John Douglass
United States
Phoenix
Arizona
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Edited based on further playtests and feedback from Phil 5/23/08
From the Dawn of Consciousness to the Modern Era..... all by yourself!!!
This post is meant to get the ball rolling on coming up with a nice solo variant for this game. The one I'm currently working on and will share with you is brutal, and I've never made it through Era III. Even though I've yet to make it through, I've had a lot of fun.
Getting bad die rolls is rough, but getting a low odds roll to go your favor...is awesome... especially if you made it to the new world in the process! I've been known to verbally exclaim "woohoo!" while my wife is trying to read in bed quietly, thus annoying her. Anyway, the rules to my current solo variant:
1) "Public Cards", which includes information, culture, and administration, are removed from each deck and placed in separate piles
2) "Public Cards", which includes information, culture, and administration, are only "awarded" when a player gains any level on the technology track (i.e., increasing in footprint, maritime... etc.). To win a "public card", you must exhaust as many elders as the Era that you are in, or based on the position of your letter on the public card, which ever requires the fewest elder expenditures. Any climate change, volcanic eruptions, or diseases associated the "public cards" are played as usual.
3) Administration and information cards work the same as they do in the normal game. Culture cards allow the plyer to make a one time "acculturation" population action that allows the player to gain as many elders their civilization can support up to the level of the Public Card (i.e. an Era II card allows your civilization to gain a maximum of two elders). Use cubes of a different color to represent these elders. When they are lost, they are removed from the game.
4) Anytime a player tries to move to another continent, the player must a roll a die to see if the move is successful. After you move your unit and roll a die, you compare your die roll to your level on the metallurgy track. If the die roll is higher than your level on the metallurgy track, your movement failed and the unit is placed on the "Innovation Track". If the die roll is equal or less than your position on the metallurgy track, your movement was successful. If an "Eye" is exposed on the last card you played (meaning "cultural diffusion"), you don't have to follow this rule and can move to a continent with no penalty.
5) Every time a "barbarian raid" symbols appear on a card you draw, you are attacked immediately. You roll a die and compare it to your level on the metallurgy track. If the die roll is higher than your level on the metallurgy track, you lose a migratory unit, metropolis unit, or suppress an "Public Card", your choice. If the die roll is equal or less than your position on the metallurgy track, the attackers were defeated. If you happen to draw two or more cards with the "barbarian raid" symbol, it’s World War. If you lose the roll, you lose "three" Map or Elder units (player's choice). If you win, you gain one level on the Metallurgy track and one level on the Immunization track (Cool!!).
6) For innovation action where cards are drawn, one card is removed from the deck unplayed. For every turn where a player has no cards to play (no cards left in any deck available based on your current Era) and no other innovation actions possible, the player loses migratory and metropolis units (players choice) equal to your current Era.
note: Phil came up with an idea to tighten the game. I am wary of it, but its his game, so who am I to refuse. Here is his idea:
The chief problem with the solitaire is that almost all points
gained were during Era IV, making the earlier Eras moot. The
earlier Eras, especially Era III, are where one must struggle the
hardest to get Public cards. I feel that the rules should disallow
players from lingering in Era IV. I propose that one should lose a
number of idea cards per turn during Era IV depending upon one's
score at the end of Era III:
Score less than 12 upon (prechaos) entry into Era IV: lose three
idea cards every turn.
Score 12 to 16 upon (prechaos) entry into Era IV: lose two idea
cards every turn.
Score above 16 upon (prechaos) entry into Era IV: lose one idea card
every turn.
The rationale for this is that lesser performers are eclipsed by
other civilizations that get into Era IV first.
The final score should be before chaos as well, using the optional rule published in the expansion.
7) If you make it to the new world, you gain one on the Maritime track.
8) If you empty the population track, you gain one on the Footprint track.
9) If you are able to establish a unit on every continent, you gain one on the Footprint track. If you can establish a metropolis on every continent, you gain one on the Metallurgy track.
