It appears Adwords now allows you to set Conversion Optimizer on campaigns with zero conversions. Before it required you to have 15 or 30 conversions in the last 30 days before you can set this bidding option.
I've experimented with this approach on new campaigns, and it appears it takes a similar approach to CPC bidding with automatic bids.
However I cannot locate any Google article, blog, help doc, white paper, or anything else that mentions this apparent change and how it works.
Has anyone heard anything from Google (either published or from a Google contact) about this change and how it determines bid values?