Editing Railway Board (Guide)

{{GuideFor|Storylet = Convene a Board Meeting of the Great Hellbound Railway|Cleanup = Conclude the paperwork}}{{GuideFor|Storylet = Debating Matters of Business with the Board}}{{Audience|EarlyRailway|Evergreen=yes}}[[Has icon::File:Railsteel.png|right]]
{{GuideNeedsWork|Missing information on July}}
{{ActivitySummary
|Activity=Railway Board Meetings
|Length=Limited
|Starting Actions=1
|Progress Actions=4
|Ending Actions=1
|Progress Details=Convince each Board Member to your side. This is per issue.
|Output Items=*{{IL|Moon-Pearl}}
*{{IL|Magnificent Diamond}}
*{{IL|Consignment of Scintillack Snuff}}
*{{IL|Bottle of Broken Giant 1844}}
*{{IL|Bottle of Fourth City Airag: Year of the Tortoise|Appearance=Fourth City Airag}}
*{{IL|Advance!}}
|Boost Items=*{{IL|Queen Mate}}
*{{IL|Epaulette Mate}}
*{{IL|Board Member's Favour: The Bishop of Southwark}}
*{{IL|Board Member's Favour: The Bishop of St Fiacre's}}
*{{IL|Credit with the Headmistress}}
*''{{IL|Portable Fingerking Moot}}''
|Raw EPA = 8.21
|Locked=Yes
}}
The Board of Directors are a bunch of personalities that can assist you in various ways, but also make development of the Railway difficult for you. Before any major action in the Railway, you need to hold a board meeting and have approval from all current board members. 

Most importantly, opportunities for board meetings are limited to two a week while you are building the Railway, and one a week once you have finished.

Getting stuck in a meeting because of a stiff Persuasive challenge from a disagreeable board member can be unpleasant. Thus, the following guide is meant to help keep your meetings, and the trains, running as smooth as possible.

==How Board Meetings Work==

A board meeting can be called by selecting a proposal on [[Convene a Board Meeting of the Great Hellbound Railway]]. Once inside, the only way to leave is to successfully pass a vote and then adjourn (end the meeting), or to give up in the middle of a vote and then adjourn. Menaces such as {{IL|Scandal}} don't take full effect until you return to London.

Every decision by the board must be approved unanimously: you must convince ''every single member, individually'' (with a few exceptions). This requires passing at least one {{IL|Persuasive}} check per member. Once you have convinced everyone, the proposal will pass.

Many proposals, such as [[Vote a dividend to the shareholders|paying dividends]] or [[Build more room for baggage on the train|adding room for baggage]], take effect immediately. The one (rather enormous) exception is that proposals to build track or stations ''unlock'' relevant options in [[The Next Stretch of Track]], where you must then invest resources to get things actually built.

Many proposals will increase {{IL|In Corporate Debt}} when passed, and are locked off if your Corporate Debt is too high. Therefore, it is advisable to pay off said Debt between meetings so that you can do as much per meeting as possible.

After votes, you can then choose between a list of the remaining proposals you can hold votes about. If you select one, you will go into another voting phase all over again. There will also be an option to end the meeting and go back to London. (Any remaining proposals will, of course, not be proposed.)

You generally then have to wait until your personal {{IL|Time, the Healer}} allows you to reconvene. However, if your Railway is still under construction, you may get [[Help from the Board Secretary]] to convene a second meeting in the same week.

==Opposition from Board Members==
Each board member is looking out for certain interests, and earning their vote is harder when your proposal works against those interests. Board members may also be "persuaded" by different tactics. The table below summarizes the tactics and persuasion techniques for each board member.

Mechanically, earning the vote of most Board members requires a {{IL|Persuasive}} check with a base difficulty of 100. This difficulty is increased by each Interest of your proposal multiplied by the relevant board member's Interest, with each board member responding to different Interests. In most cases, the difficulty may also be reduced by raising one of three persuasion qualities. This Persuasive check can be repeated without penalty.

