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Thanks so much for playing, and for taking the time to leave this feedback! You raise a fantastic point—the game's financials and strategic layers are intentionally a bit opaque because I want players to discover the depth, but the mechanics of how things resolve absolutely need to be crystal clear. I completely agree that the rulebook needs a more rigid, "algorithmic" breakdown of the steps. Better end-of-year explanations and updates to the perk store are definitely on the to-do list!

To answer your specific questions and give you a little peek under the hood:

How much green steel do you get at the start of your turn? (I assume you are asking about the Green cards, but just in case you were thinking of the Blue ones, I will break down both!)

• Green Steel: You don't automatically get a new batch every turn. You start the entire run with a ledger of 3 Green units. The main way to get more Green steel is actually a strategic loophole: failing your Blue Contracts. If you don't build all the Blue steel you contracted for in a year, you are forced to pay a cash penalty at the end of the round. However, those unused Blue units are converted and permanently added to your Green ledger for the next year.
• Blue Steel: The amount of Blue steel you get each year depends on the IPO contract you selected at the start of the game. If you ever need to check how much Blue steel you have left to build in a given year, check the bottom right of the UI. You will see two numbers in blue: the right is your total contracted amount, and the left is how many you have consumed so far.

Why would you ever increase the number of green cards? (And the strategy of the decks) It takes more than 50 track segments to cross the whole map, and your IPO contract won't cover it all. If you burn through your Green and Blue cards, the conveyor belt is forced to pull from the Purple (Market) deck.

While Purple cards have incredibly powerful, purely beneficial effects for you, the Purple deck gets absolutely bonkers—the price scales up every 4 cards, and every dollar you pay goes directly to the Baron. There is no way to mitigate these direct cash payments.

This is where the strategic difference between Blue and Purple cards shines. Blue cards have environmental clauses that you can mitigate. For example, the Blue "Maintenance Fee" card pays the Baron $5 for every track segment the building company owns. You can strategically minimize this kickback by intentionally keeping one company's network very small and only using that card when building for them.

The true depth unlocks when you visit a Parlor and upgrade that Blue card to Level 3. At Level 3, the clause inverts: the Bank pays YOU that money as a rebate! Suddenly, that card goes from being a liability to a huge asset, and you'll want to pivot and start playing it on your most expansive, longest railroad network to maximize your own payout.

Green steel bypasses all of this. It is your shield. It costs $0 to pull, and triggers purely positive effects for you. Adding more Green cards to your deck via the Parlor dilutes your deck with positive bonuses and prevents the belt from forcing you into those expensive, unmitigable Purple cards.

Developer Strat Hint: Try staying under the $300 Net Worth limit early on. Cycle your Green cards, then just end the year. You'll eat the penalty for the unbuilt Blue cards, but they become Green cards for round 2. By doing this, you starve the Baron of the terrain kickbacks he normally gets from Blue cards, and if you hit a Parlor to upgrade your Green cards, you can set yourself up for a massive early game push.

What is the exact order of operations when laying track? Here is the algorithmic breakdown of a track build:

1. The Invoice: The game calculates the distance and terrain. The Company Treasury pays the Bank for Labor, Terrain Variance, and Mountain/Rust taxes.
2. The Payout: The Company buys the steel from YOU. The game deposits $10 per track unit directly into your Personal Cash.
3. The Sourcing: The game consumes the required number of cards from your Conveyor Belt. You must pay the sourcing cost for these specific cards out of your Personal Cash ($0 for Green, Contract Price for Blue, escalating Market Price for Purple).
4. The Triggers: All card effects fire (Green bonuses pay you, Blue terrain clauses pay the Baron, Purple market effects trigger, etc.).
5. The Finalization: The destination node is claimed, node-specific bonuses (like Federal Grants) trigger, and the conveyor belt refills.

Thanks again for the kind words and the critique! Let me know if you manage to beat the Baron!