Patagonia

Goal: The fabled region where fortunes are made and lost at the bat of an eyelid. Survive local politicians and the wiles of the stock market.

Author's Comments: The year is 1850 and the regions around Lake Patagonia are luring foreign tycoons into their lands to build their infrastructure.

The area is not without problems. A greedy ruler in Patagonia tends to make railroad building an expensive undertaking. Various native bandits add to the overhead.

Foreign wars and politics influence the region: a strike of US dock workers can affect your crop exports, port throughput and cost of imported fuels. Just as overseas wars and local skirmishes will raise the revenue for certain productions, while diminishing passenger revenue - tourists tend to stay away from troubled regions.

As if that was not enough, there's a border dispute between Patagonia and El Dorada: confiscation of rolling stock and tracks, sudden inaccessibility of formerly well-greased ministerial assistants, and an overall increase in the cost of doing business are the likely results of local politics. Better make sure you have the right folks in the right places in your pocket.