North Star Games’ Evolution board game has gained itself a pretty substantial audience.
The premise of the game is simple – two to six players must aid all types of animal species within an ever evolving ecosystem. Different abilities come into play for each species as they strive to survive against hungry Carnivores and their own bouts of hunger. Now that Evolution has finally made its way to mobile and PC devices, digital players can see what all the fuss is about. The developers behind Evolution: The Video Game shared these tips in order to help you on your journey across Evolution Island.
Here are the top 10 tips, tricks, and cheats you need to know for Evolution: The Video Game.
1. Don’t Skip the Tutorial
North Star Games, North Star Digital Studios
• There are a lot of minute systems in play in Evolution: The Video Game and you don’t want to gloss over them. Unless you’re already familiar with the physical board game, you’ll definitely want to follow the quick, intuitive tutorial through to completion.
2. Manipulate the Food Stock to Eliminate the Competition
North Star Games, North Star Digital Studios
• While it’s tempting to create a massive pile of food at the start of a round, that can also make it easier for your opponents to survive and earn points. Try to account for turn order and the number of herbivores on the field when contributing to the food supply. With enough conniving forethought, your species can make it through a round while your enemies starve.
3. Pay Attention to Population
• The higher a species’ population is (represented by the number in the green circle on the left of their game piece), the more food they’ll need to consume. A species can only take one piece of food at a time (unless they have special traits) before it’s someone else’s turn. So long as your species gets at least one piece of food in a round they’ll survive, but their population will drop and ultimately earn you fewer points.
4. Bigger is Usually Better
• Body size (denoted by the number in the blue circle on the right of a species’ game piece) is important for fending off carnivores. A carnivore won’t be able to feed on a species that’s larger than they are, unless you specifically evolve them to do so!
5. Carnivores Only Thrive When Herbivores Do
• With the right trait you can turn a species into a carnivore, which will then have to attack and feed on other species instead of gathering food from the supply. This is a decent way to earn points while also culling your opponent’s population. But if too few species survive a round, you won’t have much to feed on yourself. A huge army of gigantic meat eaters won’t survive if there are only two or three other species on the board. Much like stocking the food supply, moderation is key.
6. Aim for Synergy
• Each trait has a purpose, but some traits work exceptionally well when paired with others. Hunting prey larger than themselves while stealthily ignoring their enemy’s early warning system is just one of the many cool combinations in the game.
7. Synergy Also Works Between Species
• It’s not just traits that can work well together. With the right combinations you can, for example, set up a well-protected ecosystem with large herbivores that gather additional food for a large group of slow, shelled creatures. Or you could create a pack of large carnivores that also warns nearby herbivores of danger. As with traits, it’s worth playing around with different setups to find interesting and effective combinations.
8. The Number of Individual Species is Important
• You can immediately create a new species during your turn by dragging a card onto the “+” icons on the left or right of your play area. This is great because more species means more cards drawn at the start of your next turn. However, it’s important not to spread yourself too thin, since every species in play needs to eat. If you have too many, some of them may starve before you have the chance to develop traits that increase their chances of survival.
9. Extinction isn’t a Huge Deal
North Star Games, North Star Digital Studios
• Sooner or later, one of your species is going to die out from starvation or predation. This can be a bit of a setback, but it’s hardly a game-ender. What matters most in Evolution is the total number of points you accumulate by eating, plus bonuses from traits and population sizes remaining at the end of the game. So long as there are more rounds left, you can always create new species.
10. Your Carnivores Can Attack Your Herbivores
North Star Games, North Star Digital Studios
• While feeding on an opponent’s creatures is preferable, when there isn’t any other viable prey on the board due to extinctions or defensive traits this might be your only option. It’s entirely possible to create a self-contained ecosystem where your carnivore feeds on your other species to keep things balanced, but it’s also possible that you’ll be forced to eat one of your species into oblivion if no other meat source is available.
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