As I’ve written before, I’m sorta stuck on the game’s victory conditions.  Saturday’s play test session drove the point home, albeit indirectly.

If the victory conditions are solely based on net worth, if cash on hand is equal in importance to property values, why buy properties?  This conundrum came up as four newbies started the six-player play test of Steel & Steam.  At the beginning of the game, all of the new players reached their first destination city and no one bought a property.

One way to overcome this, and to give player’s direction, is to provide a different set of victory conditions. I’m considering, as an alternate victory condition, that a player can win if they can connect 21 of the 27 “yellow” cities on the map into a single network. This victory condition would require the purchase of properties.

This idea will make it into the next play test.