Board Game Arena

Why is the default setting to include the Swift Starter Pack? Isn't it better to have more cards in? What cards are included in the Starter Pack?

if I'm not mistaken, the default is to include them ALONG with the base pack. So that is more cards.

I forget all of them but my favorite amongst them is the American Redstart, which allows you another food from the feeder.

Off the top of my head, there's a hummingbird that gives everyone a fruit, Scaled Quail which gives you an egg on that bird, one that gives you a worm, one that allows you to take all the birds in the tray when played... I forget the rest

The Default Setting is currently to exclude them; it's one of the many new options that are opt-in features. Unfortunately that means that almost every table I've seen when I try to look for games to join is playing without the new birds!

The default setting is indeed not to include them in the deck. To do otherwise could have unintended impacts on the existing Arena format and tournaments in progress. I can always change the default setting in a future update, and am considering doing so once the next Arena season starts.

What is a "Swift Starter Pack"? Is it equivalent to one of the expansions? If not, why is Board Game Arena doing it's own variation on the game?

The Swift Start pack is a promo that was released in late 2019 that contains 10 new bird cards and guides for new players to walk them through their first moves. Once players are familiar with the game, these cards can be shuffled into the deck. All printings of Wingspan after the promo pack was released now include it, so it isn’t technically an expansion.

See here for more information:
https://store.stonemaiergames.com/produ ... start-pack
https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgameexpa ... promo-pack

@paramesis it looks like in the current arena season 'Swift starter pack' option is set to 'no preference' and they all of a sudden showed up in my last arena game

I also encountered one in an arena game, probably a mistake non fixed ?

It would appear that if a game option is introduced for the first time while an arena season is in progress, that option is not locked by the Arena Format, so it can vary based on user preferences when setting up the game. When queuing for an arena game, you should be able to prevent joining a table with this option enabled by setting the corresponding preference under "I'm ok playing with: Shuffle into Deck" to "Never", in the original Play Now interface.

Any further fix to lock this setting to the arena format would require intervention by BGA admins.