@KeithHendricks it may help if we examine a different case to illustrate my point. I realize that Uwe and Frank may rule emigration is optional, and that is fine, but this is an important logical distinction when programming games:
1. Page 9 says you must perform at least 1 action when you use an action space. Everyone agrees on this.
2. Imagine a hypothetical action space that says "You may pay 1 wood for a boat. You MUST pay 1 stone for a shed."
3. It is clear you cannot take this action space without doing anything (that violates both the wording of the space itself, and page 9). However, page 9's wording is merely prohibitive -- it prevents you from blocking an action space with no cost or effect at all. It is not in itself prescriptive, in that it does not specify whether you can switch the order of effects, or whether some effects are mandatory for some space(s) -- that is a different topic and not relevant to page 9's discussion.
@vykintas I spent some time today scouring BGG, but unfortunately I only found my own thread from 2016 with official answers from Frank and Uwe:
https://boardgamegeek.com/thread/166883 ... 0#24175980
I note that this thread provides an unusual case where even if your large ship harbor is full, you are supposed to be able to convert a whaling boat and immediately emigrate. I suppose the new knarr is conceptually en route before emigration, or perhaps this action is allowed in either order, despite the rulebook explicitly saying
"before".
I do not remember if I ever tested this edge case on BGA.
Unfortunately, I have thus far found nothing on BGG about whether 4-viking emigration is optional, though for the base game action space it would likely be a very poor strategic move, even if it is optional.
