RULES

This section contains the specific rules for playing 18FB PBEM, rules clarifications and the complete rulebook.

PBEM RULES

  1. the biddings for the political round follow a different procedure to speed up this initial phase. Each player can bid for one or more political cards. Bids should be equal or higher than the card nominal value. You cannot use more than your initial money (600) for the total of your biddings. For each card, the highest bidder acquires it (for 5 more than the next higher bid).
  2. If there is a draw the players involved will continue the auction until the card is assigned. Draws are resolved in ascending order (political card #1 goes first then #2 and so on).
  3. If at the end of this first round of biddings there are still unassigned cards, these will be re-auctioned following the same procedure above until everyone passes. At this point any unassigned political card goes into the bank pool and could be purchased later in the stock round.
  4. the seating (virtual seating of course) order will be decided by the money left in hand at the end of the political round. More details will be sent via email to the players
  5. the number of tiles in the game is unlimited
  6. players should not wait for the web site to be updated in order to send their moves
  7. agreements (trading trains, selling political cards, laying tokens) are public. Please make sure that the other players are included in your messages when engaged in discussions

RULES CLARIFICATIONS

RULE BOOK

 

RULES CLARIFICATIONS

The table in section 2.1 says that in phase 2 "political cards marked PH-2 may be used now" but I can not see any PH-2 marks on the political cards.

The table reports an old rule. That statement should be erased.

Sections 2.2.3 and 2.2.4 and elsewhere contain the phrase "are forced to sell those certificates at the first useful occasion during their operating turn." Is "useful" the word you wanted?

I will use "available". This rule is the same as in other 18xx.

Can Political card 2 (Panfilo De Riseis) be used together with Political cards 5, 6, 7 or 8? Is the combined deposit 50% of the reduced deposit?

Yes, Political card 2 can be used in combination with 5, 6, 7 or 8.
The deposit to pay is then 50% of the reduced deposit (the lower value on the concession).
Also, a further clarification is needed for those cases when the final deposit is an odd number (e.g. 75). In these cases the deposit is paid back to the player by rounding down the first installment (you receive back 35 when reaching the intermediate destination and 40 when reaching the final destination) .

The FC concession says start in Cosenza and the final destination is Reggio Calabria. This matches the map. The charter says Cosenza is the final destination. Is the charter wrong?

Yes, the charter is wrong.

What is the train limit?

Thre are no train limits.
In principle a company could own as many trains as it wishes, but in reality there is no incentive for doing so (trains capacity is limited by the number of tokens the company has on the map).

Is it possible that two companies having both tokens in the two same cities which "surround" a village? If yes, when one of these companies upgrades the village in a brown double villages, who gets the additional squared marker? I assume both.

The answer is none.
A company collects squared markers when building a railroad line. A railroad line is built by placing a token on the map. When you do so you pay construction costs and all the villages intercepted will provide the railroad with squared markers.
That's it. After you have built the line and collected the markers the story is over. You have no additional markers when a village is upgraded 'after' you have built the line.
Of course if you build another line (lay another token to a different city) through a route that intercepts again the same village (now upgraded) you can claim the increased number of square markers.
To say the same thing in a different form: in 18FB there are no routes where trains run. You have traffic in the form of stations (round tokens, square markers and bonus from ports) and trains coverage.
When calculating revenue you do not follow a route on the map (I keep saying 'take your fingers away from the map'); you select the best cities (city income + port) your trains can serve and sum up the squared markers in the treasury.


If one company builds a second route (including village(s)) between two cities where it already has tokens in, is it allowed to earn the squared marker(s) for the newly connected village(s)?

For collecting squared markers you need to lay a round token (build the railroad). Because you cannot lay two tokens on the same city you cannot earn squared markers through the new connection.

page 3, ch2.2.3 and 2.2.4 I'm not sure I understand the difference between both blue zones. Could you give an example for each? If I understand well: Corp A owning stock of B. stock value of B enters the light blue zone --> Corp A must sell stock of B. Now stock of B value
is not in light blue, but stock of A value enters the dark blue zone, A Corp must sells stock of B.

Your understanding is totally correct. And you have given a very clear example already. An additional clarification is required for making clear that the limitations in the light blue area apply in the dark blue area as well.
So, with reference to your example, A now in the dark blue area cannot be owned by B.

page 3: 2.2.5: I assume stock owned by Corps are neither in Initial Offering nor in Bank Pool, so it can be taken into account in order to determine if the Corp is "sold out" and its value moves up one space.

Correct

When you trade a polital card between players, must the attached company share necessarily follow the card, or may the share be kept by the original ownwer?

Once the political card has been bought, the share stays with the acquirer. Trading of shares between players is not allowed. In conclusion, you cannot sell political card + share.

 

ERRATA