My first exposure to Sagrada was a demo at a convention a few years back. At the time, I was charmed by both the mechanics and the theme. I liked creating your own stain-glass window out of dice.
So when I saw Sagrada had been turned into a app and there was an approved solitaire mode. (I generally don’t like to play against AIs but solitaire variants are just dandy. That way, the game feels ‘real’ to me) So I had to have it.
And the solitaire variant kicked me so hard that I wondered if I had played a different game at that convention.
After I took a break, I went back planning on making a proper job of getting to know Sagrada. And I got some revelations.
Each round in the solitaire variant, you roll four dice and you do your best to place two of them. The unused dice (and if luck and bad planning are on your side, that could be all four) get discarded. The sum of the unused dice is the target score you’re trying to beat.
First of all, I did try some multiplayer games with AIs, even though Im not big on that. And I found out that trying to beat other players’ scores can be easier than hitting the target score in solitaire. Sometimes a lot easier.
And I also found out that the dice you spend to use tools in the solitaire game are removed from the game. That means they don’t go into the discards and don’t get added to the score you’re trying to beat. (Boy, do I feel stupid not realizing this sooner) That is a game changer. And, if you are like me and playing at the super easy level with five tools, you are potentially cutting out a quarter of the dice.
Since these revelations, the app and I have been best friends. I will say that bad luck can destroy any plans you have but you need good plans to make good luck work.
No comments:
Post a Comment