Which Age of Steam Map Is Hardest? Numbers from 246 Games
August 29, 2026
Same rules, different board, different game. Here is every map with enough completed games on this site, aggregated. AI opposition settings are identical across maps.
The table
| Map | Completed | Human win rate | Avg human VP | Avg turns |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rust Belt | 167 | 84% | 84.3 | 7.5 |
| Scotland | 25 | 92% | 67.1 | 6.1 |
| Switzerland | 11 | 100% | 107.7 | 8 |
| Great Lakes North | 10 | 100% | 106.1 | 7.8 |
| Osaka | 6 | 100% | 102 | 7 |
Only maps with 5+ completed games are listed. Ireland, Korea, and Scandinavia shipped on 2026-08-20 and do not have enough games yet. Win rate = share of completed games the human finished first.
How to read it
A lower win rate does not automatically mean a harder map. Only completed games are counted, so a map that provokes more abandonment may look easier than it is. Still, some patterns are solid:
- Rust Belt is the baseline. 167 games, no special rules, closest to the original board. Its 84% is the realistic reference point against this site's AI.
- Scotland is a different kind of game. Two players only, 6.1 turns, 67.1 VP on average. The narrow board forces early link contention and low-scoring finishes. Good for a short session.
- Switzerland and Great Lakes North are high-scoring maps. Both average above 100 VP — long delivery corridors reward a well-built income engine. Their 100% win rates rest on ~10 games each; indicative, not settled.
How long does a game take?
Median completed game time is 17 minutes (246 games). The engine does the bookkeeping, so a full game fits in a lunch break.
All figures in this article are measured from completed games on this site (246 completed games through August 2026, operator accounts excluded). They describe play on this implementation, not tournament play with the physical game.
More strategy articles
- Age of Steam Strategy Guide: the Fundamentals, Then Your First Turn
- How Many Shares Should You Issue in Age of Steam?
- Which Age of Steam Map Should You Play First?
- Survive Turn One and You Will Probably Finish
- Age of Steam, Steam, Railways of the World: One Game, Three Lineages
- Ireland: The Map Where the Cubes Emigrate
- Making the Bupyeong Underground Map: From a Guestbook Post to a Board in 42 Hours
- How We Trained the AI Opponents, and the Three Times It Went Wrong
- Rust Belt: Why the Default Map Is a Place That Had Not Rusted Yet
- Korea: The Map Where Cities Have No Colour and the Cheapest Link Is the First Railway