10) Losing Conditions: When all your map units have been removed from either Barbarian Raids or going into Chaos. If you have one unit left and you go into Chaos, the game ends, different than the multiplayer game.
Any thoughts, recommendations, and your experiences are very welcome. This is not set in stone. If you win, figure out your score per normal rules, and then we can all compare.
The high score as of May 20th 2008 is 48 points.
Phil has the high score, he killed my best of 32 
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John Douglass
United States
Phoenix
Arizona
-
I feel kind of funny responding to my own post...
 .
I tried this variant last night, and noticed a few glitches with the rules. I have since cleaned them up... and will likely continue to do this until I'm satisfied... or hopefully we are satisfied.
Last night I made it through Era IV with a final score of 26, not bad considering the difficulty of getting "public cards" in this variant. I am not sure if this is going to happen again. I made three "1" die rolls when I needed a "1" to face off barbarian raids, I was flipping out and would have lost the game if I'd lost all three. Another incredibly lucky roll got me to the new world. After that, I was attacked by Barbarians and I refused to give up my place in the new world. As a result, I adjusted the rules to state that migratory and metropolis losses don't have to be the ones farthest from your starting hex. I might have cried if I had to give up that unit. Especially since it later opened up the door to winning the game by allowing me to get Biofuel, the only non-card draw way of getting energy level 2 until you reach Era IV (that I know of... except Phil's incredibly lucky oil rolls). Another huge advantage this game is that I only went into chaos three times, and only got a disease once. I will be curious to see if I can make it through again.
I really like how I set up the mechanism to recieve "public cards". You only recieve them by gaining on the technology track, making the technology track an important way of getting victory points (through the public cards). A downside is that I prefer Peking Man, and Peking Man likes to domesticate the cow. But its only a matter of time until a big eruption is going to wipe out the cow and asian elephant units (in Era I anyway)... tough decisions here...
I also added a variety of new ways to gain on the technology tracks, and I like that. I often find it frustrating waiting around for a card to allow me to increase my technology, and prefer having long shot goals to eventually get me there if I don't get the card I'm looking for. Although, there is still no way to get energy increases except as Phil designed it. Energy is the bottleneck in the game, and that tension adds a lot to game play, so I didn't mess with it.
A key thing in this game is to plan when you want your civilization to go into chaos very carefully, too early or too late can cause you to lose the game. Always keep an elder gain card handy that will allow you to flip over a good administration card immediately after going into chaos. Be careful of emptying your population track, some bad dice rolls (even with good strategy) can end the game fairly quickly.
I am having a lot of fun, turning over every card makes me anxious. Am I going to get attacked by barbarains or miracously discover a more advanced form of energy? Will I make it to the new world with only a "2" on my metallurgy track? Phil designed a really good game here, I hope more people give it a shot.
Let me know if you end up trying out this solo variant.
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John Douglass
United States
Phoenix
Arizona
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I played again last night, again as Peking Man. I'm going to play once more as Peking Man, and then start trying out the other species (nervous about the Hobbit).
I made it through Era IV again, woohoo! I ended up with a 19. I thought for sure I was toast. Note to self, if you go into Era II early, but haven't advanced on the Maritime track, you have no shot of doing so in Era II. Keep drawing Era I cards until you get that technology. The hardest thing is that my climate changes shot down a lot of options for expansion (I didn't make it to the new world until Era IV).
Anyway good game, will keep updating...
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John Douglass
United States
Phoenix
Arizona
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I played again last night, and lost both times in Era III from the same barbarian raid card. What a bummer... Obviously, I went into chaos many times before this occurred, but in the second game I had such a good looking civilization that was crunched into oblivion in three turns.
So far, my Peking Man has only been successful 2 out of 7 times. I like these odds, it makes getting through the game very rewarding. I updated the rules some too, making the movements and assocaited penalties much easier to do. I am off for a couple trips over the next week and don't know when I can play again, but will try a new species when I do.
Any thoughts appreciated.
