Board Game Arena

Everytime I play them, the native seabirds, native farm animals, free-range monkeys... I try to get good income and points without filling up my map, but it's so much harder. These feel unnecessarily weak to trigger their end-game points. Why? Or what am I missing?

It's a trade-off between instant points and end-game points. Native Lizards gives you appeal for each rock you are touching, but the end-game wants you to have isolated rocks. You can't maximise both. While there is some synergy between their end-games and the Naturalist's Zoo end-game I feel most of the time it's a trap to try to maximise them. I've found they are best used as a way to get 6-9 points in the mid-game while giving a potentially handy animal icon.

Native Farm Animals is the exception in that you can score decently with its instant ability and end-game, but it requires you to play around it a lot.

I'd say they are highly dependent on maps. Free-range monkeys can be awesome for map 3 and 7, but falls into trash tier for almost all other maps. I'd say it's worth playing if you can get 4-5 appeal without too much interuption of your original building plan, otherwise probably not worth it.

The main value I see in those cards is the animal symbol when it's useful to get an early conservation project without spending money on a building and an animal.

What is isolated?
eg. does this water count as isolated?
https://snipboard.io/rN5GqD.jpg

I pretty much only play them for the animal symbols when there are respective conservation projects. It's nice to also grab some appeal while you're at it, I think the most I ever got was 4.

Playing a sponsor card for three appeal and an icon is still mostly better than breaking for cash.

sorryimlikethis wrote: ↑06 September 2023, 05:14 It's a trade-off between instant points and end-game points. Native Lizards gives you appeal for each rock you are touching, but the end-game wants you to have isolated rocks. You can't maximise both.

Native Seabirds works like this (for water spaces), but Native Lizards gives you appeal and and endgame point for connected rocks. Native Lizards doesn’t give you anything for isolated rocks.

OnePercentZombie wrote: ↑06 September 2023, 01:26 Everytime I play them, the native seabirds, native farm animals, free-range monkeys... I try to get good income and points without filling up my map, but it's so much harder. These feel unnecessarily weak to trigger their end-game points. Why? Or what am I missing?

Native Lizards and Native Seabirds reward an early build strategy with 6-9 points each max, depending on the map. Native Lizards is particularly easy to get good points with on Hollywood Hills if you start south, while Native seabirds synergizes well with the lake maps (outdoor areas, silver lake). It’s so great to get 7 or 8 appeal points for free early on. This way you can spend your money mainly on building your zoo.

I used to cringe when I drew free range monkeys or native farm animals but they’re both pretty decent cards. Native Farm Animals has given me some really good points before, sometimes due to planning, often due to luck (drawing it when my building strtategy was all over the place), and I have gotten 9 or more points with it before. Once, I think 12, but that time was totally luck. Free Range Monkeys isn’t as good, but sometimes when Monkeys is a starting project and you want to build a large enclosure you can position your first enclosure to touch 3 bonus spaces, so that your FRM card gets 3 appeal.

Overall, I now think Native Farm Animals is the strongest of these, but conditional to luck or planning (having it as a start card is a plus).

KeithHendricks wrote: ↑11 July 2026, 00:11

sorryimlikethis wrote: ↑06 September 2023, 05:14 It's a trade-off between instant points and end-game points. Native Lizards gives you appeal for each rock you are touching, but the end-game wants you to have isolated rocks. You can't maximise both.

Native Seabirds works like this (for water spaces), but Native Lizards gives you appeal and and endgame point for connected rocks. Native Lizards doesn’t give you anything for isolated rocks.

Where did you get that information from?