Every animal in Ark Nova looks good on its own. The skill is comparing them: this 5-appeal animal for 13 money, or that 2-appeal one with a strong ability for 8? This lesson gives you a way to price any animal quickly, using the gap idea from the scoring lesson.
The numbers in the examples below are made up to show the method. Apply it to the real cards in your game.
The full price
The cost printed on the card is only part of what you pay. The full price has three parts.
1. Money. The card cost, minus 3 per continent icon if you have that partner zoo. If you play it from the display with Animals II, add the folder number.
2. Enclosure. If you do not already have an empty enclosure that fits, add 2 money per space and a Build action. A 4-space animal with no home costs 8 more money and a turn.
3. Actions. One Animals action at strength 2 to 4 plays one animal. At strength 5, it plays two, so each animal costs half an action. If the animal needs a partner zoo, an upgrade, or icons you lack, add the actions to get them.
The full value
1. Appeal now. Every point closes one space of your gap.
2. Income later. Appeal also raises the money you get at every break. The curve is steep early and flat late: the rulebook shows 7 appeal paying 11 money, and Capstone’s play guide shows 11 appeal paying 13 and 14 appeal paying 14. So the same appeal is worth more income early than late.
3. Icons. Each category and continent icon counts toward projects and toward some sponsors that pay you when icons are played. An icon that completes a project level can be worth several conservation points.
4. The ability. Some pay once, such as drawing cards or gaining X-tokens. Others keep working, such as abilities that move your action row.
5. Conservation or reputation printed with the appeal, on some animals.
A worked comparison
Say you have 14 money, an empty 3-space enclosure, and Animals at strength 3. The display and your hand offer:
- Animal one: 3-space, 12 money, 5 appeal, no ability, two icons matching a project you plan to support.
- Animal two: 2-space, 8 money, 2 appeal, an ability that draws two cards.
Animal one closes 5 spaces now, adds more income, and moves you toward a project. Animal two closes 2, leaves you 6 money, and fills your hand. If the break is close and your hand already holds what you need, animal one is clearly better. If your hand is empty and the break is far, animal two may set up two more good turns.
The method is to ask what each one does for your plan this break, not which is “better” in a vacuum.
Rules of thumb
- Early, favor appeal per money. Cheap animals that close a few spaces each raise income fast. The Board Game Arena tips page describes the arc: cheap animals, then medium, then expensive.
- Value icons by the projects you can reach. An icon matters if it completes a project level you will support. An icon for a project nobody will support is decoration.
- Discount one-time abilities late. Drawing cards on your second-to-last turn rarely helps.
- Watch enclosure fit. An animal that fits an empty enclosure you already own is much cheaper than its printed cost suggests.
Release value
Some animals are worth more leaving than staying. A release costs the animal’s appeal and pays conservation. After 10 conservation, each point closes 3 spaces. The rulebook’s example releases a tortoise: 6 appeal lost, 4 conservation gained, so after 10 it closes 12 spaces for a net of 6.
So a cheap animal with low appeal and a one-time ability that has already paid off is a strong release candidate. The Board Game Arena tips page names several, such as wolves, storks, and bison, as animals worth releasing when the projects allow it.
Denial value
Sometimes the best reason to take a card is that a rival needs it. If a card in the display completes a rival’s project or fits their zoo perfectly, snapping it can be worth more than any draw. The competitive play lesson covers reading what they need.
Practice
After a game, pick the three animals you played and price each one with the full method. Then ask whether a different card in your hand or the display would have closed more gap for the same money and actions. That review is where your instinct for the deck comes from.
Next lesson
Ark Nova Advanced Zoo Maps: Choosing and Playing Them
Next, the advanced zoo maps: what changes when every zoo has its own ability, and how to choose between two maps at setup.
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