Matt Shields
United States
Portland
Oregon
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I may be being a bit too much of a rules lawyer here, but I've read the rules a couple times, and it does not seem clear to me whether or not you are permitted to do this.
Obviously in other crayon train games you can rent other players' ferries. This is not confusing, and the rules address it clearly enough. However, the Taiwan Container Links are not "ferries" - they have totally separate rules, and they do not seem to discuss if they can be rented.
I can certainly rent another player's track up to the ferry port. The question is, once I've moved there and ended my turn, what can I do now?
1) May I pick up or deliver a load from Taiwan using this link owned by another player?
The rules seem, to me, to be very unclear about this. It simply says "A player who wishes to deliver to Taiwan, or pick up a load from there to deliver on the mainland, will need to use Container Movement." It doesn't say that I have to have built to the port, and so long as someone else has built there, it seems that I can follow the Container Movement rules without a problem.
Assuming that the answer to #1 is "Yes", then:
2) Do I have to pay the $4 per turn rental fee to use your container link?
Obviously I do have to pay you the $4 if I rent your track to the port. And again, I obviously have to pay $4 to leave on your track. But if all I do during a turn is sit there and deliver a container load, but do not move the train, do you have to pay $4 for that? The obvious answer is "Yes" because I'm "using" your stuff. That seems fair, but the rules refer to having to pay a rental fee if you "run your train" on someone's track. This is particularly key with the link in Hong Kong, because if I didn't have to pay to use the link, why wouldn't I just build track to Hong Kong, not pay the $8 for the link, and just use your link for free. Right. Obviously that would not work.
Anyway, any insight is appreciated.
- Twitch
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Michelle Peterson
United States
Chicago
Illinois
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I don't know about whether or not renting the container link is ok, but since you have to build Taiwan to win the game (the victory conditions state that you must have 4 major cities + Taiwan) why would you want to rent (I am sure you would have to pay as it is an action which I feel would substitute for actual "running of your train") when you could build it for the same amount of money?
Michelle
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Chris Shaffer
United States
Portland
Oregon
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Two of the containers cost $8. Renting track costs $4. Sometimes, you don't have the extra $4 to build the container.
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Kendall Johns
United Kingdom
LONDON
Unspecified
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Sometimes you might wish to, or already be connected, to another port, and wish to use anothers because it's nearer.
Although I can see the argument for the other way - i.e. the container ports do not, as such, belong to a Player - we usually pay the owner for delivery.
Perhaps you should E-Mail Mayfair for a definite ruling.
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Thomas Vilfroy
United States
Greeley
Colorado
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Sadly I've email Mayfair this and other questions since the end of 2007 (sending them 3 emails) and have yet to hear a peep back from them.
I think their "rules guru" email address is no longer working.
Thomas
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john morrison
New Zealand
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Given that Taiwan is not in fact part of the People's Republic of China, and that until this year there had been NO direct air or sea links between them for nearly 65 years, you could probably leave out this section of the game entirely :-).
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