My group spent yesterday afternoon playing Merchant of Venus, and had a blast, but we did run in to a few rules questions that we disagreed on or weren't sure, and the rule book didn't seem to address.
The one in biggest contention revolved around one of the Level 3 abilities of the Whynom pilot, which states:
"When another player enters a space with a telegate, they must pay you c10"
It very clearly states on the card that entering a telegate space, they have to pay c10. The way we read that, if you're passing along a path, and your path takes you past a telegate (even if you don't use it) you've 'entered' that space, and owe c10.
The question arises when someone passes THROUGH the telegate. They enter the first telegate space, owing c10. Then they use the telegate to travel elsewhere on the board, entering a SECOND telegate space. Do they owe another c10, essentially making the cost of passing a telegate c10, and using a telegate c20?
Some of us said the card expressly states "enters a space" which they are doing twice. Others feel that the fact that moving from one telegate to another costs zero movement points means they aren't entering the second telegate space. How does the pilot ability actually work?
The second question, was about a mission that required the player "active 2 different ship upgrades on a single turn" which we read as "assigning a die" because everywhere in the rulebook, it says "assigns a die" and does not use the phrase "activate"
If you roll your move, and have, say… Steath AND Variable Lasers. Do you actually have to make USE of the upgrades in order to have them count as activated, or if you simply opt to assign the dice to them, do they count as "activated" for that turn, even if they don't get used, thus completing the mission?
Thanks!