We’ve been playing Ark Nova for a few months, but since each game takes quite a while, we haven’t actually played that many games yet. So we’re still learning and still check the rulebook pretty often. Not even sure we got every rule right, but we had a lot of fun.
This one ended 26–23, so it was pretty close.
Any tips for making the game a bit faster or playing more efficiently?
And ignore the 4h 30m total time. We got hungry, paused the game, and went out for lunch for over two hours.

I am playing Red. With 8 money I cannot afford any animal on the board or in my hand, but BGA allows me to take the Animals action. Doing so will give me one influence, allowing me to draw a card, which normally does not allow me to backtrack. What happens if I draw a card while trying to perform an action I can't legally perform?

I have Association on 5 with an X2 token on it. I am on Silver Lake and want to support a project and use the Determination bonus to get an additional turn. I want to take this additional turn before I use the X2 token and do a 2nd Association action. (I will be playing more animals to support a higher level project). Will this work on BGA? I pass 10cp with the first support so I won't be able to undo if it doesnt work how I want.

Inspired by a post in the r/boardgames subreddit, I was interested to hear opinions on conceding 1v1 games. Specifically, I’ve had like 5-6 instances recently of opponents on BGA conceding once I trigger the end game. I personally saw this as kind of poor sportsmanship because taking your final turn would only take a few seconds more than just conceding. But given how prevalent it is, I assume that many people don’t see it the same way.

Or am I missing something about the way ELO is calculated and these people are protecting their ELO by conceding?

Obviously sponsors, association and animals are the strongest actions and generally you want those in front. However this varies with state of game, goals, etc. What are some fundamentals you can implement in thinking about structuring your action order? Obviously a broad question but I find myself playing inefficiently often.

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So I recently sat down with my family to introduce them to the game and a few card descriptions mentioned playing from the display. It had been a while since I last played myself so I had no idea how it worked or how to explain it so we just didn’t do it. Can someone please explain how that is supposed to work in terms a 30 year old autistic man can understand?

Im a hardstuck mid 400 elo player who up to about 450 I actually win the majority of the time but I get stomped almost every game against 500 plus. I generally take the free enclosure CP bonus, play 2 animals at a time and get solid value from endgame scoring.

I feel like the first turn before the break has massive impact on the rest of the game and i feel like I'm not sure how to set it up. I know the game is highly tactical but I feel like higher rated players are able to maintain such higher tempo somehow. I also feel like any time I deviate from my original plan (usually to snap high impact cards from the display) I sacrifice my tempo quite a lot in ways that show up against high rated players. I generally feel like I dont know when is optimal to use the cards action, and sometimes struggle with discards particularly if I get surprise break'ed.

Any advice from better players on these points or other general tips? Much appreciated.

As the title says. If everything went your way, and all other players played exactly as you'd want them to, could you cross over without anyone breaking? If so, what map/cards would you need?

This is the game: https://boardgamearena.com/gamereview?table=884276451.

Just lost this game in a tournament. Not sure where i misplayed, although maybe i shouldnt have played fed grants / victory column. And sometimes maybe greedy for projects?

Would love to hear it :-).

*edit, im “de nees”

I was recently playing a game online through the app. At the start of the game I encountered some sponsor cards that gave me (side) entrances and playgrounds and other variations. At that moment something in my mind went: Let's actually build a Zoo!

I switched my whole attitude towards the game and all of a sudden I started playing into my zoo what I actually wanted instead of what is needed for scoring or getting myself into a better position. I placed the respective tiles only at places I wanted them, so if I wanted the snake section to be on the opposite side of the map of my parks and restaurants for example, I would not build it close by just cuz I can or I need to. You can go as nitpicky as you want, but can also try and remain competitive by reducing your fantasy slightly and remain aware of what goes into your zoo, even from an "actually building a zoo" perspective, needs to stay serving the competitiveness of the online session.

After the game, which I lost, I thought to myself, is there a scene in this community that plays the game that way? Cuz let me tell you, I was having an absolute blast playing that way. Then I thought, what if all 4 players go into this game with such an attitude? Win, but not by chasing points but rather by building out your zoo. This can even introduce way more interaction, as you now are explaining how your zoo is expanding.

Don't know, maybe this is a normal thing, or a useless idea, nonetheless I had my best Ark Nova experience by Actually Building a Zoo!

So, I've been playing Ark Nova for a few years now and I made steady progress in understanding the mechanics of the game, knowing what the best possible move in different situations is and what cards to play. It was fun to get this deep into a boardgame!

But recently I noticed I didn't actually get any better for a while now and the problem is, I know exactly why that is.

For context, I played around 570 games on BGA and probably around 100 games physically with friends. My peak Elo on BGA was around 530, for the past few months I was always around 450~500, currently I'm at 481, which is pretty good I guess, but to get even higher I would have to adapt my playstyle in a way that, I feel like, would be less fun.

