I really enjoy it when smart people play off one another like this. Thank you also for the concise format - excellent video. Hotel California here I come!

Fun video and always great to hear others' perspectives. Thanks for sharing!

While all of these are top animals for sure, the great thing about Ark Nova is context is everything. Depending on the projects on display, cards in starting hand and on the row some animals can just shine suddenly.

Great video! In one of my latest games a played a lot of asian bears. That Giant Panda is insanely powerful. 16 points and a rep + another animal makes the animal action in this case better than conserving for 5 CP:s. I was amazed at the combo when I mathed it out. Red panda + giant panda in the end FTW.

@NoWondersTV

11 ай бұрын

That panda combo is the dream! The Giant Panda is one of those animals that gives incredible value because it requires you to jump through so many hoops. But if you have the requirements met you are going to get a ton of points for not much money.

Great video Sam! You continue to amaze me with how much strategy content you can pack into a short time. This is under 10 minutes? Get outta here dude. Also I completely missed that you made top 20! Congrats!! You managed to find the skill in the game after all 😎😎😎

Nice video, thanks. Nice to have my experience confirmed. I also agree with European Bison and the moose. The american bison though came in handy a lot of time though because I tend to play quite a lot american animals.

@NoWondersTV

11 ай бұрын

Right, it's so easy to play a ton of Americas animals. The spreadsheet doesn't take a lot of things into account, like game situation. If you already have the 3 Americas tags and are going to get the full 8 appeal from Iconic Animal then the American Bison gives a positive value of +11! Which is equal to the Eagles!

@strategyadvisor5604

11 ай бұрын

American Bison also has high synergy with itself! The America requirements and extra tag make the iconic more valuable.

@markanderson100

10 ай бұрын

@@NoWondersTV I think you meant 12 (4 base + 8 iconic) appeal for the American Bison :)

@NoWondersTV

10 ай бұрын

@@markanderson100 It's the value of how much money you are spending to get appeal. 3 money = 1 appeal. So if you're spending 28 money (cost of Bison + enclosure) to get 12 appeal (36 money) then you're getting a value of +8. With the extra +3 value being the extra Americas continent icon it gives to make +11 total value.

@markanderson100

10 ай бұрын

@@NoWondersTV Oh, I see now. Thank you for the clarification. Sorry for my previous comment!

I had always assumed that the water requirement for the eagle only applied if you put it into a regular enclosure. I didn't think the aviary had to be next to water also! A bit confusing because the water icon is on the regular enclosure symbol on the card. Good thing I watched this :)

@NoWondersTV

11 ай бұрын

You would think with such a fancy building they could just add a pond inside it or something, but nope.

@revimfadli4666

10 ай бұрын

Ah, another addition to the "easily forgotten rule bits that prove this game is more complicated than it needs to be" collection 🙃

I think putting the 1 research icon requirement to 0 is a bit aggressive. True it is easy to get, but in early game it forces you to start association with university (and one in particular) which can be annoying at times. Same goes with rock and water in late game. If you haven't planned well, it can prove to be tricky and even impossible from time to time. But all in all, great video

@NoWondersTV

11 ай бұрын

Fair points! My judgement is skewed because I play mostly at 2 player, getting that university is guaranteed by the 2nd break if you want it. If you're playing 3 or 4 player that won't always be the case. I do tend to start with universities unless I have a good reason not to. I suppose if you start with a partner zoo animal and a single research animal it can present some problems. I can also see the arguments for leaving the discounts for water/rock. Given how small the discounts were in the first place it wouldn't change the list too much. Thanks for your input!

@Manud73

11 ай бұрын

Ark Nova plays best at 2 players anyway. 3p is ok but at 4, the game becomes laggy with important downtimes. Wouldn't recommand it. Thanks for the content you're providing on it. I try to improve myself and having the insight of better players helps a lot

@markanderson100

10 ай бұрын

There are also 16 sponsors cards, 7 of which don't have any conditions whatsoever. A single research icon condition isn't that bad at all. A double research one, on the other hand...

