by Becq
(Box 4 spoilers)
@Becq: what do you think should happen if someone chose the [o]3rd colony milestone, and the game ended before the conquest of Ker milestone is claimed? Do you get to claim it next game, or can it only be claimed when someone conquers it from you? We had some discussion along these lines earlier and I'm not sure either answer is really satisfying here. (Admittedly, this is also pretty corner-case!)[/o]
While I haven't seen that happen, here are my thoughts:
First, note that you can never
voluntarily defer claiming a milestone. I mention this because otherwise, any interpretations for claiming credit for a past event could open up ways to game the system. For example, if I satisfy Milestone X now, but know that I'm going to lose the game anyway, why not "bank" that milestone until next game, so that I can set myself up for a big win? So let's be clear that this really only refers to a case where you find yourself able to claim two milestones during your turn, claim one, then the game ends before your next turn.
That said, I'd separate milestones into two broad categories: those that require your province to satisfy a certain conditions at the time it claims the milestone ("Have thing X"), and those that require a certain event to have occurred to claim the milestone ("Do thing Y").
For the first type, you only continue to qualify so long as the conditions continue to be met. So, using a Box 0 (non-spoiler) example, let's say you buy third treasure, then on your first action you build a third structure. After that action, you check for milestones, and find that you qualify for both, but are only allowed to claim one that turn. Both of them require you to "have" something, so as long as you still have that thing on your following turn -- and nobody else claims that milestone -- you may claim it on the following turn (or possibly later, if you manage to satisfy yet another milestone on the next turn). But generally speaking, you won't "Have thing X" on the first turn of the next game, so you won't qualify then and you will have lost your opportunity until you satisfy it again.
(Box 2 spoiler) [o]Note that the "three active colony" milestone looks like an exception to this, but isn't. Even if you own three colonies at the start of the game, you won't qualify for the milestone because they aren't active -- though if you activate all three during the first winter, you would claim the milestone after your first action of the first turn.[/o]
For the second type, my thinking is that since you only need to have "Done thing Y", once you have done so you will satisfy the requirements of that milestone forever. Make sure the other players make a note of it, and write it down, if necessary. Keep in mind that there is (almost) always the risk that someone else will "Do thing Y" and claim the milestone, leaving you S.O.L.
Aside: by the time you open Box 4, you'll realize that
(Box 4 spoiler)
[o]it's impossible for two people to "Use the Strange Chart to find the (octopus) island", so that milestone is safe to defer.[/o]
In the specific case you mention,
(Box 4 spoiler)
[o]I would say that you qualify as having conquered Ker "forever" and qualify as having three active colonies only until you no longer have them. Note also that if someone else conquered "the island formerly known as Ker" before that milestone was claimed, I'd let them claim it -- even though it's not Ker any more, strictly speaking.[/o]
I can't necessarily back any of those interpretations up with rule references, but that's the way I'd advocate interpreting the rules. Except for the initial bit about requiring you to claim milestones at the earliest allowed opportunity.
