yes, this is 100% a thematic message the developers are inserting in the game. most any other game would have made the trade system be a tit-for-tat, zero sum exchange, but here, trade between players generates and introduces more prosperity to the simulation than what you started with. love it! :)

that would have been a smart move! :)

sounds good. tbh i really don't know anything about alcohol. do you even get whiskey from potatoes? :)

@@rahdo You can get schnapps from potatoes or from grain. ;) en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Snaps

@@rahdo Schnapps is something something like Vodka

@@oDanielSas More like gin although it's the same kind of alkohol. Gin is the forefather of schnapps. ;)

i don't remember, but kosmos released the solo rules in german at essen spiel this year, and some folks have translated those into english: boardgamegeek.com/thread/2759843/translated-solo-mode-english-available :)

This is actually a translation error from Martin's original rules to the German rules. The way Rahdo plays it is actually correct according to Martin's rules but not the official ones. The solo rules makes no changes to this.

@@StephensCrazyHour So which one was right?

sadly not one that i can share. but i asked last week and publisher said they're very close to releasing official rules, so i would bet they're probably going to post them in time for essen spiel

@@rahdo Thanks for responding! Looking forward to the official solo!

thematically, i'm not their only trade partner. or they could have developed their own industry :)

the chose the setting becuase it's a tie in to a popular videogame series. if they weren't doing the conversion the game wouldn't exist at all. and they didn't ignore the issues, they made specific, concrete design decisions to make their game anti-colonialism by clearly demonstrating a "better way" for a society to function (it's actually very progressive with positive ideals expressed such as wealth redistribution, immigration, social mobility, trade instead of exploitation and diversity).

It's not really an issue both because as you work your way up the societal food chain you get fewer new workers added as you reach equilibrium, plus you get progressively more and more powerful and are able to meet the needs of more workers more quickly. It's emulating an idealized form of society that puts the needs of the people above everything else and it's actually beautiful.

@@rahdo Nice, cause already bought it and is ready to take table as soon as I can hehehe

they'll be available soon as a download from the publisher (i assume to coincide with the release of the english edition, but not 100% sure of the timing)

@@rahdo thanks

i'm sure it's a gameplay balance thing. in a multiplayer game, you won't always trade with the same player, or you might develop the industry yourself (and you subsequently might have the endustry be exhausted and so you'll still trade to get the resource, but only sometimes)

Thematically you can think of it as the ship needing to be full to make money, and it can only be full with both types of goods on it.

the sandbox mode is a 'check the score chart to see how well you did'. the 10 chapter solo campaign has unique objectives you have to hit. and because the game as a whole is very smooth and streamlined in terms of rules overhead, it makes sense to ensure the same for the solo game :)

It was tried with an automa and it was too fiddly and boring to play. The main focus of the solo mode is the 10 episode campaign, each of which provides unique goals and challenges which explore all of the game systems in depth. The sandbox mode rewards you for racing and for scoring highly. There's not really enough interaction that a full automa would be particularly interesting.

back when i got an advance copy of the rules they said they'd probably have them ready for public consumption by around essen time, and we're getting close to that. i'll ping them and see if there's an update

@@rahdo thank you my friend😀

@@shinobi9576 okay, here's the reply from the person 'on the inside': _They should be out very soon. I've seen the German version and proofed the rules. I would expect that they might release them to coincide with any board game cons that might run this month or next._

@@rahdo wow that s amazing..thanks again for the quick answer Rhado😀

@@rahdo Thanks! This is great, because I'm getting my copy in a couple of days!

it's indifferent how you store the cards, you can flip them face down, you can place them to one side of the board like Richard did... As long as you know which cards have been played and activated, which have been played and not yet activated, and which cards are in your hand it really doesn't matter how and where you place the cards

if the gameplay doesn't significantly change in solo, i prefer to film that way because 1) it's more fun for me and 2) more audience members get what they want to see and 3) as one player, i can get twice as far into the game in the same time period :)

@@rahdo no i mean why more recently? back in Malta days, i hardly seen any solo gameplays. not enough time? solo is just not the same as multiplayer not matter how good the dummy player is

@@freejunk2 honestly, when i was in malta, solo variants were a lot less common. i did do them occasionally :) and there's no dummy player in this runthrough. the turns i took, the strategies i demonstrate... they're exactly the same as if i were demoing a multiplayer game. so as a multiplayer fan, you're not losing anything, but solo fans are gaining something, and like i said, it's genuinely more fun for me to film this way, when it makes sense to do because the gameplay itself doesn't change :)

to keep things smooth and streamlined, and not introduce a lot of extra rules overhead for solo :)

yup, and i love it. beats "yet another killing monsters" game for my tastes :)

@@rahdo still, Martin's games like Brass, Age of Steam/Steam or even Automobile are much more original economic simulations. Anno 1800 looks lile another "grab stuff you see on the card to get VPs printed on the card". Maybe it does it well, but it's been done so many times before in a euro genre that it just feels generic at this point. But since you play almost exclusively with your wife, I get why you enjoy it - most of the Martin's designs require 3+ players to really shine and Anno 1800 looks like it scales beautifully for 2.

@@bushibayushi hehe, i remember trying a 2p variant for automobile... it did not go well! :)

this game has zero negative interaction between players, because that's part of it's thematic DNA :)

@@rahdo ??? I never specifically said anything about negative interaction. I just said that - in my opinion - the reason that people play games to begin with - as opposed to other alternate hobbies, such as watching TV, for example - is to have a good time (with their friend, family member/relative, etc.) and be an active participant in the activity which they are taking a part in. Whether that interaction is positive or negative in nature is irrelevant in this conversation.

@@JJ_TheGreat sorry i must have misunderstood your point (tbh i'm so used to people meaning attacking when they say 'interaction' i was probably on auto-pilot. sorry :) plenty of people play games solely for the joy of solving problems. plenty of people do crossword and sudoku problems for the same reason. plenty of folks aren't looking for a social component to their gaming at all (including many videogame players) :)

@@rahdo True - but the perception of board games is that you can play them with others. Historically, most people played board games to begin with because they wanted a social element with their friends/family. On the other hand, I see video games historically as originally being solo games, even though you can now definitely play multi-player (kind of the opposite of board games - where now-a-days a solo game of a board game is almost required, but this is a recent trend). Also, as far as sudoku and other puzzles - although you could make/get a hold of a second copy and do it at the same time - or even work together on a puzzle, I see those as meaning to be completed as a solo activity (much like most non-gamers [“muggles”] would see board games as only a multi-player activity).

@@JJ_TheGreat solo gaming is hugely on the rise in the industry. it's getting to the point where publishers hurt their bottom line if they don't include solo modes. so more ways to play is a good thing in my book :)