Prepare for Battle with Rivet Wars: Solo Mode!
Welcome to the Rivet Wars training grounds, Commanders.
In the brief periods when the frontlines are relatively peaceful, it’s important to keep your wits sharp and your skills finely honed. Through deep analysis of enemy tactics, we’ve assembled a training module in the core game that simulates unit deployment, attacks, and movement. This is the Rivet Wars: Reloaded solo mode!
Join us for a briefing on how solo mode works and let us introduce you to Colossus, your new A.I. opponent on the battlefield.
Card Types
When battling against the card A.I. (also known as solo mode) two additional card types are used as the A.I. Colossus takes control of the opposing forces. These cards are the beating heart of this combat simulation. They are deployment order cards and trait cards.
Deployment order cards dictate what units your A.I. opponent (known as Colossus) will deploy, and where. Colossus accrues rivet points in the same way as a human player. However, deployment order cards determine how many rivet points it can spend each turn.
Trait cards are the A.I. equivalent of action cards. Action cards give human players a lot of choice in when and how to use them, and that freedom of choice is a huge strength of the system. Creating an A.I. system that knew not only how to use action cards but also opportunistically time their use would’ve been a big ask. Instead, trait cards either give a benefit to all of the A.I. Colossus units at the same time, or do something very specific at the start of a turn when the card is drawn. In addition, there are a mixture of faction-agonistic and faction-specific trait cards.
Let’s look at both card types in more detail.
Deployment Order Cards
When Colossus plays its deployment phase, it’ll deploy units in an order dedicated by a deployment order card. Because deployment order cards are shuffled, the types of units it deploys can differ significantly from turn to turn.
Let’s check out some examples:
Colossus will deploy the cheapest unit of each type that it has available. Looking at this infantry assault deployment order card, it shows 4 infantry units as the first symbol. If it's playing as the Allies, this means it would deploy 4 Riflemen. If it's all out of Riflemen to deploy, Colossus will deploy the next cheapest infantry unit it has instead.
After deploying 4 infantry units, Colossus resolves their next unit type which is a cavalry symbol. If it has any deployment points remaining it’ll deploy 1 cavalry unit. And so on.
If Colossus can’t deploy a unit type for whatever reason, whether it’s too expensive in deployment points or it ran out of miniatures to deploy, it will move down the list until it finds a unit type it can deploy. If Colossus runs out of deployment points to spend, or it runs out of deployment symbols on its deployment order card, its deployment phase ends.
The Heavy Tanks deployment order card has a few differences. Firstly it has a rivets symbol. This means Colossus can spend up to this number of rivet points this turn, even if it has more rivet points available.
Secondly, the rivet symbol has the little star in its background, like the star hero units have on their unit type badges. This star means Colossus deploys the most expensive unit of each type it has available, instead of the cheapest. This type of card is how your A.I. opponent will deploy super heavy units like the M11 Double Play.
Numbered Deployment Squares
In each scenario description, deployment squares and strategic objectives will each be given a number from 1 to 5 (or as many as needed for the scenario). When Colossus deploys units, it’ll deploy its first unit on deployment square 1, the next on deployment square 2, and so on.
Trait Cards
At the start of the Colossus’s turn it’ll draw a trait card from a shuffled deck. As we touched on above, this will either:
- Give Colossus’s units a bonus lasting for the rest of the turn
- Or, it will tell the Colossus to do something specific, like deploy its units in a different position.
Some trait cards are faction specific, which means you’ll only come up against those when the A.I. is playing a specific faction. Some are faction agnostic, so they can pop up at any time.
These are two faction-specific trait cards for the Allies and Blight. Both of these cards tell Colossus to do something specific, which it does as soon as it draws the card.
Combat
When Colossus resolves a combat phase, hold tight as each unit will try and attack the closest enemy unit within range, prioritising enemies on strategic objectives.
Otherwise, Colossus will use actions on its unit cards if it's able to.
Movement
Similar to combat, your A.I. opponent has defined steps for how it moves units. In short, Colossus moves its units towards the nearest strategic objective or enemy unit.
Mission Cards
Colossus doesn't score mission cards like a regular player. Instead, every few turns, they will automatically score a mission card, creating the same time pressure you’d feel when facing a regular opponent.
The rate it scores these cards is different in each scenario and is listed in the scenario description.
The Golden Rule
There will be times when Colossus’s A.I. rules don’t quite cover every eventuality of what can happen on the game board. Or, sometimes, the A.I. won’t have a clear route to proceed. For example, if there’s more than one closest unit the Colossus could attack.
In these rare instances, you’ll step in to make a choice for Colossus. When you do, you should always make the choice which benefits your A.I. opponent the most, to keep the experience both challenging and interesting for yourself.
Make sure you don’t take too long making these decisions, as ultimately, you want to spend time deciding what you want your units to do. Make the best decision you can, then move on to the next part of the game.
Best of luck with your training simulations, Commander. They’ll keep you sharp and ready for the next enemy offensive!
Pre-order Rivet Wars: Reloaded now to secure your troops!
Don’t forget to join us over in the Steamforged Discord.