Very cool! I mostly agree with the top 10. Accounting for internal synergy (a card that has synergy with itself) would change the value of a few animals. It's hard to measure, but I think Lion has 8-12 value of internal synergy and American Bison has 6-12 value, because the requirements score appeal from pack/iconic. I'm not sure the math checks out on rep = 5 and worker = 10. The first 8 rep gets an upgrade and worker, so 8*5-10 = 30 value for that upgrade. My guess is you consider the reputation worker your 2nd worker due to playstyle, which is worth more than 3rd/4th workers.

@NoWondersTV

11 ай бұрын

It is hard to judge a lot of the values, and there's certainly more intuition than math behind my adjustments. Reputation especially. I value it more early to get that upgrade and 2nd worker as you say, so it may be worth the full 5 on the Tasmanian Devil. But then for animals like the Sumatran Tiger it should probably be worth less as you're playing it towards the end of the game. Workers will also change in value depending on the map. 2nd worker must be worth more than 10, but I would very rarely get a 2nd worker from an animal ability. 3rd and 4th have diminishing returns, unless the 4th worker gives you CP for unlocking it. A lot of fun to go through everything though! Thanks again for the work you put in! (p.s. the American grabby monkey is listed as giving 1 rep on your sheet)

@strategyadvisor5604

11 ай бұрын

@@NoWondersTV Good catch, that 1 was supposed to be in the draw column.

Yeah this makes a lot of sense. Most cards shouldn't be played if they don't help make progress towards a conservation project, the exceptions to the rule are the top 10 animal cards in this video. Interestingly, the lowest ranked animals on this list work very well with the release cards for america/europe/herbivores. I think pack and sunbathing are still overvalued. It's pretty rare to get good value out of pack since it's likely you will play a pack animal in order to build up to something like Lion which effectively evens out the benefit. Sunbathing can be really good at certain points in the game but it's pretty rare to make full use of the card. Overall this list seems to be mostly focused on the lategame with the exception of the high value on posturing. In the early game I find myself going for the Tarsier and the Horse because the cheap rep can be very beneficial.

@NoWondersTV

10 ай бұрын

I was tempted to give Reputation an even higher value which would have boosted some of those great early animals up the rankings. The Tarsier, Koala and Tamarin are barely outside the top 10 and all animals I'll look to keep and play. But doing so made some animals like the Galapagos Tortoise ahead of Rhinos and Elephants which didn't seem very correct. Reputation is king early!

Off the top 10, I rarely play the galapagos tortoise and the fur seal. I think full throated is pretty weak cause I mostly hit 8rep before being able to play one of those expensive animals. I agree with all your value adjustments, atleast directionally

@NoWondersTV

11 ай бұрын

Those two were the surprises for me too. After I made this video I got a Fur Seal in my hand one game and decided I was actually going to play it. Only to realise I already had all 4 workers and it was kinda pointless. It's hard to value that extra worker. Great early, but the animals that give them aren't playable early.

@julianabernethy2202

11 ай бұрын

@@NoWondersTV Good point. Worker 3 and 4 are easy to get if assoc is upgraded, so the value is even more limited.

380 elo player here. I mostly agree, but I believe you rated the fur seal too highly. Water and rock icons are good, I agree, but having a 5-enclosure touching both is rarely trivial. Nice video and good reasoning though :)

@NoWondersTV

11 ай бұрын

That's a good point, it is very hard on some maps. I suppose I could add an inconvenience cost for having both requirements that would peg it down a level or two.

@monkeyunit4533

7 ай бұрын

Agree on this one. Ignoring the rock, water and flipped animal card requirement on this at the same time on this makes it appear way better than it is.

No coincidence that you favor Asia, Africa, and the Americas ... scoring for those base projects go 5-3-2 which scoring for Europe and Australia are each 5-4-2 (you get a bit more for the middle spot); seems to me that the game designers recognize that the first three are 'better' in that regard.

