El Capitán

El Capitán
Board Game Geek - https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/29972/el-capitan

Re-Implementation of Tycoon - https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/267/tycoon

Rulebook
https://web.archive.org/web/20100215135103/http://www.zmangames.com/boardgames/files/elcapitan/ElCapitan_Rules.pdf

https://boardgamegeek.com/thread/293612/english-rules

You can't take a loan on the first turn
https://boardgamegeek.com/thread/602913/play-balance-el-capitan-4-players

https://boardgamegeek.com/thread/364393/loans-not-allowed-1st-turn

Can't buy sailing cards when taking a loan
Zev from Z-Man's reply - https://boardgamegeek.com/thread/205480/sailing

One loan per turn
https://boardgamegeek.com/thread/1564731/get-more-1-loans-action

Seal on Bonus Cards Reminds Players
https://boardgamegeek.com/thread/1529226/seals-bottom-bonus-cards

Those get rewarded for when you have active warehouses in 9 cities. Reminds players of that.

Bankruptcy
Q: what happen if someone can't payback his due after the debt extension?

A: take out a new loan to pay off the extension -- and then pay those off as well

A: also to put the ship on the bank's port, not to give an advantage to the guy who was not paying his debt

Alt A: Start the round with negative balance

https://boardgamegeek.com/thread/629461/urgent-question-about-payback

https://www.boardgamegeek.com/thread/284826/question-about-paying-back-loans

https://boardgamegeek.com/thread/337675/loan-question

Reopen warehouse is free, but is an action
https://boardgamegeek.com/thread/530177/reopening-warehouses

Closed Warehouses Do Count for End Game Phase Trigger
From rulebook:
 * "The game ends after the third game phase, when at least one player has built all her warehouses and fortresses (it doesn’t matter if any of her warehouses are shut down)."

Q: But does this also trigger for end of phase 1 and phase 2?

https://boardgamegeek.com/thread/454592/end-phase

Sail Back to Same City for Cheaper Port
https://boardgamegeek.com/thread/335145/sailing-back-cheaper-harbor

"I just checked the online rules, and it doesn't preclude sailing from a city back to the same city. In fact, the rules say you can use a Destination card to sail to the city on the card, "no matter where your ship currently is." By that definition, you could be in Tunis, and play a Tunis destination card to sail to Tunis, arriving at an open harbor.

The rules for City Interconnection cards say you can sail as many routes as you want, as long at the city you intend to build in has an open harbor. So, if you wanted to sail from Tunis to Valencia, then Valencia back to Tunis, just to arrive at the cheaper harbor, you could do that.

As Jonathan said, in most cases this wouldn't be an efficient use of resources, and so would make sense to do. However, if it was the only way to build your last warehouse on a round, and you really wanted to trigger the end of the round instead of taking a loan, then you may want to burn the cards. "

Sailing Cards Replenished at End of Turn
https://boardgamegeek.com/thread/327540/replenishing-sailing-cards

Scoring Single player majority in city?
Q: If I am the only player present in a given city, do I get just the first place florin or both the first and second place florin?

https://boardgamegeek.com/thread/472918/question-about-majority-scoring

Q: Do you score 1st and 2nd place for warehouses if you are the only player on a city?

https://boardgamegeek.com/thread/1667314/do-you-score-1st-and-2nd-place-warehouses-if-you-a

House Rule: Only get 1st place scoring

Does largest city get 1st and 2nd bonus?
Q: Does largest city get 1st and 2nd bonus?

https://boardgamegeek.com/thread/454588/scoring-fortresses

House Rule: Just get larger 1st bonus only.

Can you build two fortresses in a city?
https://boardgamegeek.com/thread/415453/can-i-build-2-fortresses-same-city

Community says no, but no official answer

Are Destionation Cards Kept Face Up?
Q: "Are destination cards kept face up in front of players (public information), or can players hide them face down after purchase?" (by me)

https://boardgamegeek.com/thread/1667312/are-destination-cards-kept-face-front-players-publ

If tied for lowest score, who gets to decide first player?
https://boardgamegeek.com/thread/1667313/if-tied-lowest-score-who-gets-decide-first-player

Strategies

 * "Proliferation is almost always the way to go early on, especially if you can cut some deals (I'll build in your city if you build in mine) works well. "

Large Load Payback is 20
Rules say payback of larger loan is 16, which is incorrect, but back of card is correct, it is 20

Fortress Example is wrong
"Provided the city shown in the above illustration contains the most warehouses (there are no more than 10 warehouses in any other city), Green and Red are paid 20 Florin each for their fortress."

Should say 16

https://boardgamegeek.com/thread/205492/fortress-scoring-typo

Tycoon Online
If you don't understand the rules, this will help. The online AI for Tycoon is very close to El Capitan because El Capitan is Tycoon rethemed:


 * http://hilinski.net/games/online/