Placing station markers in Private Company home cities

[Ralf Menzel]

Hello,

I've got another question. Section 9.4 PLACE STATION MARKER of the
rules says:

> A Public Company may place one of its Station Markers each Operating Round on a vacant large city space
> which is part of a route of the Public Company. Prior to Phase 5, one space on each Private Company’s home
> hex is reserved to that Private Company and any Public Company must leave a space free if that Private
> Company has not yet closed.

How is a city like Cordoba handled that is a home hex of two Private
Companies.
Let's assume both Private Companies C&S and C&M are still open and
there is
tile #14 (green double space X city) lying on Cordoba. Can a Public
Company place a Station Marker
in Cordoba if one space is left open or are both spaces reserved, one
for each Public Company?

And another question: Is the space reserved, even if the Private
Company is owned by the Public Company
that wants to place the Station Marker?

Bye,
Ralf

[Ian D Wilson]

--- On Tue, 1/2/11, Ralf Menzel <men...@ls6.cs.uni-dortmund.de> wrote:

>I've got another question. Section 9.4 PLACE STATION MARKER of the >rules says: >"A Public Company may place one of its Station Markers each Operating Round >on a vacant large city space >which is part of a route of the Public Company. Prior to Phase 5, one space on >each Private Company’s home > hex is reserved to that Private Company and any Public Company must leave a >space free if that Private Company has not yet closed." >How is a city like Cordoba handled that is a home hex of two Private >Companies. >Let's assume both Private Companies C&S and C&M are still open and >there is >tile #14 (green double space X city) lying on Cordoba. Can a Public >Company place a Station Marker >in Cordoba if one space is left open or are both spaces reserved, one

>for each Private Company? The rules are silent on this issue. It's unlikely to ever be relevant, but the rules should be clear just in case. I think they should be both reserved.

>And another question: Is the space reserved, even if the Private >Company is owned by the Public Company >that wants to place the Station Marker?

Yes. The Public Co gets the chance to place a marker when forming or exchanging for the Private.

[Ralf Menzel]

Hello,

Just a small rule comment here: The rules for exchanging a Private
Company for a treasury share contain the following:

"The Public Company may place a Station Marker in a home hex of the
Private, free of charge, according to the normal rules."

Taken literally the phrase "according to the normal rules" implies
that I can't place a Station Marker unless there is one
space left open for any/each open Private in the hex. I propose the
reword this phrase to something like

"If the Public Company has a route to a vacant large city space in a
home hex of the Private, it may place a Station Marker there, free of
charge."

Bye,
Ralf

[Dave4B]

On Feb 2, 1:45 pm, Ralf Menzel <men...@ls6.cs.uni-dortmund.de> wrote:
> Just a small rule comment here: The rules for exchanging a Private
> Company for a treasury share contain the following:
>
> "The Public Company may place a Station Marker in a home hex of the
> Private, free of charge, according to the normal rules."
>
> Taken literally the phrase "according to the normal rules" implies
> that I can't place a Station Marker unless there is one
> space left open for any/each open Private in the hex. I propose the
> reword this phrase to something like
>
> "If the Public Company has a route to a vacant large city space in a
> home hex of the Private, it may place a Station Marker there, free of
> charge."
>

I'm not sure that a route is required.
For example: if a company started in Lisbon with the L&C has track
linking into Caceres and the director then exchanges the C&MP for a
share, could the company place a Station Marker in Madrid (west), even
if there was no connecting track?

[Ralf Menzel]

Hello,

Oh, I don't know. I was just trying to understand what the phrase
"according
to the normal rules" was supposed to mean. I think the "normal rules"
for
placing station marker are those in Section 9.4. These essentially
place three
restrictions on placing a station marker:
1. The Public Company must have a route (to a vacant large city
space).
2. Private Company have one space reserved for them in their home
hexes.
3. No more than Station Marker of any Public Company may be in any
hex.

My understanding was that exchanging a Private Company for a share
overrides the second point above. (I erroneously omit the third
point.)
You suggest that the first might also be overridden. In that the case
a correct
wording of this rule might simply be something like:

"The Public Company may place a Station Marker in a home hex of the

Private, free of charge, if there isn't already one its Station
Markers in the hex."

This doesn't address that in your example above it can only choose the
western
space for is Station Marker. But that a shortcoming of the original
wording, too.

Bye,
Ralf

[Ian D Wilson]

You are essentially both correct. "Not according to the normal rules" might have been more accurate. The only criteria are: 1. You must have a spare marker 2. You must not already have a marker in that hex 3. There must be a space on the tile (an unbuilt hex is not allowed - I'm thinking of disallowing a start in such a hex also, in order to be consistent).   You don't need to be connected to the city space (just to a home hex of the private) - the intervening hex(es) might be unbuilt or the wrong gauge. The rationale is that you are upgrading the private's facilities rather than having to establish a new set.   Ian D