Terra Mystica: Automa Solo Box
Terra Mystica: Automa Solo Box Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Components
- 13 Automa Decision cards
- 12 Automa Faction cards
- 3 Automa Difficulty level cards
- 2 Achievement cards and 6 Achievement tokens for the Gognomes faction
- 9 replacement Scoring tiles and 1 Game end token. These replace their matching components from the base game and one promo Scoring tile.
- 7 Automa Terrain priority (ATP) cards
- 5 Automa Initial Dwelling map cards
- 3 Player Aid cards
- 3 MotS Automa Decision cards, identified with the Merchants of the Seas icon
- 12 MotS replacement Scoring tiles, identified with the Merchants of the Seas icon
- 1 MotS reminder tile, identified with the Merchants of the Seas icon
Special Rules for Automa
As the human player, you follow the same rules as you would in a game against another human. Automa plays by a simplified ruleset.
This rulebook explains how Automa overrides the rules of the multiplayer game. Other than those overrides, the game plays like a normal 2-player game.
Automa gains Victory points in a simplified manner, scoring only from:
- Fixed or variable values specified on the Automa cards each turn.
- Fixed values specified on Scoring tiles at the end of each round (Automa does not gain Victory points from the conditions themselves).
- Cult scoring and Area scoring at the end of the game.
- (Fire & Ice) Final Scoring tiles when using them.
Automa doesn't have a Faction board, Coins, Workers, Power, Bridges, or Town tiles. This means that she never gains these components when a human player would.
(Merchants of the Seas) Automa doesn't have a Shipyard board, Ships, Merchants, Range tiles, or Dock markers. Do not use the Most Trade Markers Final Scoring tile.
Stated another way, the only things Automa will ever have are the Structures and Priests she starts the game with, the Favor tiles she gains during the game, and the bonus card she takes when passing.
Furthermore, Automa never pays the cost of any action she takes and does not need Spades to terraform. She doesn't need a key to advance to space 10 on a Cult track.
During play Automa uses several types of cards to determine her actions.
Automa Cards
There are two main types of Automa cards: Faction cards and Decision cards. The other three supporting types of Automa cards are explained later.
Automa Faction Cards
There are 12 Automa Faction cards representing 10 different factions. These are used by Automa instead of a Faction board. They show the special rules for her faction. Special rules may include:
- Setup: List of special setup steps for Automa.
- Faction Actions: Actions triggered when a Faction action symbol is shown on an Automa Decision card.
- Ongoing Ability: Special rule that is always in effect.
The text on an Automa Faction card applies only to her unless stated otherwise.
Automa Decision Cards
Automa Decision cards are used to decide what Automa does on her turn. These are divided into sections as shown below. They might look intimidating at first, but you'll only need to use one or two parts of a card at a time. Each section and icon is explained later in this rulebook.
The sections of a Decision card are labeled Support column, Action column, Passing section, Setup section (lower left corner), and Card number (lower right corner).
Using Two Decision Cards Together
At the beginning of Automa's first turn in each round you will place two Decision cards face-up next to each other.
The left card is the Action card. Only its Action column on the right side of the card is used. The right card is the Support card. Only its Support column on the left side of the card is used.
The small arrows in the Action column indicate the part(s) of the Support column that might be needed to resolve the action.
Setup
General Setup
Set up the game as normal with the following changes:
- Choose a Difficulty level for Automa and take the corresponding Difficulty level card. Place it along the left side of the board. Use Automalein for your first play(s).
- Use the double-sided Automa Scoring tiles instead of those from the game. Place the side face-up that shows the relevant round. As in the base game, the Scoring tile with the Spade on its left side cannot be placed in Round 5 or 6. Use the double-sided MotS Automa Scoring tiles instead.
- Place the new Game end token as usual but only cover the top right quarter of the Round 6 Scoring tile.
- You're the first player. Take the Starting player token.
- Choose your faction.
- Choose one of the Automa factions and give her the corresponding Automa Faction card. For your first play(s) choose The Singletons.
- Choose a Home Terrain type (color) that is different from yours and give Automa the matching Automa Terrain priority (ATP) card (See Automa Terrain priority Cards on page 6). The ATP's Terrain type is indicated by the top and bottom bars and the leftmost circles.