Most board members have one interest they care deeply about (raising the difficulty by 40), two to five issues they care moderately about (raising difficulty by 20), and one persuasion technique they respond to. Some board members also have interests that will decrease the difficulty.

For example, convincing {{IL|Board Member: The Efficient Commissioner|Short = yes}} to [[Vote Virginia off the board]] would require a difficulty check of 100 + (10 x 20) + (10 x 20) = 500.

===Board Members Issues===
{{:Railway Board (Guide)/Table}}

The pages for persuading each Board Member also have a table that shows the difficulty ratings for the challenges.

===Influencing the Board===
The main methods to influence the board are {{IL|Corruption of the Board}}, {{IL|Obfuscation of the Board}}, and {{IL|Respectability Factor}}.
* '''Corruption''' affects: Virginia, the Bishop of Saint Fiacre's, the Gracious Widow, the Hell-Scarred Gondolier, the Drummer, the Wry Functionary.
* '''Obfuscation''' affects: the Efficient Commissioner, the Bishop of Southwark, Furnace Ancona, the Tentacled Entrepreneur, the Wandering Gondolier, July, September.
* '''Respectability''' affects: His Amused Lordship, Feducci, the Dean of Xenotheology, the Viscountess of the Viric Jungle, January, Cornelius, the Delightful Reverend, the Dauntless Temperance Campaigner.
* The Remaining potential board members are: Jovial Contrarian, Sinning Jenny, April, Rubbery Yes-Man, the Implacable Detective.

{| class="article-table"
! Action !! Result !! Constraints
|-
! colspan="3" | {{IL|Corruption of the Board}}
|-
| [[Hint at one or two things you know]] || +6&nbsp;{{IL|Corruption of the Board|Appearance=}} || If you are a {{IL|Midnighter}} and don't already have any Corruption.
|-
| [[Support Virginia's motion regarding a route to Moulin]] || +3&nbsp;{{IL|Corruption of the Board|Appearance=}} || One-off benefit only on the route from {{IL|Burrow-Infra-Mump}} to {{IL|Moulin}}, and only if you support Virginia's proposal.
|-
| [[Treat your fellow board members to a sumptuous repast]] || +3&nbsp;{{IL|Corruption of the Board|Appearance=}} || Repeatable. Costs {{IL|Pot of Venison Marrow|1 x}}, {{IL|Bottle of Broken Giant 1844|1 x}}, {{IL|Solacefruit|1 x}}. Cannot be chosen if the Dauntless Temperance Campaigner is a member of the board.
|-
! COLSPAN="3" | {{IL|Obfuscation of the Board}}
|-
| [[Begin the meeting with a few words]] || +6&nbsp;{{IL|Obfuscation of the Board|Appearance =}} || If you are a {{IL|Crooked-Cross}} and don't already have any Obfuscation.
|-
| [[Support July's motion regarding a route to Moulin]] || +3&nbsp;{{IL|Obfuscation of the Board|Appearance=}} || One-off benefit only on the route from {{IL|Burrow-Infra-Mump}} to {{IL|Moulin}}, and only if you support July's proposal.
|-
| [[Confuse truth and fiction]] || +4&nbsp;{{IL|Obfuscation of the Board|Appearance=}} || Repeatable. {{IL|Mithridacy}} 2 test (100% at Mithridacy 7+). Test difficulty is increased by current Obfuscation/2. {{IL|Scandal|+3 CP}} on failure.
|-
! COLSPAN="3" | {{IL|Respectability Factor}}
|-
| [[Support His Amused Lordship's motion regarding a route to Moulin]] || +3&nbsp;{{IL|Respectability Factor|Appearance=}} || One-off benefit only on the route from {{IL|Burrow-Infra-Mump}} to {{IL|Moulin}}, and only if you support His Amused Lordship's proposal.
|-
| [[Rely on your personal respectability and authority]] || +3&nbsp;{{IL|Respectability Factor|Appearance=}} || Repeatable. {{IL|A Player of Chess}} 2 test. Test difficulty is increased by current Respectability Factor x2, and reduced by {{IL|Respectable}}/3. {{IL|Scandal|+3 CP}} on failure.
|}

It is optimal to have all your Board members share the same influential vulnerability, so you do not spend multiple actions building up each type separately.

