Quote:
Originally Posted by Waz
I briefly thought of this too but then I read the following in the game manual:
ROTORS only start if GEARS are installed in ROTOR order: 1, 2, 3, and then 4. The order of GEAR placement within a ROTOR set is not important. To start ROTOR 1, the PILOT places the GEAR in the GEAR slot at the top of the STEAM TANK, opposite the stack light for ROTOR 1.
Steve
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I've been having this argument since day 1, and I can't resolve it because I don't have a Q&A account this year. There's no penalty listed for placing gears out of order, even out of Rotor order. It just says rotors only start in rotor order. There's 2 ways this could be programmed:
1. Rotor X+1 won't start and won't accumulate rotations until Rotor X is started.
2. Rotor X+1 will NEVER start or accumulate rotations if it EVER sees a rotation before Rotor X starts.
#1 is straightforward programming in any language you care to use.
#2 is a literal interpretation of your quoted text, but requires more complicated programming to implement. You have to intentionally latch a fault condition and intend to lock out all further rotor scoring if there's an out of order rotation. Silently, apparently, since there's no mention of any warning displayed for teams or pilots if they shoot themselves in the foot like this.
So, obviously, I think it's incredibly unlikely that the system works as in #2. I think the rotor scoring logic is just inartfully stated in the manual, which is a thing that happens every year. But I can't FIX this because I can't post a Q to determine exactly what the GDC means. It'd be simple:
"Can you place gears out of rotor order? Eg. place 2 gears in Rotor 2, then place gear in Rotor 1, then turn gears in Rotor 2. Does this result in 2 started Rotors?"