¶ Automa
An automa is a virtual player that can replace a human player. You can add one or two automas even to a game with multiple players in any of the available modes.
The automa simulates player behavior but does not replicate it completely. It is for the sake of simplification of automa management, as all actions performed by the automa will have to be carried out by one of the players. So when it is mentioned that the automa performs a certain action, it means that the proxy player who controls the automa, performs this action on its behalf.
The Automa follows its own simplified rules and differs from a regular player in the following ways:
- No player map.
The Automa does not place action cubes on a player mat, does not encounter
corruption, and does not track resources or products.
- Unlimited action cubes.
To perform build, spread religion, or research technology actions, the Automa uses as many action cubes from the bank as needed. - Does not use
coins.
The Automa does not collect taxes and ignores technology effects related to coins. - Does not choose a
nation. - Does not change
government or 
religion.
At the start of the game, the Automa randomly determines these and keeps them for the entire game. - Does not aquire
achievements.
- Receives double
Glory.
Each time the Automa gains Glory, it receives twice as much. - Performs turns using Automa cards.
- Priority scale indicates terrain types, numbers and directions that are prioritized for the automa during its turn, in order from left to right, with the leftmost being the highest priority. Directions are determined from the perspective of how the proxy player views the board.
During actions, the priority scale helps resolve ambiguities and provides answers to questions about where the automa's units move, where it builds structures, where it deploys recruited units, etc
- Free action
- A list of four main actions
- Next main action indicator shows which of the four described actions the automa will perform on the card located to the right of the one laid out
- Priority scale indicates terrain types, numbers and directions that are prioritized for the automa during its turn, in order from left to right, with the leftmost being the highest priority. Directions are determined from the perspective of how the proxy player views the board.
¶ Game Setup
- Perform the setup for the chosen mode as usual.
- Choose a color for the automa and place all of its units and structures next to the proxy player.
- Position the automa's capital and 5 peasants in the starting province, as usual.
- Shuffle the deck of government cards and draw one card. It determines the automa's government for the entire game. Place this card face up next to the automa's mat.
- Shuffle the deck of religion cards and draw one card. It determines the automa's religion for the entire game. Place the corresponding religion token in the automa's starting province and another - on its government card. After this, return all religion cards to the game table in a convenient location for all players.
- Shuffle the automa deck, select 12 random cards for the game, and return the rest to the box.
¶ Gameplay
¶ Round Setup
At the beginning of each round, shuffle the automa deck and lay out 4 + a cards in a row, where a is the current age number. Place the first three cards face up, the rest face down.
¶ Development Phase
The automa activates the first unactivated card in the row by placing an activation 
on it. Resolve the card's effects in the following order:
- Free action (upper block)
- Main action (lower block) - look at the previous card's arrow to determine which of the four main actions on the current card to perform
After activation, reveal the next face-down card in the row. When all cards are activated, the automa passes.
¶ Main Actions
¶ Trade
The automa changes market prices without physically trading goods.
: Increase food price by one division, decrease weapon price by one division.
¶ Construct
The automa places structures on priority hexes.
+1 city: Find the priority hex (preferably in an uncontrolled province), move a peasant there if needed, place the city and 1 action 
on it.
+1 castle / 1 city: Find the priority hex and build a castle. If this action occurs in Age I, build a city instead of a castle.
+a buildings: Place buildings equal to the current Age on the highest-priority hex that won't exceed 4 total buildings. Add 1-2 action cubes.
¶ Recruit
Place military units on the priority hex adjacent to the automa's city / castle.
+a swordsmen: Place swordsmen equal to the current Age number.
+1 catapult / 1 archer: Place 1 catapult (or 1 archer in Age I).
¶ Research
+a 
: Research technologies equal to the current Age number.
If no automa cube on grid: Use priority number pairs (row, column) to locate a technology. Take it and place 1 action cube on the vacated cell.
If automa cube already on grid: Take the first adjacent technology in the priority direction.
¶ Spread
+a : Spread religion to provinces equal to the current Age. Place automa's religion tokens with 1 action cube each, discard foreign religion tokens. Discard all of the automa's faith cubes.
¶ Free Actions
¶ Conduct a Battle
2 
: Сonducts two battles.
- Find an undepleted automa army: largest, farthest from capital, on priority terrain.
- Find a target: in priority direction, with most enemy objects, closest to automa's army.
- Move army to attack position in priority direction, avoiding counterattack if possible.
- Conduct battle with all applicable bonuses.
- Draw maximum possible cubes.
- Gain experience and Glory from government and technologies.
¶ Overcome Adversities
- -
: Overcome all malfunctions - -
: Overcome all damaged structures - -
: Overcome all calamities is automa's provinces - -
: Overcome all heresy - -
: Overcome all rebels
- Find undepleted army closest to capital on priority terrain.
- Maneuver to nearest automa city/castle without depletion cube.
- Overcome all adversities of this type, gain
per black cube discarded (twice the normal amount).
¶ Achievement Phase
During the achievement phase, the automa acts according to its special rules:
- Activates technology effects that increase Glory.
- Gains Glory for controlling provinces, religious communities, and active relics in double the usual amount.
- Ignores collecting taxes and tithes.
- Selects an
event for voting according to the priority number shown on the last activated automa card: 1 - the leftmost event card in the row, 2 - the middle card, 3 - the right card; if number 4 appears, skip it and use the next priority number.
The automa votes with 2 if it is the first player, or 1 otherwise. It does not use experience cubes for voting. - Resolves the emergence of adversities (except for corruption).
Ignores event blessings that relate to coins, resources, or the player mat. - Ignores achievements.
¶ Cleanup Phase
- Discard all automa's spent action cubes, leaving only 1 cube on the technology grid.
- Discard all depletion cubes from the game board, including those on hexes where the automa's units are located.
- Discard activation cubes from the automa's cards, and place the played cards into the discard pile.
- Do not pay for the consumption.
¶ Game End
An instant victory is achieved if any human player acquires 4 
from 
instant achievements.
If this does not occur, a final scoring is performed after the 6th round. The automa gains 
for each of its experience cubes.
The player with the most Glory after the final scoring is the winner.
¶ Challenge
If you are already confidently defeating the automa, try increasing the difficulty: in this mode, the automa instantly wins as soon as it reaches 100 Glory during the development phase.