Every Game is Awesome 5 - Age of Steam

[@soren123]

Tom's math at the 0:23 mark... then correcting Jason incorrectly... the look of confusion on Jason's face... bahahahaha

[@emailbenbenson]

+soren123 That's why he doesn't do well at Age of Steam, he's not good at math. (j/k Tom)

[@GameBrigade]

the correction shouldnt even need to happen. Why would you do that on your show?

[@sweatt4237]

This video is great for us players that are new to the hobby. Its like we are learning the Board Game history that we missed. I hope they continue this.

[@MalachiBrown]

5:30 - Age of Steam does not have a requirement to move over your own track first (or at all). This is a rule in Railroad Tycoon and/or Railways of the World. Steam has a slightly different variation where the active player has to benefit at least as much as any other player by a goods move. AoS is the wild west of goods movement. 7:15 - It might be worth clarifying that new cities produce goods independent of the original cities, so a single number can produce on both the numbered city and the new city. In other words, you don't have to wait for the number city to be depleted before producing goods for the new cities. 8:50 - Stephenson's Rocket is a Knizia game. The precursor to AoS was Volldampf, if I recall correctly. I usually tell people that their only objective the first time they play it is to not go bankrupt. I tell them to consider that a victory. As long as players are paying attention, bankruptcy is not all that common, although it is usually the result of new player mistakes or experienced players trying to fly too close to the sun. 13:10 - Federal tax brackets in the USA are marginal and do not work that way. 14:30 - About 31% of Age of Steam expansion maps are known to be playable with Steam. 42 of 136 non-prototype AoS maps have specific rules for play with Steam. As far as I know, no Steam expansion maps have official rules for play with Age of Steam except for a few that were released with rules for both (and counted in the previous numbers). In fact, most Steam maps require more modification (given that the cities do not have numbers due to the differences in goods production) in order to be played with Age of Steam. 15:55 - In Steam the goods are not drawn out of a bag, exactly. They are put into fixed lots randomly at the beginning of the game and are then placed by the players. 16:30 - With expansion maps AoS can play anywhere from 1 to 8 players. The base map, Rust Belt, is not really recommended for 6 players.

[@2dTones]

This was a useful one! The whole Steam / Age of Steam / Railroad Tycoon / Railways of the World situation was pretty confusing. Thanks both for another great video :)

[@el_dani]

it's getting more convoluted when you start to ask about the designer of Age of Steam..

[@larrye]

The auction is the best past of the game. I hate in Railways of the World when someone bids someone waaaaay up, then pay nothing to go 2nd. Some people play rough, it's just good to know those people are going to be like that.

[@trailzilla5934]

We need more Jason videos on the Dice Tower

[@Sebman001]

I have no idea how an 18xx game works. I would love if Jason could do some kind of tutorial to this kind of games, showing entry points or something like that.

[@marccampbell3851]

I hope you've played Power Grid. Imagine Power Grid but without having to buy fuel and with having to build connections between cities with power lines. Also instead of running your own power company, you buy stock in the companies, with whoever owns the most stock being the person that decides where the track goes, when to buy better power plants, and whether the money from powering the cities goes back into the company (increasing the stock value) or is paid out to the shareholders (decreasing the stock value). Whichever person (not company) has the most money at the end wins. *Kind of* like that. In theory you could do things like sell all of one of your company's useful trains to your other company and dump your stock, leaving the next highest shareholder with a bunch of soon-to-be obsolete trains and nearly-worthless stock, etc.

[@KabukiKid]

+Sebastian Bronfen I'd love to see an 1830 video from Jason, as well. :-)

[@joaocamilo8106]

+KabukiKid Iup. I'm in for 1830 videos from Jason! So far, this is the third or fourth, so long way to go!

[@Heelms]

Loving this series! Hoping to see Every Game is Awesome review of the new Through the Ages!

[@raymyers700]

Thanks..love the comparison with the other train games. Great job!

[@keithhammons2605]

Excellent review, thanks. The commentary was especially enlightening.

[@johnr8095]

Did either of you ever play Volldamf? I believe that was wallalace's age of steam game before he came out with age of steam. I picked it up without knowing anything about it years ago, and have never actually played my copy. But I do enjoy all the versions of age of steam, so am interested in giving it a try.

[@TheFamilyShowdownHRKN]

I recently played Steam for the first time and greatly enjoyed it. I see no reason to "backtrack" to Age of Steam. Thanks for the review. Good stuff!

[@GamersBone]

Thank you so much ,love the comparsion with the other train game.Good stuff!

[@spcwolf]

Thanks for reviewing different meatier games! Love this.

[@Bortniky]

I missed this, what is the premise of Every Game is Awesome? Are they looking at older games?

[@andydoane]

They are looking at heavier Euro games.

[@koomo801]

"Awesome" is Jason's favorite word to describe games he likes, so this series is just the two of them talking about games that Jason typically enjoys more than Tom. From what I've seen, Jason typically favors games that require additional plays to "click", and is less likely to look down on a game that didn't make a strong first impression.

[@wroot_lt]

When i first found out about train games i bought Steam on a whim and played it.. once. Now, as i have more experience with various board games i understand that this is not exactly what i like. Still sitting on my shelf, waiting for something :)

[@Jootie_de_Kop]

Nowadays when I see a boring looking game, my reaction is instinctively positive. Contemporary boring looking games are honest games. They don't need bling to cover up bad mechanics.

[@pimvda]

Looking at your negatives Tom, it seems like Steam: Rails to Riches addresses all these issues (prettier components, no catch-up mechanism, you can play either with or without the auction phase).

[@benfoster6715]

Economic games usually support aggressive play.

[@joaocamilo8106]

2001 was 15 years ago? What the heck! What's my age again? Oh... :(

[@Kallistosprom]

Please do 18xx :-)

[@jeanlaurant1864]

I don't like multiplayer games (for three or more people) with little to zero randomness (especially ones with long playing time). There's the kingmaking problem and they can be more random and uncontrollable than two player games with randomness. They are not worth studying seriously and I'd rather play lighter games when I play games casually.

[@justinrrizzo]

Man, even the new KS print is just a boring green blob.