1817WO

1817WO — Summary

Capitalization type

• Incremental capitalization, same as base 1817: the company collects the par price each time one of its shares is actually sold.

Floating percentage and per-player share limits

• Companies float with 20% of shares sold (single threshold for all corporations), same as base 1817
• No player may hold more than 100% of a single corporation (the classic 60% cap doesn't apply)
• Certificate limit per player: 2 players — 16; 3 players — 13; 4 players — 11; 5 players — 9

Starting cash by player count

• 2 players: $330 starting cash
• 3 players: $240 starting cash
• 4 players: $195 starting cash
• 5 players: $168 starting cash
• The bank is practically unlimited (no fixed size)

End game triggers

• The final phase is reached (phase 8, triggered by the purchase of the first 8-train): one more full set of operating rounds is played, then the game ends
• A player goes bankrupt: immediate end, but only once all players but one have gone bankrupt

Number of phases

• 8 phases (2, 2+, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8), triggered by the purchase of the first train of each type, with the same maximum-corporation-size progression as base 1817 (2 shares → 5 → 10)
• Buying the first 3-train (phase 3) opens Nieuw Zeeland to new IPOs

Train list and prices

• 2 train — $100 (48 units; rusts once the first 4-train is bought)
• 2+ train — $100 (2 units; becomes obsolete once the first 4-train is bought, but isn't removed)
• 3 train — $250 (7 units; rusts once the first 6-train is bought; buying it opens Nieuw Zeeland)
• 4 train — $400 (5 units; rusts once the first 8-train is bought)
• 5 train — $600 (3 units; never rusts)
• 6 train — $750 (2 units; never rusts)
• 7 train — $900 (2 units; never rusts)
• 8 train — $1,100 (unlimited; buying it triggers the game's final phase)

List of private companies

• Pittsburgh Steel Mill (PSM) — $40 — may place a special yellow tile at "New Pittsburgh" (I6) regardless of connectivity
• Mountain (Ocean) Engineers (ME) — $40 — the owning corp receives $20 after laying a yellow tile on an ocean hex (this map's stand-in for mountains)
• Ohio Bridge Company (OBC) — $40 — one $10 bridge token between Mare Nostrum and Dynasties; skips the $10 river fee
• Train Station (TS) — $80 — an extra station marker for the owning corp
• Minor Coal Mine (MINC) — $30 — one coal mine marker on an ocean hex; avoids terrain cost and adds $10 extra revenue (doesn't count as a stop); never on hex C8
• Coal Mine (CM) — $60 — two mine markers (same ability)
• Major Mail Contract (MAJM) — $120 — pays $20 at the start of each operating round while the corp has a train

List of corporations

• 12 corporations (a fixed subset of base 1817's 20, the smallest roster in the 1817 family), all sharing the same format (floats at 20%, 100% of capital convertible from 2 to 5 and from 5 to 10 shares), with no fixed home
• Alton & Southern Railway (A&S), Belt Railway of Chicago (Belt), Bessemer and Lake Erie Railroad (Bess), Boston and Albany Railroad (B&A), Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad (DL&W), Grand Trunk Western Railroad (GT), Housatonic Railroad (H), Morristown and Erie Railway (ME), Pittsburgh, Shawmut and Northern Railroad (PSNR), Rutland Railroad (R), Union Railroad (UR), West Chester Railroad (WC)

Game-specific mechanics

• World map: ocean hexes serve as rough terrain (this series' usual mountain role), including where coal markers can be placed
• Nieuw Zeeland: a special location that stays locked until phase 3; the corp with a token there earns $20 from the bank every operating round if it has no outstanding loans, or has one loan's interest waived if it does
• Corporate loans with variable interest, as in 1817, but with a fixed cap of 65 loans in circulation and interest rising every 3 loans (instead of every 5 in base 1817)
• Initial private auction funded with $100 of "seed" money (the lowest in the 1817 family)
• Short selling: you can sell shares you don't own
• Dedicated merger and acquisition rounds (friendly or hostile) between operating companies
• 2-share "minor" companies that over time convert into 5-share, and later 10-share, companies; privates never close

Emergency sell

Same as 1817: no train-related emergency sell, with Cash Crisis remaining the only forced personal-share-sale trigger, and again limited to loan and short-sale defaults. This smaller, world-spanning variant lowers starting cash to $100 and ramps loan interest even faster, every 3 loans instead of 5.

Comparison with 1830

1. Setting, map and number of players
1830 covers the northeastern USA for 2-6 players. 1817WO carries 1817's spirit across the whole planet, on a map much smaller than base 1817 in order to fit the entire world, and designed for games of just 2 to 5 players (versus 1817's recommended 5-7).

2. Oceans instead of mountains as rough terrain
A substitution unique to 1817WO: since the world map has few usable mountains, ocean hexes (marked with a blue triangle) do the job that mountains do in 1817 and, by extension, in 1830 — including being where coal tokens can be placed. It's the only 18xx in this group where the reference "rough terrain" is water rather than mountains.

3. "Minor" companies that merge up, from an even smaller roster
As in 1817 (absent from 1830), there are 2-share "minor" companies that merge into 5-share and later 10-share companies. 1817WO trims the total roster down to just 12 fixed companies, even fewer than 1817NA's 15, to match a smaller map and player count.

4. Limited loans with interest
Absent from 1830: as in 1817, companies can take out loans that accrue interest. 1817WO caps circulating loans at 65, with interest rising every 3 loans (instead of every 5 in base 1817) — debt that scales faster than in 1817NA.

5. Short selling, as in 1817
Unlike 1830 (where you can only sell what you actually own), 1817WO lets players short sell shares they don't hold.

6. Mergers, hostile takeovers and liquidations
Just like 1817: dedicated rounds where the same president merges two companies amicably, different presidents trigger a hostile takeover, and a company that can't pay its debts may end up liquidated. None of this exists in 1830.

7. A trimmed private company roster adapted to the world map
1830 has 6 traditional privates. 1817WO uses only 7, far fewer than base 1817's 11: the Ohio Bridge Co survives, but now connects Mare Nostrum (the Mediterranean) and Dynasties as its bridge cities; the coal token can never be placed on hex C8. As in 1817, no private ever closes during the game.

8. Nieuw Zeeland: a special location that opens in phase 3
A mechanic with no equivalent in either 1830 or base 1817: starting in phase 3, a company can be founded with an IPO in Nieuw Zeeland. The company holding a token there earns $20 from the bank every operating round if it has no outstanding loans, or has one loan's interest payment waived if it does.