You do not need friends online to play an auction. A solo auction puts you against three to eight computer managers, each with a club, a name and a personality, and you choose how good they are. The same managers then run their clubs through the season, and the goal is to finish above every one of them.
The four levels
The level decides who turns up and how well they play.
- Easy. Journeymen managers who misjudge players, blow their money early and never snipe. A good first game.
- Medium. Solid top-flight bosses. Sensible prices, decent planning, the odd mistake.
- Hard. Trophy winners. They price players accurately, plan their money across the auction, snipe in the dying seconds and push the price up on players you clearly want.
- Impossible. The all-time greats. Everything Hard does, plus a quarter more money than you and knowledge of which players are still to come in each position.
Personalities
Every computer manager bids in a style that suits him, shown under his name in the auction room.
- The Galáctico goes all in on stars and cares less about the rest.
- Moneyball hunts value: cheap players, careful prices, money kept in reserve.
- All-rounder spreads the budget evenly.
- Defence first spends on the keeper and the back line.
- All-out attack spends on goals.
- The Gambler makes wild jump bids and is hard to predict.
How the computer bids
Each computer manager values a player by how good he is, how much it needs the position, how much money it has left for the positions still to come and its personality. It reacts like a person: a moment after the last bid, with mostly small raises and occasionally a big jump. The stronger levels sometimes wait until the last second to bid.
The machines fight each other too. If you sit out a player, two or three of them may drive his price up between themselves, which is often good news for you: whoever wins has less to spend later.
They play the season, not just the auction
Computer managers coach their clubs through the season, and the better ones get more out of a squad than the ratings suggest. On Hard and Impossible they are genuine tactical operators: a squad that looks mid-table on paper can push for the top places. Building the strongest squad is only half the job. You have to beat them on the pitch too.
Strategies that work
Let them fight. When two rich managers want the same star, stay out. The winner pays a premium and has less for later positions.
Target their blind spots. A Defence first manager will not chase your strikers hard. A Galáctico will let a solid midfielder go cheaply.
Do not hoard. The stronger levels invest their money as they go. If you save everything for the end, the best players will already be gone, and the computer will not be short of cash either.
Mind the last players in a position. When there are fewer players left than managers who need one, prices rise sharply. Make sure you are not the one left with the scraps.
Pausing
A solo auction can be paused at any time, and it pauses itself if you switch tabs or close the page. Every clock stops and the computer managers wait. Take your time over a big decision.
Rewards
Finishing a solo season above every computer manager earns an achievement for that level: Warm-Up on Easy, Man vs Machine on Medium, Machine Breaker on Hard and The Impossible on Impossible. Beating a level also gives you the easier ones. Leaving a Hard or Impossible auction with the best squad in the room earns Auction Shark.
Every solo season also counts towards the Vs AI leaderboard: one point for beating Easy, two for Medium, four for Hard and eight for Impossible.
Choosing the number of rivals
More rivals means more competition for every player. With three computer managers, plenty of good players go cheaply and you can afford a strong squad. With eight, almost every position becomes a fight and the scraps come round more often. For a first attempt at a new level, start with four or five rivals, then add more as you learn how they bid.
Adding computer managers to a game with friends
Computer managers are not only for solo play. When you set up an auction with friends, you can add one to eight of them at any level. They bid alongside you, run their clubs through the season and appear in Wrapped with everyone else.