Concordia: Solitaria

[size=16]❦ [/size] [b]Solo Mode[/b] // Included in [thing=325490][/thing] [size=16]❦ [/size] [b]Required Play Space[/b] // 32" x 26" [size=16]❦ [/size] [b]Setup Time[/b] // 10 Minutes [size=16]❦ [/size] [b]Play Time[/b] // 1 Hour

✅ Being able to see how the solo opponent will react to every card is a neat puzzle that’s not about the best actions. ✅ The map has a beautiful table presence with a vintage appearance and a detailed historical booklet about the areas. ✅ All of the wooden pieces stand out on the map, making it easy to locate colonists and houses from afar. ✅ Purchasing new cards is not only about enhancing specific actions, but also picking up the best scoring cards. ✅ Variable difficulty levels and a clever campaign to move up in difficulty add nice ways to adjust the challenge. ✅ Other expansions and maps are compatible with the solo mode for plenty of variety and interesting gameplay.

❌ Setup can take a noticeable amount of time with laying out the city tiles and preparing the map and sorting cards. ❌ Calculating the solo opponent’s reachable cities and preferences for building takes a little getting used to. ❌ The card display is a little far away when playing solo, which can make seeing some icons a bit difficult. ❌ Randomizing the city resources is great, yet it can affect the difficulty if a single resource is in one main area.

[url=https://gamewardbound.com/tag/concordia/?utm_source=boardgamegeek&utm_medium=comment]Read the Session Reports and Review at Gameward Bound »[/url]

So smooth to operate with the AI's action on the very same card you play. I primarily play solo, and I haven't seen an AI that works like this before. This is a brilliant design. On the surface, you might think the games will be predictable since you know what the AI will do when you play your card. However, the variability of Concordia's map setup, and the card market, combined with the dice rolls to determine the AI's build and buy card action, give each game different strategic options and even more variability if you play with the different maps.

On average, it takes less than 5 seconds to do the AI's turn. I will not play a solo mode if it takes more than 5 seconds on average to do the AI's turn. The only clunky part of the design, is when you have to roll a die and build a house for the AI. Here you have to evaluate where the AI builds the house based a prioritized list of 5 criteria. However, after 2 or 3 plays with the same map, this becomes almost second-nature.

All 6 of my games have been within 6 points against the AI (Contrarius) on Standard difficulty, and my only win being by 3 points over the AI, and I'm no Concordia expert. There are two difficulty modes above the Standard difficulty, but I find the Standard mode challenging and fun enough for me, for now.

At last, I am able to play Concordia without having to seek other players! Great solo mode for a great game.

My favorite board game to play solo.

The solo mode is somwthing new. The bot reacts to what you do and is absolutely predictable, but I'm not sure, that is a bad thing? Is fun for sure. Have to play more often to elaborate.