Snapping tendons
Basic patterns:
- Network growth is slow and beginning a spur commits the player for 2-3 turns as a failure to extend an incomplete link on a turn looses the spur
- Network occurs on a penrose mesh
- Growth spreads from central hub
- Reaching previously untouched nodes rewards money when the spur is terminated at a colony (cf Through the Desert tokens)
- Colonies (which are placed on nodes) cost both money and an entire turn to purchase, plus an action to place
- Ergo colonies are purchased on spec and then placed as/when advantageous
- Like networks, colonies are owned by the constructing player
- Colonies can be upgraded/scaled by any connected player
- The upgrader owns the big colony, the original builder the inner hub
- Size of colony limited by number of connected colours
- There are placement distance rules for different size colonies
- Colonies may contain factories
- Factories are either original producers (no inputs) or require input supplies before production.
- Three base factory types (no inputs)
- Three secondary factory types (requires two different-type base-type inputs)
- One terminal-type factory (requires two different-type secondary-type inputs)
- Factories cost money to buy and an action to place
- A factory may not be built on a colony which contains a factory which accepts that product as either an input or an ouput
- Factories come in 3 size scalings, each requiring a bigger host colony
- Size 3 factories cause all size 1 factories to rust
- Between network manipulation rounds players produce on their factories and feed their goods across the network to other factories etc in production chains
- Money is paid for sold goods, network use etc.
- Long term commitments (eg factory hosting on colonies are represented by promissory notes issued by factory owners (pay $X to bearer every round)
- Promissory notes may be traded collapsed in standard logical reduction fashion
- Factory goods have a small 18XX-esque market
- Goods which can’t be consumed drive prices down
- Goods which are fully consumed drive prices up
- The ranges are fairly small(?)
- Game is ended based on factory construction (N rounds with size 3 terminal factory) or bank breaking
- End game score is cash
- Promissory notes are worth cash at some exchange rate
Getting the costs/values right will be interesting.