I've been playing for a while, and one house rule that frequently needs definition is what are and aren't "coastal areas"

(As an aside, the ACEP rule book defining coastal areas as only those that you can build or maintain ships with, which makes this whole discussion different... I don't know if that is intentional. But that's another topic )

FYI, I'm using an electronic copy of the AdvCiv rulebook to quote from.

] 4.24 Coastal areas are areas which contain both land and ocean
] (nonlake) water.

Of course, the term "ocean" isn't defined anywhere .

In the groups I've been in, we decided that a non-lake is any body of water with which a ship can give you movement possibilities that you do not have without a ship. That gave the groups I've played with that small tiny water area in the Assyria/Babylon area as a "ocean". Which meant that cities (generally wilderness ones near there) would be classified as coastal cities and vulnerable to Flood (rarely) and Piracy (more often).

I played with CraigB last month and he was using the definition that coastal areas are those sharing a boundary with an open-sea area (except for the ones in the NE corner which are defined as coastal.) I need to look at a map to see what precisely are all of the differences between the two interpetations.

bb,

I think your friends are completely getting too literal here (or not literal enough). Sure, the rulebook doesn't define ocean, but the dictonary does:

"Any of the principal divisions of the ocean, including the Atlantic, Pacific, Indian, Arctic, and Antarctic oceans"

How your friends could possibly determine that those small bodies of water completely surrounded by land are "oceans" is, quite frankly, beyond me.

Someone once said that over-analysis leads to ridiculousness.

I'd go with Craig's view.

In general, I've come to the conclusion that the one small area in the NE area is not coastal.

However, CraigB's rule doesn't work perfectly either. Needs another exception for Bablyon's home area. Also, areas like Sinai and near the Aegaen have water areas which do not directly touch... :: thinks ::

Perhaps if it was restated as "Ocean areas are water areas that either share a water boundary with an open-sea area, ocean area, the edge of the board or an ocean area." This way, no exceptions are needed.

I've been looking around for stuff and found this disucssion, so it's not an isolated question :
http://www.boardgamegeek.com/article/22899

There is an interaction with the changes that you've made in the ACEP rulebook, but I'll start that thread elsewhere

Okay, IMHO, in the NE corner, there are 3 lakes in or near Armenia. Those are the only lakes that seem to only be for looks. All the other ones (near Ur and Media) are 'oceans.'

The one that I'm talking about is on the border between Armenia, Lesser Armenia, Nineveh and Elam.

I would say that it is not an ocean. Nineva and Elam are land-locked areas. Maybe a good definition for the game would be 'water spaces boardering the edge of the board or a named open body of water.'

The new defination of Coastal Area's for ACEP is:

4.24 Coastal areas are areas that contain both land and water and can trace back a path, strictly over water, to an open sea zone. The exceptions to this would be regions that border the Caspian or Arial Seas (Caucasus, Dihistan, Lesser Armenia, Media, Hecatompylos, Nisa, and Chorasmia)