Ark Nova Reputation: The Display, Universities, and Range

Of Ark Nova’s three tracks, reputation is the one new players forget. It does not score at the end. But it decides how much of the shared display you can use, it opens up some sponsors, and it holds bonuses of its own. Once your actions are upgraded, it becomes one of the most useful numbers on the board.

How the display and range work

The display has 6 cards in numbered folders, from folder 1 at one end to folder 6 at the other. The Reputation track runs beside it.

Your reputation range is the card in the same folder as your Reputation counter, plus every card in a lower-numbered folder. The higher your reputation, the more cards are in range.

Range matters only with upgraded actions:

• Cards II can draw cards within range, as well as from the deck, and can snap from strength 3.
• Animals II can play animals from the display within range.
• Sponsors II can play sponsors from the display within range.
• Association II can play a new conservation project card from the display within range.

Playing a card straight from the display costs extra money equal to its folder number. Snapping is different: it takes any one card, regardless of reputation.

Why the display slides toward you

When cards leave the display, the rest slide down to fill the lower folders, and new cards go in at the top. At each break, the cards in folders 1 and 2 are discarded and the rest slide down.

So cards drift toward folder 1 over time. A card out of your range today may slide into it after a rival takes something below it. Watching that drift tells you when to wait and when to snap.

The wall at 9

You cannot raise your reputation to 10 or higher until your Cards action is on side II. The board marks this with a reminder at space 10. Until then, your counter stops at 9, so reputation you gain there does nothing for your range.

Reputation tops out at 15. Past that, each reputation you would gain becomes 1 appeal instead.

Bonuses on the track

Some spaces on the Reputation track show a bonus. Reach one and you take it at once, one time only. One of the game’s four action card upgrades sits on this track, which makes it a real reason to climb even with side I actions.

Where reputation comes from

• The Association task with value 2: gain 2 reputation.
• Universities, some of which add reputation when you take them.
• Animals II at strength 5: gain 1 reputation at the start of the action, before you choose a card, so the new range already applies.
• Some animals, sponsors, and projects that show reputation as a reward.
• Playing a release project card from your hand gives 1 reputation.

Universities

Universities are the Association task with value 4. There are 3 different kinds on your map’s university column, and the board offers one of each kind at a time, refilled at each break. Each one you take gives the bonuses and icons it shows. Universities add research icons, which some projects and cards count, and they are the only way to raise your hand limit from 3 to 5.

Your second university is also one of the four chances to flip an action card to side II.

When is reputation worth an action?

The plain Association task for 2 reputation costs an action and an association worker. That is expensive unless it does something specific. It is worth it when:

• you hold an upgraded action that will use the wider range this break,
• a reputation bonus sits within 2 spaces,
• a sponsor you want needs a minimum reputation,
• with Association II, it rides along with another task in the same action.

It is usually not worth it with only side I actions and no bonus in reach. Reputation that changes nothing is a turn spent standing still.

Reading rivals by reputation

A rival’s reputation shows their range. If a card you want sits in their range and they have an upgraded action at high strength, it may not be there next turn. The competitive play lesson builds on this habit.