Note: If, after reading this document, you find yourself confused by something, I recommend you watch the

sample solo
playthrough video I posted on BGG (and YouTube). In that video, I walk through in detail exactly how the AI players
behave.

Setup
1. Setup the game in the normal fashion according to the number of players. Be sure to block the appropriate Action
Spaces if setting up for a 2 or 3-player game (see page 15 in the rules).
2. When choosing a Character for yourself, randomly draw a number of Characters equal to the Number of Players
(not plus 1). Then select a Character, and return the others to the box.
3. You (the human player) will always go first. After that, determine the new start player in each subsequent round
using the normal rules (as described on page 14 in the rulebook).

Black Dice Variant

You will play the game using the Black Dice Variant as described in the rules supplement. With this variant, you will
roll all the black dice at the beginning of each round. If you take a black die during the round, you must choose a die
from the board and take it, retaining that die’s value. You can reroll black dice using bonus actions as normal. If you
are playing as Isabella Donati, when you take a black die, you immediately receive the bonus corresponding to the
value of the die you took.

AI Difficulty Level
Each AI Player can play at easy, medium, or hard difficulty:
• If set to Easy, an AI Player uses the standard 12-card Automa deck as shown at the bottom of this document.
• If set to Medium, an AI Player uses the standard 12-card Automa deck plus 1 additional Automa card shown at the
bottom of this document (add the 2 cards shown if you want the medium AI Player to play a little better).
• If set to Hard, an AI Player uses the standard 12-card Automa deck plus the additional 2 Automa cards shown at
the bottom of this document. In addition, unless the AI Player is taking a Travel Action, you should draw another
Automa card whenever a non-Travel Action Automa card instructs the AI Player to take an action in which all of
the Action Spaces are occupied.
• Always reshuffle each Automa deck at the start of every round.
• Reshuffle an Automa deck if you ever run out of cards and need to draw another (usually, this should only happen
when playing with an AI Player set to hard).

AI Player
1. You will need to create a 12 to 14-card Automa deck for each AI Player in the game (see AI Difficulty above).
2. Each AI Player will need a Player Board, 11 Trading Posts, 5 dice, and 1 randomly drawn starting contract.
3. Also, give each AI Player 1 randomly drawn Goal card from those remaining after dealing 3 to yourself. An AI
Player’s Goal card is its only source of +1 Shields.
4. AI Players never roll their 5 dice. In order to avoid having to constantly roll a die in order to decide what black die
to take, which lower City Card to play, which Travel Action to take, etc., here’s a suggestion: Roll each AI Player’s
dice at the start of the round and sort them left to right in ascending numerical order. Then you can use the value of
the colored die it’s placing to decide how it responds to specific events. For example, decide for yourself if its
current colored die is odd, it takes the high black die, otherwise, it takes the low black die. If odd, take the left lower
City Card, if even, take the right lower City Card. If traveling, use the value of the current colored die to decide
which Travel Action to check first, etc. This should reduce your need to have to roll a die during game play.
5. AI Players do not use Coins, Camels, Jade, or Resources of any sort, nor do they need to be assigned a Character.
6. When it’s the AI Player’s turn, the AI Player will only draw a card from its Automa deck if it has at least 1 die in its
possession. Otherwise, it will pass.

AI Black Die
Whenever an AI Player takes a black die, either due to a completed Contract or an Automa Action, roll a d6 to
determine, if necessary, which black die the AI Player takes: On a result of 1 to 3, the AI Player should take the lowest
valued black die and on a result of 4 to 6, the AI Player should take the highest valued black die.
Once the AI Player has taken the black die, its value, like the value of the AI Player’s regular dice, does not matter.
AI Contracts
At certain times during the game, an AI Player will complete the lone contract on its player board:
1. Ignore all Coins, Camels, Jade, and Resources, as usual.
2. The AI Player scores double the points shown on the contract.
3. If a black die is shown in the reward section, give the AI Player one of the black dice (if there are any).
[Roll a d6: The AI Player takes the lowest valued die on a 1-3 or it takes the highest valued die on a 4-6.]
4. If any amount of movement is shown in the reward section, the AI Player moves its meeple 1 space along its path
(described below) in the normal fashion, placing a Trading Post as needed.
5. Ignore all other rewards shown on the contract.
6. Place the completed contract facedown in the appropriate space on the AI Player board.
7. Randomly draw a new contract from the stack, and place it on the AI Player board.

