his position on the income scale even more. If this position is already at the level of $10, then the player can borrow, losing victory points (2PO for $5). If the victory points are also not enough to pay off the debt, the player is declared bankrupt. In standard Steam, due to a lack of cash, the player is first deprived of victory points at the rate of 1PO for $2, and only then loses his position on the income scale. Note that in standard Steam mode, the player pays interest on loans and money for the level of development of locomotives. In the easy game, only interest on loans.

 In Age of Steam, there is another phase of the round, during which, according to a special table and with the help of six-sided dice rolls, it is determined which goods will appear in which cities. In Steam, this terribly unacceptable for a truly serious game feast of randomness has been replaced by a more adequate solution. At the beginning of the game, 3 cubes are drawn from the bag 12 times, which are placed in threes on special places on the field. During the game, the participant who chose the role of "Growth of the city" can take any of the three remaining goods and put them in any city that has not yet had a similar replenishment. This solution is much simpler, more elegant and more honest than the method used in Age of Steam.

 In light Steam, before the end of the round, the positions of the players on the ranking scale are redefined. These positions simply depend on the roles chosen in the current round: each die role has a number, and players' chips are lined up in ascending order of these numbers. I remind you that in the standard mode of Steam and Age of Steam there is no such decision, and at the beginning of each round a new auction is held for the right to be the first.

 Separately, it should be said about the game components. Age of Steam, in addition to the main field, flaunted two more inconspicuous black and white additional cardboard boxes with scales of income, bank loans, the level of development of locomotives, and a table of replenishment of cities with goods. In Steam, they got rid of the latter altogether, and everything else was placed on the area of a single playing field.

 Martin Wallace's work on modernizing the game can be called successful. In Steam, they got rid of the random decision to replenish cities, made the mechanism for obtaining bank loans more transparent, implemented a single playing field and added a simplified game mode that is not so hard for beginners. The good old Age of Steam wins in only one thing - in the box format, which is flatter and easier to store and carry.