Event Cards - [EBPEdit Help Contents]
Event Cards describe special occurrences in the game, such as Floods, Derailments and Strikes. During game play, an event can appear at random when a player gets a new card. Because so many different things can happen via Events, creating them is perhaps the most complex part of building a map with EBPEdit.
Note that for terminology convenience, the text here refers to event "cards" even though there are, of course, no physical cards in a computer game.
EBP supports most types of events used in the board games, plus many of its own. The board games typically have between 20 and 30 Event Cards; EBP allows up to 100. It may take some experimentation to get the event effect you desire. So many event effect combinations are possible that many have never been tested, and some of those may produce unexpected results; for best results we recommend not straying far from effects that are already in use by existing maps.
CREATE/EDIT EVENT CARDS
To create or edit Event Cards, choose the Cards, Events pull down menu. The remainder of this topic describes the fields in the Event Card editing window.
EVENT
Choose an event from the drop down list. Note that EBPEdit lets you modify the text chosen from the drop down list, but avoid doing so except as described below. EBP looks for some certain keywords in the text of the Event, so changing that text may alter how EBP handles the event.
If you can't find a specific event name, choose one from the list that is more generic. For example, instead of Hurricane, choose Storm. Instead of Heavy Snow, choose Snow. Gale is a special kind of storm that shuts down ferries (if any) within in the area you specify.
As of this writing, the only Event text you may constructively modify is that for Tax. You can change the tax value and percentages (employing the format you see in the dropdown Tax items) and EBP will extract those numbers and use them for tax assessment.
WHO IS IMPACTED
All players are impacted by an event unless you narrow the scope of the event by highlighting one or more of the items in the Locations list, and/or by entering a value in the Regions field. Commonly, map designers limit the scope of events by choosing one or more Locations and Regions.
In most cases, events that affect an area of the map impact only the players whose trains are in that area. Such events typically have a non-zero Distance (for example, a derailment within 3 of certain cities), or effect a region (for example, a Rail strike within certain country). Events that have no particular coverage area typically impact all players (for example, Taxes). Certain events are limited by their specific description to only the drawing player (for example, "Strike (drawing player)").
Events can be directed to occur to certain players by highlighting in the Locations list one of "Player: drawing", "Player: not drawing", "Player: top ranked", etc. If you highlight nothing else in the Locations list, EBP will cause the event effect(s) to occur to the "Player:" regardless of the location of their train on the map.
If, instead, you also highlight any location(s) listed above "Player:", such as "City: [all]" or "MP: mountain", etc., EBP takes that to mean you want the effect to impact the "Player:" you highlighted only if that player's train is at/near the location(s).
Commonly you will highlight none of the "Player:" items because that leaves all players subject to the event's effects, provided of course their train is at/near any location(s) you highlight. EBP deems "Player: top ranked" to be the one with the highest net worth after subtracting a map-specific amount for unconnected big cities needed for victory.
"Engine wrecked, revert to previous model" is an example of an effect for which most map designers either limit to an area of the map (only trains within will be impacted), or highlight "Player: drawing", so that it does not impact all players simultaneously. The same is true of "Take a load" which permits a player to steal an opponent's load.
Note an exception to that described above: events that change attributes of the map cannot be limited to certain players. For example, though an event can change the cost of building to mountains, you cannot have that change apply only to a certain player. Similarly, effects that influence contract/event handling such as "Use alternate event" cannot be limited to certain player(s).
Choosing "Only if: discarding hand" will cause all the event's effects to be ignored unless it is drawn due to a player discarding his hand. It can be used with "Player: drawing" to discourage frequent discarding should you wish.
CITIES/DRAWING GROUPS/MPs
In the Locations list below the event, highlight the cities, drawing groups, milepost types, ferries and/or region the event impacts. For example, for a Derailment event you highlight all the cities around which trains derail.
In general, when you select multiple Locations items, EBP will apply the event to all. In computer terms, to the selected list of items, EBP applies OR logic instead of AND logic. Region is an exception.
