Playing Ragusa Solo: A Guide for the Independent Player

Have you always wanted to enjoy a game of Ragusa on your own? Well, you’re in luck! I’m here to guide you through the solo rules of Ragusa, so you can delve into this exciting world and challenge yourself in a whole new way.

When you play Ragusa solo, the game takes on a different dynamic. You become the architect of your own strategy as you navigate the intricacies of this medieval city. It’s just you against the game, and every decision you make counts.

The solo variant of Ragusa allows you to immerse yourself in the game and unleash your strategic prowess. You can take your time, carefully planning your moves and considering all the possibilities. It’s a chance to really challenge yourself and see how well you can optimize your actions.

One of the key aspects of playing Ragusa solo is managing your resources effectively. You’ll need to gather materials and craft goods to build your city and earn victory points. But be mindful of the limited actions you have each turn – you need to make every move count.

As you play, you’ll encounter various challenges and opportunities. You’ll need to balance your desire to expand your city with the need to satisfy the demands of the market. It’s a delicate dance of supply and demand, and every decision you make will have consequences.

Ultimately, the goal of playing Ragusa solo is to build the most prosperous and thriving city possible. You’ll need to carefully plan your actions, adapt to the changing circumstances, and make strategic choices that maximize your chances of success.

Playing Ragusa solo is a rewarding experience that allows you to fully immerse yourself in the game. It’s a chance to challenge yourself and put your strategic skills to the test. So grab your materials, gather your workers, and embark on a solo adventure in the city of Ragusa!

In Ragusa, you have the option to play by yourself. When playing solo, your opponent is The Patrician, a powerful and strict ruler who has recently married into another powerful family. The Patrician now has even more resources and control over the city, making it harder for you to succeed. He has also reserved building sites around the city to ensure his own dominance.

Getting Started

In Solo Mode, The Patrician uses 2 player boards with 12 houses in different colors for each. You also have 12 houses, but at the beginning of the game, each color will have three houses already placed (assuming you are playing as Purple). Here is a diagram to show the initial house placement for each color (see the image below).
#image.jpg

Both bots, Blue and Orange, start with 3 Woodcutters, 3 Stone Quarries, 1 Silver Mine, 1 Vineyard, and 1 Olive Grove. As the player, you have 2 Woodcutters, 3 Stone Quarries, 2 Silver Mines, 1 Vineyard, and 1 Olive Grove. The following image illustrates the initial setup of resources for each player.
#image.jpg

Take the Patrician deck and shuffle it. Randomly select 6 cards from the deck and set aside the rest. Each card in the deck indicates 3 numbered locations in the city. Mark these matching locations on the board with a black house. These spots are reserved for the Patrician and cannot be used by the player. After placing the houses, shuffle the 6 cards and divide them into two sets of 3. Assign one set to each bot, keeping them face-down. These cards will determine the designated spaces for the bots to use. The image below provides an example of how to place the houses for the Patrician.
#image.jpg

Next, shuffle the Bonus Deck and deal one card face-up to yourself and one card face-down to each bot. These cards will be revealed and scored at the end of the game. Finally, shuffle the ship cards and place one card on each space at the bottom of the board, adjusting the commodity prices accordingly as in the full multiplayer game.

How to Play the Game

Here’s a breakdown of how the game works:

1. Start by shuffling the three Patrician cards and choosing one.
2. Find an available space on the card with the lowest number. If there’s a black house there, remove it to make room for your house. If all three spaces are occupied, discard that card and draw a new one.
3. Activate the space you’ve chosen. If your house is on a rural hex, make sure to update the resource markers on your player board.

When you place your house on the Winery, Silversmith, Oil Press, Fishmonger, or Cathedral spaces, everything works just like normal – no tough decisions to make. But for the other spaces, the bots have their own strategies, outlined below:

The Rector’s Palace

When you play against a bot in this game, it has a different strategy than you. Instead of revealing its cards right away, the bot keeps them face down until the end. It’s interesting because both you and the bot score your cards at the same time, allowing for a surprise outcome!

Docks

So here’s the deal: as a bot, I have something pretty valuable that I’m going to sell. But here’s the tricky part – if I have a tie between two commodities, I’ll sell the one that I have more of. Simple enough, right? But there’s a small exception to this rule. If I happen to have houses around the Cathedral and a set of three commodities, then I’ll sell the most valuable commodity that won’t break up the set. It’s like a little quirk just to keep things interesting.

Market

When I’m shopping, I have a strategy to ensure I get the best value for my money. I look for the most valuable item that I can afford. If there are multiple items that are equally valuable, I choose the one that requires a commodity I already have a lot of. And if there’s still a tie, I go with the leftmost option. However, there’s one exception: when it comes to the Cathedral, I don’t break the last set. That’s my little rule to make sure I make the most out of my shopping trips.

Meet Mason

When I play the game, I always try to find the best spot to place a wall. I want to make sure I score the most points possible. So, I look for a space that touches the most houses and towers of my color. Sometimes, there are multiple spaces that give me the same score. In that case, I choose the one that helps me make the longest wall.

As an architect, here’s what I do:

• If I can, I pick a spot that doesn’t have a house on it. That way, I have more options later.
• I assume that the whole wall line will be built eventually. So, I plan my moves accordingly.
• First, I look for the longest stretch of walls, houses of my color, towers of my color, or empty spaces. Then, I place a tower on a spot that lets me extend that stretch. If both spots are blocked, I look for another stretch I can extend.

Now that both bots have placed their houses, you can go ahead and place your own house on any empty space that is not reserved for the bots. This house will be black, just like the bots’. Once you’ve placed your house, you can activate the areas in the same way as before, following the same rules that were used for the bot’s houses. The only difference now is that you get to make the decisions for your own house, instead of the bot making them for you.

The end of the game

Once you’ve placed all your houses, the game comes to an end. Just like in the regular game, you need to score the longest wall and the Cathedral sets. After that, it’s time to reveal and resolve all the bonus cards.

If a bot doesn’t have the ‘Fish’ end scoring bonus card, but has other resource end scoring cards, like Wood or Olives, it will convert its available Fish into scoring resources before scoring. It will do this in the most beneficial way possible. For example, if the bot has 5 Fish and a scoring card for 2VP for Grapes and 3VP for Stone, it will convert the 5 Fish into one Grape and one Stone, gaining a total of 5VP.

I want to give you some tips on how to play the game and increase your chances of winning. Keep track of your points separately from the bots. You win if your score is higher than both of the bots’ scores combined.

Adjusting the Difficulty

If you want to make the game harder, don’t choose the bonus cards. For example, when you place a card next to the Rector’s house, take and keep the top card from the bonus deck.

To make the game easier, you can change a few things. First, the bots only score one bonus card for each pair they get from the Rector’s palace. They keep the cards in pairs, face-down, until they need to use them. Then, they pick the card from each pair that scores the most points.

Another way to make the game easier is by going first before the bots in each turn.