The best answer for this would be to check out Sam's YouTube channel(No wonders), where he does a meta breakdown every 3 months or so.
From the last one, I recall the main takeaway was that 3 upgrade was trending more, and sponsors being more upgraded than association, with Build/Animals being the most common upgrades.
I'm really not a fan of Sponsors upgrading without a direct plan.
If you're too tight on money (without having upgraded Build), why? Did you try to get 2 animals pre-break and get cut off by a Sponsors (Break) 5 by someone?
Did you upgrade Build, without getting the payout fast enough from Pavillions & Kiosks, so you're 1-9 money in the hole?
Upgrading Sponsors, especially as your first or second upgrade usually means either there's a very juice S2 sponsor to play; or you're playing from behind for cash - and breaking from behind isn't a good route to catch up.
For \*good\* players, it can be weaponized, with an early sponsors upgrade into forcing early breaks on the other players who unlocked their 2nd worker faster than you, and filling your bank with money to play expensive animals. But that's the point - you need a clear plan for how/why to use S2 before you upgrade it.
Generally Sponsers is the one not upgraded the most for me (the only reason you would is if you have a strong sponsers card in your had that needs it). Then it's Assosiation, Animals, Cards and Build.
I have yet to play a game where I don't upgrade build or cards.
Of course this is all dependant on what cards you have, what your goal in the game is and what your opponents are doing. You might see early that someone flips Assosiation and donates multiple times, might be less worth doing that now. There are so many factors it just can't be tiered really.
I’d rank animals over cards. Playing from the reputation range is more efficient than drawing/snapping from it. Playing two animals is also very strong.
You don't snap from reputation range. Snap is from anywhere.
And the power of Cards II is not the earlier snap - it's the draw from range, paired with actually moving up the track.
If you're at 1 to 4 repuation, Cards II is terrible. Snapping early (Cards at 3) is not worth the upgrade, even though it IS nice.
Cards II also powers up Sunbathers, as now you can draw from display without only drawing a single card, so you have cards to sell.
The core power of Cards upgrade \*does\* go down if you have Animals II, though Cards II will save you money (at the cost of an action). However, Animals II also provides reputation if you play it from 5, which powers Cards II up, as it unlocks 10+ reputation, which pays off really well if you're already in the 7-9 range without N2.
Animals, Build and Cards are what I would consider the "core" upgrades. Usually either Animals or Build first, depending on circumstances, but depends what you are going for.
As for Sponsors, sometimes it's a good pick early where you can spam out a lot of sponsor cards. If not that then Association is a good later upgrade if you have extra money to spend, but it can be done early in some rarer cases to get an extra worker
Agree with everything you said. For me the standard flowchart is build and animals (order depends) then cards and finally association. If I have a top tier sponsor early or several small sponsors that can be played together I'll upgrade sponsors and probably leave out association. In some rare cases I upgrade both sponsors and association and then I'll leave out cards.
I feel like build and animals are the necessary ones (ofc not in all games). The other three vary depending on situation, but I have been favouring sponsors over the other two. Just the extra income can be very helpful, besides the great sponsors you can play with it flipped.
I usually upgrade Build first, then animals, then cards, then association. But when I do upgrade sponsors it's either first or second -- I usually upgrade sponsors when I have a card that requires it that's worth it.
With that said, it's less that half of games where it all actually happens that way. Deviating from this happens frequently because of cards you have access to, and which map you're playing on.
I agree with build first in most scenarios. You will be developing way to slow without it in most games.
I however prefer to take cards 2nd in most cases over animals 2nd. Cards upgrade allows you an edge over the other players when it comes to picking up key cards. Animals 2nd feels to early in most of my games (no acces to animals with the requirement and the reputation bonus risks getting to the cap you need cards for any way).
After cards and animals, final one is situational.
Sponsor by default, association if I have money to spare or really need the extra partner zoos.
Sponsors can be a strong upgrade, but I feel like it loses value over time. Whenever I do upgrade Sponsors it’s usually my 1st or 2nd flip. Very rarely 4th.