To specify an event along a river or coastline (such as a Hurricane along the Gulf of Mexico) you must first create a drawing group of that segment of river and/or coastline.
Certain list items, such as "City: [coastal]", are "built in" make it easy for you to specify common collections of cities that EBP knows how to find. EBP determines coastal and inland collections by scanning the map for where you drew ocean coastlines. You must set the Distance field so EBP knows how far inland to count.
"City: [starred]" impacts cities to which you've applied the q (Queen) milepost attribute. EBP displays a tiny 5-pointed star in the center of such cities. The Europe maps apply a star to capital cities, but you can employ the feature however you wish, i.e. non-capital cities too, via Star Effects (see section below).
"City: [3 on demand]" chooses a demand card at random (in the deck or discarded) and applies the event to each of its demand cities. "City: [1 on demand]" references only the center demand city. "City: [6 on demand]" references two 3-demand contracts.
Also in the list are certain milepost types. You might highlight "MP: alpines" to, for example, design an event that impacts all trains at Alpine mileposts. Also highlight "MP: NOT above" to include all mileposts except the MP types highlighted.
Highlight up to one region to designate impact in that area. Note some limitations: milepost types and regions cannot be highlighted for the same event, nor can more than one region.
If an item is not in EBP's "built in" list, you may be able to create a drawing group of your own. Drawing groups let you list individual dots, or ranges, thereby letting you create any arbitrary group. For example, Volcanoes are not a milepost or terrain in the list. So, for the Volcanic Eruption event, you must first create a drawing group of type Other and specify the dots at which there are volcanoes. After doing so, return to the Event editing window, which will now list your drawing group of volcanoes so you can select it.
ICON NUMBER
If you wish to associate an icon image with the event, enter the icon number, or choose it visually by clicking on the icon display box.
DISTANCE
Distance is the range (number of mileposts) the event impacts. In most cases, trains/track within this distance is impacted. For some events, such as a Strike at inland cities, you highlight City: [inland] and then the distance value expresses the mileposts away from a location (the coast). You should be able to reason how it applies.
For events that occur between mileposts, such as river flooding, or events that impact only inbound connections to cities, set Distance to 0.
For ferry events that impact only the crossing, set distance to 0.
REGION
The Region field serves two purposes. It can be used to limit the impact of items selected in the Cities/Drawing Groups list to certain region(s). To do so, enter the region letter(s). For example, if the event effects coastal cities only in a particular region, specify that region in the Region field, and highlight City: [coastal].
If no items are selected in the Cities/Drawing Groups list, then the event has an impact on the entire region. For example, if an event effects a group of mileposts, assign those mileposts a region and select the code letter of the region here. This is useful for events such as a Strike within a particular country.
See the regions) topic to learn how to create regions.
DURATION
Duration expresses how many additional rounds the event's effects last. Most events in the board games endure 1 additional round. For example, when a Flood event occurs during a player's turn, it washes out bridges that round, but those bridges cannot be rebuilt until after that same player's turn the next round. In cases like that set duration to 1.
Derailments are typically over and done within the same turn, so set their duration to 0.
For events that last until the end of the game, or until some special condition is met (Shortages are an example), set Duration to -1. Avoid disallowing track builds or train moves through the end of the game, or for any long duration, since EBP's AI is not equipped to handle that.
For events that occur once and not again (such as a Tax card that does not get reshuffled back into the deck), set Duration to -2.
For events that endure until expired/cancelled by another particular event via the Event Expiration effect (see below), set Duration to -3. Note that EBP's AI may not handle such indefinite-duration events very skillfully so they should only be used with maps not intended for the AI to play upon.
EFFECTS
The group of four drop down lists let you individually specify the event's effects on movement, loads and building. Most items in the list should be self explanatory. If you wish no effect, you can either leave its list blank or choose its "Zero effect" item. When changes are saved, the editor will convert the "Zero effect" choice into blank.