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A Spotlight on Games
United States
Bay Area
California
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I think it's good that this teaches something about how to play the multi-player game well, e.g. knowing when to stick with the Era I deck even after having passed to Era II.
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John Douglass
United States
Phoenix
Arizona
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Thanks for the comment. I haven't played multiplayer yet since playing all my solo games, but I would bet I got a better sense for when to push on to a higher deck and when to bury my head in the sand. Have you tried the variant?
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John Douglass
United States
Phoenix
Arizona
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This is embarassing... but I messed up the terminology with reference to the difference between the public cards and the idea cards. Phil pointed this out to me. The adminstration, culture, and information cards are termed "Public Cards", not "Idea Cards". I have fixed the rules.
I played two more times, but as homo sapien. The only real difference is that I had to wait unitl an "EYE" card was drawn so I could move into Asia without penalty, otherwise, the games played pretty similarily, except for the difference in victory conditions.
The first game I made it through Era IV, without too much trouble. I made it to the new world and went into chaos at the best possible times. There was little in the way of Barbarian Rads, which always helps. The bad news is that I stalled in Era IV, it took so long before I made it through the energy bottleneck that I didn't really get to reap all the awards that deck has to offer. Without many gains on the technology track, I couldn't get my hands on many "Public Cards". Some late diseases didn't help either. My score only ended up being 14, and I had to end the game (internet utopia) because the deck ran out.
The second game I was rolling until at the tail end of Era II I got hit with "war" (i.e. two barbarian cards drawn in a single turn). I lost the war and lost three map units. I shrugged it off and lept into Era III (getting through your initial arrival in Era III is the hardest part of the game, and the most tense). I got some good fecundity decreases and stablilzed my population after going into chaos... and then I drew two more barbarian cards... WAR! I only had three units on the board, after the last war and going into chaos. I lost the war, and thus lost the game... I have yet to win a war, but when I do....
Anyway, a blast as always, I really look forward to playing this game. Its relaxing and exciting and doesn't take too long to play (my plays are about half an hour to an hour and half, depending on what happens in the game).
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Michael Debije
Netherlands
Eindhoven
The Netherlands
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Great idea- I will have to give your variant a go. Thanks for posting!
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John Douglass
United States
Phoenix
Arizona
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Thanks for giving this variant a go, I hope you enjoy it. Let me know if any rules you disagree with or rule changes that would improve this variant. I've played this variant at least 18 times, adjusting the rules to the current set up. I've had a blast... it is challenging to make it through to the end while acquiring a high score.
GOOD LUCK!!!!
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Phil Eklund
United States
Tucson
Arizona
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Here is a turn by turn result of the History of the World, using John's solo variant rules.
30,000 BC Starting in Egypt as Homo Heidelbergensis. Matriarchal society, with “alpha” females and some ritualistic behavior.
29,000 BC Males start using trophies to attract females. I used exogamy (the practice of forming pair bonds outside one’s band) to expand into Asia. [This is using John’s rule of using cultural diffusion as the means to enter new continents, which I was first skeptical of, but now find an interesting and relevant rule].
28,000 BC First specialists (fire-bearers).
27,000 BC Butchers using Clactonian scrapers to bring animal parts home.
26,000 BC Cattle domestication in India, and then Toba explosion depopulates India and ends the Ice Age. Human’s first use of verbs, and twine.
25,000 BC Human’s first use of nouns. Concepts are now primarily stored in human memory in verbal form, and Era II (the Bicameral Age) is entered. Also first use of woven sandals, the first piece of technology envisioned in one’s mind before being created.
24,000 BC Pair bonding. Failed attempt to domesticate rice in china.
23,000 BC First burials
22,000 BC Stone points are now hafted onto spears. Body adornment, including necklaces and ochre body paint. The brief Interglacial ends, a new Ice Age is entered.
21,000 BC A setback as human sacrifice is used to try to invoke failing god-voices. Down to one Elder.
20,000 BC Archery invented, using Acheulian points. Acrophony (primitive alphabet) adopted, and the first attempts at writing. Era II Golden Age entered.
