I was 300 ELO for 300 games. Now I'm 500 ELO. Here's what I learned

[calvaria]

Keeping a release card or releasable animal and hoping for its match is essentially relying on luck. Is this really the best that can be done with a non-matching start hand?

If you don't see icons for the projects, you will see releases/animals to release/good sponsors/rocky zoo/aquatic/research. The game has a way of balancing itself, you just got to be open to the opportunities past the 3 base projects.

[werfmark]

Mostly agreed.

Disagree on point 5 a bit. Income is not such a huge deal as many make it out to be.

Problem with high income is that it's hard to spend it all in later rounds. Action efficient animals are popular at that stage and the assocation money => cp conversion isn't great. Many strong strategies that are fairly income light (for example releasing often) but still do well.

Upgrading association is just getting rarer and rarer, especially if you upgrade it late there often isn't much value in it. Upgrading sponsor has turned out to be much better than expected and kind of works better with a low income strategy (sponsor can give money itself and you likely won't upgrade association).
Also getting worker from CP track is much better than it looks and usually means not upgrading association either. Goes well with a fairly low income strategy as well but just associating more often. The thing with associate upgrade is that it doesn't actually give you more association power, just let's you dump X tokens on it. But often later rounds you just want to CP non-stop so upgraded association doesn't really help there.

Build upgrade is also highly overrated. It's often nice early for the typical kiosk + pavilion + 2 space + 1 space move etc, especially on maps where you have good placement bonusesses (silver lake and icecream parlors). On lots of other maps you often don't really need build upgrade and can just use releases, flocking, the 2 size bonus etc to get plenty of room to build animals.

In general most players would probably improve by trying 2 CP worker bonus and sponsor upgrade more instead of build/association upgrade.

[demyurge]

Mostly agreed.

Disagree on point 5 a bit. Income is not such a huge deal as many make it out to be.

Problem with high income is that it's hard to spend it all in later rounds. Action efficient animals are popular at that stage and the assocation money => cp conversion isn't great. Many strong strategies that are fairly income light (for example releasing often) but still do well.

Upgrading association is just getting rarer and rarer, especially if you upgrade it late there often isn't much value in it. Upgrading sponsor has turned out to be much better than expected and kind of works better with a low income strategy (sponsor can give money itself and you likely won't upgrade association).
Also getting worker from CP track is much better than it looks and usually means not upgrading association either. Goes well with a fairly low income strategy as well but just associating more often. The thing with associate upgrade is that it doesn't actually give you more association power, just let's you dump X tokens on it. But often later rounds you just want to CP non-stop so upgraded association doesn't really help there.

Build upgrade is also highly overrated. It's often nice early for the typical kiosk + pavilion + 2 space + 1 space move etc, especially on maps where you have good placement bonusesses (silver lake and icecream parlors). On lots of other maps you often don't really need build upgrade and can just use releases, flocking, the 2 size bonus etc to get plenty of room to build animals.

In general most players would probably improve by trying 2 CP worker bonus and sponsor upgrade more instead of build/association upgrade.

I don't know. On one hand, upgrade sponsors / get 2 CP worker seems to be the new meta among some strong players. On the other hand, I got a lot of success recently just playing with a more traditional approach, upgrading association rather than sponsors. If you go partner zoos you can get a worker from the third one. If you go universities, you can get a worker from 8 reputation. Also you often don't need a second worker until the mid to late game, unless you're spamming sponsors instead of pushing the break. But as always in Ark Nova this is map and situation dependant.

[MaxP77]

I'm not sure what is meant by point 10:

10. Be on the lookout for…release animals (mentioned above) and ….

How should I keep an eye out? Are there specific animals that are more profitable to release into the wild than others?


- If you draw cards randomly (without immediate sunbathing) you automatically lose 100 elo. It is known.

Can you please explain that?

[pjt33]

I'm not sure what is meant by point 10:

10. Be on the lookout for…release animals (mentioned above) and ….

How should I keep an eye out? Are there specific animals that are more profitable to release into the wild than others?

When you release an animal you lose its appeal and gain conservation points. The CP gained depend only on the size. Consider using slot 2 (size 3 animal) of the Europe release (Bavarian Forest National Park). If you release Greater Flamingo you lose 7 appeal and gain 4 CP, for a net score of 5 (treating a CP as worth 3 appeal, which is true once you pass 10CP). If you release Eurasian Lynx you lose 2 appeal and gain 4 CP, for a net score of 10. Iconic animals are the most profitable to release. Cheap animals with low appeal are also useful to release, because in general the appeal gain cancels out the appeal loss so e.g. paying 4 for a Slow Worm to immediately release it or paying 9 for a European Pond Turtle to immediately release it gives the same net gain (3 CP) but at different costs.

[DoctorFianchetto]

- If you draw cards randomly (without immediate sunbathing) you automatically lose 100 elo. It is known.

Can you please explain that?

I would like to know this as well - it's better to draw one card at at time why?

[sorryimlikethis]

- If you draw cards randomly (without immediate sunbathing) you automatically lose 100 elo. It is known.

Can you please explain that?

I would like to know this as well - it's better to draw one card at at time why?

In Ark Nova every new card you see is a piece of information you need to react to. If you have Cards upgraded then drawing 1 at a time allows you to react to the 1st card you draw, then the 2nd card you draw, etc., instead of reacting to all 4 at once. There is 0 downside to doing this in-game, the only downside is it takes a few extra seconds of your time.

Examples where this can become relevant...

Card 1 you draw is the Africa Release Project. Now you can draw up the African Ostrich that was in range that you previously did not care about.

Card 2 you draw is Science Museum. Now the Science Institute that was irrelevant is the exact card you need to make it playable.

[DoctorFianchetto]

Great explanation, thank you.

[calvaria]

I'm not sure what is meant by point 10:

- If you draw cards randomly (without immediate sunbathing) you automatically lose 100 elo. It is known.

Can you please explain that?

While sorryimlikethis writes a great explanation on how to approach drawing cards, which is 1 by 1 when cards is upgraded, as the cards on display may suddenly prove useful with each new card drawn, this is not what I meant when I wrote point number 10.

It has more to do with players sometimes trying to fish out some better cards than what they currently have. E.g they lack a sponsor to play and they feel like they need to play one, becuase they still have an association worker available. Or they overestimate the luck of drawing 3/discard 1 in favour of snapping. Snapping denies your opponent a potential strategy, so learning how and what and when to snap certain cards is definitely a core skill to have.

Another point to make here is break management, which some players don't take into account. Even if it's just a 2 jump, you should be aware of whether your opponent profits from the break or is punished by it. 2x-ing sponsors for the 7 jump, or playing a tarsier, cougar, langur, ibex, pigmy hippo is not uncommon, moreso if the projects and enclosures built for those animals align.

Finally, finishing a break with cards 5 ready comes in quite handy for a substantial snap, for either you or your opponent. Plan accordingly.

[Artymysia]

I agree with all of this. Spot on expert assessment of the game. I actually wish you never posted so these plebes can forever be stuck in the dirt.