North Star Games Oceans Board Game

Product Information

It’s a shame to lose those round-based reveals but the change creates stronger gameplay and in some ways it’s closer to what happens in nature – selection as a result of what is rather than speculation on what might be. Then again, it also transforms the game into turn-based evolution rather than the simultaneous selection that occurs in nature. Another contradiction. At the game’s start, the only food source is plankton, the foundation of the ocean food web. It populates the beautifully illustrated Reef and Ocean boards. Your goal is to create and evolve species, so they find their niche in the growing ecosystem, by giving them helpful combinations of traits. Oceans is a 2-4 player board game in the highly acclaimed Evolution series. Oceans is an interactive engine builder, where players evolve their species in a continually changing ecosystem where everything is connected.

Feeding may trigger a gains icon on another species, including a species belonging to another player. When a species gains population, it takes the number of population in the blue gains icon from the 1st Ocean zone. If the 1st Ocean zone is empty (or becomes empty), continue taking population from the 2nd Ocean zone, and from the 3rd Ocean zone if the 2nd becomes empty. If the 3rd Ocean zone becomes empty, place the 60 “reserve” population into the 3rd Ocean zone so that every triggered trait is able to take the proper amount of population. The world is full of diverse life from plants growing atop the highest mountain to creatures living in the depths of the ocean trenches of the planet. The ocean covers 70% of the planet, but remains mostly unexplored. According to the U.S. National Ocean service more than 80% of the waters of the world remain unexplored. There are still secrets to be discovered, creatures to meet, biomes to be researched. Oceans is a game that invites you into the deep, to guide the evolution of species, moulding filter feeders, scavengers, and predators into the best they can be. Given the power to create, what will you imagine?It’s fun to explore new combinations and options, to slot traits together and see how they interact. The designers understand that “games are about feeling”: it feels pretty great when you figure out how to swim past the gaping mouths waiting for you on your next turn. The world is a wondrous place and Oceans, with its gorgeous Surface traits and beguiling Deep traits, lets you feel that wonder, evoking a sense of danger and exploration, risk and astonishment. Includes 215 deluxe translucent acrylic fish tokens in 6 colors, instead of the cardboard fish tokens in the standard edition.

Journey Into the Deep: Featuring nearly 100 unique trait cards, The Deep represents the unknown: the undiscovered wonders of the deep ocean you'll be exploring over countless games.During the second half of the game, players can use power cards from The Deep to disrupt the stability. With over 100 unique traits in The Deep, players will slowly discover game-altering traits over the course of many games. These traits were designed to evoke wonder and disbelief - to spark your imagination as you consider the fantastic synergies that are possible in Oceans. It's been many years since I read the Hyperion/Endymion books, so time for a re-read this winter. Simmons was doing a science-fiction Canterbury Tales, but brought lots of bold ideas to the table. I... If the revised feeding rules add flexibility, the additions of ageing and overpopulation provide bite. You will have an opportunity to feed it during your next turn before your aging phase. PHASE 4: DRAWING CARDS The theme of these games matters to me, as it does to a lot of people. The Evolution games are all abstractions, of course, but they pride themselves on their science. The team at North Star Games are justifiably proud that their 2014 adaptation of Knorre’s original game received a glowing review in the scientific journal Nature from Stuart West, Professor of Evolutionary Biology at the University of Oxford.

Each Surface trait has a Deep version that’s more powerful. The Deep version of Filter Feeder has an additional point of [Forage] and allows the species to store 5 extra population on the species board. The foundation of the oceanic food chain are billions of one-celled organisms that capture the sun’s energy through photosynthesis. Every other oceanic species is a predator, each bigger than the next, all the way up to the dreaded apex predator. And even bigger than apex predators are enormous filter feeders that gently swim through the ocean scooping up everything in their path with their baleen.Take a free species board from the supply and place it so that the fish are facing away from you. A new species may be placed on either side of your existing species, or in between any two of your existing species. It’s the first game in the series where the challenge is as much about surviving the machinations of the game itself as it is about outcompeting your opponents. As much a brawl against each other as everyone fighting not to be eaten by the shark first. The Sea is Emotion Incarnate Thousands of species are possible, and they all interact in their own ways as the ecosystem builds. Every game creates a one-of-a-kind world, never to be seen again. Oceans is a turn based card based game. In it, you are basically trying to encourage your species to eat for England! Eat so they can grow stronger and older! Eat so they can fend off predators! Eat so they can use their newly found vim to withstand disruptions caused by other players! Under the waves, everything that is not you is basically trying to kill you! But if you can stop staring at the gorgeous illustrations for a second, you’ll notice that species can adapt in special, survival supporting ways. Play.Feed.Age.Discard.Repeat