The Midnighter's checkless Corruption option is equivalent to two [[Treat your fellow board members to a sumptuous repast|sumptuous repasts]], which saves a significant amount of resources. On the other hand, the Crooked-Cross's checkless Obfuscation option is mostly just more action-efficient than having (modified) {{IL|Mithridacy}} 7.

There is no checkless Respectability option, but acquiring [[Respectable Items]] is much easier than acquiring gear that has advanced skills, so as long as you have a moderate amount of {{IL|A Player of Chess}}, that will usually not be a problem.

All influence factors are reset once a vote has concluded.

==Board Proposals==
{{:Railway Board (Guide)/Proposal Table}}

==Statues of Specific Board Members==
{{HasGuide|GuidePage=Statues at the GHR Stations (Guide)}}

Statues can be erected at the Upper River locations to honour specific board members. The statues attract followers/admirers of those board members associated with the various factions of London. Mechanics-wise, this lets you trade Favours for resources.

A statue at {{IL|Ealing Gardens}} may honour any of the former mayors or the resident big-name, the Tentacled Entrepreneur. This unlocks a card which has one option that is specific to the faction that the board member is associated with.

A statue at {{IL|Jericho Locks}} honours board members of a theological leaning.<ref>Whether the people of Jericho Locks would appreciate this is another matter.</ref> This also unlocks a card that allows trading in {{IL|Favours: The Church|Appearance=Church favours}} for various rewards, the exact composition of which depends on whose statue you put up.

At {{IL|The Magistracy of the Evenlode}}, a statue can be erected in honour of {{IL|Board Member: the Gracious Widow|Appearance=the Gracious Widow}}. She is the only board member that can have a statue here.

You can, of course, eschew honouring any board members and put up statues of your player character instead. Why should they get the glory when you are putting in the most work into the Railway?

==Unique Benefits from Board Members==
There are some incentives to having certain members aboard, which may have some impact outside of board meetings too.

==={{IL|Board Member: His Amused Lordship|Short=yes}}===
====In Meetings====

* When His Amused Lordship joins the Board, he provides a reduction of {{IL|In Corporate Debt|Appearance = Debt}} (though the Tentacled Entrepreneur is better at this). You can vote him off the board and then reappoint him to get the reduction again.
* His Amused Lordship must be a member of the Board if you want to change the {{IL|Charter of the Great Hellbound Railway}} to a wealth-based one.

==={{IL|Board Member: Jovial Contrarian|Short = yes}}===
====In Meetings====
* The Jovial Contrarian has no particular opposition to any issue. Instead, the more board members have already agreed, the harder it will be to bring him on side. This means that all you really need to do is get his vote first.<ref>He is not so fickle as to dishonour the cast of his vote.</ref> This can be problematic for votes where one or more board members vote for it automatically; however, such votes are rare.

==={{IL|Board Member: Sinning Jenny|Short = yes}}===
====In Meetings====
* Jenny agrees immediately to [[Add Train Defences|improving the train's defences]]. This is useful, but can complicate getting the fickle Contrarian's vote.
* Jenny allows you to [[Propose paying a dividend to the poor of the Hinterlands]], which can be a decent way to reduce {{IL|Seeing Banditry in the Upper River}}.

==={{IL|Board Member: Virginia|Short=yes}}===
====In Meetings====
* Virginia must be a member of the Board if you want to change the {{IL|Charter of the Great Hellbound Railway}} to one aligned with Infernal interests.

