Re: [Rails-devel] Problem with 1835 PfB

[<Dr....@t-...>]

Hi Erik, 

	in the approach that the owner of the Pfalzbahnen might use the power
and place a tile on L6 AND place his token and the BAD has not started
yet, the game is handling this wrong as it disallows all actions. 

	Sure most of the time if the first 3 train is bought (thus green
tiles make L6 available) BAD is operational, but it acts after 2 major
companies. 

	And those companies should be able to lay a token if they wish for
their company, cause they might want to got to Elsass Lothringen at
least once :).  This is prohibited by the current mechanic. 

	What should solve the problem would be a Correction Mode for Tokens ?
(or a routine to alter a laid token by special or rightfull power i.e.
the intervening BAd Director Token Turn/Move). 

	Regards, 

	Martin  

	  Von: "Erik Vos" <eri...@xs...>
 An: <Dr....@t-...>, "'Development list for Rails: an
18xx game'" <rai...@li...>
 Betreff: Re: [Rails-devel] Problem with 1835 PfB
 Datum: Tue, 21 Feb 2012 14:33:15 +0100

 Martin,

 > 1. the Map Definition of the Hex is wrong...

 I suppose you refer to 'unlaidHomeBlocksTokens="yes" '.  That indeed
causes the behaviour that Volker is complaining about.
 Strictly spoken this attribute is still valid: BA must lay its home
token before BY can add its token.  
 The question is: exactly WHEN must BA lay its home token in such a
case?

 The rules (English v2) say: "... the new Baden director decides in
the next operating round which of the two stations to occupy with its
station marker."
 But the rules don't say *when* in that OR he must take that decision.

 Possibilities I see: (1) at the start of the OR, or (2) in its own
turn, or (3) in its own turn or earlier as soon as another company
wants to lay a second token on L6 (either using PfB, or by a normal
token lay).

 Current implementation is (2), as is correct for Erie(1830) and THB
(1856). There the hex remains blocked until after the home token has
been laid normally.  
 If this interpretation would hold for the BA as well, there is no
problem at all. BY must wait until BA has had a turn.

 Now Volker appears to favour interpretation (3).  I'm actually not
sure if that interpretation is correct.  Any other opinions?

 I have been working to implement (3) by actually giving the BA
director an intervening turn, but that turns out to be rather complex
and tricky, and I think I'll abandon that approach.
 We need a generic solution for such problems, but such a solution
will not fit well into the current architecture. Let's await which
direction Rails will take in the near future before trying again.

 A simpler approach would be to have the current player (the BY
president) place the BA token. So these players (if different) must
consult each other, but that is not uncommon in Dropbox Rails. That
approach sounds doable now, but let's first discuss what the real need
is.

 > 2. the method to move a token on a hex after that token has been
laid is not yet implemented i am afraid.

 I'm not sure what you mean here.  Tokens can never be moved.  
 In some cases, initial token placement is provisional.  That is the
case if the tile hasn't any tracks yet.  As soon as a tile with tracks
is placed, actual token placement follows.
 That has been implemented and it works (at least it did last time I
looked). 

 > 3. if you alter the map definition for that hex in 1835/Map.xml the
game declares the save file invalid because it expects a different
action...

 Then game loading breaks down in an earlier stage.  I'm not sure
exactly why, but meddling with the course of events often (if not
always) renders saved files invalid.

 Erik.

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