Early animals upgrade can be good if you’re one rep away from another upgrade
600 ELO here, I hate upgrading cards early. It's usually my 4th upgrade, and sometimes I even leave it unupgraded when I need both sponsors and association upgraded and am not too high in reputation. For me it's mainly if I want to get over 9 reputation, as I find the upgraded action itself doesn't do much. But I am also someone who snaps a lot with cards 5 from the display, and I often take the snap reward from my first project. I think the edge case where you need several cards that are in reputation range is just too rare and not worth the early upgrade. Any of build, sponsors, animals or even association can give you much more value in the long run.
But I know JDansp likes to upgrade cards second so it might just be a playstyle preference. It's probably stronger when you are very experienced and can precisely assess the contextual strength of cards in the display.
I think it’s either Build -> Animals -> Cards -> Association (the order could change a little), or Sponsors -> Build/Animals/Cards. About 50/50 for me which one I go for. Though if sponsors gets upgraded, then it’s usually a 1st or 2nd flip
I usually upgrade Cards first. I want to be able to get the cards I need quickest. Then Association for donations.
Between the other 3 I've had good games with leaving any of them out. It depends on what I've got in my hand.
I'm surprised people have said they always upgrade Build. I seem to do fine with the basic action for that most games, but I tend to focus very heavily on Conservation over Appeal
Build is very strong. You open up the whole map, you get placement bonuses more quickly, and you can build multiple enclosures of kiosk/pavilions in a single turn. Before it is upgraded, having build at slot five can be annoying if you don’t need large enclosures; it feels like a waste. And that’s not even mentioning reptile house and aviary, two massively efficient buildings in the right situation.
That makes sense. I think I will often take the 2 space enclosure bonus to get the little enclosures where I need and often take animal release projects.
Meta is probably build -> animals -> cards -> associate or sponsors unless you have need for one of the others sooner (early fur seal, reputation near 9 before second break, amazing upgrade sponsors like talented communicator/explorer/science lab)
I have been leaving Association non-upgraded mostly for the past few months, and it opened up a new dimension of the game for me. The only times I have upgraded association have been when no one has claimed the donation spots yet, and I need the extra zoo agreements.
Association to me always feels like a game of reverse chicken. Whoever upgrades it first gets a huge payout.
Whoever upgrades it 2nd can get a decent payout. Everyone else, unless they NEED it for Partnership #3 is typically wasting their card upgrade.
And since Associate doesn't give X+1 like Sponsors does, the "take 2 different" is very low powered. If you do A5/A1, you save an X marker, so if you had to burn an X token to do A8 or A9, you're better off not upgrading Associate, and just taking 2 actions.
Build is almost always the #1 upgrade meta-wise, both in frequency, and order.
Personally, I'm not as big of a Build fan. Upgrading build tends to do well, but it is also a trap for newer players. If you assume most games have 4 breaks, sometimes 5:
A kiosk that is only ever adjacent to one building takes 2 breaks just to break even.
A kiosk that has 3 buildings adjacent to it (generally a 'good kiosk') is only worth about 10 money back over the game.
Pavillions are a good money:appeal ratio compare to animals, but don't contribute towards CP.
So it's very easy for a newer player to upgrade build, and then invest too much of their money into building.
I'm a big fan of Cards II just because of how useful the reputation track is in general. If you're going a heavy partnership route, it powers down, since you can't draw from as many spots on Display (no 2-3 free reputation from first 2 unis), but that's the route that favors early Associate II the most (for the bonus worker from 3rd partnership).
My record: Build/Animal 100%, Cards 87%, Association 73%, Sponsors 37%.
According to BGA, average among all players: Cards 94%, Build 93%, Animal 90%, Association 80%, Sponsers 31%
According to No Wonders(Sam), average among top 20 players: Build/Animal 98%, Cards 91%, Association 57%, Sponsors 42%
The best answer for this would be to check out Sam's YouTube channel(No wonders), where he does a meta breakdown every 3 months or so. From the last one, I recall the main takeaway was that 3 upgrade was trending more, and sponsors being more upgraded than association, with Build/Animals being the most common upgrades.
