What's your opinion, miss out on Cards or Association upgrade?

[Zulu]

I'm very interested in your opinion.

Let's say for whatever reason, you've upgraded Build, Sponsors and Animals leaving you with a choice of choosing just one to upgrade of Cards and Association.

Which one do you upgrade and which one do you ignore as not upgrading one will restrict you from either the goodies at the end of the hat track or to only having two partners? And what might influence you in your choice?

[MezJ]

Well if my end Game goal is 15 Hats, and I’m looking for very specific icons, I’d probably upgrade Cards.

If I have 2 Conservation points under the last worker, there’s still cheap donation actions left on the board, I’m probably choosing conservation.

[booksfr]

always cards. i almost never upgrade association. I think it's the weakest option, especially as there are cards that allow you to release that third worker but no no alternative to getting all the +9 bonuses and +2 appeal on the cards track. And those are free bonuses unlike having to pay for donations ala Association's upgrade.

[Zulu]

Well if my end Game goal is 15 Hats, and I’m looking for very specific icons, I’d probably upgrade Cards.

If I have 2 Conservation points under the last worker, there’s still cheap donation actions left on the board, I’m probably choosing conservation.

So depends on context. Seems like that's the case with so many decisions in the game which is one reason it's such a good game.

[Zulu]

always cards. i almost never upgrade association. I think it's the weakest option, especially as there are cards that allow you to release that third worker but no no alternative to getting all the +9 bonuses and +2 appeal on the cards track. And those are free bonuses unlike having to pay for donations ala Association's upgrade.

I'm assuming you have to manage things carefully though, as you're only getting a couple of partner zoos, so no animals with this as a requirement unless you're playing the Research Institute map.

I'm only a beginner and have noticed that being able to have both Animals and Sponsors upgraded can work out well, but when doing that something else has to go and it's unlikely to be Build.

[booksfr]

I'm assuming you have to manage things carefully though, as you're only getting a couple of partner zoos, so no animals with this as a requirement unless you're playing the Research Institute map.

There are enough animal options that I never feel restricted by only having two partners. For me, there are two downsides of not having upgrading Association. The first is that third worker which is remedied as I noted. The other, for me, is those early donations and since those can be quickly taken by others, it becomes moot after early game.

Sponsors is more often than not my go-to first choice and a lot of it because most people choose Association or Build as their first upgrade (or both as 1 and 2). this gives me a running advantage many games for having display access throughout the game for it. the only time I'll choose Association is if I am in a three-player game, no good sponsor cards in my hand, and my opponents haven't upgraded their Association card either and I can do a quick run of upgrading all my other cards. But if I don't see a clear path to those early donation points in the first round, I won't bother with it.

[pjt33]

The other advantage of upgrading Association is being able to take two association actions in a single card activation, but the utility of that is downgraded considerably if you don't have Cards upgraded because you'll hit the research cap and the strength two association action will become worthless.

Looking at the overall stats is interesting. I nearly always upgrade Cards (98% of games played), but I'm twice as likely both to upgrade Sponsors as most people (66%, vs 34% for people overall and 33% for winners). It's fairly even which of Animals, Build, and Sponsors I don't upgrade.

[Propaganda_Panda]

As with everything in Ark Nova, it depends on the game state. If you are not sure, I would always upgrade Cards over Association. There are some few games where it is okay to not upgrade one of the big 3 must-upgrades (Build, Animals, Cards), with Cards being the upgrade which is the easiest to forfeit. But I would only recommend this to experienced and decently strong players, as it is both hard to assess and execute. If you are a beginner or still trying to climb over that 300 threshold, you should upgrade Cards in every game, especially as games in lower elo tend to last longer, therefore making it even more likely for you to get all these juicy reputation bonuses.