Unsuccessful player seeking hints

[Remkar]

I found that this game played as solo is very challenging, with no possible difficulty level to set.

I tried it in paper with all different zoo maps, and not all of them (IMHO) are compatible with a win in solo game.

What I don't understand in solo mode is why I'm losing points at the end? (It's a Wonderful World does that in solo mode too). I thought I was going along great and then bam...finished at -30.

It looks like it's showing you how far from victory you were (i.e., the old scoring system).

So, you scored 70, you need 100 to win, so the -30 is showing that you were 30 points away from victory.

I'm honestly not sure if that's how it's supposed to display, or if that's an oversite when they made the change to the new scoring system.

[Panthergirl]

I found that this game played as solo is very challenging, with no possible difficulty level to set.

I tried it in paper with all different zoo maps, and not all of them (IMHO) are compatible with a win in solo game.

What I don't understand in solo mode is why I'm losing points at the end? (It's a Wonderful World does that in solo mode too). I thought I was going along great and then bam...finished at -30.

It looks like it's showing you how far from victory you were (i.e., the old scoring system).

So, you scored 70, you need 100 to win, so the -30 is showing that you were 30 points away from victory.

I'm honestly not sure if that's how it's supposed to display, or if that's an oversite when they made the change to the new scoring system.

Oh! OK I didn't know that 100 was the scoring goal. I thought my upper token and my lower token had to meet in the middle on the map somehow. I'm still not super clear on the points but I'll get there. Thank you for taking the time to look at my game! (this is an improvement from a previous game where I was -42, so I'm encouraged!)

[Tisaac]

I found that this game played as solo is very challenging, with no possible difficulty level to set.

I tried it in paper with all different zoo maps, and not all of them (IMHO) are compatible with a win in solo game.

What I don't understand in solo mode is why I'm losing points at the end? (It's a Wonderful World does that in solo mode too). I thought I was going along great and then bam...finished at -30.

It looks like it's showing you how far from victory you were (i.e., the old scoring system).

So, you scored 70, you need 100 to win, so the -30 is showing that you were 30 points away from victory.

I'm honestly not sure if that's how it's supposed to display, or if that's an oversite when they made the change to the new scoring system.

It's clearly explained in the log though at the end of any solo game : "due to technical constraints, blablabla...."

[Remkar]

It's clearly explained in the log though at the end of any solo game : "due to technical constraints, blablabla...."

I'm sorry, Tissac, I can't find it.

I checked my last solo game and hers, and didn't see anything.

Here is everything in the log included with her final move to the end of the log:

Move 129 :10:29:48 AM
The display is replenished with Science Institute
Panthergirl gains 3 appeal (Expert On Africa)
Panthergirl gains 1 conservation (Large Animal Zoo)
Panthergirl has 55 and scores 15 for having 13. Panthergirl scores 70.
End of game (defeat)


It shows her "proper" score of 70, but I don't see any reference to technical constraints and the -30 score.

Apologies if I'm just missing something.

[Remkar]

Oh! OK I didn't know that 100 was the scoring goal. I thought my upper token and my lower token had to meet in the middle on the map somehow. I'm still not super clear on the points but I'll get there. Thank you for taking the time to look at my game! (this is an improvement from a previous game where I was -42, so I'm encouraged!)

Yeah, it is when they cross, but it's set up so that no matter where they cross (meet), the score will be 100 (it used to be 0 in the first edition of the physical game and most of the time it was in alpha and beta on here, but the developer changed it recently to 100).

[Tisaac]

It's clearly explained in the log though at the end of any solo game : "due to technical constraints, blablabla...."

I'm sorry, Tissac, I can't find it.

I checked my last solo game and hers, and didn't see anything.

Here is everything in the log included with her final move to the end of the log:

Move 129 :10:29:48 AM
The display is replenished with Science Institute
Panthergirl gains 3 appeal (Expert On Africa)
Panthergirl gains 1 conservation (Large Animal Zoo)
Panthergirl has 55 and scores 15 for having 13. Panthergirl scores 70.
End of game (defeat)


It shows her "proper" score of 70, but I don't see any reference to technical constraints and the -30 score.

Apologies if I'm just missing something.

It looks like the message is only displayed if the score is 0, I cant remember if that was wanted or not :
" Game result notice: In spring 2023, the game scoring has been changed in general and the solo mode scoring in particular was changed from a 0-point success to a 100-point success system. Due to technical restrications, BGA still uses the old 0-point success system for now. Due to this fact 100 points are subtracted from your score at the end of the game and you achieve a victory if you score 0 or more points."

[Panthergirl]

This strategy guide video with some tier lists may help. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_ZjChoUZtIo
A few basics to add:
Maximize your income early. Focus on conservation points later.
Build around 2 base conservation projects and your sponsor cards.
Have a plan to get your 2nd worker. I prefer using the reputation track or 3rd partner zoo bonus. I think using the 2 conservation point bonus or the conservation project bonus is giving up too much.

The combination of foxfor8"s tutorial (still in Alpha, but excellent), the in-game tour, the tips on this forum and the strategy guide on YouTube have FINALLY resulted in me "winning" a solo game! I've scored over 100 in a couple of friendlies but couldn't break 100 in solo games until I studied a lot. I wanted to screenshot my score of 16