Solo Mode secrets and Rulebook Draft available!
about 4 years ago
– Mon, Mar 16, 2020 at 01:58:18 PM
My Lords and Ladies!
Throughout your comments and messages, two questions persevered: how will the solo mode work, and where the rulebook can be found. Let us tell you a bit the former, and make sure you now how to access the latter!
Firstly, the solo mode. As you know, it will be prepared by Dávid Turczi, who is probably already a living legend among game designers, as well as one of the most prolific creators of interactive solo modes. He has created solo modes for games he designed or co-designed (like Dice Settlers, Anachrony, Cerebria, Days of Ire and more), as well as automa-style opponents for many more titles (like Teotihuacan, Sierra West, Snowodnia Deluxe Master Set, Yedo Deluxe Master Set, and many, many more).
Now, he is working on the solo mode for Dark Ages, and - clearly - he is having fun:
Like other solo modes by Dávid, the one for Dark Ages will act like a group of opponents around the table. No simple "beat your score" here! Flying solo will make you feel like you're fighting actual players: both raiders (as the picture above may already suggest) and fledgling lords trying to expand their domains.
Firstly, let's talk about Raiders. You will find their cards in the Culture Deck. Upon drawing a raider card, you will have to face their attack. And these will build up over time. Also, to add to historical flavour, the Raiders will be specific to each of the boxes: Heritage of Charlemagne will receive its own Saracen deck, while the Rulers of the Holy Roman Empire will have to deal with wild Hungarians ready to to stab and rob them.
However, warfare is by far not everything in Dark Ages, which is why - apart from the Raiders - there will also be the Lordlings. Those bots will be brought to life with a special deck, which a player will have to draw from whenever their turn is finished. These will provide you with orders for non-player nobles, who will enter the disc stacks to build Cities and Churches, and draw Culture Cards. They will allow you to react, and make sneaky use of reactions you provide, to make you feel like you're playing against human opponents.
More information of the solo mode will be coming during the next months. For now, it's time to provide you with the basic rules of the game.
Some of you may have already noticed them on the project. However, for those that may have missed them, here is the link to the early playtest game rules (you can also find this link in the How to Play section of the project):
ALPHA PLAYTEST RULES FOR DARK AGES
Thank you all, have a great day and stay safe!
Błażej
