Board Game Arena

Was the game designed with the observation tower map and a certain combination in mind? It feels strong...normally, you get bonus appeal for playing animals intro enclosures around the tower...but with the "build over water and rocks" action card, you can get more points. I played two cheap reptiles as I had a project that needed two reptile icons...and then I built the reptile house to free the small enclosures around the tower...



I mean...it is designed with "play animal adjacent to tower, release it to the wild, play another animal there" in mind, but the special build card feels like finding an exploit.

It's strong, but I think a lot of that came from the cheap reptiles more than the build over terrain. Without the ability to unflip those enclosures, you generated a whole 4 money and 4 appeal? It's not bad, but I'm not sure it counts as OP.

Contrast with something like "don't discard" cards on Commercial Harbor, or just the extra money sponsors action in general. Or terrain build on the maps with partner zoo or university build bonuses to hit those immediately. Marine Worlds has a lot of craziness that can happen with the new starting action cards.

Thanks for your reply! I had 5 size 5-enclosures...my wisent was not in the one next to the tower, but the game lets you choose the enclosure you want to empty...so I could empty one next to the tower to score the bonus again.

This "choose the enclosure you want to empty" rule is stupid in my opinion...takes away immersion. Normally, players know where their beloved animals are.

Ark Nova is so pretty on BGA. Can the BGA developers make it even prettier with more animation or animal on enclosures?

RoyalRook wrote: ↑12 September 2025, 06:49 Ark Nova is so pretty on BGA. Can the BGA developers make it even prettier with more animation or animal on enclosures?

There are no animals in enclosures so it would be confusing. (Flipping enclosure is just a cost)

Building over rock/water spaces also has huge advantage with Outdoor Areas Map. Can get 6 enclosures adjacent to hold large animals with less up-front building costs. I love it.

spflynn29 wrote: ↑23 April 2026, 13:42 Building over rock/water spaces also has huge advantage with Outdoor Areas Map. Can get 6 enclosures adjacent to hold large animals with less up-front building costs. I love it.

That’s the best map for it, IMO, since it also has the partner zoo on the map you can get instantly. It’s good on Research Institute for the uni, which allows for a quick 2 uni start. It’s OK on Observation Tower, but definitely not OP. I quite like it on Silver Lake, because that map can sometimes be annoying to navigate without upgraded build (I hate upgrading build). Handy to be able to just cross the lake. Otherwise this action card is pretty meh and definitely overrated by many lower ELO players. It can save you from cooking your map on some occasions, but most of the time it ends up not doing all that much for you compared to what many of the other MW action cards do.