I discovered something I don’t think I’d ever seen or thought about before in a recent game of Tournament #3. An island can be placed so close to the corner of the map in such a way that a ship can start the game docked there, but with no room to maneuver to leave that little corner it occupies. Especially with flat earth (hard boundary, not abyss) as the default rule, are there any rules problems with that?
I see it as a potential double edged sword: it could be a way to almost ensure protection for a Ransom/Mycron/Calypso “home island camper” crew, but it could also be to a player’s detriment if they wished to end the game early via sabotage when they know they’re ahead (but can’t derelict their final ship).
In the example pictured, the width of the galley oars and the height of the rocks on the GF9 island would have combined to make it impossible for the Patagonia to leave her little corner (she didn’t actually start the game there). I think there was room on the east side of the island for a 2 mast blockade runner (very narrow beam) to slip through for a ram, but the island also could have been placed in such a way that no ship or cannon shot could make it through. There are also some island shapes that have more of a cove/inlet shape, potentially allowing a larger ship to hide out all game. (an actual “hidden cove”!)
This also has some interesting implications for some ideas I’ve been having lately, about trying to prevent the game from ending, winning by stalemate, etc. Especially in a 2 player game, this combined with a low number of terrain (or an oared ship in the enemy fleet that is hard to suicide) could potentially prevent the “no future move actions” endgame trigger. Combined with game elements such as Isles of Fire that can help prevent the “half or more” trigger and things like Wolves, things could get silly in a hurry. XD (maybe you could hide ships in the cove to help win on Units in Play if a 0-0 gold tie resulted, though it would be hard to pull off) It’s also unlikely to work properly more than once against the same opponent if using the default rule of choosing other players’ home islands.