- For Automa skip the normal faction setup procedure and instead:
- a. Give her all Structures of her color.
- b. Return 2 Automa Dwellings to the box. They will not be used.
- c. (Merchants of the Seas) Return 2 Automa Trading houses to the box. They will not be used.
- d. Give her all Priests of her color.
- e. Place Markers on the Cult track. For each Cult symbol in the upper left of her Faction card, advance the corresponding Marker.
- f. Follow any additional setup instructions on the Automa Faction card and familiarize yourself with any special rules for her faction.
- g. Place a Marker of Automa's color on space 20 of the Victory point track (as normal).
- h. (Merchants of the Seas) Give her all Trade markers and the Shipyard in her color.
Initial Dwelling Placement
Automa places her initial Dwellings after you place your first Dwelling. Select the Automa Initial Dwelling map card for the map you are using and refer to it as you:
- Place your first Dwelling.
- Draw a random Automa Decision card and consult the Dwelling placement letters and purple circle in its Setup section (lower left corner).
- Match the 2 letters on the Decision card with the corresponding letters in the spaces for Automa's Home Terrain type on the Initial Dwelling map card. Place Automa's Dwellings in the corresponding spaces on the Game board.
- When placing the Dwelling for the letter with a purple circle beneath it, also place a Power token in the space with that Automa Dwelling.
Designer's Note: Against Automa, you have a bit more knowledge and control over the initial state of the board. Placing your initial Dwelling near the center of the board will increase the probability of having Automa Dwellings close to yours at the start of the game.
Build the Automa Deck
- Separate out Automa Decision cards 1–5 to build Automa's Starting deck. Their card numbers are marked with an * to make them easier to identify.
- (Merchants of the Seas) Replace the cards labeled *2 and *4 with MotS *2 and MotS *4. *2 and *4 are not used.
- Set aside the card labeled with the icon shown on the card (see the Round 2 Passing note). It will be needed when Automa passes in Round 2 as explained in the Passing section (page 7). Place the MotS reminder tile, beside the Scoring tile for Round 2.
- Shuffle the remaining Automa Decision cards face-down and place them off to the side as the Reserve Deck. They will be used later.
- Adjust the Starting deck based on a chosen Difficulty level (see table below).
- Shuffle the Starting deck and place it face-down on the table. This is the Automa Deck. Turn its 2 bottommost cards sideways so they are perpendicular to the rest of the deck.
| Difficulty | Adjustment to the Automa's Starting deck |
|---|---|
| Automalein (1 Automa icon) | Remove card *3 from the Starting deck and place it on top of the Reserve deck, ensuring it gets added at the end of Round 1. |
| Automa (2 Automa icons) | No change |
| Automächtig (3 Automa icons) | Add 1 card drawn face-down from the Reserve deck. |
| Ultoma (4 Automa icons) | Add 1 card drawn face-down from the Reserve deck. |
| Alptrauma (5 Automa icons) | Add 2 cards drawn face-down from the Reserve deck. |
Automa Terminology and Definitions
Marked and Unmarked Structures
Designer's Note: In general, Automa will be building around each of her two initial Dwellings, in the same way that players work towards building Towns. To differentiate between her two growing Areas, one Area will have a Power token placed with each Dwelling. The other won't.
Automa's Structures with Power tokens on the spaces they occupy are called Marked Structures. Automa Structures without Power tokens on their spaces are called Unmarked Structures.
Automa's Shipping Value
Automa's Shipping value is shown on the Difficulty level card and will increase over the course of the game. On Automa difficulty (2 Automa icons) her Shipping values are:
- Rounds 1 and 2: Shipping 0
- Rounds 3 and 4: Shipping 1
- Rounds 5 and 6: Shipping 2
Automa's Range
All Terrain spaces directly or indirectly adjacent to one of her Structures are within Automa's Range. Remember to include Automa's Shipping value.
Tiebreakers
During play, many actions require that Automa select one Terrain type or space from among a set of valid choices. Use the following tiebreakers to select the correct option.
Closest / Shortest Distance
Some Automa actions use the term Closest or Shortest Distance when describing a tiebreaker. These terms are used interchangeably. The shortest distance is the path that requires the fewest intervening spaces to connect the two spaces being evaluated.
