Tips arknova

Associated zoos count as a zoo icon for your card requirements. They also grant a -3 cost reduction for each icon on your animal card (meaning two Europe icons reduce cost by six).

If you find yourself lacking money, remember these tips:

-Gaining Partner Zoos reduces the cost of animals from those continents.

-Building costs 2 money per hex, so don't build needlessly.

-You can immediate money from "bonus icons", which are gained from A) building a structure on the appropriate hex space B) Conservation project cards that match the player token space with a money bonus C) Advance the Break icon with the Sponsors action (if upgraded, money earned is doubled). Otherwise, you only earn money during breaks.

-The more Appeal you have, the more money you earn during Breaks.

-During Break, Kiosks earn 1 money per building or occupied zoo space they are adjacent to. Place your Kiosks in space that are adjacent to as many different constructions as possible, not tucked away in a corner.

-If you have no money or workers, your best bet is to advance the break icon.

-At the beginning of the game, play low-cost animals to increase your Appeal.

-Play Sponsor cards that increase appeal or money.

Universities count as Research icons.

If your Association Action is upgraded, you can split the placement between two different workers if the total doesn't exceed the action strength. For example, a 5-strength Association Action lets you place one worker on the "Gain Reputation" task (power two) and one worker on the "Gain Partner Zoo" task (power three).

Don’t hoard cards. Drawing a large volume of cards takes time and you probably won’t be able to play everything. Especially before you can increase your hand size from three to five. Furthermore, all it takes is a coffee break to decimate a large hand.

Early game conservation points are weighted heavily by providing a lot of bonuses in the first 10 points. Being the first one to the bonus spaces is always better than being second or third, as bonuses are eliminated once selected by someone (excluding the 5 money). If possible, try to be as aggressive as you can be with scoring conservation points in the early game.

Every used cube from your "income space" provides those resources during each coffee break. This makes early game support of conservation projects fairly important by increasing the power of coffee breaks.

It can be much more efficient and effective to focus on supporting the bottom tier of multiple Conservation Projects. It tends to be more difficult to support the top tier of a conservation project, especially across multiple projects. You will probably end up scoring more conservation points overall by supporting the bottom tier of several projects.

Early game conservation points can upgrade your draw cards action, thereby letting you access higher reputation rewards; gaining even more bonuses.

Don’t focus too heavily on future cards that may never show up. One trap that new players can fall into is waiting to draw into certain cards with certain icons. Often this boils down to holding onto that Eurasian Brown Bear (which requires another bear tag to be in play), hoping beyond hope that you see, can draw, then play another bear tag.

Focus on as much early game synergy as possible. Between your starting hand, the base conservation projects, and the display, try to focus on drawing and playing cards that all work together and have some unifying synergy. This will help you score points quickly and effectively.

X tokens are a great way to boost actions immediately instead of having to wait for multiple turns for your desired action to move up to stage 5. Using a stage 5 action followed by a boosted stage 5 action can create powerful surges in your points and resources.

Ark Nova is a sprint, not a marathon. It all boils down to gaining appeal points and conservation points faster than anyone else. As a beginning player, it’s easy to become distracted by the options and animals at your disposal. Often it is best to "burst out" your available options as quickly as you can, establish a superior position on points, then work to end the game as quickly as you can.