Board Game Arena

So I got Junior Artist and Writing Desk in play. I use Day Lab (get 2 food) and decide to move my meeple to the right lessons action space. As expected I get asked if I want to use the writing desk to play a 2nd occ for 2 food. I agree play an occ, but here my turn ends and I am not allowed to play my regular occ.

Rudi1976 places a person on card Day Laborer
Rudi1976 gains 2
Rudi1976 pays 1 for Junior Artist
Rudi1976 places a person on card Lessons
Rudi1976 buys House Artist (occupation)
Rudi1976 pays 2 for Writing Desk

Now one could argue that I didnt initially used the lessons action space, but Junior Artist text says:
Each time after you use the Day Laborer action space, you can pay 1 food to use an unoccupied Traveling Players or Lessons action space with the same person.

https://boardgamearena.com/1/agricola?table=662917952

Writing Desk should trigger. That said the link you provided shows you having 0food, so not sure how you wanna pay for the extra occ.

It is a little odd. I'm surprised it let you pay 2f for the writing desk occ without playing the normal Lessons action space occ for 1f. Normally, you are only allowed to take the "additional" action if you also take the regular action. (Example: you can only convert a clay to a grain with Potter Ceramics if you then actually bake at least 1 grain.)

Writing Desk should absolutely work with Junior Artist. And it did, in the sense that it let you play an occ using the Writing Desk power.

After you played the Writing Desk occ, did the interface show you a greyed out button to play a second occ for 1 food? Or did the turn just immediately end? If it immediately ended it feels like a bug.

You have been hard done by since your occ should only have cost 1 food (i.e. just the regular occ space cost.)

@cranes I did pay the 2 writing desk food and played an occ after. Even if I would lack food, I should have the option to convert for missing food or otherwise restart my turn.
@alex I had to confirm and then the turn ended, no greyed out button. I thought I confirm the occ from the writing desk and expected to play the regular occ after that...

@Rudi Writing Desk is what triggers first, costing 2 food. When I checked in on your game, it was round 3, and you just played your 3rd occ with Writing Desk, putting you at 0 food. You had no resources to convert (no grain, no sheep with cookery, nothing). The confirm button was exactly there for that reason. If you wanted to play an occ, you should have skipped the Writing Desk proc to play a single occ for 1food, saving you a food. I am pretty sure this is just a case of you not having enough food to play your occs.

cranesflyhigh wrote: ↑24 April 2025, 15:25 @Rudi Writing Desk is what triggers first, costing 2 food. When I checked in on your game, it was round 3, and you just played your 3rd occ with Writing Desk, putting you at 0 food. You had no resources to convert (no grain, no sheep with cookery, nothing). The confirm button was exactly there for that reason. If you wanted to play an occ, you should have skipped the Writing Desk proc to play a single occ for 1food, saving you a food. I am pretty sure this is just a case of you not having enough food to play your occs.

I think it is not that easy. The problem is why would the game allows him to only use the effect of writing desk without playing a normal occ.
I'm pretty sure it is not allowed to only play an occ from writing desk without playing a normal occ. The game should force the player to undo.
I feel like it might be a bug (or a niche rule) caused by junior artist.
I would guess that the way junior artist triggers a space might be different to normal action (in terms of codes) such that, the game thinks the player have completed the effect of their action (on day labor).

@cranes: You are right, I thought I did pay 1 for the occ, but that was just the junior artist fee. I still think it would be good to ask me / show me that I miss 1 food for the regular lesson and thatwise give me the chance to undo the writing desk / and or the entire action via restart.

@lFlowerl: The problem with this is that there are occs that do give food upon playing them. Think Patron or Bookshelf being in play, but Pioneer or Potato Harvester both give food just by themselves. These cards would make you able to afford two occs even while going to 0 food for a little bit. While I agree that sequence of making you use the more expensive option of Writing Desk first weird, I would imagine the game checking if a food occ was played or not is somewhat finicky to code.

@Rudi Yeah, Writing Desk as the more expensive option proccing first is kinda odd, I agree.

I remember the same “bug” showing up with job contract. I think the player had animal catcher, paid to catch the animals and then had 0 food to play an occ (even though they had a cookery). The interface ended their turn directly without giving them the option to convert animals into food to play an occupation. Of course, you are still asked to confirm and could undo if you realized that this was the issue… But I could definitely see many players not realizing what is happening

cranesflyhigh wrote: ↑25 April 2025, 15:55 @lFlowerl: The problem with this is that there are occs that do give food upon playing them. Think Patron or Bookshelf being in play, but Pioneer or Potato Harvester both give food just by themselves. These cards would make you able to afford two occs even while going to 0 food for a little bit. While I agree that sequence of making you use the more expensive option of Writing Desk first weird, I would imagine the game checking if a food occ was played or not is somewhat finicky to code.

@Rudi Yeah, Writing Desk as the more expensive option proccing first is kinda odd, I agree.

I'm not sure if I understand anything wrong. But I think you might misunderstand the problem.
The problem is, he only played a occ from writing desk and did not play another acc from the action. In other words, the direct effect of the action did not resolve. I think this is not allowed in rules, just like you can not take renovation without renoing or taking build action without placing new rooms or stables.