AI Travel
1. An AI Player’s meeple will travel the board and place Trading Posts as it moves, just like a human player.
2. An AI Player will remove Outpost Tiles from the game as it encounters them (but will never resolve them).
3. An AI Player will ignore both rectangular Bonus Tiles and Contracts in the cities it visits.
4. Each AI Player will always follow the same path (starting in Beijing) as described below.
5. As its meeple moves along the path, the AI Player never pays the cost shown (because it doesn’t use Coins, Camels,
or Jade), and it also ignores all seal requirements. Instead, it simply moves and places a Trading Post in cities.
6. When the AI Player performs the lower Travel Action, it moves 1 space and places a Trading Post, if in a city.
When the AI Player performs the middle Travel Action, it moves to the next city on its path and places a Trading
Post, if possible.
When the AI Player performs the upper Travel Action, it moves to the next city on its path, places a Trading Post, if
possible, then moves to the next city on its path and places another Trading Post, if possible.
7. The AI Player will score 10 VP when placing its last Trading Post in Kunming, and it will score 5 VP when placing
each of the 2 Trading Posts before that in Fuzhou and Xian (for a total of 20 VP if it’s able to place all of its
Trading Posts). The AI Player will also score 10 VP for each space it moves beyond Kunming (feel free to change
this value up or down to adjust difficulty).
8. If the AI Player moves after placing all of its Trading Posts, it does not move a Trading Post from another city it’s
visited as indicated in the rules on the bottom of page 9. Instead, it does not place a Trading Post.

AI Path
1. Start in Beijing as per the rules
2. Oasis west of Beijing
3. Xanadu (place 1st Trading Post)
4. Karakorum (place 2nd Trading Post)
5. Kashgar (place 3rd Trading Post)
6. Merw (place 4th Trading Post)
7. Balkh (place 5th Trading Post)
8. Chengdu (place 6th Trading Post)
9. Kabul (place 7th Trading Post)
10. Pagan (place 8th Trading Post)
11. Oasis east of Pagan and south of Xian
12. Xian (place 9th Trading Post and score 5 VP)
13. Oasis east of Pagan and south of Xian
14. Fuzhou (place 10th Trading Post and score 5 VP)
15. Kunming (place 11th Trading Post and score 10 VP)
16. Jaipur (score 10 VP and do not place a Trading Post)
17. Hormuz (score 10 VP and do not place a Trading Post)
18. Oasis west of Hormuz and south of Baghdad (score 10 VP)
19. Baghdad (score 10 VP and do not place a Trading Post)
20. If the AI Player takes another Travel Action, it will draw another Automa card, and take that action instead.
If the AI Player is instructed to move due to a completed contract, it remains in Baghdad and does not move.
End Game Scoring
1. Each AI Player scores its goal card in the usual manner.
2. Each AI Player will score its Shields (and any +1 Shields from its goal card) in the usual manner.
3. An AI Player that has completed the majority of contracts (or tied) will score 8 points. In a 3 or 4-player game, an
AI player that came in second place for completed contracts (or tied) will score 4 points.
4. Obviously, AI Players do not score points for Resources or Coins.
5. In the event an AI Player ties with you, the AI Player comes out ahead.

Description of Automa Cards (refer to the Automa cards shown at the bottom of this document)

In general, if the AI Player can place a colored die on its intended Action Space, it will do so; otherwise, it will place a
black die if it can. If the AI Player cannot legally place a die or combination of dice on its intended Action Space (for
example, because it placed a colored die there earlier in the round and it now has no black die to place there), you
should first perform any of the special actions indicated on the Automa card if the action permits it (e.g., take a black
die or complete a contract), then draw a replacement Automa card, and perform that action instead.