This path:
- may contain any number of River spaces
- may contain spaces occupied by Automa's Structures
- may not contain spaces occupied by your Structures (The path must travel around them.)
At other times you need to find the shortest distance between marked and unmarked Structures. This is the shortest distance between the marked Structure and the unmarked Structure that are closest to each other.
Automa Terrain Priority (ATP) Cards
When using the Automa Terrain Priority tiebreaker, consult the two rows (A and B) on the ATP card. The current Support card indicates which row to use.
Go through that row from left to right. Compare each Terrain type with the valid spaces for the current action. Stop when you find a match. Automa chooses the matching space(s).
Directional Selection
When using Directional Selection, look at the zig-zag arrow with the number on the Support card.
- If it goes left to right start at the top leftmost valid option, count through the valid options in English reading order, and pick the option where you stop counting.
- If it goes right to left start at the bottom rightmost valid option, count through the valid options in reverse English reading order, and pick the option where you stop counting.
- If you go past the last option, continue counting with the first option.
Some actions only have one row to choose from (Block Power action, Advance Cult track, Take Favor tile). You still count through that row in reading order or reverse reading order.
Example of Power action selection: selecting a Power action using a 3 Z-arrow icon where 3 actions are already taken. The rightmost action is selected because you wrap around when counting.
An Automa Turn
You will take the first turn of the first round. Automa takes her place in the turn order just as a human player would. Her turns have the following structure:
- Draw 1 Automa Decision card (Draw 2 in the first turn of a round).
- Perform the actions on the Action card from top to bottom or pass (explained below).
Draw an Automa Decision Card
At the start of her first turn of each round, draw 2 Decision cards from the Automa deck. Place the second to the left of the first to form an aligned pair (See Using Two Decision Cards Together, page 3).
At the start of the remaining Automa turns:
- Slide the previous Action card to the right, on top of the previous Support card. It is the Support card for this turn.
- If the Automa deck is empty she passes. Skip to the Passing rules. Otherwise:
- Draw 1 card from the Automa deck and place it to the left of the Support card. It is the Action card for this turn. a. If the card drawn is 1 of the bottommost 2 (perpendicular to the others), and there's a Passing section icon in the Passing section of this card, ignore the rest of the card. Automa passes. She does not perform any actions. Skip to the Passing rules. b. Otherwise, Automa performs the actions as shown on the Action card.
Passing
When Automa passes use this procedure:
- Automa gains a fixed number of Victory points as shown in the lower right corner of the current Scoring tile.
- Automa takes the Bonus card indicated by the arrow on the 3-bar icon on the Support card. If there are any coins on the Bonus card return them to the general supply. Example: The icon shown here indicates that Automa selects the middle Bonus card.
- Place Automa's previous Bonus card in the same position as the Bonus card she just took.
- Collect all Automa Decision cards from the current round (the current Action card, the Support card pile, and any remaining cards in the Automa deck).
- Shuffle these together with the topmost card drawn face-down from the Reserve deck. These cards become the Automa deck for the next round. (Merchants of the Seas) When Automa passes in Round 2, add the card labeled with the icon (set aside during setup) in addition to the usual Reserve deck card.
- Turn the bottom 2 cards perpendicular to the rest.
- If Automa passed before you did give her the Starting player token.
When you pass and choose a new Bonus card, place your previous card in the same position as the Bonus card you just took.
Instead of turning the Scoring tiles face-down during the Clean-up phase, remove them from the board.
Perform the Actions on the Action Card
If Automa didn't pass she will carry out the actions indicated by the symbols in the Action column of the Action card from top to bottom, using the Support column of the Support card. These actions are described in the sections below.
Unless otherwise noted, if the Action card fails to produce a valid action Automa doesn't perform any action this turn.
Example: The Decision card pair shown to the right has Upgrade, Take Favor Tile, and Gain Victory points actions. The small arrows along the right edge of the Action card align with the icons on the Support card that might be used to carry out these actions.
Automa Actions
Automa actions follow procedures with this format:
- Condition: Unless otherwise noted, if the condition isn't satisfied the action fails. Thus, Automa won't perform that action this turn. Proceed to the next action on the Action card (if any).