19,000 BC Following the invention of the ard plough, rice is finally cultivated, but it turns out to be low protein. Gold mining is attempted, but fails. [I forgot to position myself for gold right away, and thus missed a golden opportunity (so to speak) last turn, and the lack of gold hurts me all the way until Era IV].
18,000 BC Barbarian raids overrun Egypt. (Perhaps the Sea Peoples, who were among the first subjectively conscious tribes in the world). Pack zebras domesticated. I am badly suffering for the lack of any maritime skills, not even rafts, and wonder if I should be drawing from Era I.
17,000 BC Sumerian irrigation adopted, but also the first soil salinization, which loses me another specialist. However, rafts appear on the Harrappan river! Finally! Also status clothing adopted.
16,000 BC Natufian style villages.
15,000 BC Unetice smiths fail to refine gold. (sigh)
14,000 BC The adoption of Elamite-style Federalism causes a population boom. The Syrian city-states use temple administrators. And grooming of each other is used as a status activity.
13,000 BC Wood carving and dugouts. First hieroglyphics and pharaohs. Wheat is grown in the fertile crescent. The first “guest workers”. Smallpox pandemic.
12,000 BC The world lapses into Chaos, as the bicameral mind breaks down. I lose 5 map units.
11,000 BC Era III (The Age of Faith) is entered, and the Pharaohs are re-established. Use of oracle bones and ritual burials are used to try to retain vestiges of the bicameral mind.
10,000 BC Barbarians overrun South Africa. Guest workers die off. Hieroglyphics re-discovered.
9000 BC Stagnation during Era III Dark Ages. Only one Elder; wish I had gold!! Cities in Fertile Crescent, Harappan Valley, China, and South Africa.
8000 BC Primitive skills only during the Dark Ages: fishing weirs, trapping.
7000 BC The Pharaoh’s royal roads established, a boon to specialists such as stonemasons and couriers.
6000 BC A world war, which I lose of course [I like John’s rule, but am cursing it now]. On top of this, measles (It is especially aggravating to lose Elders one is saving to buy Victory cards if the Victory card when revealed has a disease on it, so you get hurt and you can’t buy it!]. I fortunately avoid chaos, but loses elders and African and Harrapan cities. My navy expands to the first galleys, then the first ships. The first general polytheistic religions adopted, incorporating the best of the (bicameral) personal-god system, with the new universal god system.
5000 BC I use economic stimulation, and am fortunate again to avoid chaos.
4000 BC Stagnant dark ages, but no chaos (whew!)
3000 BC Roman influences: divorce, paterfamilias. The worldly influence of the coliseum emboldens Celtic sea-explorers to enter America.
2000 BC Hallstadt Celts in America create the first biofuel (jojoba bean oil). Alcoholism takes its toll on elders. The first troubadours. A population boom.
1000 BC The concept of nationhood established. Era III Golden Age entered.
1 AD The rise of reason undermines faith. The world lapses into civil war and chaos. Era IV (the age of reason) entered.
100 AD The pharaoh rule re-established. The first pharmaceuticals, glassblowing. Also, unfortunately, a reversion to bicameral behavior with necropolises.
200 AD Cities re-established in the Middle East. Iron Age entered.
300 AD Dark Ages continue, but alphabet re-discovered. First birth control and feminism. Barbarian raids wipe out the Aztecs.
400 AD More barbarian raids take out Persia. Gunpowder discovered. The first salesmen. The first Sports Cartels. Attempt to discover oil in the Middle East fails. Life spans long enough to support grandparent nannies for child care. Smog.
500 AD & 600 AD Dark ages, economic stimulation only.
700 AD Goodyear and DuPont factories develop the first rubber, chemical vulcanization, aluminum, plastics, polymers. Germ Theory adopted. Westinghouse generators produce widespread electricity. McDonalds establishes fast food industry. But both influenza and HIV strike.