Khan’s Favor
1. If none of the spaces are occupied, roll one of the AI’s dice and place that resulting die in the first space.
2. If 1 to 2 of the spaces are occupied and the AI is forced to place a 6, set one of its dice to 6 and place it in the first
open space. Otherwise, roll one of the AI’s dice until you arrive at a result that the AI Player can use. (For example,
suppose a die of value 2 is in the first space and a die of value 4 is in the second space. Roll one of the AI’s dice.
On a result of 1 to 2, place a 4; on a result of 3-4, place a 5; on a result of 5-6, place a 6.)
3. If the AI Player is forced to place a die in the rightmost space, it simply places a 6.
4. If all of the spaces are occupied, draw another Automa card and take that action instead.

Guild Seals
1. If the AI Player has an unimproved Guild Seal in its possession, it first automatically improves it (giving preference
to the seal on its goal card that scores the most points) and immediately scores 5 points (feel free to change this
value up or down to adjust difficulty). (It will still earn any bonus points from the improved seal at the end of the
game if its goal card stipulates as such.)
2. The AI Player places only 1 die to take a Guild Seals action (as if it were playing with the Character, De Wu).
3. The AI Player takes a Guild Seal that it does not currently have (giving preference to any seal on its goal card that
scores the most points).
4. If the AI Player already owns all of the Guild Seals shown on its goal card, it takes any Guild Seal it does not
currently own.
5. If the AI Player has all 4 Guild Seals in its possession, after first improving a Guild Seal, draw another Automa card
and take that action instead.
6. If the AI Player cannot legally perform a Guild Seals action or the AI Player is playing at the hard difficulty and the
Guild Seals Action Space is occupied, it still improves a Guild Seal if it can. Then draw another Automa card, and
take that action instead.

Book 1, 2, or 3
1. The AI Player automatically completes its contract if so indicated on the Automa card (see AI Contracts above).
2. Change the value of the AI Player die being placed to 1, 3, or 5, accordingly. The AI Player then places a die and
does nothing else.
3. If the Automa card indicates Book 3, the AI Player will first try to place one of its dice in an empty Action Space.
4. If the Automa card indicates Book 1 or Book 2 and the Action Space is occupied and the AI Player is playing at
hard difficulty, draw another Automa card and take that action instead.
5. If the Automa card indicates Book 3 and both Action Spaces are occupied and the AI Player is playing at hard
difficulty, the AI Player would first complete a contract if so indicated. Then draw another Automa card and take
that action instead.
Lower Travel Action or Contracts
1. The AI Player will take the lower Travel Action if it can (assuming it has not yet reached Baghdad). Otherwise, it
will take the Contracts Action in which case it places a die and does nothing else.
2. In this case, a hard AI Player will take the lower Travel Action even if it’s occupied as long as it legally can.

Lower City Card

1. If both City Cards in the bottom left corner of the board are unoccupied, roll a d6 to determine which City Card the
AI Player places a die on. If only 1 City Card in the bottom left corner of the board is unoccupied, the AI Player
places a die on that card. Then, if the AI Player is playing at medium or hard difficulty, score 5 VP (feel free to
change this value up or down to adjust difficulty). In either case, do nothing else (i.e., do not resolve the card).
2. If both City Cards are occupied, draw another Automa card, and take that action instead (do not score the 5 VP).

Upper City Card

1. Roll a d6 to determine which city containing the AI’s Trading Post the AI Player places a die on. If the AI Player
can place a die on a City Card, it does so and then scores 5 VP (feel free to change this value up or down to adjust
difficulty).
2. If there are no unoccupied City Cards containing one of the AI’s Trading Posts, draw another Automa card, and
take that action instead (do not score the 5 VP).
3. Example: The AI Player has so far placed Trading Posts in Xanadu, Karakorum, Kashgar, Merw, Balkh, and
Chengdu. Of those, only Xanadu and Kashgar contain City Cards and neither is occupied. Roll a d6. On a result of
1 to 3, place a die on the Xanadu City Card or on a result of 4 to 6, place a die on the Kashgar City Card. Then, the
AI Player scores 5 VP.

Special City Action

1. First, if and only if the AI Player has a Trading Post in one of the special cities (Balkh, Baghdad, or Hormuz), take
a black die and complete a contract as instructed.
2. Then, if at least 1 Action Space in a special city is available (and the AI Player has a Trading Post there), place a die
there (rolling a d6, if necessary, to determine which Special City to use).
3. If the AI Player does not have a Trading Post in a special city, draw another Automa card, and take that action
instead. Do not take a black die or complete a contract.
4. Note: This is the only Automa card in which the black die/complete a contract special action is conditional on
whether the AI Player can actually take the main action.