==={{IL|Board Member: Furnace Ancona|Short = yes}}===
====In Meetings====
* If you have convinced Furnace on a vote, you can supply her with a {{IL|Queen Mate}} and she will [[Play Furnace Ancona against the rest|get the other board members to agree to your proposal]]. This is helpful if you have a huge board for whatever reason.

==={{IL|Board Member: The Dean of Xenotheology|Short = yes}}===
====In Meetings====
* The Dean must be a member of the Board if you want to change the {{IL|Charter of the Great Hellbound Railway}} to a scientific one.

====Outside Meetings====
* When founding the church at {{IL|Burrow-Infra-Mump}}, you can [[request the patronage of the Dean of Xenotheology]] if she is a member of the Board, after which you must convene a Board meeting to make her Patron.
* If you have a {{IL|Involved in a Railway Venture|Appearance=spur line}} to the {{IL|The City of the Tracklayers}}, the Dean of Xenotheology unlocks an option on the [[Genii Locorum]] card.

==={{IL|Board Member: The Bishop of Saint Fiacre's|Short=yes}}===
====Outside Meetings====
* When founding the church at {{IL|Burrow-Infra-Mump}}, you can [[request the patronage of the Bishop of St Fiacre's]] if he is a member of the Board, after which you must convene a Board meeting to make him Patron.

==={{IL|Board Member: The Bishop of Southwark|Short=yes}}===
====In Meetings====
* The Bishop of Southwark must be a member of the Board if you want to change the {{IL|Charter of the Great Hellbound Railway}} to a Church-oriented one.

==={{IL|Board Member: Tentacled Entrepreneur|Short = yes}}===
====In Meetings====
* When the Tentacled Entrepreneur joins the Board, he provides a considerable reduction in {{IL|In Corporate Debt|Appearance = Debt}}, enough to bring down two [[Vote a dividend to the shareholders|dividends votes' worth of Debt]] to 0. You can vote the Entrepreneur off the board and then reappoint him to get the reduction again.<ref>Of all the possible ways to commit money laundering in this game, this is definitely one of them!</ref>

====Outside Meetings====
* The Tentacled Entrepreneur unlocks an option on the [[Rubbery Observances]] card at {{IL|Ealing Gardens}} which checks {{IL|Persuasive}} rather than {{IL|Shadowy}}.
* The Tentacled Entrepreneur unlocks an option on [[A Word From Your Creditors]] wherein you can spend 6 {{IL|Favours: Rubbery Men}} to decrease {{IL|In Corporate Debt|Appearance=Debt}} by 3 CP.

==={{IL|Board Member: the Gracious Widow|Short = yes}}===
====In Meetings====
* The Gracious Widow joining the Board provides a considerable reduction in {{IL|In Corporate Debt|Appearance = Debt}}, enough to bring down two [[Vote a dividend to the shareholders|dividends votes' worth of Debt]] to 0. You can vote her off and reappoint her to get the reduction again. She also raises {{IL|Seeing Banditry in the Upper River|Appearance = Banditry}}, which makes certain checks easier or harder and unlocks some options.
* The Widow must be on the Board to [[Propose special consideration to certain charitable groups|propose a special consideration to... ''certain'' charitable groups]]. This is a source of {{IL|Bottle of Fourth City Airag: Year of the Tortoise}}.

====Outside Meetings====
* With {{IL|Involved in a Railway Venture}} 60 (a station at Jericho Locks), the Widow enables an option under the [[Engage in Some Minor Smuggling]] card.<ref>That option is certainly not minor smuggling.</ref>
* The Gracious Widow unlocks an option on [[A Word From Your Creditors]] wherein you can spend 6 {{IL|Favours: Criminals}} to decrease Corporate Debt by 3 CP.

==={{IL|Board Member: September|Short=yes}}===
====In Meetings====
* September must be a member of the Board if you want to invite {{IL|Board Member: January|Appearance=January}}.

