So after much rule butchering after my first play attempt, I went back and re-read the rule book as I usually do to flesh out the things we were doing wrong so that the next play will be correct. I understand that you can upgrade a Fort to a City during the Change of Age phase. I also understand that you can not upgrade a Tower to a City during the Change of Age pahse.

Point one: According to the rules, it does not state that you can't enter your own friendly province that has a Fort and do an Intrigue contest there. Does this mean that it is indeed legal and that you can erect a Tower on top of the Fort effectively creating a City as a result of a successful Intrigue contest??

Point two: If the above is correct, I understand that you may not have a military contest in a province that has a friendly Tower?? Again am I correct?

Point three: What is the benefit to upgrading a Fort to a City during the Change of Age phase? I am clearly missing the benefit to this and am not sure what it is.

Thanks in advance.

Royaldoy said:

#1: I bumped that over to the BGG, should get a quick reply. RAW it seems allowable, but probably FAQ'd/errated soon.

#2: Rules seem clearer on this:

Campaign happens vs neutral province

Siege vs enemy province

Battle vs another army in a neutral province

Don't have the rules with me, but I believe an Intrigue contest can only occur in two cases:

1) In a neutral province in an attempt to make it friendly, and

2) In an enemy province in an attempt to make it neutral.

What you're proposing is an Intrigue contest in a friendly province, and I'm pretty sure that's not allowed.

TK

From page 17 of the rulebook;

"A player can never attempt an intrigue contest in a savage province, a home province, or a province that contains an enemy fort, city, or enemy army."

Is that to mean that they can have an intrigue contest in an enemy province only when the enemy province has a tower only? According to the the above rule that would be correct, correct?

The paragraph below the quote mentioned has a sentence that says, "A player can also start an intrigue contest in an enemy province, to return the province to neutral status."

So I would surmise that only an enemy province with either a Tower or an enemy province with a tower and an emmissary may be challenged with an intrigue contest (neutral provinces also of course)?

I'm still also (after re-reading the rulebook) seeing no explanation for the benefit of upgrading forts to cities???

Tim Kelly said:

While I would agree with you, the rules don't explicitly say you can't have an intrigue contest in a friendly province....sort of.

In the second paragraph under "Purposes of an Intrigue Contest", they don't list it as a viable option, but in the first paragraph they dont say you can't. Very confusing.

Royaldoy said:

P. 12:

"- The player may move one of his emissaries. Then, he may start
one intrigue contest in a neutral or enemy province containing
one of his emissaries."

and

p. 17:

"A player can start an intrigue contest in a neutral province to ally the
province with his kingdom, converting the province to a friendly
province. A player can also start an intrigue contest in an enemy
province, to return the province to neutral status."

Royaldoy said:

Cities grant the benefit of Empire points at the end of the game, and gold at the end of Ages 2 and 3. Forts give points only. In our first game, we upgraded all forts to cities at every opportunity. In our second game, we didn't do this as often, as we had more forts out early, and wanted those "free" armies one may get in lieu of building cities. It's just another decision you need to make. "Do I need the 2 gold more than the 1 army unit?"