FAQs

Do you still have gameplay questions about Ecologies? Here are some of the most common questions we get asked:

Question:

Does a player have to play 2 cards each turn?

Answer:

No, players may choose to play 2 cards each turn, but like trading or purchasing new cards, they are under no obligation to do so.

Question:

Does a healthy desert ecology basically give a player invincibility?

Answer:

No, it is a powerful defensive perk, but has several limitations. While the bonus protects all your organisms in every biome from destruction, it does not protect against negative cards in general. For example, other players can still play “parasitism” or “biomagnification of pollutants.” The bonus really only prevents opponents from pointing to one of your organisms and saying “I’m using my special card or ability to destroy this.” In fact, using “biomagnification of pollutants” on a healthy desert ecology would drop the maximum trophic level of the desert to C2 and therefore render it unhealthy. This would immediately remove the healthy ecology bonus and allow for targeted destruction of organisms. In effect, the biomagnification card is a counter to the healthy ecology bonus.

Question:

Does the tropical forest healthy ecology bonus allow a player to see an opponent’s cards when stealing?

Answer:

No, the bonus allows the player to steal an unplayed card, but it should be a random unplayed card. They choose from only seeing the backs of an opponent’s cards spread out before them.

Question:

What’s the difference between purchasing a new card with unwanted cards from your hand versus cards you already played on the table?

Answer:

Unplayed cards in hand can be traded in at the end of your turn using a 4:1 ratio (4 old cards for 1 new card). Similarly, you can destroy an ecology and use the cards to purchase new ones with a better 3:1 ratio (they're more valuable because you've already spent time placing them). However, when destroying your own food web you must get rid of all cards in that web and round down. So 10 cards would get you 3 new cards. The purchase mechanic exists to get rid of cards that no one wants to trade for and that you don’t need. The reason you destroy the whole ecology is to ensure you are using this mechanic to clean up non-working or stagnant ecologies, not just picking and choosing cards to trade in. There are times that you might not want an ecology anymore. It might be of low point value or have negative cards attached (negative cards also count towards your total). An opponent may have a majority of the cards you need for that biome. It’s a way to get rid of a food web that’s not working and get something back in return. It's an option that is rarely used, but still available when you need it. (Note: when purchasing, you discard first, then draw the new cards from your purchase)

Question:

If healthy ecology bonuses stack, does that mean I could use 2 healthy tundra ecologies to create an “infinite loop” situation where I burn through the deck drawing and purchasing new cards over and over forever?

Answer:

It is usually quite difficult to maintain two healthy ecologies from the same biome. If a player is able to do this, the healthy ecology bonuses do stack, rewarding the player for an impressive feat. With the tundra biome, this would mean the player is entitled to purchase cards 1 for 1 (the cheapest possible cost). What the player is not allowed to do is trade in a card they just got immediately. For example, if the player has 5 cards in their hand they can trade them in for 5 new cards, but upon receiving those 5 new cards from the main deck they would have to hold on to them until their next turn before they could use them to purchase new cards. This “cool off” period prevents the infinite loop.

Question:

What does the “inclement weather” card actually do?

Answer:

This card is added to one of your food webs and prevents other players from interacting with the food web you chose. This means they can no longer play cards on your web or destroy any of the organisms in that web. They can’t interact with the ecology at all. You can still add cards however, and even destroy the ecology if you wish, but no one else can interfere with it.

Question:

How does the temperate forest healthy ecology “redraw” bonus work? Does it only apply to cards you draw at the beginning of your turn, or only to cards that you purchase using old cards?

Answer:

It works anytime you get a new card from the deck. You can redraw each new card once, meaning any time you draw, purchase, or otherwise receive a new card from the main deck, you can look at the top card and decide if you really want it. If you don’t like what you were going to get, put it on the bottom of the deck and draw a replacement card (you must accept the replacement card).

Question:

My card says it eats “decaying biomass,” but I don’t see a “decaying biomass” card in the deck. I also have producer cards that “eat sugars made with sunlight” but there are no sugar or sunlight cards. Does a plant even “eat”?