==={{IL|Board Member: Cornelius|Short = yes}}===
====In Meetings====
* Like with Furnace,Cornelius has an option to [[Play Cornelius against the rest|help persuade all other board members]]. This uses an {{IL|Epaulette Mate}}, which is slightly harder to obtain than Furnace's Queen Mate.

==={{IL|Board Member: The Viscountess of the Viric Jungle|Short = yes}}===
====In Meetings====
* The Viscountess agrees immediately to many options regarding Parabolan warfare. As previously, this can complicate getting the Contrarian's vote.

==Leverage on Specific Board Members==
Some board members have leverage options that can be played to affect only them, and to secure their agreement outright. These options use up the resources they cost.

==={{IL|Board Member: The Bishop of Saint Fiacre's|Short=yes}}===
You can earn a favour with the Bishop by resolving [[A Jurisdictional Dispute]] in the Upper River to his benefit. This can be spent to gain support on any one vote. You can only carry one favour at a time, so this isn't extremely powerful. But it can be used to bypass the Bishop's normally staunch opposition to removing Board members. Without this, you might have to spend a lot on bribes more than once for each member-dropping agenda. 

==={{IL|Board Member: The Bishop of Southwark|Short=yes}}===
Like the Bishop of Saint Fiacre's, if you resolve [[A Jurisdictional Dispute]] to his benefit you will gain his support on one vote of your choosing. There are currently no repeatable votes that oppose Church interests - other than voting Church-affiliated members off the board - making this less immediately appealing than a favour of Saint Fiacre's. (The Bishop of Southwark still has a significant opposition to changing the board's makeup, but that can be handled with obfuscation.)

==={{IL|Board Member: Jovial Contrarian|Short=yes}}===
While the Contrarian's vote is not difficult to obtain anyway, he can also be convinced (guaranteed, despite the small {{IL|Mithridacy}} challenge) by deploying a {{IL|Portable Fingerking Moot}}. The Moot is a {{FontHallowmas}} companion which was available for free with festival participation in 2020, but required {{FontFate}} in subsequent years.

==={{IL|Board Member: Sinning Jenny|Short=yes}}===
Players who have purchased [[The Empress' Shadow]] ({{FontFate}}) may earn {{IL|Credit with the Headmistress}} in [[Sinning Jenny's Finishing School (Guide)|Jenny's Finishing School]]. Excess Credit may be spent to earn Jenny's vote, bypassing the regular Persuasion action.

==={{IL|Board Member: April|Short = yes}}===
Uniquely, ''no'' means of persuasion work on April. This means that if she disagrees with a proposal, the only thing you can do is throw yourself facefirst against the 33% check over and over again. You should only bring her on if you are going to make most of your proposals things she would agree to already, or else for story/roleplay reasons.

==Trimming the Board==
There must be at least four members on the Board, not including your player character. To make meetings go more smoothly<ref>at least without resorting to Furnace or Cornelius' special benefit</ref> keeping the board small is optimal. Below are some notes on the benefits and drawbacks of removing each listed member, should you wish to.

In most cases, voting out a board member merely causes you to lose access to their actions (above).<ref>Proposing voting out {{IL|Board Member: The Wry Functionary|Short = yes}} slightly damages [[Acquaintance: the Wry Functionary|your relationship with him]], but not enough to cause any problems.</ref>

==={{IL|Board Member: The Efficient Commissioner|Short = yes}}===
Since she opposes most agendas rather often, the Commissioner is likely to be at the top of any player's list of names to cross off. Removing her requires {{IL|Board Status|5}}, meaning that you have to hold at least 5 board meetings before you can remove her.

While you are in the process of building the railway, repeatedly [[Bring the Efficient Commissioner back to the Board|bringing her back on board]] and subsequently voting her out again is a possible way to grind {{IL|Connected: The Masters of the Bazaar}} (up to 4).<ref>Apparently the Masters only ever notice when you bring her on, and don't seem to care about you voting her out?</ref>

==={{IL|Board Member: His Amused Lordship|Short = yes}}===
He is handy to have around at the beginning of the Railway, but when the train upgrades become available ({{IL|Involved in a Railway Venture}} 50 and above), he can begin to become difficult to convince. With a high enough Respectable, however, he's easily swayed.