- Valid Options: This step specifies a set of options that are valid for the action. If there are none, skip the action and proceed to the next (if any).
- Tiebreaker: If Automa has multiple valid options go through the tiebreakers from top to bottom until only one valid option remains. For Faction actions use any faction-specific tiebreakers shown on Automa's Faction card before applying the general ones.
- Execute: This specifies what Automa does.
Block Power Action
- Condition: There is at least one Power action without an Action token.
- Valid Power Actions: All Power actions on the game board not covered by an Action token.
- Tiebreaker: Directional Selection.
- Execute: Place an Action token on the selected Power action. Automa gains no benefit from this.
(Merchants of the Seas) Perform an additional Block Power Action with the following change:
- Valid Power Actions: All Power actions on the Merchants Power Action board not covered by an Action token.
Gain Victory Points
Automa gains the number of Victory points shown in the icon.
If the Victory points icon shows an X, consult the Difficulty level card. It shows how many Victory points X represents in:
- Rounds 1–2 (bottom section): X = 0
- Rounds 3–4 (middle section): X = 1
- Rounds 5–6 (top section): X = 1
Faction Action
Perform the actions described on Automa's Faction card from top to bottom. Where necessary, use any element on the Support card as you would with other Automa actions. The yellow arrows along the right side of the Action card are there to remind you of this.
Advance Cult Track
Automa will place Priests and advance up the Cult tracks to compete with you. The track she chooses will either be based on the Cult featured on the current round's Scoring tile or the track where your Marker is nearest.
- Condition: Automa can advance on a Cult track.
- Valid Cult Tracks: Any Cult track without a Marker on space 10. Remember: Automa does not need a key to advance to space 10 of a Cult track.
- Tiebreaker: Depending on the icon shown on the Support card Automa will either try to advance per Scoring tile or Catch-up. a. Scoring tile: The Cult track matching the color of the Automa icon on the current Scoring tile. If this is not a valid track use the Catch-up tiebreaker. b. Catch-up: I. The Cult track where Automa's Marker is at 0. II. The Cult track where Automa's Marker is nearest to your Marker; it can be on the same space or above or below you. (2-player plus Automa variant) II. The Cult track, where Automa's Marker is nearest to the highest Marker; it can be on the same space or above or below the other marker. III. Directional Selection.
- Execute: a. Place an available Automa Priest on the highest numbered Priest space below the chosen track and advance Automa's Marker the corresponding number of spaces. b. If Automa has no more available Priests, or if there's no empty Priest space available below the track, advance Automa's Marker by 1 on that track without placing a Priest.
Upgrade
If she can, Automa will always upgrade a Dwelling next to you. Otherwise, she simply tries to avoid giving you Power.
- Condition: Automa can perform an upgrade.
- Valid Structures: Any Structure that Automa can upgrade.
- Tiebreaker: a. If Automa has a Trading house available: Automa Dwellings adjacent to any of your Structures. Otherwise, any Structure that Automa can upgrade. b. Giving you as little Power as possible. c. Directional Selection.
- Execute: Replace the chosen Structure with the highest Power value Structure it can be legally upgraded to.
(Merchants of the Seas) Note: This means Automa will upgrade a Trading house to a Stronghold before upgrading to a Temple. If there's a tie between Stronghold and Shipyard, Automa builds her Shipyard.
Take Favor Tile
- Condition: This action is only performed in Rounds 5 and 6. Ignore this icon during Rounds 1–4.
- Valid Favor Tiles: Available +3 Cult Favor tiles for Cult tracks without a Marker on space 10.
- Tiebreaker: Automa chooses a Favor tile using the Cult track icon (Scoring tile or Catch-up icon) on the Support card. Apply the same tiebreaker rules as for the Advance Cult Track action (i.e., use Scoring tile or Catch-up depending on the icon on the Support card).
- Execute: Give the chosen tile to Automa and increase her Marker by 3 on the track shown on the tile.
Transform and Build
Automa will build near one of her two clusters of Structures, marked or unmarked. Of the possible spaces, she will generally focus first on those that cost the fewest Spades and then those that are closest to you. In some cases, she will narrow her choices to only those spaces that bring the two clusters closer to combining into an indirectly adjacent single Area. She does this to compete for Area scoring.
