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 A species may have multiple copies of the same trait (trait effects are cumulative), but the maximum number of traits on any species is 3 unless a card explicitly allows for more. Finally, you age every species you have by transferring one fish token from each of your species into your score pile. In Oceans, fish is ultimately your scoring fodder. If your species have evolved and survived long enough to eat fish, they “age” on your turn. This means you can move a fish they have each been feeding on into your score pile. But if they can’t grow older, they go extinct! In summing up though I would, again, compare this game to Wingspan. Wingspan has, for me at least, a much more appealing theme and artwork but I’d much rather spend some time swimming with Oceans. It’s a game with great adherence to its theme, good strategies and tactics at 2 or more players and plenty to think about on every turn. You may never place a population token on the space with the fishbones unless it is the only available space on the species board.

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. Every card in the Deep is unique, powerful, and has a cost if you use it to evolve a species! They may be played to evolve a species or to migrate population.There are 2 types of Scenario cards. Blue Scenario cards have ongoing effects, and Purple Scenario cards have events that get triggered. Blue Scenario cards are active Now, I haven’t played the other games in the Evolution series by North Star Games. They look gorgeous though, and are on my wish list to try. But I have a feeling I might have been spoiled going straight in with Oceans. Because this is one beautiful engine builder about surviving in our mysterious underwater world! Fish Food At first glance Oceans’ streamlining of the feeding rules seems to be a case of dumbing down the Evolution experience. Includes 215 deluxe translucent acrylic fish tokens in 6 colors, instead of the cardboard fish tokens in the standard edition.

Build yourself a thriving merchant fleet, and guide it to economic prosperity. Acquire the most modern steamships on the market and take over the precious ports from your rivals. Build an extensive network of trading posts and coal bunkers to expand the capability of your fleet. Make use of diverse options to carry out lucrative transports and win the prestigious Blue Riband of the North Atlantic. Each time these levels of the ocean become depopulated an event card is triggered. This changes the game mechanics. Sometimes these are subtle, just making some types of cards more effective. Other times these cards can completely up-end the game, forcing faster ageing of species and changing the way you have to play. Even better the glorious Deep cards that are introduced add massive variety to the game. you can draft one each turn and playing it costs the fish which are your victory points. 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. The end of the game is reached once all ocean zones are depopulated of fish. [4] The player with the most collective fish tokens in their score pile and on their species boards wins the game. [4] Design [ edit ] Instead of managing body size and population size alongside herbivorous and carnivorous diets, Oceans does away with body size entirely, makes all its animals omnivorous from the very start and combines population and food into one concept. It’s all ruled by just 4 symbols which dictate your ability to feed (from the reef, the ocean and your opponents) and defend yourself. If a species has a Reef score (green circle) of 2 then it can take 2 food from the reef area – its population has now grown by 2.

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.

EVOLVE: Most of your cards will be played as traits to evolve one of your species. You may play a trait on a new species or on an existing species. The foundation of the oceanic food chain are billions of one-celled organisms called phytoplankton that capture the sun's energy through photosynthesis. Every other species in the ocean 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 Whales that gently swim through the ocean scooping up everything in their path. This ecosystem mimics the known world near the surface.Every species in Oceans lives in the same environment: the left-most species of each player is adjacent to the right-most species of the next player. Many traits trigger based on the feeding of an adjacent species. The arrow icon at the bottom of a trait refers to the species immediately adjacent to that side 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. I’m an admirer of the Evolution series, interested in board games with depth and am part-seal myself so you’d think I would have dived straight into Oceans. 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. Oceans is a game based on natural selection with fantastical leanings. As a former biologist with an interest in board games with depth and being part-seal myself, you’d think I’d be disappointed.

But wait? Is that it? We get a free pass to rev our underwater engines and crank out species that eat or be eaten? Nope! In each game, there are also scenarios (beneficial and destructive) that affect game play, so no getting too comfortable feeding and fighting! 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...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 Additionally, there are 2 randomly chosen scenario cards that activate and deactivate at various points during the game. The scenario cards impact the basic tenets of gameplay, encouraging people to vary their play style and strategy each game. Strategy Beneath the Surface: Oceans is a highly thematic engine builder, where everything is connected and players can create powerful synergistic systems between their own species and other players.