==={{IL|Board Member: The Bishop of Saint Fiacre's|Short = yes}}===
Having the Bishop on the board makes removing any other member more difficult, at least before you have leverage on him. However, voting to remove him can be a problem in itself since it adds {{IL|Board against the Interests of Society}} which raises opposition from ''many'' board members.<ref>Spending {{IL|Favours: Society}} smoothes this over.</ref>

==={{IL|Board Member: Sinning Jenny|Short = yes}}===
If you lack the FATE story that is associated with her ([[The Empress' Shadow]]), there are no means of influencing her. Her special benefit, as mentioned above, also causes problems. However, she has an easy {{IL|Persuasive}} 100 check on most issues (notably the payout of dividends if you have a Worker charter), and is a good choice for weekly routine votes.

==={{IL|Board Member: Virginia|Short = yes}}===
At this time of writing, she is required to be on the Board to get the railway running. After that, however, she can be removed if desired. She'll be particular difficult to convince when trying to [[Add Train Defences|upgrade Train Defences]].<ref>This being said, spending {{IL|Favours: Hell}} or bribing her is easy enough.</ref>

==={{IL|Board Member: Tentacled Entrepreneur|Short = yes}}===
The Entrepreneur does not appreciate upgrading the trains. Consider not bringing him in until after the trains have been fully upgraded.<ref>Or if you are using him to pay off Corporate Debt, make voting him off be the first thing you do before upgrading whatever-it-is.</ref>

==={{IL|Board Member: the Gracious Widow|Short = yes}}===
The Widow puts up stiff opposition to upgrading either the train defences or luxuries from the get-go, and it only gets worse.<ref>She's completely fine with adding smuggling space in with the cargo, though, for, um... reasons.</ref> Again, consider not bringing her in until after the trains have been fully upgraded.

==={{IL|Board Member: Furnace Ancona|Short = yes}}===

It's not so much that it is difficult to vote to remove her, or that she's unexpectedly difficult to manage.<ref>Though obviously, if you keep proposing things against Labour interests, she will be a roadblock.</ref> The trouble is that if you succeed in removing her, {{IL|Tracklayers' Displeasure}} will increase by '''+10 CP'''. Displeasure doesn't stop the Tracklayers from laying track, but it does make getting their opinions or changing their leadership significantly harder. So if you're thinking about adding Furnace, make sure you're not going to remove her, at least not anytime soon.

==Large Boards==

Many board members come with unique text for almost every proposal, both when you succeed and when you fail. Often this is a rich source of characterization that you would otherwise not be able to access. If you enjoy getting to know your characters, and are willing to spend a large amount of time locked in a room with all of them every week, you could always just ignore most of this guide and add whoever you like.

If you do so, it is very helpful to have {{IL|Board Member: Furnace Ancona|Short = yes}} and/or {{IL|Board Member: Cornelius|Short = yes}} on your board, along with a store of {{IL|Queen Mate}}s or {{IL|Epaulette Mate}}s, respectively. Each one unlocks an option that allows you to ram a decision through without having to convince everyone separately.

To do so, you must get ''their'' vote first, then [[Play Furnace Ancona against the rest]] (which costs a {{IL|Queen Mate}}) or [[Play Cornelius against the rest]] (which costs an {{IL|Epaulette Mate}}).

If you have both members and need to choose between them, note that - all other things being equal - Queen Mates are slightly more accessible than Epaulette Mates,<ref>specifically, [[An Illustrated Novelist]] allows you to get a Queen Mate by spending Great Game favors</ref> though they also have more uses. Either can be acquired in [[The Chessboard (Guide)|the Chessboard of Parabola]] in 5ish actions if you have high enough {{IL|A Player of Chess}}.

[[Category:Guides]]