Actions Guide
Each turn you perform actions by playing cards from your hand. Every action requires discarding one card (any card can be used for any action type, though location cards can only build at matching locations).
A. Build Industry
Play a card and pay money to place an industry tile on the board.
- Location card: Must match the location where you build.
- Industry card: Can build at any location in your personal network.
- You always build the top tile (lowest tech level) from your industry mat.
- Pay the tile's money cost plus any iron and coal required.
Tip: When building Coal or Iron, if the external market isn't full, excess resources automatically sell to the market for money. If this empties the tile, it flips immediately!
B. Sell Cotton
Discard any card. Choose one of your unflipped cotton mills and sell through:
- A port tile: Must be connected to your mill. Both the mill and port flip. Both owners gain income.
- Distant market: Mill must be connected to any port. Flip a demand tile; if demand remains, your mill flips and you gain bonus income equal to remaining demand.
Warning: If you sell to the distant market and it bottoms out, your mill does NOT flip and your action ends immediately.
C. Take a Loan
Discard any card. Take £10, £20, or £30 from the bank. For each £10, drop one income band.
Tip: Earlier loans are cheaper because lower income bands are smaller. Taking £30 is the most efficient use of your action.
D. Develop
Discard any card. Remove 1 or 2 tiles from the top of your industry stacks (they go back in the box). Each removal costs 1 iron.
Tip: Developing is essential in the Rail era since you can't build Level 1 tiles. Use it to skip to higher-value tiles.
E. Build Link
Discard any card. Build a link connected to your personal network.
Canal Era:
- Only blue (canal) links. One per action. Costs £3.
Rail Era:
- Only brown (rail) links.
- 1 track: £5 + 1 coal (transported).
- 2 tracks: £15 + 2 coal. Need not be consecutive.
F. Pass
Discard any card and do nothing. Sometimes necessary if no good moves are available.