The Race against ATOM and PLUTON

A solo variant for Manhattan Project

In this solitaire variant, you will be racing against one or two robot opponents, called ATOM and PLUTON, to raise your nation to
superpower status first and win the game by earning 70 victory points.

The robots are actually AI opponents and also serve as a game timer. They will steadily earn victory points (VP) throughout the game
and will win if they reach 70VP before you do. You can play against a robot of your choice, or against both (recommended). While
PLUTON behaves more like a regular player, focusing on buying and using his buildings, ATOM is more aggressive and will probably
attack you more than you experience with human players.

In their slow and steady way, the robots will earn 2 VPs for each turn they take. You will need some way to track those points. When
playing with two robots you only need to track the VPs of one, since they will always progress equally. We recommend to give the robots
an 8VP head start. So it is indeed a race to the finish. You can modify the difficulty by raising or lowering this starting value.

The game is played within the basic parameters of a 2-player game and will use 2D6 to help the robots decide where to place their
Workers. Sometimes their placement will serve no other purpose than to block you out, but other times they will proceed with the
selected actions.

There are just a couple of changes in terms of how you will play:
3 Bomb cards are available, and you may choose 1 with the Design Bomb action. Discard the other 2.
The middle Mine action requires a Scientist to be used.
To use the middle $ option in the Factories section, you must use an Engineer and spend 1 yellowcake cube
During an Air Strike you may bomb your opponents Buildings, Bombers and Espionage resources, reducing them by the usual 1:1
ratio.

Otherwise, you will play normally and take the first turn of the game. You may take the 6VP Implosion Test counter if you test a
Plutonium Bomb.
The robots each start with 4 Laborers, 1 Fighter and 1 Bomber as usual. They receive no money and dont need to pay any money for
any action. Similarly, in terms of practical gameplay, they will have no need for yellowcake cubes, nor uranium/plutonium (so there is no
need to place these markers). Thematically, this is because all such resources are being provided for them behind the scenes by these
backers as they support their steady and well concealed efforts toward victory.

The robots will always play to the main board first, then (if possible) to available buildings on their own player board. They will place as
many of their Workers as they can, while abiding any pertinent Worker requirements. They will always use Laborers if possible, and
when choosing between an Engineer and a Scientist, they will choose whichever they have the most of. In case of any ties not covered
by these rules use a D6 to choose randomly among the tied options. The robots will use Contractors before their own Workers
whenever they can. When a robot has no more Workers to place, he will retrieve his Workers in the usual manner.

To determine the main board actions the robots will take, roll 2d6 and follow the chart on the next page.
Note, that the robots act as two individual and indendent players, but they share the same die roll result. This means that, if the roll
result is a 11, ATOM will do Construction, while PLUTON will go to the Mines.

1 = Construction: Use a D6 to choose among the first 6 buildings, which is then placed on the robots player board.

2 = Air Strike: If a robot can get at least 1 Bomber through, he will prioritize targets as shown in the list. For equal choices within these
categories, hell go for the most productive; if still tied, use a D6 to choose. If he cannot get at least 1 Bomber through, then he gets
another Fighter, unless the reason he cannot attack you is that, although he has enough Fighters to clear the way, he has no Bombers,
in which case he gets 1 Bomber.

3 = Factories -- Aircraft spaces only (ignore the $ spaces): If a robot has a choice and less fighters than you, hell pick Fighters,
otherwise hell pick Bombers. In either case, he will add these to his fleet.

4 = Mines: Use a D6 to choose among the available spaces the robot has Workers for.

5 = Universities: Use a D6 to choose. If a robot can get either a Scientist or an Engineer (space 4), hell choose whichever he has the
least of (if tied, choose randomly).

6 = Espionage: Re-roll, if all your buildings are either occupied or damaged. Otherwise the spying robot will target your buildings to the
fullest extent possible, following the priority list on the next page.

After these main board actions, the active robot will place his Workers on his open buildings to the fullest extent possible, abiding by
applicable Worker requirements as usual. Hell use the priority order shown in Step II on the next page.

At the end of their turn the robots will increase their VP by 2.

If any instances arise where the robots choice still remains a toss-up within the parameters specified above, use the trusty D6 to make
that choice randomly.

For the robots turn(s) follow the overview chart on the next page.
STEP I Repair priority: (tie: most productive)
Check for ATOM and PLUTON: 1. Fighter prod. 4. Engineer prod.
a. No more workers to be placed? Retreive (no further actions), else 2. Bomber prod. 5. Laborers prod.
b. Damaged buildings? Repair if availabe (no further actions), else 3. Scientist prod.
c. Roll on table below and place worker on main board. Worker priority:
(roll result applies for both, ATOM and PLUTON)
1. Contractors
2. Own Laborers
Roll 2d6 3. Own Engineers/Scientists
ATOM PLUTON (re-roll is space is blocked) (whichever they have more)

Construction:
10 11 12 5 6 7 Random among first 6 (roll 1d6)

Air Strike:
a. no Bombers? +1 Bomber, else
b. cannot get Bomber through? +1 Fighter, else
c. Air Strike: Target undamaged buildings first.
2 7 10 Traget priority: (ties go to most productive)
1. Enrichment Plants 5. Factories (Bombers)
2. Reactors 6. Universities (Scientists)
3. Mines 7. Universities (Engineers)
4. Factories (Fighters) 8. Universities (Laborers)

Factories:
a. Less Fighters than you? +2 Fighter space, if available, else
3 5 4 b. +2 Bomber space, if available, else
c. Re-roll

Mines:
8 11 Random among free spaces and spaces he has workers for.

Universities:

6 3 8 9 a. Random among whichever he has least own workers, else

b. Random among Engineer, Scientist, Engineer/Scientist, else
c. Laborers

Espionage:
a. you have no free buildings? Re-roll, else
b. all your buildings are damaged? Re-roll, else
c. no matching workers to place? Re-roll, else
d. use as many buildings as possible.
4 9 2 12 Traget priority: (ties go to most productive)
1. Enrichment Plants 5. Factories (Bombers)
2. Reactors 6. Universities (Scientists)
3. Mines 7. Universities (Engineers)
4. Factories (Fighters) 8. Universities (Laborers)

STEP II Place as many workers as possible on own board.

Placing priority: (abiding worker requirements) Worker priority:
1. Universities (Scientists) 5. Factories (Bombers) 1. Contractors
2. Universities (Engineers) 6. Enrichment Plants 2. Own Laborers
3. Universities (Laborers) 7. Reactors 3. Own Engineers/Scientists
4. Factories (Fighters) 8. Mines (whichever they have more)
(tie goes to most productive)

Original variant by Dale Buonocore (Elad)

STEP III Earn 2 VP
Slightly modified and expanded by Lines J. Hutter (Lines42)