"Lose 1, 2 turns" means trains closer to the event's location lose 2 turns while others lose 1. The Mexico City Earthquake is an example of such an event. Specify the distance range of the more extreme impact (loss of 2 turns) in the "Extra" box to the right of the effect drop down list. "Lose 1, all loads" works similarly to "Lose 1, 2 turns".
STAR EFFECTS
Star Effects impact star mileposts for a duration, often the full match, or until changed by a subsequent event; the Duration field is ignored by Star Effects. You can toggle various effects on and off by entering a + followed by the effect number value in the Extra box to the right of the effect drop down list. To toggle a Star Effect off, use - instead of +. The user of a map containing Star Effects must employ EBP 1.7.14 version or newer.
Currently there are several possible effects and more may be added with time:
Value....Result
+1.... Causes build costs to star mileposts to change by the StarPlus amount (which you set via the Prices window).
+2.... Reserved for future use.
+3.... Acts like a red trackside signal, forcing trains to stop at a star milepost and move no farther that turn.
+4.... Permits trains to turn around at star mileposts.
+5.... Pays a cash bonus at turn end to the first player to move to any star milepost, then deactivates this effect. Specify the amount of the bonus by placing a numeric value in the Other field.
Prefix the effect number with either + or - to either activate or deactivate the effect, respectively. For example, to cause trains to stop at star mileposts, enter +3. To cease that effect, on a different Event card instead use -3. You can enter multiple effects, for example, +3-1 causes effect 3 to be activated, and effect 1 to be deactivated. To deactivate all active Star Effects enter 0 (without + or -). Star Effects impact all players; you cannot limit their effects to only certain players. For convenience, Star Effects are available from multiple drop down effect lists, only one of which should be employed per event. To begin the match with certain Star Effects enabled, set the StarEffect attribute in the Prices and Misc window.
ALTERNATE EVENT #
This field can redirect the game to a different event card; it can be used for dual event cards such as those of the Russia map. During game play, after "Use alternate event" (an effect found in the Loads drop down) has occurred, EBP will automatically redirect to the alternate event card number you specify in this field. To not employ this feature, set this field to 0. On the alternate event card, set this field to 0 (i.e. alternate events cannot redirect to yet a different event). To revert back to regular events during game play, create an event with a "Do not use alternate event" effect.
Create alternate events the same way you do regular events, hovever, in the Edit Event Info window's event list, place all alternate events after all regular (non-alternate) events. That is, all alternate events must be numbered higher than all regular (non-alternate) events, and lower than any secondary events.
OTHER TEXT
The Other Text field provides room for additional text you wish to display to the user when the event occurs. The field is sometimes pre-empted for special purposes, such as the Shortage event described below.
SHORTAGE / SUBSIDY / EXCESS
A Shortage event remains in play until a player delivers the loads called for via a separate demand card at which time he receives a payoff bonus in addition to the regular payoff. The Subsidy and Excess events remains in play for the Duration number of rounds; multiple players can collect a Subsidy.
To specify the payoff bonus and loads, enter them in the Other Text field, separated by commas or + signs. For example, if the payoff bonus is 10 and the load that can be delivered is Coal, Oil or Wood, you enter:
10,Coal,Oil,Wood
If the payoff bonus is 20 and both Pigs and Corn must be delivered, use a + sign:
20,Pigs+Corn
If the bonus is awarded upon delivery of any load, use (any):
10,(any)
A negative bonus amount is supported starting with EBP version 1.7. This can be used with the Excess event, to reflect a period of low demand and low prices:
-10,Corn
SPECIAL DEMAND
Same as a Shortage, except to be allowed to make the delivery, the player need not have a regular demand card for the same load(s). You must highlight exactly one specific city as the demanding city (EBP is not designed to handle more than one possible city). In the Other Text field, enter the payoff, a comma, and the name of the one demanded load (EBP is not designed to handle the optional delivery of one of a list of possible loads); if multiple loads must be delivered, enter their names separated with + signs. The load names must be correctly spelled!
