Unless an explicit minimum is given, 0 is a valid amount for both "most" and "fewest." So when "Ports Sprawl Outward" (Escalation of The Kingdom of Scotland) checks for "the single board with the most Coastal Towns/Cities," players could break the tie in favor of a board with no Coastal Towns/Cities if none of the other boards have any Coastal Towns/Cities either.
In the less common case where an effect checks for multiple things ranked in a particular way, keep choosing things until you have the requisite number, breaking ties as needed along the way. So for example, when "Wave of Immigration" (Level 5 of The Habsburg Monarchy Livestock Colony) checks for "the 3 Inland lands with the fewest Blight" on a board where 2 Inland lands have 0 Blight and 3 Inland lands have 1 Blight, the Adversary affects:
- Both lands with 0 Blight, since one of them is the land with the fewest Blight and one is the land with the second-fewest Blight (though it doesn't matter which is which);
- One player-chosen land with 1 Blight, since the remaining lands are all equally-valid choices for having the third-fewest Blight.
That is, it affects
3 total Inland lands, prioritizing lands with fewer Blight, rather than affecting
Inland lands that are mutually tied for the fewest Blight (max. 3 lands). In the rare case that you don't even have enough items to rank (in this case, having fewer than 3 Inland lands), affect all qualifying lands.
Tags: Stage II escalation, Kingdom of Scotland, Kingdom of England, Kingdom of Sweden, 22 more...
