v0.6.2 — an Extra starts where you put it, a train card is never discarded

Three more from the v0.4.9e gameplay-testing round, filed as Gitea issues, plus two bugs found
underneath them. Gitea#2 is diagnosed but NOT fixed: it needs a ruling, and the reasoning is in
TODO.md under Play Balance.

GITEA#4 — AN EXTRA STARTS WHERE THE PLAYER PUTS IT. Only one Division Point was ever offered,
chosen by number parity. The number no longer decides an Extra's direction — the start does, which
supersedes the recorded ruling that "the number decides, like everything else on the timetable".
The two cannot both hold: an odd, westbound Extra placed at the WEST end would leave the Division
on its first move having crossed nothing, and be paid for the run. Either end now runs the train
away from itself; at an Interchange or a Control Point the player picks the direction. The
Interchange start is a YARD, off the running line, which is what makes the Superintendent clause
work: placing it can never force a collision, a guaranteed one holds it there for another Stage,
and a potential one is the Superintendent's to rule on — exactly evaluateClearance's `blocked` and
`ask`, so nothing new decides collisions. Where an Extra may start is now a house rule
(divisionPointsOnly / ownOffice / anyOffice, defaulting to what the engine already did). The
legacy `atSeat` intent field still replays as it always meant.

FOUND UNDERNEATH IT: an Extra started away from a Division Point ran empty. isBeingMadeUp tested
position alone, so the Control Point start has been shipping since it was added with a train that
could never be given a consist. Found by playing it, not by the tests, which had only asserted
where the tray landed.

FOUND UNDERNEATH IT: collide left the wrecks on the card. Destroyed trains kept their Transit
entries, and evaluateClearance counts every transit as an occupant, so one rear-end collision
permanently poisoned that Mainline card for every later train.

THE MAINLINE CARDS WERE ROLLED, NOT DEALT — drawn from the nine types with replacement, so a
Division could hold two Interchanges and Plains carried the weight of a card printed once. "An
Extra may start at the Interchange if one is on the board" only reads as a rule if the board holds
at most one. Now dealt from the printed deck without replacement, verified over 1600 deals. This
re-deals every seed: the published replays were re-recorded, and the saved games in docs/ are
retired too — two of those were already dead before this release and nobody had noticed.

GITEA#6 — A TRAIN CARD IS NEVER DISCARDED, Timetabled and Extra alike. The forced play needed no
mechanism: nothing discardable plus a hand over the limit leaves exactly one legal way to end the
turn, and playing a train is unconditionally legal, so the corner cannot trap anyone. The bot
needed no rule either. 400/400 games finished, revenue unmoved, trains scheduled 1.2 -> 1.3. The
player is told on the card and on the button.

GITEA#7 — COACH COUNTS. 1/2 Crack Limited 3 -> 2, 5/6 The Sparrow 2 -> 3. A change to the cards,
so Trains3.pdf and the transcription keep the original numbers with a footnote while content.ts
and the Home Deck reference carry what the game plays.

CONTENT.TS COMMENT PASS — no data changed, only comments. Four were factually wrong, including an
office table naming counts doubled long ago and a pointer to a DEALT_DECK_SIZE that has never
existed. Every Enhancement row cited its implementation by line number and every citation had
rotted; they name functions now. Card counts came out of the comments, since they move with play
balance; source-sheet figures and dated measurements stayed.

TODO.md gains an item for a card reference generated from content.ts, in six sections, so the
documentation cannot disagree with the game.

715 tests pass, tsc clean, site builds.

