RBP2 Lurker Discussion Thread - No Players!

[Beamup]

If they gift Gao this turn Dantski must go last. This is because Dantski has to accpet the gift in the diplo screen on his "turn". You don't get a liberate city option or the player you want to give it to must answer a prompt. This is seen during the failed Rego plot to take the AP win.

EDIT: In other words once Spulla gives the city; Spulla can not legally move. Dantski MUST accept the city gift on the diplo screen in order to get it on that turn. Once he does that he has moved and Spulla can not make any more moves.

The trouble is, the rules don't quite say that. (Assuming the ruleset in the first post of the IT thread is still current; if not, please ignore this post completely.)

In the phase of the turn belonging to the designated party, the following actions are legal:

Moving any unit,
Promoting any unit,
Upgrading any unit,
Gifting a unit,
Drafting any unit.

This is the only part of the turn that these actions are legal.

One could make a reasonable case that gifting a city is implicitly covered under gifting a unit, or that the spirit of the rule covers it. Or, that there's a list of actions legal anytime in the turn which does not include diplomacy. But the fact remains that there's an explicit list of actions which must take place on one's own phase. And gifting a city, or accepting the gift of a city, is not on it. There's also nothing else I see in the rules that would account for it.

Any attempt at explanation and conciliation which does not very carefully account for this will only make things worse. Which includes Serdoa's draft. If that's the approach taken, Spullla will be most definitely reject it as a retroactive change to the rules. And I can't find it in me (much as I'd like to, given their execrable behavior thus far) to say they'd be wrong.

Given that Speaker/Dantski did break the rule, Speaker was informed about it, and he did nothing, some penalty is appropriate. But the scope of the violation is greatly different based on the letter vs. the spirit of the rule, and that HAS to be addressed.