CTHULHU CRUSADES – SOLO MODE 2

This is played using the SURVIVAL MODE.

The player and AI both start with a Castle and 2 Walls of opposing factions. In a space
between the two Fortifications is the Battlefield; the AI will assemble an Army here in
preparation for attacking the player’s Fortifications.
The player draws a hand of 5 cards.
Deal 5 cards to the AI and play them one at a time according to the following rules:
· Archers or Soldiers with the matching colour are added to the AI’s Fortification
cards; the AI tries to keep Walls equally defended. The AI must obey the normal
limitation on the number of defensive cards that can be added to a Fortification.
· Non-matching Archers and Soldiers (or matching ones if the Fortification is full)
are played to the Battlefield, increasing the Army. As soon as there is a strong
enough set of cards to attack a Fortification, the AI makes a free attack against the
weakest one. Archers, Soldiers and Siege cards in the Army remains on it (these
cards can be discarded by "Attack the Army" action); other cards are discarded
after the attack.
The AI only attacks once per turn, even if more cards were added to the Army.
· If the AI’s attack is successful, the AI draws a Treasure card: Gold is
played as described below, Guardroom is added to make a new
Fortification, Sword and Arrows are added to the Army. Stones and
Shield are added to the AI's Castle.
· Gold and Workers are added to a line of construction cards; once there are 4 of
these (including at least one Worker), they are immediately discarded and the AI
draws a Siege card which is added face-up to the Army. (The player may use a
Thief card to collect any Gold discarded this way or an Ambush card to cancel
construction, as normal).
· Siege cards remains in the Army, adding their attack points or special
effects, until they are destroyed by Monsters or by the "Attack the Army"
action.
· If 3 Gold cards are already on the line of construction cards and a 4th is
drawn, the extra Gold card is not added but is discarded (and may be
taken by the player’s Thief) and the AI draws 2 replacement cards instead
which are put into play according to these guidelines.
· Sacrifices and Cultists are added to a line of worship cards; once there are 3 of
these, they are immediately discarded and the AI draws a Monster (if the line
contains a Cultist) or a card from the Sea Deck (if it contains 3 Sacrifices). The
player may use an Ambush card to cancel this, as normal.
· Monsters are added face-down to the AI’s Fortification; they are only turned
face-up when the player attacks the AI’s Fortification. If they have no effect (eg a
Mi-Go when the player’s attack contains no Siege Card) then they remain
face-up and in play and may take effect on a future attack.
 · The Sea Deck is used normally; the AI might drew extra cards.
· Special cards are treated as follows:
· Idol: Discard and draw 2 cards.
· Ambush: Discard all cards with red flags in your hand.
· Merchant: Discard all Gold cards in the line of construction and draw 2
cards for each discarded Gold card.
· Citizen Innsmouth: Discard all cards with red flags in your hand.
· Thief: Discard all Gold card in your hand.
· Night: Draw a Cult card and put in the Army, then the Army attacks.
Each cultist in the card adds 1 attack point. After the attack, discard
the Cult card.
Play proceeds in alternating turns. The player follows the normal rules. On its turn,
the AI draws a card and puts it straight into play according to the guidelines above.
The AI does not follow the normal rules for a single action per turn. For example, if
the AI completes a construction line and draws a Siege card which adds enough
strength to its army in the Battlefield to defeat a Fortification, it immediately
attacks in the same turn. But remember: the AI only attacks once per turn.
The game ends when a Castle is defeated (either the player’s or the AI’s).
NB. If a Barricade is in play, the game does not end until the Barricade is also
defeated.
Attack the Army action
In your turn, as an action, you can discard some cards to discard the same kind of
cards in the AI's Army. The cards have to coincide in faction and class (archer or
soldier).
To discard Siege cards in the Army, you can use any combination of soldier or archer
cards (or even Sword or Siege cards) with enough attack points to reach the attack
value of the Siege card.
The Sword (treasure card) in the AI's Army can't be discarded this way.
Commentary
This Solo AI is clearly based on the Jonathan Rowe's solo variant (user deadmarlowe
on BGG).