src/web/main.ts

@@ -17,11 +17,12 @@ import {
   DEFAULT_MAX_COLLISIONS_PER_DAY,
   DEFAULT_MAX_COLLISIONS_TOTAL,
   MOVES_PER_LOCAL_OPS,
+  EXTRA_START_LABELS,
   STARTING_HAND_LABELS,
   collectiveRevenueFloor,
   houseRules,
 } from '../engine/content.ts';
-import type { HouseRuleOverrides, HouseRules, RevenueRules, StartingHand } from '../engine/content.ts';
+import type { ExtraStartRule, HouseRuleOverrides, HouseRules, RevenueRules, StartingHand } from '../engine/content.ts';
 import type { NewGameOptions } from './game.ts';
 import type { LocalSession, Session } from './session.ts';
 import { createLocalSession, createRemoteSession } from './session.ts';
@@ -274,6 +275,8 @@ function gameOptionsFromUrl(params: URLSearchParams): NewGameOptions {
   const rules: HouseRuleOverrides = {};
   const hand = params.get('hand');
   if (STARTING_HAND_LABELS.some((o) => o.value === hand)) rules.startingHand = hand as StartingHand;
+  const extra = params.get('extra');
+  if (EXTRA_START_LABELS.some((o) => o.value === extra)) rules.extraStart = extra as ExtraStartRule;
 
   const revenue: Partial<RevenueRules> = {};
   for (const [param, key] of Object.entries(RULE_PARAMS)) {
@@ -300,6 +303,9 @@ function rulesToUrl(rules: HouseRules, options: NewGameOptions, seed: string): s
   const params = new URLSearchParams();
   if (seed !== '') params.set('seed', seed);
   params.set('hand', rules.startingHand);
+  // The dialog answers reach `start()` through the URL and nowhere else, so a setting missing from
+  // here is a setting the dialog silently discards.
+  params.set('extra', rules.extraStart);
   for (const [param, key] of Object.entries(RULE_PARAMS)) params.set(param, String(rules.revenue[key]));
   for (const [param, key] of Object.entries(VICTORY_PARAMS)) {
     const value = options[key];
@@ -1221,9 +1227,29 @@ function renderActions(
   ) {
     // The hand being counted is the ACTOR's — they are the one who cannot end the turn.
     const hand = f.handCount;
+    /**
+     * WHEN NOTHING IN HAND MAY BE DISCARDED, SAY SO AND SAY WHAT TO DO INSTEAD.
+     *
+     * §6.2 as ruled by Jesse (Gitea#6): a train card is never discarded, so a player holding four
+     * trains has exactly one way forward — play one onto the timetable. The rule creates that corner
+     * deliberately and needs no machinery, but it must not be a corner the player has to infer from
+     * a discard button that has quietly stopped appearing.
+     */
+    const stuck = f.handDiscardable.length > 0 && f.handDiscardable.every((d) => !d);
+    const tip = stuck
+      ? '§6.2 — you may not end a turn holding more than three cards, and a TRAIN CARD IS NEVER ' +
+        'DISCARDED. Every card you hold is a train, so the only way on is to play one onto the ' +
+        'timetable. A train may be held for as many Stages and Days as you like; it just cannot be ' +
+        'thrown away.'
+      : '§6.2 — you may not end a turn holding more than three cards (four with a Red Flag). Play ' +
+        'one onto the board, or discard one face-up to a Department slot. A train card is never ' +
+        'discardable and can only be played.';
     html +=
-      `<div class="grp"><button class="act blocked" disabled data-tip="§6.2 — you may not end a turn holding more than three cards (four with a Red Flag). Play one onto the board, or discard one face-up to a Department slot.">` +
-      `End Local Operations — play or discard down to three first (holding ${hand})</button></div>`;
+      `<div class="grp"><button class="act blocked" disabled data-tip="${tip.replace(/"/g, '&quot;')}">` +
+      (stuck
+        ? `End Local Operations — play a train card first, they cannot be discarded (holding ${hand})`
+        : `End Local Operations — play or discard down to three first (holding ${hand})`) +
+      `</button></div>`;
   }
 