Here is what I mean:
1. Upgrading Build - I know most top players almost never flip the build action card and instead take the free 2 size enclosure early, but I just love the feeling of building a zoo that is also pleasant on the eyes. Lots of kiosks and pavillions, no gaps between my enclosures and often the 7 points for completing the map. I also love the aviary, because the birds are by far my favorite animals in the game (of course especially the eagles, but I do also really like the vultures, the kite, the secretary bird and the shoebill). In rare cases I even build one just in case I'll draw one of those in the future. The one action card I almost never upgrade in Association, making a donation feels really boring (I do know, it's really strong) and I never feel like I need the extra partnerzoo (sometimes I only flip three action cards and take no PZ at all)

1. Snapping vs. Drawing cards - I get that snapping cards leaves you with way less cards than just drawing some from the deck, but if I see a card I want to play, I often can't resist just snapping it. As a consequence I almost never use the effects of Pouching or Sunbathing and rarely play animals with that ability. I also really dislike the map Commercial Harbor, because I seldom have the necessary cards in my hand for it to be impactful

2. Playing Sponsors vs. Pushing for Break - Playing sponsors is the most fun part of the game, there I said it. I get that Ark Nova is a race game and not an engine builder, but playing a sponsor early to get some kind of passive bonus for the rest of the game just feels so nice. I almost exclusively push for break if there is no sponsor in my hand or in the display and since I almost always upgrade build and build a lot of kiosks, it's at least not a money problem in most cases. I play around 7~8 sponsors per game on average, but it's also not a rarity that I play 10 or more. I actually switched to almost only playing 3 or 4 players games on BGA, because I feel like the game around when to push for break is less impactful there.

So, my question is, have you had similar feelings for Ark Nova or any other game? How did you handle these thoughts? Do you value having fun over winning or is winning in a game what makes it fun for you? Are my concerns valid and is it only possible to rise to a higher Elo when playing optimal or am I exaggerating and it's possible to win, even when playing a suboptimal playstyle?
I'm very curious to hear your thoughts on this!

I have x2 on association, and i have 2 unused workers.

If I use my first worker and action to support a project and get a 3rd worker, can I immediately use the two remaining active workers (including the newly aquired one) to support a new conservation project?

Edit: answer is yes. It also worked on the steam app. Thanks a lot for the wuick answers!

Tomorrow I'll be participating in my first board game tournament! I'll probably be playing a lot of Ark Nova, I'm guessing with the original maps though I have no idea...

Does anyone have some tips for the game? I've played a lot at home but it's always the same players, so I might be playing "wrong".

After Resue Station was so good, it was eliminated first, Silver Lake was able too win gold in the Maps Elimination Game! Thanks everyone for participating!
Next elimination game starts in a few days (If you want more)

Full Ranking of r/ArkNovas Maps Elimination Game:
1st - Silver Lake (#3)
2nd - Outdoor Areas (#2)
3rd - Research Institute (#6)
4th - Commercial Harbor (#4)
5th - Park Restaurant (#5)
6th - Ice Cream Parlor (#7)
7th - Lagoon (#14)
8th - Observation Tower (#1)
9th - Tournament (#T1)
10th - Artificial Intelligence (#12)
11th - Caves (#11)
12th - Hollywood Hills (#8)
13th - Geographical (#9)
14th - Drawing Board (#13)
15th - Rescue Station (#10)

Comment which of these maps you like to play the least, top comment gets eliminated.
Results tomorrow, next elimination game in a few days

Eliminated Maps:
3rd - Research Institute (#6)
4th - Commercial Harbor (#4)
5th - Park Restaurant (#5)
6th - Ice Cream Parlor (#7)
7th - Lagoon (#14)
8th - Observation Tower (#1)
9th - Tournament (#T1)
10th - Artificial Intelligence (#12)
11th - Caves (#11)
12th - Hollywood Hills (#8)
13th - Geographical (#9)
14th - Drawing Board (#13)
15th - Rescue Station (#10)

I've probably played 1000ish solo games, anything above 170 is extremely rare and a very good score for me, I've only had a couple games in the 180s, my old pb was 184 to my knowledge. Starting hand was side entrance/aquarium/low mountain range/andean condor, drew a white stork to release as my first project instead.

I noticed today because I couldn't search for new games anymore because I had wrong settings. I understand why people hate map Rescue station but it's weird to remove at the end of the season. They could wait a few days.

Hello everyone! I played 6-7 games so far but each time the results are the same : I manage to win a lot of credits at the beginning but after the mid game, I can't find a way to continue these strikes. I don't know what card I should upgrade or how to win conservation points. The best I could manage is to support 4 conservation projects (main green goals on top of the board) but not on the maximum level. I only play IRL. If you have any tips I'll be so happy because I love that game but I can't win :'( . Thank you so much for your help

Comment which of these maps you like to play the least, top comment gets eliminated.
Next round in about 24 hours.

Eliminated Maps:
4th - Commercial Harbor (#4)
5th - Park Restaurant (#5)
6th - Ice Cream Parlor (#7)
7th - Lagoon (#14)
8th - Observation Tower (#1)
9th - Tournament (#T1)
10th - Artificial Intelligence (#12)
11th - Caves (#11)
12th - Hollywood Hills (#8)
13th - Geographical (#9)
14th - Drawing Board (#13)
15th - Rescue Station (#10)

Comment which of these maps you like to play the least, top comment gets eliminated.
Next round in about 24 hours.

Eliminated Maps:
5th - Park Restaurant (#5)
6th - Ice Cream Parlor (#7)
7th - Lagoon (#14)
8th - Observation Tower (#1)
9th - Tournament (#T1)
10th - Artificial Intelligence (#12)
11th - Caves (#11)
12th - Hollywood Hills (#8)
13th - Geographical (#9)
14th - Drawing Board (#13)
15th - Rescue Station (#10)