Re: [Rails-devel] Bug in 1856

[Erik V. <eri...@xs...>]

In the context of stock rounds, I have always interpreted 'share' as to mean
a certain percentage of ownership (usually 10%), not a physical share.

The Rails implementation of this rule intends to follow that view: a player
may, at the end of a turn, not own less shares than he has bought in that
turn.
It seems to me that this corresponds to Steve's interpretation (because you
can only buy one share in a turn, you must retain at least one share if you
bought one).

Now the rules talk about 'certificates', which are physical shares, and I
suppose that's where a contradiction is seen. But if the designer has
(implicitly or explicitly) made clear that he actually meant 'shares', I see
no problem in following that clarification, which to me correctly catches
the spirit, if not the letter, of the rule as written.

Whether or not Rails had *correctly* implemented this all, is another
matter.  Certainly the source of a bought share (IPO or Pool) should not
matter, but it currently does, and that is what I need to sort out first.

Erik.

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Bill Rosgen [mailto:ro...@gm...]
> Sent: Tuesday, October 04, 2011 6:50 AM
> To: Development list for Rails: an 18xx game
> Subject: Re: [Rails-devel] Bug in 1856
> 
> Erik,
> 
> As you may already have discovered, the problem is an interaction with the
> code that checks if a share fits into the pool and the code that checks if
we
> can sell a just bought share.  In this case both of these checks are
reducing
> the number of shares we can sell, i.e. the code is double counting in this
> case.  The easy fix is to add the check that 'number ==
shareCountPerUnit[i]'
> on line 442.
> 
> The problem is that this introduces another problem.  With this check
added
> a player who owns only the presidency of a company may buy and then
> immediately sell a 10% certificate, which is currently forbidden by Rails.
A
> reading of the rulebook supports the way that Rails currently handles
things:
> 
> "A certificate cannot be sold during the stock turn it was purchased."
> 
> Steve Thomas's list of 1856 clarifications (at
> http://www.18xx.net/1856/1856f.htm) contradicts this, saying that:
> 
> {p12} A player may sell stock in a Corporation bought earlier in the same
turn
> of a stock round but must retain at least one share in the Corporation
just
> bought. If necessary the same certificate may be bought then sold
> immediately. For example, a player owning just the President's certificate
of
> a Corporation may buy and then sell a share of that Corporation. [This
ruling
> directly contradicts the statement on p12, but accurately reflects the
> intentions of Bill Dixon.]
> 
> This clarification agrees with the simple fix suggested above, but it
disagrees
> with the rules.  The more complicated fix that agrees with the rules as
> written is to check if either 'number == shareCountPerUnit[i]' or in the
case
> that the current player is the president and the company is *not* dumpable
> that 'number == shareCountPerUnit[i] - 2'.  It may also be simpler just to
> check if the space in the pool has reduced maxShareToSell and not
> decrement the number of shares available for sale if this is the case.
> 
> I'd have included a patch, but it's not clear to me what the best solution
is.  If
> the implementation follows Steve Thomas's clarification list, then the fix
is
> relatively simple and I am happy with it, but this would be a change in
how
> Rails behaves.  If Rails is to follow the rulebook as written, then I'm
not really
> happy with the fix listed above as it requires testing for things like
> dumpability well outside of where the code for that currently resides.
> 
> Bill
> 
> 
> On 2011-10-04, at 0:44 , Erik Vos wrote:
> 
> > This only seems to occur if the second buy is from the IPO, not if from
the
> Pool.  Strange.
> > I'll investigate. There might be a connection with the
don't-sell-a-just-
> bought certificate rule.
> >
> > Erik.
> >
> >> -----Original Message-----
> >> From: ar...@gl... [mailto:ar...@gl...]
> >> Sent: Monday, October 03, 2011 8:25 AM
> >> To: rai...@li...
> >> Subject: [Rails-devel] Bug in 1856
> >>
> >>
> >> There is a bug in 1856.
> >>
> >> I own 10% of CPR and buys another 10%. Then I want to sell my
> >> previously owned share, but I can't. Save file attached. I run Rails
1.5.
> >>
> >> /Arne Östlund
> >
> >
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> 
>
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