Download User Manual - Comcast High

Manual Pages
8/13/01
12:07 PM
Page 50
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Changing Attitudes: The attitudes are OK, Ally, and War. The default is OK. No
changes are saved until you click Close. This screen updates if any of the other
players changes their attitude towards you while you are in this screen.
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Mini-Map: Shows the different lines that have been built.
Shortlines
Shortlines crop up throughout the game, especially where there’s a lucrative route that none
of the players have built. The easiest way to find a shortline is to use the Find Shortline
button on the Switchboard. Pressing it a second time will find the next shortline, and so on
until it returns to the first shortline.
Shortlines are small independent railroad companies that focus solely on their one track.
Although each one of them is independent of the others, they all collectively use the color
white for their tracks. Shortlines compete with the other railroads that carry cargo between
the two cities that they service, but shortlines never gain prestige or use influence (except to
defend themselves).
Buying a distant shortline is a good way to get into a new area of the map, since you can
now build from the cities that the shortline connects to. For example, if you were building a
transcontinental railroad from Chicago to Los Angeles, then buying a shortline near Los
Angeles would let you start building from Los Angeles back to Chicago. Building from both
ends can cut your time in half!
Shortlines are also useful in getting into a city that has no free access slots. If you buy a
shortline that connects to a city, you get its access slot.
NOTE: You cannot buy a shortline that duplicates a track that you own (i.e. connects the
same two cities as another track you already own).
When you offer to buy a shortline (see Acquiring a Shortline), you can change the amount
of money you’re offering, which directly affects the percentage chance that the shortline will
sell. You can also bribe the board of directors of the shortline to increase your odds, at some
risk of a scandal. If you’re in the same region as the shortline, you can also threaten to
compete with them directly, which will sometimes frighten them into selling. If they refuse
to sell, you can offer to purchase them again, but you will be unable to threaten them again.
In addition, you have to make a better offer than you did the last time, which means it may
be prohibitively expensive to purchase the shortline.
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