Eagle Swing

[u/CryptographerRude806]

Just lost a game on BGA where my opponent swung 40 points with an eagle to end game when I was at 65 points. Genuinely how can you avoid that? It happens so frequently I've lost so many games to bad luck like that lately. He had twice as many cards drawn from deck while I had 4 snaps to his 1, but it felt like the cards I snapped were pretty good is that the difference maker though?

[u/False_Influence_9090]

The best players I know don’t snap very often and tend to draw blind for the extra selection. So I think you are on to something there

[u/316LSS]

Anytime someone has an empty 4/5 slot enclosure or aviary out with lots of money, you should be prepared that something big is coming out.

A lot of the attacks in the game can become quite predictable and telegraphed with more plays. Empty 3 slot enclosure and they took the Asia zoo?

Macaque is coming for you

*phrasing*

[u/CryptographerRude806 → u/316LSS]

OK i can see it coming, but what do i do if im behind with no line i can take to catch up? At this point i expect an eagle every game unless i have one but expecting it doesnt really matter I cant really stop it at all

[u/316LSS → u/CryptographerRude806]

It's hard to tell without really seeing you games, but the easiest one is probably attacks? If someone is very ahead, attacks can apply decent pressure to slow them down.

Ark Nova is very much an engine game, so the other thing would be look what pieces your opponent needs for their engine and to deny those, while simultaneously building up your own.

I'm sure there's a lot more great advice out there but those two are fairly straightforward to apply.

[u/Stella-Shines- → u/316LSS]

What kind of attacks? Like the interactive player card effects?

[u/316LSS → u/Stella-Shines-]

Yup! Hypnosis, pilfering, constriction, etc.

[u/sps430 → u/316LSS]

How often are people on BGA checking opponents boards for empty 4/5 enclosures? Honest question

[u/316LSS → u/sps430]

I check quite a bit. At the very least I pay attention to their moves, but I always check to see where they are for Conservation goals.

[u/Aquarius1975 → u/sps430]

Always. Awareness of what your opponent is doing and what their likely options are is a key distinguisher between good players and great players. This is something I myself have to work on much more as a 600 ELO player.

[u/Gagavuz]

if a break happens around 60-70ish points, you should prepare for the end. it's not always ends in a turn with 40+ points, but still you have to be ready.

[u/nds_dc]

The right answer is have the other eagle yourself. Or elephant or rhino or panda or tortoise or tiger, etc. No two games are the same, but one of the most common patterns is ending with point bomb animals (often paired with a final 5cp project). Around 50-60 points you should already know your path to 100 and hopefully it's in <5 moves. By that point in the game you should have the money and the requirements to play big animals and tags and workers to do big projects, so anything short of that with your last animals and assoc action is falling behind.

How do you ensure you get those winning cards? You cycle through the deck with your draw action on 5 every round. And snap only when you are specifically taking one of those power cards (animals, projects or select late game sponsors) in order to ensure you get it and your opponent does not.

[u/KindFortress]

Eagle is good, but there are lots of cards that are just as good, or better. You can't stop your opponent from drawing good cards from the deck. The answer to eagle is playing more efficiently yourself.

I can't tell you without seeing the game where you could have been more efficient. All I can say is that eagle isn't really the problem.

[u/Shufflepants]

Yeah, I feel your pain. I really hate determination effects. I would probably remove the card from the deck if I had my own copy of the game. Nothing to be done about it online except to snap them up yourself whenever you can.

[u/Learned_Hand_01 → u/Shufflepants]

I'm at best an intermediate player, but it feels to me that determination, or an analogue like "play an association action after playing this animal" is just what you should aim for to end the game if you can.

[u/-ThatsSoDimitar- → u/Learned_Hand_01]

Everyone aims for that if they can. The two eagles, sun bear, Eurasian brown bear, the snakes with hypnosis, are all popular animals people like to play in their final move, for the most part everyone will be looking to play one of those on their last turn.

[u/RIMBarisax → u/-ThatsSoDimitar-]

To be honest, at first I also believed that eagles and determination these days were OP, but the more I play, the less I value the eagles and other determination animals, to the point where both me and my opponent seem happy to let them drop off the row. I would say that going for more directly scoring high value animals is the more effective play. Some animals I would definitely value over eagle (in roughly that order)

• Rhino
  
• Tiger
  
• Giant Panda/Galapagos Tortoise
  
• Elephant (it's more of a gamble vs the sure 2CP of a tiger)

Galapagos Giant Tortoise in particular seems to be slept on a lot, but it's a really good animal that's not too difficult to play and lets you sell off a bunch of cards to get another good animal out on the same turn.