18XX is a series of historical train games focus around finance and company management. I played many different games online lately is solitaire where I play all the players. One thing I would be interested to create is a non-historical version of the game that could be played in solitaire or in 2 player mode. If you never played an 18xx games, the content below might make no sense.
So I decided to use a Wild West theme and used 1846 and 18mag as major source of inspiration. The problem is to make the game interesting solo. I made a couple of bold moves so far that would make an 18XX purist angry. But I am not sure about my choices as many of them have pro and cons. The core game play remains the same: Build tracks, make money. Here is some of the modifications I thought so far, feel free to comment.
* Event deck: The game will be regulated with an event deck that creates various complication on the board that the players needs to deal with. It's also the clock of the game, this is what makes the game change phases. I think this is essential in solo in order to create a form of opposition and uncertainty. It also makes every game unique as not all cards in the pool might be used.
* Variable map: I am not sure about this one yet, but it's possible that many map features are just token on the board that can be reconfigured each game to create randomness. Also, mountains and rivers tokens could be put on the top of tracks to make extra track laying cost persistent through the game. Another idea is to use something like Twilight Imperiums's domain token, where special event to deal with occurs when you exploring.
* No Stock Market: It makes no sense to only hold a portion of your company, so I was thinking that all trains companies are minors like in 18map. I could just split the income between the company and the player and have no decision to pay full, half or no dividend. Missing funds will be supplied as loan by the bank where you pay interest and they need to be refunded. That removes price fluctuation of companies which was an interesting mechanism, and I could have used it as a way to scoring your company performance. But most of the time, players always payed out full as it seemed the most beneficial way to play. That also prevent late game reinvestment, so I added company upgrades in order to hold more trains and get more stations. Else you need to invest in privates or start a new train company with your late game funds.
* Fixed turn order: Since there is only 1 player, sometimes 2, there is no need to have stock rounds, operating rounds, then resolve company in the market order. Now it will be much simpler, a player play his entire turn buy managing private companies, then operating each company in the order he wants. 2 player game works the same, although there might be a way to change first player which I have not figured out yet.
* More private companies: There will be lot of private companies, and new ones will come in during each phase. Instead of an auction or drafting, I'll be using a system like small world to acquire new companies (pay previous corp in line). You can buy max 1 private per turn. Maybe in solo mode, at some point the bank can buy some privates.
* Limited stations space on tiles: Like 1889 Shikoku, most cities would only have 1 station to make blocking easier. 2 station cities would arive late during the 3rd or 4th phases.
* Trains: In order to have 2 families of trains, I was thinking of giving them a speed (nb of hex it can travel) and a capacity (nb of cities it can visit) This would require different trains according to the various circumstance. There could also be special trains sold as private companies like circus trains, ghost trains, etc.
* Using victory points: Originally, I was thinking that the objective would be to make the most money until the event deck is depleted. But the problem with money, is that it can be reinvested and lost. Also late game, there is less investment option, and it creates a snowballing effect. So I was thinking of using 2 currency, money and victory points. Various game features could generate vicory points: Building the network, fulfilling some contracts, making certain runs, paying "dividends"to the player, paying back loans(negative points), etc. If points are separated from money, that ask the player to find a balance between both resources and late game will be more about making points than money. Many games that a split between money and VP (ex: Puerto Rico).
What do you think about any of the modifications so far?
What do you mean, you want other 18XX games examples, or how the mechanics above works in other 18xx games.
The list is huge, many of the differences are explained here, topic by topic, if it could help. It's really well classified.
http://www.fwtwr.com/18xx/rules_difference_list/index.htm