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Condition: Automa has at least one Dwelling to place. Otherwise, perform an Upgrade action.
-
Valid Spaces: Based on the marked/unmarked icon on the Support card, all empty Terrain spaces:
- within Range of any marked Structure, or
- within Range of any unmarked Structure.
If the Reaching icon is also on the Support card, valid spaces may be further limited by Reaching:
Reaching: If none of the marked Structures are adjacent (directly or indirectly) to any of the unmarked Structures the valid spaces are further limited to only those that would decrease the current shortest distance between marked and unmarked structures. If there are none that would decrease it, all the spaces previously identified remain valid.
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Tiebreaker: a. Faction action tiebreaker, if built by a Faction action and the faction has one. b. Automa Terrain Priority. c. Spaces closest to any of your Structures. (Fire & Ice) If using Greatest Distance or Stronghold and Sanctuary Final Scoring tile, instead use: c. Spaces furthest from any Automa Structures. d. Directional Selection.
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Execute: a. Place an Automa Home Terrain tile if transforming was required. b. Place an available Automa Dwelling on the selected Terrain space. c. If the closest (excluding ties) Automa Structure to the one just placed is a , mark the new Dwelling by placing a Power token on its space.
If the Transform and Build action cannot be executed perform an Upgrade action instead.
(Merchants of the Seas) If the Action card shows the MotS icon with a 2, perform Transform and Build with the following change: The Range for this action is based on an Automa Shipping value of 2.
Tip: Until you get the hang of this, you can mark all valid Terrain spaces with Worker cubes and remove them as you go through the tiebreakers and rule out the corresponding spaces.
Example Transform and Build: Automa plays blue. For a Shipping value of 1, the spaces marked with a checkmark are all of those that decrease the distance from marked to unmarked Structures. In this example, there's no specific Faction action tiebreaker. Use Automa Terrain Priority. Since Lakes are first, the valid spaces are limited to those with outlined hexes. Finally, the space with the blue outline is closest to any of your Structures. That space is chosen and Automa places a Dwelling there. Don't place a Power token because that space is closer to an unmarked Automa Structure.
Trade
(Merchants of the Seas) During certain rounds, Automa simply trades with any of your Structures beside a River, preferring the Structure with the highest Power value.
- Condition: The current round is indicated on the Trade icon.
- Valid Structures: Any of your Structures adjacent to a River space that doesn't already have one of Automa's Trade tokens.
- Tiebreaker: a. Structures with the highest Power value. b. Directional Selection.
- Execute: a. Place one of Automa's Trade markers beneath the selected Structure. b. Automa gains Victory points equal to the Power value of the selected Structure. c. You may gain Power for the trade, as normal.
End Game Scoring
General Scoring
Automa gains Victory points from Cult scoring and Area scoring at the end of the game in the same way as a human player. For Area scoring, she uses the highest Shipping value shown on the Automa Difficulty level card.
Since Automa doesn't have any resources, she doesn't gain any points from Resource scoring.
Final Scoring Tiles
(Fire & Ice) When using the Final Scoring tiles from the Fire & Ice expansion, Automa will compete using the value calculated through the following methods:
- Greatest Distance: Calculated as in the regular rules.
- Settlements: Calculated as in the regular rules.
- Stronghold and Sanctuary: Divide Greatest Distance by 2 and round up.
- Outposts: Subtract 2 from Settlements.
Faction Specific Rules
Cultists
Against Automa, the Cultists' special ability works differently. When you build or upgrade adjacent to an Automa Structure, draw a card from the Reserve deck:
- If it has a Victory point icon showing 1 or a Victory point icon showing 2, you gain the Victory points shown.
- Otherwise, you gain +1 Cult.
Set card aside and reshuffle if the Reserve deck is ever empty.
Chaos Magicians
As in the regular game, if you play Chaos Magicians you place your single Dwelling after Automa places both of hers.
Giants
Giants cannot be played against the Automa faction The Blight.
Shape Shifters
(Fire & Ice) If you play Shapeshifters and build next to an Automa Structure you gain 1 Power, not a Power token.
2-Player Plus Automa
As a variant in a 2-player game, you can also add Automa to turn it into a 3-player game. Automa is not intended to completely replace a 3rd player, but it does bring a different feel to a 2-player game.
