EB Player Features
Game Basics

ebEB5 Screen Shot

  • Computer version for 1 to 6 players
  • Supports all common crayon rail game rules, terrain and events
  • Play on a wide variety of game maps
  • Play vs. AI (bots), others at your computer, or others at remote computers (online)
  • Fast: humans can complete a match in under 20 minutes
  • Fast: AI can complete a match in less than 5 seconds
  • Hall of Fame logs the top scoring matches
  • Works on most Windows computers (98 or newer) without the need of special drivers
  • Designed by a top-ranked Empire Builder player and tournament champion
Online
  • Use at your option for fresh, live competition beyond the AI bots
  • Just connect with a friend via the Internet and play (no need for a special server)
  • Play via your own local network (router) too
  • Up to 6 online players can participate in the same match
  • Up to 70 spectators can observe the match
  • Watch in real time as remote opponents build track
  • Send messages to one or all players
  • Reconnect and resume in case connection drops
User Interface
  • Employs a standard Windows user interface for familiarity and ease of use
  • Zoom and scroll map
  • Full color maps and load icons
  • Mouse over cities to see what they supply, or loads to see where supplied
  • Scrollable game history automatically logs all match activity
  • Contracts of all players are displayed in scrollable window
  • Click on one of your contract demands to raise a reminder flag
  • Cash and on-board loads of all players are displayed
  • Simply drag mouse to move train or build track
  • Automove moves your train to a distant location you designate
  • Autobuild suggests a good build route and displays total cost
  • Loads window lets you drag and drop loads for pickup and delivery
Variants
(enable or disable
at your option)
  • Switchback start - turn order reverses during initial build rounds
  • Extra contracts start - each player starts with up to 6 demand contracts
  • Apply events - events can be enabled or disabled as you wish
  • Honeymoon 2-player - reduces load quantity, city access, and locks deliveries
  • Backtracking - trains can turn around after loss of a turn
  • No discarding - disallows pitching of contracts
  • Restarting - allows players to restart if they get into a bad situation
  • Sudden death - play until contract supply is exhausted
  • Equal-turns victory - each player get the same number of turns
  • Circus - the Circus load remains in the city at which it was dropped
  • Pilgrims - Pilgrims can be transported for payment even without a demand contract
  • Warehousing - one load can be stored at each city
  • Extra load - each train can carry one more load than usual
  • Slow freight - players start with a slow speed (usually speed 6) train
  • Ultra freight - players can upgrade to an extra fast (usually, speed 16) train
Customization
  • Choose AI play style and skill level
  • Modify demand contracts or randomize them
  • Import contracts from the Crayon Rails Deck Generator
  • Change money settings for starting cash, winning cash, terrain build cost, track use fee, etc.
  • Change play settings such as number of major cities to connect, ferry operation, warehousing duration, and more
  • Choose which contracts are assigned Circus demands
Reports
  • City, load and terrain data
  • Contracts and events already seen during match, and those still pending
  • Most frequently used travel corridors
  • Total load deliveries by load type
  • Load deliveries by city
  • Graphs of history of player cash and net worth during match
  • Player statistics: track spending, payoffs collected, average payoff, use fees paid, use fees collected, number of deliveries, number of speculative deliveries, event hits, total distance moved, payoff/distance, turn time spent, and more
  • Most reports can be printed, or copied to the clipboard
Accessibility
  • Choose the text font and size you prefer
  • Select the colors you prefer for terrain, rivers, desert, etc.
  • Use icons or text for on-map display of loads supplied by city
  • Show or hide map background
  • Turn automatic zooming on/off
  • Turn animation on/off
  • Turn sound effects on/off
  • Enable and choose an audible "my-turn" notification
Map Editor
  • Modify or create maps with the EBPEdit map editor
  • Mileposts: normal, hidden, mountain, alpine, jungle, forest, city, desert, swamp, water and tunnel
  • Draw: rivers, ferries, ocean coastline, volcanoes, borders, and barriers
  • Contracts: edit individually, as a group, or text import from other sources
  • Events: Derailment, Earthquake, Fog, Meteor Strike, Revolution, Shortage, Snow, Special Demands, Storms, Strikes, and more
  • Print map, across multiple pages if desired (photo of assembled 6-panel print after lamination)
  • Print payoff chart, loads chart, contract and event cards
Other
  • Compute the "best trip" for any set of contracts
  • Set up AI-only match, played repeatedly to gather statistics and analyze maps and strategies
  • View impact areas of any/all Events
  • Compresses saved game files to minimize their storage space
  • Context-sensitive help system supplied in both HLP and CHM formats

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Empire Builder is a trademark of Mayfair Games. EB Player, EBPEdit and the alternate maps are not products of Mayfair Games.