TRIGGER SECONDARY EVENT
At your option, the effects of a complex event can be split across two separate event cards. To do this, create your primary event as you would normally, and set its Other effect to "Trigger secondary event". In the Extra field to the right of that, enter the number of a separately-created event card that has the secondary effects you wish. The number you enter should be the smaller of the two values shown at "Card #" in the Edit Event Info window for the desired secondary event card.
Create secondary events the same way you do regular events, except in the Edit Event Info window's event list, place all secondary events after all regular and alternate events. That is, all secondary events must be numbered higher than all regular and alternate events.
Unlike regular events, a secondary event will never be "drawn from the deck" directly by EBP, instead it occurs only when a primary event triggers it. In terms of computer processing, EBP sees them as two separate events, with the primary event occurring first. As a consequence, for example, you can assign the secondary event a duration that is different from the primary one that triggers it. Secondary events are not permitted to trigger another secondary (a tertiary) event, so do not employ the "Trigger secondary event" effect on a card that itself will be a secondary event.
During game play, EBP will separately display the two events to the player in sequence. This "secondary events" feature requires EBP version 2.0 or newer, so you should specify at least 2.0 in the Edit Map info window's "min EBP version required" field.
Multiple regular and alternate events are permitted to trigger a given secondary event, and can do so multiple times during a game, if desired, even before the "deck is reshuffled".
OTHER NOTES
Certain events and effects trigger special happenings in the game. Here are some notes:
Congress - requires each player to make a delivery of a certain load before doing any pickups or deliveries; use with the "All trains must move to a listed city" movement option; put the payoff in the box to the right of the movement event field; highlight the cities that accept delivery put the name of the demanded load in the Other field
Devaluation - reduces the cash of all players by a percentage you specify in the Other field; for example, enter 20 to reduce by 20%
Dry Season - converts Rainy Season watery (blue) rivers that had been dry (brown) back into dry ones; build cost for normal rivers and lakes applies
Flood (bridges destroyed) - erases track segments over the river groups you specify
Rainy Season - converts all dry (brown) rivers and lakes into watery (blue) ones; build cost for normal rivers and lakes applies; set duration to -1 for the Rainy Season to last the rest of the game or until a Dry Season occurs
Reshuffle - causes a refresh of the demands and events
Revolution - similar to Devaluation, but you can leave the Other Text field blank for no cash reduction; removes from play any dual-events (active events that have alternate events)
Strike (drawing player) - causes the drawing player's track to be unusable for the number of turns you specify; also, that player may not build track
Pay to cross Green (or Yellow) Border - collects a fee (paid to the bank) each time players move their trains across the indicated border; specify the amount of the fee in the Extra field to the right
Pay to enter Region - collects a fee (paid to the bank) for players who move their trains into the Region(s) you specify from some other Region; specify the amount of the fee in the extra field to the right
Return train to last city - automatically moves each impacted train to the last city it had visited; useful for events such as Sand Storms.
Event expiration - causes the end of specified previous event(s) of indefinite duration (-3); in the Extra field place a comma-separated list of card numbers of the events you wish to expire; this feature lets you toggle events on and off over the course of a match; if a listed event is not active, EBP ignores the request for its expiration
No pick up at cities listed for rest of match - the selected cities will not supply their normal loads for the remainder of the game
No p/u except in cities listed, no dels except loads listed - sometimes used with the Celebration event, disallows load pickups except at cities you highlight, and disallows deliveries except loads you list in Other field: start the Other field with a number for the bonus payoff for such deliveries, followed by a comma, followed the names of the acceptable loads, separated by commas
No delivery to cities listed, no pickups of loads listed - in the Other field, list the loads by name, separating with a comma
Pick up any (scandal) - typically used with the Supply Scandal event, allows all players to pick up a load from any city within a certain number of mileposts from their train (enter the number of mps in the Distance field). In the Extra field to the right, enter the number of loads that can be picked up by each player.