Use the Automa rules with the following changes:
- Any place the word your (you, yours, or similar) refers to the single human player, it refers to all human players.
- In some places a rule is immediately followed by a similar rule in a light blue box, ignore the original rule and use the rule in the box instead.
- Setup:
- Automa must use The Simpletons as their faction.
- The human players choose starting player amongst themselves normally; Automa always starts 3rd.
- As in a 3-player game, you use 6 Bonus cards instead of 5 Bonus cards as specified in the rules.
- Upgrading: "giving you as little power as possible" means the least total power given to all human players combined.
- Tiebreakers: For all Automa tiebreakers involving the human players (e.g. distance from, power given), she will always consider both human players when choosing.
Credits, copyright and distribution notices from the rulebook's final page are omitted.
Automa Faction Cards
The printed text of the 12 Automa Faction cards, from the companion faction-cards sheet (see the Automa Faction card section above). Icons that carry the action are shown in brackets by name.
The Simpletons
Faction Action: [Transform and Build icon], then [2 Victory points icon].
The Kuddlers
Faction Action: [Transform and Build icon], then [2 Victory points icon].
Tiebreaker 3a:
- Closest to one of your structures.
- Use ATP card of your Terrain type.
Druids
Faction Action: [Transform and Build icon]. Automa advances 2 spaces on a single track (Cult Catch-up action without placing a Priest).
Racelings
Faction Action: [Transform and Build icon].
When Passing: If Automa passes before you this round, she gains the fixed number of VP on the current Scoring tile twice instead of once.
Wanderers
Faction Action: [Transform and Build icon], then [icon shown on the card]. For this action ignore range restrictions.
Endgame Scoring: Automa gains 1 VP per Automa structure anywhere on the board.
Mimics
Faction Action: [Transform and Build icon], then [2 Victory points icon].
Tiebreaker 3a:
- Use ATP card of your Terrain type.
- Closest to one of your structures.
Powermongers
Faction Action: [Transform and Build icon], then [2 Victory points icon].
Tiebreaker 3a: Giving you the most power.
Ongoing Benefit: Whenever you gain 2 or more Power via structures, Automa advances 1 space on a Cult track (Cult Catch-up action without placing a Priest).
Symbionts I
Setup: The Symbionts spend their youth in symbiosis with other races. This is represented by worker cubes on Terrain spaces. Worker cubes block those spaces but have no other effect.
Immediately after setup, randomly pick an unused ATP card for a Terrain type that would cost you 2 spades. This will be used with the youth.
Symbionts II
Faction Action: [icons shown on the card].
Valid Spaces: All Terrain spaces directly adjacent to any of your structures.
Tiebreakers: a. Symbiont youth ATP card. b. Directional Selection.
Execute: Place a worker cube on the selected Terrain space.
The Blight I
Setup: Of the two Terrain types that would cost Automa 1 spade, the Terrain type that costs you the most spades is Blighted Land.
Of the two Terrain types that cost you 1 spade, the Terrain type that would cost the most spades for Automa is Fallow Land.
Place Terrain tiles in the designated spaces on the other card to remind you.
The Blight II
Faction Action: [Transform and Build icon], then [Transform icon]. Transform Fallow Land into Blighted Land twice.
Tiebreakers: a. Closest to any of your structures. b. Directional Selection.
Gognomes
Setup: Randomly draw 3 Gognome Tokens and place them face up on the matching spaces of the achievement cards.
Faction Action: When Automa completes an achievement with a token, immediately remove the token and she scores VP:
- 5VP for the 1st achievement.
- 10VP for the 2nd achievement.
- 15VP for the 3rd achievement.
Gognomes Achievement Card I:
- Achievement I: Automa offers you 3 or more Power by building or upgrading a structure.
- Achievement II: Automa leads on at least 3 Cult tracks.
- Achievement III: Automa passes before you 3 times. Place Power Tokens to keep track.
Gognomes Achievement Card II:
- Achievement IV: When Automa selects a Bonus card, collect any coins and place them on here. Automa collects 7 coins.
- Achievement V: Automa is 10 VP ahead of you on the VP track at the end of a round.
- Achievement VI: Automa passes after you 3 times. Place Power Tokens to keep track.