I'd wanted to play 1830, Avalon Hill's classic railroad game, but aside from one aborted attempt I'd never had the chance. Our group isn't big on long, complex games (which is why I've never played Civilization, either), no matter how good they are. So when the computer version cam along, I jumped at it.
I've played at least fifty games since.
If, like me, you've never played 1830, you may wish to read the overview on page 16. I'm told that this computer version is an extremely faithful adaptation of the board game.
There's no modem or network play support, alas, but two or more humans can play via a hotseat mode (where players switch off turns at the keyboard). You can also play against up to five computer opponents at four difficulty levels. And they're good. The AI puts up a good enough fight at the HARD level that I haven't even attempted the HARDEST level yet. Playing against the computer is also a great way to learn the game. I've picked up on a number of vital strategies after having them used against me. For example, I quickly learned to watch out for when the first 4, 6, and Diesel trains get bought, making 2, 3, and 4 trains (respectively) obsolete and removing them from the game. If your company's train goes away, you'll have to buy a new one. If the company doesn't have enough cash to do it, you'll have to cover the cost from your personal funds. On the other hand, it's loads of fun to drain the cash from your company just before its trains disappear, then sell off all your stock so that another player has more than you have. This dumps the railroad onto that player, making him the president and sticking him with the cost of a new train. These things are old hat to experienced 1830 players, but discovering them for myself against the computer was a great thrill.
As far as I can tell, the computer player's don't cheat. Not exactly. They do seem to collude a bit at the start of the game. Depending on the circumstances, some players may not have enough money to float a railroad company— buy enough stock to begin operating it— on their own. Computer players will often buy shares in each others companies, making it easier to float them, but will virtually never extend you the same courtesy. I'm sure there's a good reason for this, but it sure seems unfair. Why won't they help me?
The best thing about the game is that the computer takes care of the most difficult and tedious aspects of the board game. The network of track grows to resemble a mass of spaghetti after a while, and finding the most profitable routes for your trains can be a painstaking process. The computer does it for you in seconds. On the down side, although it shows you the routes it uses when running AI-controlled companies, for some bizarre reason it doesn't show you the routes it picks for human-controlled companies. This means that you'll occasionally want to puzzle it out for yourself so you can determine the best places to build track.
With the computer taking care of all the hard work and making decisions in a fraction of the time it would take humans, a game of computer 1830 can actually be played on your lunch hour. Really. Or you can save the game and pick it up again later.
The interface does have some problems. I don't know why the PC version is in VGA instead of SVGA— it could really benefit from high res, and animation speed wouldn't be an issue. Although all the information you need is just a click away at all times, I wish the stock market display and the map could be shown at the same time. Likewise, although there's a separate screen for viewing remaining map tiles and their upgrades, I wish you could click on a tile on the map and see the upgrades there.
The game allows a number of optional rules, such as unlimited tile selection, shorter or longer games, an extra railroad, and split revenues. Perhaps the niftiest feature is the ability to generate a random map for each game, forcing experienced players to devise new strategies each time.
If they produce a Windows '95 version with high res, modem/network support, and multiple windows, I'll be in heaven. But even in DOS, if I counted computer games in my annual game tally, computer 1830 would easily top the list. Highly recommended.