the NPCs are allowed to choose any empty plot, as is the player, the event sheet shows it waiting and randomly selecting the NPC plots but that's only because i haven't gotten round to finishing the method the NPCs use to select their plots, this method only exists for me to be able to test other features are working right, eventually what will happen will be like this:
-plot selector starts its run over the land
-player clicks button when selector is over the plot they want
-plot selector begins its cycle anew
-NPC chooses its plot when selector is over the plot they want
-plot selector begins its cycle anew
-next NPC chooses its plot when selector is over the plot they want
this continues until all four players have selected one plot each, each plot is only allowed to be selected once, so the player cant choose a plot that an NPC owns, the player also can't choose a plot he/she already owns, the same rules apply to each of the NPCs, as for who goes first, in the final product the game will randomly decide which player or NPC gets to choose the first plot and which order the remaining players get to choose, after the first turn, the player who is in the lead will choose the plot first and then the other players will get to choose in order of how well they're doing.
so the first turn will have a randomly generated order for who chooses their plots and then all future turns will prioritise the winning player (winning chooses first, then 2nd place followed by 3rd followed by 4th).
so the limited choices the NPCs currently have will not be limited in the final product, they will have the ability to choose any plot that isn't owned simply by choosing it when the plot selector is over the plot they want
i hope this has cleared up some of the confusion