Solo: the Automa
Play alone against the Automa: its setup, its four Action stacks and how it installs, transmits, modulates and funds.
How the Automa plays
The Automa is a virtual opponent. Compared with you it:
- uses no money and no Action tiles to act, and never takes the Supply action;
- builds Wireless Stations only on the 14 numbered Locations of the board, with no need for adjacency (most are Flags, or one Transmission away from a Flag);
- keeps only Technology and Tycoon tiles on its board. They serve to reach Action Boxes: whenever one is reached, a Patent tile is put on it. That is why it starts with a Patent on its Transmission Basic Action Box.
It scores like you, except that Signal tokens in its Ready area cost it nothing.
Solo components
The 14 solo Installation tiles: 7 for Modulated stations (white vertical arrow) and 7 for Unmodulated stations (black horizontal arrow). Each number is a Location on the board; the arrow is the direction the Automa’s signal goes. All 14 are pictured in Cards & Components.
Setup
Set up the board as for 2 players and yourself as usual. The Setup page lists every step for one player; in short:
- Automa pieces: 7 Credit tokens; 7 Wireless Stations on its board, alternating Modulated and Unmodulated, and 2 more below it (one of each); 2 Signal tokens in its Ready area and 28 on its Progress column; its Flags.
- Objectives: one A, B and C each for you and the Automa; the Automa’s go A, B, C from top to bottom.
- Permanent Links: the Automa’s marker starts on space 3.
- First player: the Automa.
- Starting positions: form 2 groups as in a 2-player game and choose yours. The other group’s Location Starting tile is discarded; its Tycoon and Technology Starting tiles go on the Automa’s board.
- Neutral tokens: one Signal token of an unused colour on every Contract Location — on every Flag Location instead for an easier game.
The Automa’s starting stations
Make 2 face-down stacks of 7 Installation tiles by type. Reveal the top tile of each stack and put it, with an Automa station of the matching side, on its numbered Location. Move 3 Signal tokens from the Progress track of that Location’s reward icon to its Ready area (2 if a neutral token is already there). It gains the Location’s bonus:
- Flag: its Flag, on the lowest free space of its Nations column.
- Contract: the matching Contract, put straight on its back (completed) on the lowest free space of its Contracts column, with no immediate bonus.
- Technology / Super Technology: a random one, in its column.
- Tycoon: the bottom face-up Tycoon tile of the level-1 display; slide the other down and reveal a new one.
Each time a tile reaches an Action Box of the Automa’s board, put a Patent tile on that box.
The Automa’s Action stacks
Take 21 of the Automa’s Action tiles and shuffle each group into its own face-down stack:
| Group |  |  |  |  | Tiles |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| A | 2 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 6 |
| B | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 5 |
| C | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 5 |
| D | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 5 |
Group A is used first, then B, C and D. In the rare case Group D runs out before the end, make the Group B stack again.
Difficulty
For a harder game, do one or both: remove Installation tiles 12, 4 and 5 and 1 random tile with a black arrow (8–14); give the Automa 3 random Technology tiles (with a Patent on every Action Box they reach). For a medium game, remove tile 12 and 4 or 5.
Game flow
The Automa starts; you then alternate, one action each, until an end condition 
is triggered.
Finish your turn, then play one more round each.
Your turn
Exactly as in the multiplayer game.
The Automa’s turn
Reveal the top Action tile of the leftmost stack, carry out that action and discard the tile.
Installation
Look at the lowest station still on the Automa’s board. If it is Unmodulated, reveal the next Unmodulated Installation tile; if Modulated, the next Modulated one. Put the tile and the station on that Location and move 3 Signal tokens from the matching Progress track to its Ready area (2 if the Location is not empty).
Transmission
Find the Unmodulated Installation tile on the board with the lowest number. Its station sends 2 Signal tokens from the Ready area onto the 2 Locations its arrow points to; the Automa gains any Flag, Contract, Technology or Tycoon bonus there. Then discard that Installation tile.
Modulation
The same with the lowest-numbered Modulated Installation tile. The Automa also moves 1 space on the Permanent Links track, ignoring the bonuses.
Funding
Move the top Credit token of the Automa’s board to the topmost free space of the Credit area. Count its active
Tycoons (board and Credit area) and take a Tycoon tile of that level — the bottom one of the pair
(for the highest level, the right-hand one) — into the matching column; slide the other tile down and reveal a
new one.
End and scoring
The end is triggered as in the multiplayer game. You score as usual; the Automa scores the same way, ignoring its Ready area. Beat its score to win.