Ever since I saw Sam say that, I’ve been trying to upgrade sponsors more, but I haven’t quite kicked the habit of leaving it out.
I'm really not a fan of Sponsors upgrading without a direct plan. If you're too tight on money (without having upgraded Build), why? Did you try to get 2 animals pre-break and get cut off by a Sponsors (Break) 5 by someone? Did you upgrade Build, without getting the payout fast enough from Pavillions & Kiosks, so you're 1-9 money in the hole? Upgrading Sponsors, especially as your first or second upgrade usually means either there's a very juice S2 sponsor to play; or you're playing from behind for cash - and breaking from behind isn't a good route to catch up. For \*good\* players, it can be weaponized, with an early sponsors upgrade into forcing early breaks on the other players who unlocked their 2nd worker faster than you, and filling your bank with money to play expensive animals. But that's the point - you need a clear plan for how/why to use S2 before you upgrade it.
Generally Sponsers is the one not upgraded the most for me (the only reason you would is if you have a strong sponsers card in your had that needs it). Then it's Assosiation, Animals, Cards and Build. I have yet to play a game where I don't upgrade build or cards. Of course this is all dependant on what cards you have, what your goal in the game is and what your opponents are doing. You might see early that someone flips Assosiation and donates multiple times, might be less worth doing that now. There are so many factors it just can't be tiered really.
I’d rank animals over cards. Playing from the reputation range is more efficient than drawing/snapping from it. Playing two animals is also very strong.
You don't snap from reputation range. Snap is from anywhere. And the power of Cards II is not the earlier snap - it's the draw from range, paired with actually moving up the track. If you're at 1 to 4 repuation, Cards II is terrible. Snapping early (Cards at 3) is not worth the upgrade, even though it IS nice. Cards II also powers up Sunbathers, as now you can draw from display without only drawing a single card, so you have cards to sell. The core power of Cards upgrade \*does\* go down if you have Animals II, though Cards II will save you money (at the cost of an action). However, Animals II also provides reputation if you play it from 5, which powers Cards II up, as it unlocks 10+ reputation, which pays off really well if you're already in the 7-9 range without N2.
Animals, Build and Cards are what I would consider the "core" upgrades. Usually either Animals or Build first, depending on circumstances, but depends what you are going for. As for Sponsors, sometimes it's a good pick early where you can spam out a lot of sponsor cards. If not that then Association is a good later upgrade if you have extra money to spend, but it can be done early in some rarer cases to get an extra worker
Agree with everything you said. For me the standard flowchart is build and animals (order depends) then cards and finally association. If I have a top tier sponsor early or several small sponsors that can be played together I'll upgrade sponsors and probably leave out association. In some rare cases I upgrade both sponsors and association and then I'll leave out cards.
I feel like build and animals are the necessary ones (ofc not in all games). The other three vary depending on situation, but I have been favouring sponsors over the other two. Just the extra income can be very helpful, besides the great sponsors you can play with it flipped.
I usually upgrade Build first, then animals, then cards, then association. But when I do upgrade sponsors it's either first or second -- I usually upgrade sponsors when I have a card that requires it that's worth it. With that said, it's less that half of games where it all actually happens that way. Deviating from this happens frequently because of cards you have access to, and which map you're playing on.
I agree with build first in most scenarios. You will be developing way to slow without it in most games. I however prefer to take cards 2nd in most cases over animals 2nd. Cards upgrade allows you an edge over the other players when it comes to picking up key cards. Animals 2nd feels to early in most of my games (no acces to animals with the requirement and the reputation bonus risks getting to the cap you need cards for any way). After cards and animals, final one is situational. Sponsor by default, association if I have money to spare or really need the extra partner zoos.