Answer:

The game uses the terms “eats” and “eaten by” as simplified stand ins for “receives energy from” and “provides energy to.” Food webs and trophic levels are all about the way energy moves through ecologies. Producers make up the foundation of these webs by converting the energy of the sun into sugars. There is no sunlight card and biomes are assumed to have access to the sun’s energy. “Decaying biomass” just means it eats any dead tissues from the other organisms in the food web. This means the organism is a scavenger/decomposer/detritivore (SD) and should be placed on the second row above primary producers when you want that card to act in the (SD) role. This is because in terms of trophic levels, detritus (decaying biomass) is seen as level one, the same as plants, so things that eat the decaying biomass are level two, the same as primary consumers. There is no specific card for this, as long as there are any other cards in a biome, cards with (SD) are able to sit in the primary consumer level and “feed” off that decaying biomass.

Question:

Do bears really eat bees? Do rabbits eat grasshoppers?

Answer:

Yes, it’s strange for most people to realize, but the diet of most animals is wider than you think. Many creatures commonly thought of as herbivores are actually omnivores, and will eat just about anything they can to survive. Remember that when cards list what eats what they don’t explain how often that food is taken or in what life stage. For example, dragonfly larvae eat toad tadpoles, but adult toads eat dragonflies. Ospreys are famously focused on catching fish, but will eat many other types of animals when given the chance, or during periods of extreme hunger. Cards list only the other cards in the biome that are possible prey.

Question:

What does it mean to be targeted?

Answer:

When opponents single out another player, it is known as “targeting.” Some actions are towards all players, or certain players at random, but when one player chooses another player, or their cards, that player has been “targeted.”

Question:

What does “every other turn” mean?

Answer:

Many bonuses are used “every other turn.” These bonuses can be used the first turn they are activated, or players can wait to start using the ability in a future round. However, once the ability has been used the pattern is set and can not be altered, even if the food web temporarily becomes unhealthy and loses the bonus (no “resetting” the pattern).

Question:

When are players allowed to rearrange their cards? Can they purposely turn healthy ecologies on and off this way?

Answer:

Players are allowed to rearrange organism cards as much as they want during the “play” phase of a player’s turn, but also at any point when an opponent disturbs your web (you are allowed to rearrange things to help cards survive the disturbance). Remember that producer cards must stay in the web they were originally placed in. In general, the healthy ecology bonuses are not meant to be toggled on and off as a strategy. Also, although bonuses can be used as soon as they are activated, it must be an appropriate phase of the turn. So for example, the drawing of cards at the beginning of a turn happens immediately, before a player can do anything else, including manipulating their cards. So if a marine biome is made healthy, the bonus draw would only be possible at the start of the next turn (assuming the web stays healthy). Other bonuses, like purchasing at a discount, could be used the same turn they are activated, but in all subsequent rounds the bonus is only available if the web remained healthy through the other players’ turns and was still healthy at the beginning of the player’s next turn. So put simply, bonuses can be used the same turn they are activated as long as the applicable turn phase hasn’t ended, and in future turns the bonus only works if you started the turn healthy.

Optional "House Rules" that Players have sent in to us:


· Instead of recieving 7 random cards at the beginning of the game, use "drafting" to pass a pile of cards around, taking turns choosing one until the pile is gone and all players have 7 cards to start.

· Give every player a random biome card to start the game and, optionally, a matching producer card. This speeds up the early game.

· Use a double deck when there are 5 or 6 players.

· Make factor cards exit the game automatically after they are used twice. This makes the end of the game less chaotic and prevents a cycle of people harming each other's food webs.

· Change the number of points needed to win up or down depending on if you want a shorter or longer game.

· Allow food webs to survive one turn without a producer. So if a food web has only one producer and it is destroyed, that player has one round to put a new producer card in the web before it collapses. This gives players a chance to save their webs when they are knocked out at the foundational level.

· Anytime you don't use one of your card plays, you can turn that play into an extra draw. So if a player doesn't play any cards in a round they can draw two more cards instead.

· Card purchases start at 3:1 instead of 4:1

· Players draw 3 cards each round by default instead of 2 (speeds up early play and trading)

Have a house rule you love to use? Send it in and we'll include it!