Engineer action when all irrigation spots are already used

[junibegood]

In a recent game (table 126797130, move 290), I picked an engineer action, and realized only afterwards that all irrigation spots were already used, so I could not place a cube anywhere. BGA decided that because I didn't place any cube on the board, I shouldn't get the 2 points either.

I'm not sure if this is a bug or a rule I don't understand well. So before I create a bug report, I'd like to know the opinion of fellow Amyitis players about this situation. Here is what I checked so far :

• The rules don't mention this situation explicitly
• The general rule about the engineer action says : "The player places one of the cubes from his supply onto one of the available irrigation areas in the garden and scores 2 prestige points". This means that you gain the points after you place the cube, but doesn't really say that you can do the latter only if you did the former.
• I didn't find any official FAQ

My feeling is that one should win the 2 points in this situation, because otherwise the engineer action becomes pointless. Any thoughts ?

[r00bz_]

I have always assumed that you don't gain the 2VP if you cannot place an irrigation cube. This makes sense thematically - you should only gain prestige if your action improves the garden somehow.

As you say, it does make Engineers useless, but if the garden is completely irrigated, I would say the game end is pretty overdue.