How to Solo: Viticulture Essential Edition

This week on The Mill I noticed that I had never showed you how to play one of my favorite Automa, and that is the Automa of Viticulture Essential Edition. This week we're leaving Tuscany in the box and just looking at the classic Viticulture:EE solo mode.
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Transparency Statement - This channel is sponsored by Stonemaier Games. This isn’t a review channel though. Jamey has made it VERY clear that Stonemaier Games doesn't pay for reviews. I am not a reviewer. I am passionate about Stonemaier Games though, and they sponsor me so that this fan-focused channel can exist. I create this content on my own, and while Jamey watches these videos, he doesn’t review any content in advance. There is also no guidance in terms of what games or topics I should cover. I want to be as fully transparent as I can, so if you have any further questions, please feel free to post them in the comments.
Credits:
- A special thank you to Maximilian Berbechelov for The Mill's terrific logo

[@Bames007Jond]

Today I sat down to learn Viticulture on Tabletopia. I was happy to find this video to teach it solo on that platform. Thanks.

[@TheMillShow]

I'm so glad to hear that it was of value to you! Wishing you the best summer/winter visitors and the right wine orders at the right time. :)

[@jesperkjr]

Just got Viticulture Essential ed. and wanted to give it a spin solo before playing with the family.
I like the digital format, as you have few issues with the kamera, angles, focus etc., so thumbs up for that.
All in all the video felt like a bit of a mess, jumping back and forth, there is a lot of "let's just ignore that" and some cases of mentioning stuff instead of showing it... It would have been nice with a step by step run through of a complete turn or two.
At 16:00 you say that on hard level the Automa will even cover the winter spots for drawing and filling a wine order in the summer season.
The hard automa rules says (in short);
// Keep drawing cards until the Automa has placed 2 workers in the current season. Place workers on all spots listed on the extra cards, but not on already occupied spaces. //
- I read that as you may be placing 2, 3, or more meeples (as you must fill all spots), but I don't see that you should ignore the summer / winter placement restriction? Am I missing something?
Hard difficulty is one thing, but getting a jump on the winter season as well seems brutal (which could be a level above "very hard" :-) )

[@Excuse711]

Thank you for sharing!

[@TheMillShow]

Excuse711 Thank you for watching!

[@stacie_everdell]

How to Solo: Viticulture Essential Edition: Digital Edition ;)

[@TheMillShow]

Yep. Same rules. Much easier presentation.

[@ramyahoo]

Dumb comment: It's not the digital version. This is the same as the physical board game.

[@CL-gc6pe]

I can't win at normal mode 😭

[@TheMillShow]

You will, my friend. You will. Just keep at it. It's remarkable how many of these Stonemaier solo games I've struggled to beat the easiest mode and then a few games in, it's getting closer.. and closer. My recommendation, especially when playing against Automa, is to remember it's a race. The Automa is going to steadily be picking up VP, for the most part. Make the moves that are going to bring you VP. It's not an 'always do the points' but you do want to keep that in the front of your mind. Also, don't be afraid to try a new strategy from time to time. Maybe head over to BGG and read a strategy game. Are you taking enough advantage of visitors? Are you focusing on wine making alone? Are you getting enough workers, etc. There are several paths to victory, but you got this, Cheryl.

[@CL-gc6pe]

@@TheMillShow Thank you! I will keep that in mind and thanks to your tutorial I can select which to get first in the wake up chart. (I thought you can only select on the initial round) It really helped!
I went from 1 win out of 9 games to 2 wins out of 4 games. thank you! 😁

[@JulietMcArthur]

Good explanation but it would have been better (less fidley and more straightforward) to just use a real board and hand pieces

[@TheMillShow]

Thank you for the feedback. I have long appreciated the digital versions because they provided for a very clean appearance, but you're right that there's nothing like seeing actual cardboard displayed.