diff --git a/src/game/engine/scenes/tests/auto_play.gd b/src/game/engine/scenes/tests/auto_play.gd
index a6977e39..bf7df943 100644
--- a/src/game/engine/scenes/tests/auto_play.gd
+++ b/src/game/engine/scenes/tests/auto_play.gd
@@ -150,7 +150,8 @@ func _play_turn() -> void:
 	if _turn_count == 1:
 		print("  Start positions: %s" % str(game_map.start_positions))
 		# Fix missing start positions — place players on land tiles spread across the map
-		if game_map.start_positions.is_empty():
+		print("  start_positions size=%d" % game_map.start_positions.size())
+		if game_map.start_positions.size() == 0:
 			_fix_start_positions(game_map, gs)
 		for p: Variant in gs.players:
 			var pname: String = "P%d" % p.index