It's the same sort of "strange monkey business" that has just consumed an
endless time discussing it in 1835: the 1844 equivalent of building BY in a big
circle.

If someone other than the FNM President has two or more shares after the ISR,
the President builds a #5 tile going back to Italy. He then buys 4 x 2h trains,
leaving the forthcoming FNM president with no legal route and no way of
obtaining one short of either (1) buying across with another company, or (2) the
green phase.

Shucks, even in the absence of the dump option, one can take advantage of a
loophole in the rules as written: by buying a 2h-train rather than a 2-train,
you give the private company (P6) another day of life, paying $30 instead of the
$20 you would otherwise get if you built more normally. Of course the company's
price falls an extra square, but hey, that's tomorrow's problem...

----- Original Message -----
From: Chris Shaffer
To: 18xx@yahoogroups.com
Sent: Monday, January 12, 2009 12:27 AM
Subject: Re: [18xx] Re: 1844 - the suboptimal run optional rule


> 2. That the FNM has to buy at least one 2, not 2H, on its first turn
> to stop any strange monkey business. The FNM can buy more trains if
> it wants.

What strange monkey business are you preventing? As best I can tell,
you're just forcing the FNM to spend 20 more on a train. That said, I
can't imagine why the FNM president wouldn't want a 2 train, unless
someone else was foolish enough to buy 2 shares on the first stock
round.

Chris




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