800 AD Era IV golden age. Cities in America and Europe promote nationalistic patriotism.
900 AD The Fugger family introduces banking. Carrier invents Refrigeration. The first Supreme Courts. The first lawyers.
1000 AD Revolution, the nationalistic government is overthrown in favor of one supporting the family values and the family as the basal societal unit. Farm machines create the Green revolution. Disney studios, Mattel introduces the Barbee Doll. Ending score: 48.
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John Douglass
United States
Phoenix
Arizona
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Phil,
Again, this is so cool. I wish I was this methodical, and I have thought about doing something like this but I always get to caught up in the game to keep track of anything besides my elders and population. This is really a great game to play solo, my favorite right now.
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Doug Adams
Australia
Oakleigh
Victoria
Boink
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Nice work - I only found out about this thread by reading the rules to the expansion on the train this morning.
Got the game yesterday, read the rules, got totally confused, but looking forwards to trying it all out.
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A Spotlight on Games
United States
Bay Area
California
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Hi Doug,
Say, if you're reading the rules for the first time and haven't already done so, you should probably get the Living Rules from the Sierra Madre Games website. Might as well learn the latest and greatest, eh?
Rick
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Doug Adams
Australia
Oakleigh
Victoria
Boink
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Thanks Rick - have they changed much? I saw two or three items of errata for the rules in the expansion rules sheet - didn't seem much to worry about.
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Doug Adams
Australia
Oakleigh
Victoria
Boink
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Quote: 4) Anytime a player tries to move to another continent, the player must a roll a die to see if the move is successful.
This may seem dumb, but want do you define a continent as? Africa to Asia via Egypt? Crossing water?
I'm using this variant to teach myself the game ...
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John Douglass
United States
Phoenix
Arizona
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1) Africa to Asia via Egypt (yes, and vice versa)
2) Asia or Europe to the New World
3) North America to South America
4) Southeast Asia to Australia
and I'm sure there are others, but those are the common ones. Any continent to continent movement (except Asia and Europe are considered to be on the same continent, although now that I think about it, maybe we should change that...)
Let us know how you do!
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Doug Adams
Australia
Oakleigh
Victoria
Boink
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knickpoint wrote: 1) Africa to Asia via Egypt
Thanks for the fast reply. Couple of other questions I had...
- You can only pick up the public cards when you advance on one of the five tracks, by "exhausting elders". What does that mean? Moving producers to consumers?
- What options do you have during Population Actions? It really seemed to be only Populate and Migrate (and Urbanise later).
Quote: Let us know how you do!
Not well, but I really had no idea what I was doing. I'll set it up again tonight.
Here is a recap...
Turn 1
Novel behavior. Play right hand side of Flint and gain an elder. I populate and migrate to SE Africa.
Turn 2
Novel behavior. Naturalist - try to domesticate the the rhino, but it becomes extinct. Play right hand side of Rituals, and lose the alpha cube from the neocortex on the brain map, and get a fecundity decrease. Increase population and migrate out of Africa due to "Apotropaic Religion" on discard pile. I end up in Asia, on the camel/aurochs/wheat-pea-olive hex point.
Turn 3
Novel behavior twice. Play left hand side of Kayaks for elder gain (later see that was illegal - need a metropolis). Maritime goes to 1. Population increase and move to sorghum rice hex.
Turn 4
Naturalist - domesticate the cow in India - catch a disease. Immunology to 1, one elder loss, and 2 Fecundity increase. Footprint to 2, Energy to 1. Gain Metropolis. Novel behavior. Play left hand side of Clay and Cane Baskets to unlock Broca's area of brain map. Elder gain. Play left hand side of Domesticated Dogs, gain an elder reset, and a domestication attempt (zebra - successful, cavalry animal, Footprint to 2, Metallurgy to 1, Metropolis in southern Africa). I pick up Tally Sticks from the public cards for 1 elder "exhaustion" (What does that mean?). Yellowstone errupts - no game effect. Populate and migrate three times, and end up in Spain next to biofuel.
Turn 5
Locution - remove final cube from brain and flip over into Era 2. Fall into chaos and lose three map units.
