In other words, wouldn’t a round in a three player game be far more likely to end due to the first limit (2p > 5 months), whereas in a five player game, the round would more likely end due to the second limit (2 exhausted actions)?

I played around with the numbers and if I calculated it correctly, in a 3 player game, it seems there would be at least 7 actions and at most 11 actions per round, and in a 5 player game there would be at least 11 actions and at most 14 actions per round.

That’s a fairly substantial difference. I wonder what effect that will have on the game.

1. Two players have used more than 5 months
2. Two actions are exhausted

The balance between those two conditions maintains an action limit balance across player counts. That said the three player game is quite a bit different to the four or five player game. I’ve not tried six players yet and the theory is weak there. There are strong disadvantages to being late in the turn order and it is possible that those penalties are simply too large in large player count games. Seven players is clearly too many, the penalties are too large, but six is either right on the edge or just over it. It is hard to say.