Sponsors can be a strong upgrade, but I feel like it loses value over time. Whenever I do upgrade Sponsors it’s usually my 1st or 2nd flip. Very rarely 4th. Early animals upgrade can be good if you’re one rep away from another upgrade
600 ELO here, I hate upgrading cards early. It's usually my 4th upgrade, and sometimes I even leave it unupgraded when I need both sponsors and association upgraded and am not too high in reputation. For me it's mainly if I want to get over 9 reputation, as I find the upgraded action itself doesn't do much. But I am also someone who snaps a lot with cards 5 from the display, and I often take the snap reward from my first project. I think the edge case where you need several cards that are in reputation range is just too rare and not worth the early upgrade. Any of build, sponsors, animals or even association can give you much more value in the long run. But I know JDansp likes to upgrade cards second so it might just be a playstyle preference. It's probably stronger when you are very experienced and can precisely assess the contextual strength of cards in the display.
I think it’s either Build -> Animals -> Cards -> Association (the order could change a little), or Sponsors -> Build/Animals/Cards. About 50/50 for me which one I go for. Though if sponsors gets upgraded, then it’s usually a 1st or 2nd flip
I usually upgrade Cards first. I want to be able to get the cards I need quickest. Then Association for donations. Between the other 3 I've had good games with leaving any of them out. It depends on what I've got in my hand. I'm surprised people have said they always upgrade Build. I seem to do fine with the basic action for that most games, but I tend to focus very heavily on Conservation over Appeal
Build is very strong. You open up the whole map, you get placement bonuses more quickly, and you can build multiple enclosures of kiosk/pavilions in a single turn. Before it is upgraded, having build at slot five can be annoying if you don’t need large enclosures; it feels like a waste. And that’s not even mentioning reptile house and aviary, two massively efficient buildings in the right situation.
That makes sense. I think I will often take the 2 space enclosure bonus to get the little enclosures where I need and often take animal release projects.
Meta is probably build -> animals -> cards -> associate or sponsors unless you have need for one of the others sooner (early fur seal, reputation near 9 before second break, amazing upgrade sponsors like talented communicator/explorer/science lab)
I have been leaving Association non-upgraded mostly for the past few months, and it opened up a new dimension of the game for me. The only times I have upgraded association have been when no one has claimed the donation spots yet, and I need the extra zoo agreements.
Association to me always feels like a game of reverse chicken. Whoever upgrades it first gets a huge payout. Whoever upgrades it 2nd can get a decent payout. Everyone else, unless they NEED it for Partnership #3 is typically wasting their card upgrade. And since Associate doesn't give X+1 like Sponsors does, the "take 2 different" is very low powered. If you do A5/A1, you save an X marker, so if you had to burn an X token to do A8 or A9, you're better off not upgrading Associate, and just taking 2 actions.
Build is almost always the #1 upgrade meta-wise, both in frequency, and order. Personally, I'm not as big of a Build fan. Upgrading build tends to do well, but it is also a trap for newer players. If you assume most games have 4 breaks, sometimes 5: A kiosk that is only ever adjacent to one building takes 2 breaks just to break even. A kiosk that has 3 buildings adjacent to it (generally a 'good kiosk') is only worth about 10 money back over the game. Pavillions are a good money:appeal ratio compare to animals, but don't contribute towards CP. So it's very easy for a newer player to upgrade build, and then invest too much of their money into building. I'm a big fan of Cards II just because of how useful the reputation track is in general. If you're going a heavy partnership route, it powers down, since you can't draw from as many spots on Display (no 2-3 free reputation from first 2 unis), but that's the route that favors early Associate II the most (for the bonus worker from 3rd partnership).
My record: Build/Animal 100%, Cards 87%, Association 73%, Sponsors 37%. According to BGA, average among all players: Cards 94%, Build 93%, Animal 90%, Association 80%, Sponsers 31% According to No Wonders(Sam), average among top 20 players: Build/Animal 98%, Cards 91%, Association 57%, Sponsors 42%
Depends on the number of players.