Turn 6
Invention. Play Milpas - Footprint to 4. Still in Chaos - down to two units on the board.
Turn 7
Invention. Play right hand side of Daubed Granaries - double Fecundity decrease. Still in Chaos - one unit left.
Turn 8
Invention. Play right hand side of Copper Battle Axe for Fecundity decrease. Remain in chaos - lose game.
I extinct myself... I didn't know what to do for Population actions, and just populated and migrated my way into chaos, couldn't get out.
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John Douglass
United States
Phoenix
Arizona
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Sorry for the late reply, I need to check more often. Your game didn't go great, but you learned a lot in the process. You have to be very carefule about your population to avoid chaos. A little chaos isn't bad and needed to gain the higher Eras, but avoid over population.
You don't have to put a unit on the board every turn, only do so when the chances of going into chaos are low or non-existant, unless you are trying to go into chaos.
The "exhausitng" elders means they move from produceres to consumers, so to gain a Public Card in Era III, you would have to move three elders from producer to consumer or less if the letter associate with your species is the first or second one on the card.
I don't have the game in front of me, but the big three are ones you mention: Populate, Migrate, and Urbanize. I can't remember off hand, but there are others than can be handy at specific times.
I hope this helps and I hope you keep playing.
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Lucio Pierobon
Italy
Padua
Unspecified
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Tried yesterday for the first time the solo variant.
Lovely and interesting for sure, even if it lacks all those beautiful nastiness you can have with opponents... 
Used the Peking Man and got quite lucky with the rolls and with the idea cards, much less with the Public Cards. By the end I had 21 points (12 of Information Cards and 9 Elders) while I picked up 28 worthless points of Administration Cards...
Next friends evening for my girlfriend I'll try again.
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McDog
United States
Saint Paul
Minnesota
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I'm shooting for giving this a shot tonight, having recieved my game yesterday.
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John Douglass
United States
Phoenix
Arizona
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I thought for sure I was going to break Phil's record, but when the total came in, I had a 43... bummer. Oh well, he did make the game.
I hadn't played in a while, so I wanted to see if this was still as much fun as I remembered. Babies were crying, dishes needed doing, and laundry to fold... but I couldn't stop. I almost lost at the end of Era III, couldn't go into choas. WIth no innovation cards to pull from Era I, II, and II I was about to lose 6 units, but made it through with only losing 3. Tough, but that's why its fun...
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Darrell Pavitt
United Kingdom
Unspecified
Unspecified
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Quote: 26,000 BC Cattle domestication in India, and then Toba explosion depopulates India and ends the Ice Age. Human’s first use of verbs, and twine.
After Toba, I bet they invented a few choice adjectives as well!
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Nicolai Broen Thorning
Denmark
Ebeltoft
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I would just like to say Thank You for this solo variant. My fiancée likes to sleep in on a Sunday morning so an ideal opportunity for this...
Played as Peking Man twice and made it all the way through in the 2nd go. Scores were 7 in the first game and 21 in the second. I missed out on a good few VP due to no elders to spend (already spent them). 
It is a great game - and one we continue to enjoy be it 2- or 3-player and now also solo...
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Giles Pritchard
Australia
Shepparton
Victoria
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I agree! Great variant!
I have played a couple of games this way - my first game was a shameful 5, second game a more respectable 15.
I could have been much more careful in Era III to set myself up for the fall into Chaos and the end of the game. If I had I probably would have scored more points - but oh well!
In the first game I played as Cro-Magnon, in the second game as Neanderthal.
Cheers,
Giles.
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Giles Pritchard
Australia
Shepparton
Victoria
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I've now played 5 solo games, and am loving it. My last game I played Peking Man, from the beginning I was very lucky, every public card I drew was something I needed at the time or would score me points. I managed my highest score of 29 at the beginning of Era IV. I have since ordered the expansion to see how I go with the full game!
Great game!
Cheers,
Giles.
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Posted Mon Mar 31, 2008 11:04 pm
