I like this approach for a solo variant to build 2 grid tableaus, one for maximum points and one for minimum points. The former can be build freely and the latter only in rows. This reminds me of the solo rules from "The Lost Expedition / Judge Dredd: The Cursed Earth" where you have different rules for laying the cards out.
Well, I'd suggest you made Nitka a garbage dump Ecosystem with all those bears! 🤣 I noticed my version of the game is 2nd edition with changed diversity scoring, but see the link on the description includes 2nd edition revisions. I just played through a solo and it was a nice light puzzle. I suppose the complexity will depend on the draw of cards. Nice solo implementation, thanks so much for designing that AND doing a video!
The polish version of this game has definitely nicer illustrations and a better score card and scoring hints on each card and on auxiliary cards. Look here: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-8qCG_UNe0WU.html
Solo rules seamed lame by giving yourself so much control. An alternative might be to discard the card into their deck, then at the end shuffle the deck and lay them out so you can't control where the cards appear. To make it extra challenging, add 1 card of each type to their deck before shuffling and lay out the first 20.
The idea behind solo rules though, is to have complete control, so this was very much a design decision.. it makes you think harder about what to discard and when. But a shuffle is a neat idea; keeps things more random and a surprise at the end. I’ll give a try. thanks!
@@BoxofDelights Their are plenty of games you can solo where you don't have complete control. As an example Mage Knight you draw cards to determine how quick the night/day ends. Playing the dummy to a low score was extremely uninteresting. You may as well just eliminate the dummy player and just see what your top score is.
@@diggerocean2000 (Their = There) What would your approach be? A random layout for the dummy is way too swingy to create a competitive score to compete against. There are mostly two approaches for solo variants: Play your game for high score or try to win against and AI/Automa. Richard tried to implement the automa approach, which, most of the time, is the superior approach for solo variants because you have a clear victory or defeat condition. Why do you find it boring to build a second grid for minimum points? It is an additional challenge on top of your own grid.
