Juan – A Puerto Rico Solo Automa V1 (Dec 2020)

By dusk2dawn

Introduction
This automa mirrors the experience of playing against a human opponent in a two player
base game of Puerto Rico. Except for some rule changes, the bot follows normal rules
choosing role placards and executing the associated actions. The bot’s actions are driven by
6 decision cards called the automa deck. At the end of the game, whoever scores the most
VP wins the game.

Setup
The bot follows the normal rules except the bot does not:

 Spend coins acquiring buildings.

 Collect coins from trading, card/building bonus, prospector card or any source of
income. Coins collected are returned to the supply instead.

Set up for a normal two player game using the official two player rule. Give the bot its own
island board.

The bot starts with the Governor card, 1 indigo plantation, and zero coins.

Shuffle the automa deck face-down to form the draw deck. Reshuffle to form a new deck
after every round (when all character cards are reset for a new round).

Player gets the normal starting 3 coins and 1 corn.

Turn order
Governor card is rotated after each round. Whoever has the Governor card starts the new
round as per normal.

How to use the automa

On the bot’s turn to pick a role placard, draw the top card from the automa draw deck.

Each automa card tells the bot the preferred choice of role placard, in priority order from top
to bottom. If the chosen role cannot be executed, it is skipped to the next role on the list.

Example
When this card is drawn, the first action the bot attempts to take is the Captain
action. However, if it does not have any goods in its inventory, it skips to the
next action, Trader. This action cannot be taken as well because it has no
goods to trade. It skips to the next action Mayor. Finally, this action is possible
so it takes the Mayor role placard and executes the Mayor action as per
normal. Since it took the placard, the bot also benefitted from the previlige of
one extra colonist.

Next is the player’s turn to execute the Mayor action. After the bot and player
have both finished executing the Mayor action, the automa card is discarded. Now it is the
player’s turn to choose a role placard. The bot simply follows the role the player has chosen
without drawing a new automa card.

Turn continues as per normal until both the bot and player have each finished executing 3
roles. This triggers the end of round and the game is reset for a new round as per normal. The
automa deck is reshuffled to form a new deck.

The detailed explanation of each role is given in the Roles section of this document.

Juan – A Puerto Rico Solo Automa V1 Page 1

Roles
Settler
On the bot’s turn to execute this role, it picks one plantation (2 if in
possession of Hacienda) from the face-up plantation tiles. The bot prioritizes
plantation in the following order:

Corn -> Indigo -> Sugar -> Tobacco -> Coffee

The bot has the following maxmum limits acquiring each plantation type:

Type Maximum limit

Corn 1
Indigo 3
Sugar 3
Tobacco 3
Coffee 2

If the bot does not get the preferred plantation, or the maximum limit count has been
reached, it skips this action.

Builder
On the bot’s turn to execute this role, it prioritizes production buildings in the
following order:

Large Indigo Plant -> Large Sugar Mill -> Tobacco Storage -> Coffee Roaster

After all 4 types of production buildings have been built, the bot prioritizes
non-production buildings in the following order:

Hacienda -> Small Warehouse (Large Warehouse if small is not available) ->
Hospice -> Harbor -> Wharf -> University -> Guild Hall -> Residence -> Fortress
-> Customs House -> City Hall

The bot may only have one of each type of building as per normal rules.

Space constraint on the city spaces applies to the bot as per normal. The player shall use his
best judgement to assist the bot in optimizing the city buildings space on the bot’s island
board.

The newly acquired building must be manned by colonists to become active as per normal
rules.

Craftsman
On the bot’s turn to execute this role, it produces goods as per normal rules.
For the extra good previlege, the bot chooses the most valuable good from
its production during the same Craftsman phase.

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Captain
On the bot’s turn to execute this role, it prioritizes loading goods from the
type that has the most to the least quantity. Break tie by loading the least
valuable to the most valuable goods.

It prioritizes ship from the biggest to the smallest ship capacity. The
constraint on loading applies as per normal rules.

Goods storage rule applies as per normal. If they are manned, the
warehouse and wharf effects apply as per normal.

Trader
On the bot’s turn to execute this role, it proritizes selling from the highest
value to the lowest value goods. The bot does not sell corn.

Unique goods restriction on the trading house applies as per normal rules.

Mayor
On the bot’s turn to execute this role, it places colonists on its buildings using
the following priority:

1. Non-production buildings.
2. Maximize plantation yield in goods quantity for the next craftsman
phase.
3. Maximize plantation yield in goods variety for the next craftsman phase.

The player shall use his best judgement to assist the bot in optimizing the
bot’s colonists placement by following the above 3 priorities.

Prospector
On the bot’s turn to execute this role, it simply takes the placard and returns
any bonus coins if available to the supply.

Game End
End game conditions are triggered as per normal. The bot’s final score is calculated as per
normal: VP chips, VP on Buildings, extra VP on large occupied buildings. Beat the bot’s score
to win the game.

Juan – A Puerto Rico Solo Automa V1 Page 3

 Captain Trader Mayor
Trader Mayor Craftsman
Mayor Craftsman Settler
Craftsman Settler Builder
Settler Builder Captain
Builder Captain Trader
Prospector Prospector Prospector
Craftsman Settler Builder
Settler Builder Captain
Builder Captain Trader
Captain Trader Mayor
Trader Mayor Craftsman
Mayor Craftsman Settler
Prospector Prospector Prospector

Puerto Rico Solo Automa V1.0 Printed on A4 Card Sleeve Standard USA 56 x 87 mm