Add your own Tips, Strategies, & House Rules! Vote for tips that you think are useful.

Tips & Strategies (8)

Filter by: Order by:
Gamer Avatar
9
I play blue
Football Fan
USA
Advanced Reviewer
11 of 11 gamers found this helpful
“No Expansions? You can still play a tight game for 2”

This version of the game consisted of 3 large boards that is really just too big for fewer players. Many of the expansions tried to address this by adding new maps specifically designed for less players. If you still have this version of the game and no expansions, try out this simple “variant.”

Only use one of the boards for two player games. The best one to use is the middle section as it includes the two Red Cities of Chicago and Charleston. It includes enough geography in the mountains and rivers to keep it tight. You eliminate the NE corridor that is too righ for two players (since both need to invest in that area to keep the game close). You also have all 4 starting city colors.

The South portion is also acceptable but you lose all Red Cities (so redraw and replace a red cube) and the purple city of Savannah is cut off but still usable. The board is much more wide open as the mountains are few and easily passable.

Gamer Avatar
7
USA
I play red
The Bronze Heart
9 of 9 gamers found this helpful
“scoring”

I found it helpful that if you can get small cubes to use them to score with and not the plastic trais as they take up too much room on the scoring board

Gamer Avatar
7
USA
I play red
The Bronze Heart
8 of 8 gamers found this helpful
“Bidding”

Our group uses the bidding system where both high bidder and second bidder pay as well as the first to pass is the last player etc

Gamer Avatar
8
BoardGaming.com Beta 2.0 Tester
Went to Gen Con 2012
BoardGaming.com Bronze Supporter
Advanced Reviewer
7 of 8 gamers found this helpful
“Get a quick play in”

Its been awhile, so don’t kill me on the exacts, but the game ends once the board has been filled to the point that there are only 16 unfilled cities left. The game can be a bit long so play a shorter game by reducing the number of empty cities. No mechanics broken.

Gamer Avatar
5
Intermediate Reviewer
Amateur Advisor
Sophomore
6 of 7 gamers found this helpful
“Advance Your Engine Quickly”

I’ve found that aggressively improving your engine as soon as you’re able (though not at the cost of excessive shares sold) will almost always pay strong dividends. You’ll frequently find a board configuration that allows for building a loop of five to seven cities with color variance (particularly just west of the Appalachians). Having the ability to choose the “long way” around these routes will boost your profits very quickly.

Gamer Avatar
5
Intermediate Reviewer
Amateur Advisor
Sophomore
6 of 7 gamers found this helpful
“Trouble With the World's Largest Board”

As has been mentioned here previously, the board for Railroad Tycoon is HUGE. Finding a table large enough to play it on can be challenging, and if your board hangs over the edge of your table, you’ve probably crashed your board numerous times by bumping one of the thirds out of alignment.

Solving for table size is just plain inconvenient, but it is possible. The most reliable solution is to put a large piece of plywood or thick corrugated cardboard (a large flattened shipping box) on the table and under the board.

To help minimize board shift and misalignment, I keep four large binder clips (stealing office supplies is immoral but effective) in the box. Clip the board sections together at the edges. It interferes a little with the scoring track, but it beats constant earthquake damage.

Gamer Avatar
5
Intermediate Reviewer
Amateur Advisor
Sophomore
4 of 6 gamers found this helpful
“The Northeast is key”

It may go without saying, but taking control of the northeast early is key to doing well in this game. When playing with three or more players, it’s possible to lock players out of the key corridor links, forcing them to chase more expensive build routes. Since selling fewer shares makes such a huge difference in the early game, getting a strong foothold between Boston and Washington D.C. Is a double threat — you have more opportunities to ship on the cheap, and your opponents will burn funds and turns making longer links.

Gamer Avatar
5
Eminent Domain Fan
Eminent Domain Fan
7 of 14 gamers found this helpful
“Big Board”

Make sure you have a very large table. This board is huge (sorry, don’t have my copy anymore to provide dimensions).

Add your own Tip, Strategy, or House Rule

You must be to add a comment.

× Visit Your Profile