ßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßß RAILROAD EMPIRE ßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßß Railroad Empire is a game of acquisition of the railroads of the early 20th century. There are 32 railroad companies in business as the game starts. It is up to the players to purchase as many of these as possible in order to consolidate them under the player's own Railroad Holding company. To generate money each player moves his trains from shipping center to delivery point and is paid a fee for doing so. He then takes this money and any part of his initial money and purchases railroad companies. Railroad companies pay divi- dends to their owner. The goal of the game is to accumulate $200,000,000 from fees and dividends. At the start each player is assigned a 'home' city. To win a player must attain the winning amount, usually $200,000,000. If no one reaches the winning amount by the final day (999) then the player with the most money at that time wins. At a player's home city will also be one freight train ready for the player to schedule shipments and to move. Each player has an initial investment of $20 million with which he can purchase railroads or new trains. Up to 90% of this money can be spent on capital purchases, the rest must be used as 'working' capital in order to pay bills. And bills there will be. Each time a train is switched onto a railroad company's private lines a player must pay a switching fee. This is $400,000 if the rails are not owned by another player. In addition every 12 spaces of movement costs $100,000 in use fees/expenses. It is extremely important for a new player to learn the railroad routes. These are the paths the railroads travel from city to city (''). The most direct route being the fastest, but it may not be the cheapest. The Screen you will see is a portion of the map of the USA and Southern Canada. Cities are described as grey spaces with black diamonds. Mountains are described by brown spaces. Flat country is represented by green areas. Blue areas are bodies of water. The cities are connected by grey lines. These are the rail lines. A single line indicates only one railroad (of 32) owns the rails through a side of the space. If there are double lines in the space then at least two railroads own rail lines through at least one side of the space. Players should read the help menu and then maneuver around the map and try the options of Find or Overlay as well as List and/or Abbr. Operator Orders are: A,B,E,F,J,H,L,M,N,O,T,0,1,2,3,4,5,6