Lose 1 contract - will force the impacted player(s) to choose a contract to discard; a new one will be dealt
Lose all contracts - typically used with "Player: drawing" highlighted; EBP will automatically draw fresh contracts to replace those lost
Lose onboard loads listed - in the Other field enter a comma-separated list of Load names; EBP will remove loads of the type listed from the players' train
Lose onboard loads listed, no pickups - same as "Lose onboard loads listed" except also disallows players from picking up the load(s) until this event expires
Engine wrecked, revert to previous model - causes the player(s)' engine model to change back to the one he used previously, or to a Slow Freight. Optional: to provide a refund of the purchase price, in the Extra field enter the % of the refund, for example, if the upgrade cost had been $20, a setting of 50% will cause $10 to be returned to the player. The player can upgrade again if he wishes. Freights will revert to Slow Freights.
Event expiration - causes the end of specified previous event(s) of indefinite duration (-3); in the Extra field place a comma-separated list of card numbers of the events you wish to expire; this feature lets you toggle events on and off over the course of a match; if a listed event is not active, EBP ignores the request for its expiration
Take a load - permits player(s) to "steal" a load from the train of an opponent of their choice. EBP permits the player to pass rather than take a load.
Track destroyed, no building - erases track segments in the area you specify; with it you can create, for example, a Sand Storm event by highlighting MP: desert. Also supported is track destruction some distance outside cities (useful for Meteor Showers): in the special field at right enter that distance (in mileposts) plus the compass direction away the city, for example 3NW.
Track destroyed, remove train - same as Track destroyed, no building except trains on track that is destroyed are temporarily removed from the board and EBP will prompt the player to choose a new milepost at which to place the train.
Barrier crossing allowed - allows players to build track across barriers for the remainder of the match; you must also enter the build cost, which must be a number greater than zero, in the Extra field to the right of the dropdown
New xxx build cost - changes the cost of building to/across the indicated item to the value you place in the Extra field to the right of the dropdown
Government stimulus funds - in the Extra field enter the amount of cash to give to the players; if you wish, in the event locations list, highlight Player: lowest rank to give the stimulus only to the player EBP ranks lowest at that point in the match; requires EBP version 2.0 or newer
Trigger secondary event - see the discussion above in this topic
Windfall profits tax - in the Extra field, enter the percentage of the players' cash to take as tax. This is unrelated to the tax card; requires EBP version 2.0 or newer.
SOUND EFFECTS
To play a sound when the Event occurs during the match, see the Sound topic.
COPY PASTE INS DEL BUTTONS
Various buttons along the bottom of the Edit Event Info window operate on, or relative to, the Card # you have selected at top of the window. For example, to copy an event, first choose it in the Card # field at top, then click the Copy button. To paste that event elsewhere in the list of events, in the Card # field first choose the event where you wish to paste, then click the Paste button. You can copy and paste an event from one map to another; note that if the cities or regiosn differ between those maps, the city or region names selected in the list at right may need to be adjusted.
Ins (Insert) inserts a blank event at the event slot you have chosen in the Card # field, and Del (Delete) deletes that event. If you permit EBPEdit to renumber the events, Delete will leave a blank event at the end of the event list. If you wish to remove that blank event, click the Set # of Cards button and reduce the total by 1.
Experienced computer users can copy multiple events between maps at once by editing the .ebm map file with a text editor. A map's events are found toward the end of its .ebm file. Before making such edits, keep a back up copy of the map as saved by EBPEdit in case your manual modifications go awry.
EVENT INVOKE
To start the match with one particular Event active, for example, an event that floods rivers or disallows movement across a ferry, use the EventInvoke item found in Prices. The feature requires players use EBP version 1.6.13 or newer.
TESTING
To test your events in EBP you can manually activate them. In EBP choose Show, Event Info, then Shift+click on the text at the top of the Event Info window and enter the number of the event you wish to trigger. See Testing for more about testing your map.