@NoWondersTV

11 ай бұрын

Yep, the scoring is just due to quantity of animals. 26 for Asia, Africa, Americas, 20 for Europe and Australia. Having said that, I also do find the European and Australian animals more underwhelming in general

Why not lion in top tier? Because of big prerequisite? 13 appeal for 24 cost

@NoWondersTV

3 ай бұрын

The Lion is fantastic when you can play it. The big prerequisite is what gives it a lot of value. Ark Nova expects you to have trouble playing it, so it rewards you with more points when you can. You are correct, in this list the prerequisites have a "cost" which is why the Lion doesn't rank very highly. If I removed the "cost" from all prerequisites then animals like the Lion and Panda would be right at the top.

Slow worm is easily an S-tier animal

@NoWondersTV

11 ай бұрын

Just missed the cut!

What's your rating on Common European Adder if Peaceful Mode is turned on and it also has a Determination ability?

@NoWondersTV

6 ай бұрын

Roughly the same as an Eagle, maybe slightly worse. The advantage is it's much cheaper but it has a more annoying requirement and it doesn't give you that late game points boost like an Eagle would. But an extra turn is always incredible value, it's worth playing around.

@p46288

6 ай бұрын

@@NoWondersTVThanks for the response! Do you have a copy of your adjusted spreadsheet? Thanks!

@NoWondersTV

6 ай бұрын

@@p46288 docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1qZBbo8AigFN1cQzJ2oORebAm7hzoO8saag968Ka4HsE/edit?usp=sharing It does a good job of showing the top animals, however the list has a lot of drawbacks. The value of every animal will change depending on the game you're in. Please take it with a grain of salt and don't avoid animals because they are lower down on the list. Every animal in Ark Nova is playable!

How did you come to the conclusion to rate the eagles higher than the sun bear? I stand by my opinion that sun bear is by far the best animal in the game with 0 math to back it up! Also, personally I value europe higher than africa, even though there is less european animals.

@NoWondersTV

11 ай бұрын

Hmm, and would that have anything to do with the fact that there are no monkeys in Europe? 😜

@JDSecretPolice

11 ай бұрын

@@NoWondersTV No monkeys, no petting zoo and an abundance of birds, how can you ask for anything else?🥰

Solid list. Pretty much agree with you. Interestingly, most of these animals are what I would categorize as "late game" animals. The only animals here that I would normally play early are macaw, taz devil, fur seal, and maybe sun bear. I guess it is by design to make late game animals more valuable. I'm quite surprised emu isn't the worst animal. Ridiculously expensive, low appeal for the price, and requires 2 aussie which is by far the worst continent. About the continent, from my experience, I find Europe to be equal to America and Africa. It's true that there are less European animals, however most of them are cheap and small with little to no requirement. Those cheap small animals are really useful for the tags in the early game. Also, cheaper animals mean bigger % of discount from the partner zoo. The hypnosis snake and perception bird that requires euro partner are also good animals that I'm usually happy to keep and play. This is controversial theory that I have: size1 animals are in general slightly undervalued. Building size1 is trivial and usually the default build5 action in the 2nd round is kiosk pavilion size2 and size1. Being able to play 2 animals with 1 build action is quite useful for racing conservation project in the early game. Again, this is my personal controversial opinion.

@NoWondersTV

11 ай бұрын

Right! I guess putting too much value in early game animals can be a little dangerous. You don't want people getting too much of a lead from opening card draws (looking at you, sponsors). I think Emu is the worst, it just depends how much you value the Aviary. The balanced value is 17 money, which is more than any other ability. So you could easily argue for it to be lowered a bit and then Emu is the worst animal. Re: continents that makes a lot of sense. I may be undervaluing Europe. I'd still have Asia and Americas as 1 and 2, but Africa and Europe might be closer than I think!

So i just got another approve that elephanta are not the strongest in the game)

@NoWondersTV

11 ай бұрын

They are strong, but yes, I think there are a few better animals!

@Coffeeserker

11 ай бұрын

@@NoWondersTV yep, gaining an elephant doesn't mean that you already won the game.

@monkeyunit4533

7 ай бұрын

Elephant are strong, but their value mostly comes from end game points which means they aren't very good to play unless at the very end of the game ( making the final scoring cards a bit of a risk) Same it true for the Rhino's tho, the value for them comes from getting a project you can score 5 on, and there not being other projects you can alreayd do. This also means leaving the projects already on the board for the other players.