After discussing with a friend, I thought I should describe what I’d imagine as the N>2 case.
In the N>2 case, a number of connected portal relays creates an interconnected network, aka a portal internet.
You make portal A and connect it to the nearest portal relay to A, at the appropriate Oort cost.
You make portal B and connect it to the nearest portal relay to B, at the appropriate Oort cost.
You put A’s token into B and because both are connected to the network they are allowed to form a connection. B holds the token to A and also the token to the portal relay.
I think this would be a buff to portals: imagine this different scenario:
A1->B->C->D->E1
A2->B->C->D->E1
A1->B->C->D->E2
A2->B->C->D->E2
Planets A1, A2 connect to E1,E2 for 4 connections, using the B->C->D connection 4 times, but each additional connection only costs as much Oort as A1/2->B and then D->E1/2.
I recently saw this:
and wonder how the two ideas can combine. Maybe in the N>2 case, if a portal relay network can only have 1 destination portal and all other portals must be 1-way portals pointing to destination, it simplifies implementation of portal relays by reducing what they can do, but also is an appropriate nerf to a portal internet.