True, you have to be prepared to escalate the support case.
I think the logic has something to do with the star point being in the -centroid- (?) of the feature -if- there is no apparant reference that is the same. Obviously, there must be a "like placement or it wouldn't know how to place the3 instances.
I would still like to have PTC comment here. Next time I get into a design dilemma over this and the origin selection, I will report them both in a single case.