   el.innerHTML = html;
@@ -1403,6 +1429,9 @@ if (newBtn && dlg) {
     for (const input of dlg.querySelectorAll<HTMLInputElement>('input[name="ng-hand"]')) {
       input.checked = input.value === current.startingHand;
     }
+    for (const input of dlg.querySelectorAll<HTMLInputElement>('input[name="ng-extra"]')) {
+      input.checked = input.value === current.extraStart;
+    }
     field<HTMLInputElement>('ng-passenger').value = String(current.revenue.passengerPerCoach);
     field<HTMLInputElement>('ng-freight').value = String(current.revenue.freightPerLoad);
     field<HTMLInputElement>('ng-transit').value = String(current.revenue.trainPerTransit);
@@ -1431,9 +1460,11 @@ if (newBtn && dlg) {
     // both mean "surprise me", which is what leaving the box alone plainly asks for.
     const seed = asked === '' || !Number.isFinite(Number(asked)) ? '' : String(Math.trunc(Number(asked)));
     const picked = dlg.querySelector<HTMLInputElement>('input[name="ng-hand"]:checked')?.value;
+    const extra = dlg.querySelector<HTMLInputElement>('input[name="ng-extra"]:checked')?.value;
     const rules = houseRules({
       houseRules: {
         ...(STARTING_HAND_LABELS.some((o) => o.value === picked) ? { startingHand: picked as StartingHand } : {}),
+        ...(EXTRA_START_LABELS.some((o) => o.value === extra) ? { extraStart: extra as ExtraStartRule } : {}),
         revenue: {
           passengerPerCoach: Number(field<HTMLInputElement>('ng-passenger').value),
           freightPerLoad: Number(field<HTMLInputElement>('ng-freight').value),

src/web/panels.ts

@@ -31,8 +31,18 @@ export function cardRow(name: string, why: string, playable: boolean | null): st
 }
 
 export function handHtml(f: Frame, canPlay: (boolean | null)[] = []): string {
+  // §6.2 (Gitea#6) — say so on the card itself. A player who cannot discard a train needs to read
+  // that on the train, not deduce it from a button that is not there.
+  const held = 'You may hold this for as many Stages and Days as you like — but a train card is ' +
+    'never discarded (§6.2). The only way it leaves your hand is onto the timetable.';
   return f.hand.length
-    ? f.hand.map((h, i) => cardRow(h, f.handWhat[i] ?? '', canPlay[i] ?? null)).join('')
+    ? f.hand
+        .map((h, i) => {
+          const what = f.handWhat[i] ?? '';
+          const keep = f.handDiscardable[i] === false;
+          return cardRow(h, keep ? [what, held].filter(Boolean).join(' · ') : what, canPlay[i] ?? null);
+        })
+        .join('')
     : '<span class="dim">empty</span>';
 }
 

src/web/play.html

@@ -493,6 +493,15 @@ ul.blocked li{padding:2px 0}
     <label class="ng-radio"><input type="radio" name="ng-hand" value="threeTrackThreeOther">
       <span><b>Three random track and three random non-track cards</b><br><span class="dim">Dealt from two piles, so the district you can build is dealt rather than waited for.</span></span></label>
 
+    <h3>Where an Extra may start</h3>
+    <p class="ng-note">The player who plays an Extra Train card chooses where its Crew Tray goes, and the place decides which way it runs — a Division Point sends it away from itself; in the middle of the railroad the player picks east or west. The Division Points and the Interchange belong to nobody and are always available. Starting one inside a district is the part that favours a seat, so it is set here. An Office must be a Control Point whatever this says: a Whistle Post never qualifies.</p>
+    <label class="ng-radio"><input type="radio" name="ng-extra" value="divisionPointsOnly">
+      <span><b>Division Points and the Interchange only</b><br><span class="dim">The strictest reading of §7. Every Extra begins on shared ground.</span></span></label>
+    <label class="ng-radio"><input type="radio" name="ng-extra" value="ownOffice">
+      <span><b>Also the playing player’s own Control Point</b><br><span class="dim">You may start one at home, but not in somebody else’s district.</span></span></label>
+    <label class="ng-radio"><input type="radio" name="ng-extra" value="anyOffice" checked>
+      <span><b>Also any player’s Control Point</b><br><span class="dim">The most permissive, and what the game did before this setting existed.</span></span></label>
+
     <h3>Revenue</h3>
     <p class="ng-note">What each piece of work pays, 0 to 5. A coach pays when it is boarded and again when it is detrained; a load pays when it is made up and again when it is broken. Zero switches an economy off so the others can be read.</p>
     <label class="ng-num"><span>Passenger revenue per coach</span>