mibi wrote:the hole now has a -3 max (is this possible in the xml)?
Yeah.
Instead of making each "hole" -1 bonus...
You just have 3 continents (1 in the hole, 2 in the hole, 3(+) in the hole.
First one has <required>1</required>
Second has <required>2</required>
Third has <required>3</required>
Second has 
<overrules>
  <overrule>1 in the hole</overrule>
</overrules>
Third has 
<overrules>
  <overrule>1 in the hole</overrule>
  <overrule>2 in the hole</overrule>
</overrules>
Job done...
 - EDIT - 
Of course - you could get this to work in the old school way of working each contribution out!!
C.