Beating around the bush
I don’t like the Medieval Merchant-style production. It is too rich and lacks trade-offs for when to increase presence (explore) versus when to get resources.
New rules. Mostly cleanup and clarifications suggested by Matt Worden, but also a few changes:
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Shell routes cost more to explore. If shells are more valuable than fish they should be harder to get
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Bids on routes must start out matching the route type but can be later mixed fish and shells
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Kula Gifts track renamed to Kitoum Track. The name is of course inaccurate as Kitoum may be transferred in Real Life
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Kitoum received for deliveries to markets of size 5
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Game ending clarified for the deadlock case
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Island scoring changed to Kardinal und Konig-style area majority
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Tie breakers for end-game scoring changed to shells then kitoum.
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Added third place scoring
I may still retreat to the simpler 5/3/1 scoring for islands. The only real difference is that ties and majorities are more interesting with the current rules.