Highest Travel Action (Hard—and possibly Medium—difficulty only)

1. First, the AI Player takes a black die, if possible.
2. Next, the AI Player takes the highest Travel Action it can, based on the number of dice it has and its difficulty
setting.
3. If the AI Player is at easy or medium difficulty, it will first try to take the upper Travel Action, then the middle
Travel Action, and, finally, the lower Travel Action if it has 3, 2, or 1 dice in its possession, respectively. Only if
the AI Player could not legally take any Travel Action would you draw another Automa card, and take that action
instead.
4. If the AI Player is playing at hard difficulty, it will first try to take the upper Travel Action, then the middle Travel
Action, and, finally, the lower Travel Action if it has 3, 2, or 1 dice in its possession, respectively, and the Travel
Action is unoccupied. If all 3 Travel Actions are occupied, it will take the lower Travel Action. Only if it couldn’t
legally take the lower Travel Action (because no black dice were available in step 1, it didn’t have any black dice in
its possession, and the lower Travel Action contained at least 1 of the AI Player’s colored dice) would you be
forced to draw another Automa card.
Travel Action
1. If the Automa card indicates that the AI Player should take a black die and there are black dice available, the AI
Player first takes a black die.
2. If the Automa card indicates that the AI Player should complete a contract, follow the instructions described earlier
in the section on AI Contracts.
3. If the AI Player has only 1 die in its possession, it takes the lower Travel Action.
4. If the AI Player has at least 2 dice in its possession, roll a d6:
a. On a result of 1 to 3, the AI Player will take the lower Travel Action with 1 die.
b. On a result of 4 to 5, the AI Player will take a black die if it hasn’t already done so this turn and will
take the middle Travel Action with 2 dice. (If it doesn’t have 2 dice, it will take the lower Travel action
instead—remember, there’s no need to roll a d6 if the AI Player only has 1 die.)
c. On a result of 6, the AI Player will take a black die if it hasn’t already done so this turn and will take
the upper Travel Action with 3 dice (if it only has 2 dice after having taken a black die, it will take the
middle Travel action instead).
5. If the AI Player is set to hard difficulty and the Travel Action it’s supposed to take (as a result of the die roll) is
occupied, it will try the next lower Travel Action (wrapping around to the upper Travel Action, if necessary). If all
3 Travel Actions are occupied, it will take the lower Travel Action. Only if it couldn’t legally take the lower Travel
Action (because it didn’t have any black dice in its possession and the lower Travel Action contained at least 1 of
the AI Player’s colored dice) would you be forced to draw another Automa card.

Special Note Regarding Black Dice

It’s possible that an AI Player will draw an Automa card that lets it take a black die, then it will be unable or refuse to
take the main action on that card. In that case, you’ll draw another Automa card, and take that action instead.

If the new Automa card also instructs the AI Player to take a black die, it will not do so. The only way an AI Player can
take more than 1 black die per turn is if it is playing hard and executing the Automa card that contains the instruction
2 Black Dice or if it completes a contract that also provides it with a black die.
AUTOMA CARDS

The Automa deck for all AI Players includes the following 12 cards:

Black Die Complete

Travel Contract
Travel Action Lower
Action (Roll d6, if Travel Book 1 Book 2 Book 3
(Roll d6, if necessary, to Action
necessary, to decide which.
Take Black Die or
decide which.)
if middle or Contracts
upper action.)

Improve Seal Black Die

(Score 5 VP if and
Khan’s you improve a Lower Upper Complete
Seal.)
Book 3 Favor City Card City Card Contract
(Medium or (containing AI (only if AI
Guild Seals Hard Difficulty: Trading Post; Trading Post in
(Place 1 die Score 5 VP.) Score 5 VP.) a special city)
only.) Special City
Action

The following Automa Card is only used for AI Players at the medium and hard difficulty setting.

Complete
Contract

Travel
Action
(Roll d6, if
necessary, to
determine
which.)

The following Automa Card is only used for AI Players at the hard difficulty setting (or medium if you
want the AI Player to play a little better).

2 Black Dice

Highest
Travel
Action
(if hard and
occupied, lower
Travel Action)