My dual-fisted Iron Dragon technique

[dmaze]

narya, fideidefensor, and I experimented with three-player two-train Iron Dragon yesterday. You get two trains sharing one set of tracks, six contracts, three public contracts. We let you trade loads between trains if they were on the same spot, and you can use your movement dots in any order (but if the train that hasn't moved gets eited by the other train...it happens). No "treaty line", so trains moved at normal speed on the southwest panel, and a statement up front that the Rainbow Bridge lasts until the end of the drawing player's next turn (though it didn't come up at all). Winning is normal conditions plus both trains being Iron Dragons.

Bootstrapping quickly seemed key, more so than in the normal game. I'm used to playing crayon rails where I have no money at all and spend money faster than I can get it, until I've finally built out my rail network; if it's not difficult to get $100 every three turns then your limiting factor is the $20/turn spending limit. The swapping loads mechanic got a little use, though it largely caused me to think more than I needed to. Useful strategy seemed to be to put one train on a boat and build rail out in front of the other train. Verdict: somewhat entertaining, speeds the game up a little, wouldn't go out of my way to do it over other options.

I do think we collectively have figured out some of the less obvious routes in the game, though, and maybe we've outgrown some of the crutches that are standard house rules. Building west from Railla to Iron Holm (arms-and-armor land) is sufficiently valuable that you don't need the "trains go fast" incentive to build it, and once you're there, it's only about $20 more to get to Eaglehawk. There are at least five good routes into Octomare that don't involve alpine mountains (two through the Pirate Isles, three north from Ozu-Zarkh), but the permanent Rainbow Bridge means that there's no incentive to build in the Olde World at all. I also think we've largely figured out when boats are a good idea, such that we do occasionally get hit by a boat-related disaster but still do actually build rail.

(And apparently some quarters have a section of communist rail that connects Piggnytz to its port. Who knew?)