Coordination is very important for cooperative gameplay since the goals and implementation tactics are meant to be shared amongst all participants. Planing stage of game is to lay a good foundation for prolonged and interesting game play, where the final result is achieved by combined activity of all players. Planing does take some skill and experience, and should be taken a serious task and with responsibility for future development. It should provide detailed description of what and how is to be achieved.

Studying the map

There is no basic "best strategy" for all situations. All games are very circumstantial, environment-dependent, and have different focuses. Even for targeted games, when a particular scenario or game preconditions are used, it still remains very open ended and similar result can be achieved by many ways. Thus it is very important to explore the map and foresee future development and implementation, ensuring that it is possible to achieve certain goals (and set these goals). Some layouts are only applicable to certain cases and various types of networks deal with landscape in different fashions. It is very important to keep in mind that it is not that landscape is to be altered to fit the idea of the plan but vice versa, the plan must adhere to circumstances.

Main elements

All plans have certain main elements which predefine the plan's foundation, these are:

Game type 

Global Category:Gametypes (ie: raw cargo, TGV global pax game, ICE/S-bahn, etc.)

Goals/focus 

Narrowing down the type to a particular points (ie: flow'/capacity', speed, second tier saturation, connecting something, etc.)

Network type 

Basic rules, describing type of lines used (perhaps: plain, segregated, distributed, shifting ) and track width, along with details (such as: prioritized 2nd tier', none blocking mergers only, expandable to ... etc)

Network layout 

That controls shape of lines and defined by major stations' requirements. Should be done in some illustrated form or shape, providing enough details to show key points of particular layout.

Perks 

anything what is out of ordinary and not generally applicable to described conditions (ie: steam only, no terraforming, avoid coal, save all trees)

Sharing ideas

It is possible, that there are already plans being discussed or some are made, in which case it would make sense to comprehend them and understand key elements and differences. Presenting many plans with differences only in directions of tracks or train length used is quite pointless. It would be better to discuss with the author possible changes and make corrections to existing plan if they are considered as useful after coming to consensus. Plans as well as the game itself can be result of collaboration and shaping the ideas based on experience of different players, however insisting on changes instead of suggesting them is definitely going too far.

Planing

Usually, there is a remote spot on the map somewhere with sign "  !!NETWORK PLANS" next to it. This is designated are for laying out proposed plans. In case if there is no area marked in this way - feel free to create one, but bear in mind that plans are meant to last the whole game and selecting densely populated areas makes very little sense; typically, remote areas such as corners and edges of map, with more or less even landscape are bests spots.

When creating a plan - allocate yourself enough space and try not to interfere with other people's work, make sure to state as much details as possible to make the plan clear for others (separation between primary/secondary, type of network and width, train lengths etc). Major elements design can also be noted in case if it is not clear from visual layout. Make sure the plan is comprehensive and covers all/most game aspect. Don't forget to title and sign it, as well as to add it to voting board if one is there already.

After the core of your plan is done - listen for critique and constructive comments, be patient for more plans to appear and voting to be finished. It is quite common for planing phase to take long time simply because of different people schedules and other limitations.

Understanding Complexity

As an author of a plan you are responsible for covering many aspects in design and location of key elements (be it a hub station or location of a drop). A good plan should present an opportunity for many players to have their input useful for achieving the goal, not be overly complex or simply impossible, have various challenges for variety of skill levels and withstand the test of time. In many cases planned expandability saves the day by turning tedious upgrades into a set of doable tasks with little to no interference to the existing network.

Implementation

In case if you plan is chosen (and that is bound to happen sometime), as author, you are entitled to providing as much help as possible to execute the plan. The creator of the selected plan takes a guiding role of chief engineer, answering questions and being a resourceful source of wisdom when unforeseen challenges arise.

It greatly helps for proper implementation to have predefined locations for major nodes of the network as well as other important elements. Selecting placement for these, by putting signs in desired places, essentially charts the map to meet plan's requirements. Being the author does not mean that it is totasly up to you to completely do all the network, but playing a key role in creation process is expected. At same time let other to help you to "get there" it will be faster and more entertaining as joint effort of many.

Modification and corrections

As time goes, it is quite possible that a need for reform or alteration is required due to change in environment, implementation limitations or unforeseen roadblocks. In case if such are observed - it is imperative to quickly react and modify the plan to satisfy new needs. Aside of being proactive and trying to ensure the future of game, author should also try to be reactive to ongoing development. Other players can provide valuable input which can ease extreme challenges and help avoid known pitfalls. Sometimes there are several approaches that can be taken and it is up to author to consider alternatives and make wise choices and introduce corrections to the plan.

Examples