Vs. Automa or Vs. AI?

[Kyle]

Hey all! For a single-player match, do you think it's more fun to face off against the Automa or against AI players? I'm new to Wingspan [and just finished the Tutorial and an Automa match] and curious if I should keep playing against the Automa or just play against AI players. Is one harder than the other?

I wasn't really quite sure how the Automa worked, to be honest.

[kinoji]

Hey!

When you play against the AI, it does what AIs usually do - it tries to simulate a human opponent.
The automa, on the other hand, has a special set of rules that mirrors the one used in the physical board game.

[easytarget]

So, is this worth a go if you only plan to play it SP?

[Justin]

It's not bad single player. Unsure if it's $20 worth of good, but it's certainly playable single player only. You can even get all the achievements for 1 player.

[easytarget]

Thanks. I've been mulling getting the board game, which of course is more expensive than this even at just 10% off.

Might pull the trigger on this as a test to see if I want the board game to play with the family.

[Kyle]

Anyone have thoughts if Automa or vs. AI is more fun than the other?

[Han-Tyumi]

Originally posted by Kyle:

Anyone have thoughts if Automa or vs. AI is more fun than the other?

I can say that AI isn't good. In my first game after playing tutorial I easily won vs 3 hardest available AI, and I never played Wingspan before.

[easytarget]

Time then I would guess to play some humans. ;)

[hunchonbeer]

I have been been playing against Automa and am about 1 for 10. I've not played Wingspan before. He doubles me up on bird points every time. If I try to look at his player matt, it's always empty (bug) so there's no way for me to see what he's doing.

[thebends43201]

I'm also about 1-8 vs Automa easy.

[Hydros]

I, too, have found the AI too easy (and I'm new to Wingspan). So far the Automa seems like it's the better option if you're looking for a challenge in singleplayer.

[hunchonbeer]

I don't like Automa. They just take up a bunch of cards and you chase them. Don't see the point and it makes the pink card pretty much useless.

[reliankru]

The Automa is nothing like a normal player. You play the game like normal, and the Automa does random things. At the end of the game, you are comparing scores determined by two totally different processes.

If you only have the physical board game, and you want to play solo, the Automa will somewhat simulate the randomness of the game that happens from your standpoint if you were playing against players. In other words, the birds in the tray are refreshed and/or food is dithered with randomly between rounds. That allows you to play the game by yourself.

It also provides you with a challenging target to say you won the game.

In the online version of the game, I would never consider playing it. I'd much rather be playing AI players, even if they aren't all that challenging. At least every player in the game is playing by the same rules.

[Maroon Deck Wins]

Originally posted by hunchonbeer:

I have been been playing against Automa and am about 1 for 10. I've not played Wingspan before. He doubles me up on bird points every time. If I try to look at his player matt, it's always empty (bug) so there's no way for me to see what he's doing.

The Automa doesn't play with the usual rules. Basically, most turns it gets free stuff, combined with sometimes either increasing or decreasing its progress towards the bonus goal. How much stuff it gets depends on the round, but it's either 1-3 eggs, or a bird. Sometimes the bird is one of the face up ones, in which case it scores the bird's normal points, otherwise it's either 3, 4, or 5 depending on which difficulty. Relatively rarely, it just removes food from the birdfeeder and triggers any of your pink powers. Those are the only times it doesn't gain any points. and it will happen maybe 4-5 times a game if you're lucky.

I am very good at this game, and I can beat the Hard Automa maybe 25% of the time. You need to be able to score 90 points to have much of a shot. Playing to beat the Automa can be a good way to get good at the game, because it forces you to be very disciplined and build a good engine. It can be frustrating, though, because sometimes you are just simply screwed.

[mecheng_analyst]

Maroon's answer covers the details well. The Automa actually isn't "not like a human", it does do human things - taking food, taking birds, laying eggs. Regardless, the real question is "do you want to play a game in 20 minutes or 3 hrs?" If you like 3hrs, play AI on Hard because that's how damn long it takes.

[Jacq]

I don't quite understand this. I've used AI on hard setting and it still takes the normal amount of time to play as the rounds are scripted to a set number of turns?