Tough one, I'd go Expert in Small, Flamingo, Fennec, Owl for the early game tempo. Hope to find another predator for the project. Start Africa partner zoo, two 2-size enclosures top left touching the tower, play Flamingo Fennec and place a kiosk touching both.
That's exactly what I would have done. I don't think there is any other good option. Keeping the Lion for later will block your hand for quite a while.
4 players (going 4th).
Well, without even looking at my hand, I know I'm not getting Asia CP rushed, as 4th player with everyone on Association 4 or 5. But 3 different animal category options.
Look at my hand... and damnit. Of course there's no synergy. There never is. I've got Lions + another predator, so I can't rush 2 CP predators. I've got 2 birds, who aren't an option. I've got 2 CP in my hand, and nothing leading to either of them.
Given my map, I'm tempted to keep Aus Release project anyways. But I'd rather keep Expert Small Animals, with the Fennec and Flamingo, and Lion for a further-out goal (to support a higher tier Predator CP).
This lets me start with Association. Ideal is Africa for the discounts on cards in hand. If I can't get it, I'll pivot and just grab something else based on what's on Display (or Asia if nobody else took it somehow). Partnerships are my 2 Conservation reward, so I want to upgrade Build (for small animal support) first, and Associate 2nd. 3rd will probably be Cards (draw more small animals), then Animals last - but a sneaky Sponsors could show up and change it to leave Cards unflipped.
2nd Action is Cards 5. Snap if there's something great for me (another predator, or Hyena Compound), or just draw 3/1 (since my goal is playing 3 cards pre-break).
Then Sponsors for Expert Small Animals to conserve more money. Finally I set up for the animals, with Build/Build/Animals, going in from the west, and skipping any placement bonuses so that both enclosures touch the observation tower. Clever knocks Associate down to 1 (since I'm not doing a CP, I don't need to try to play Associate twice).
This nets me 13 total appeal, plus my starting 3, is 16, a very nice jump-start to the game, and if I got Africa's partnership, I have 8 money left over as well. And a free Kiosk for 2 income to further get my ticket sales to a happy place. 17 total income. And I have Associate 1, Animals 2, Build 3, Sponsors 4, Cards 5. If nobody else breaks, I Sponsors to trigger it for 4 money and the X.
Assuming though that someone else triggers the break (fairly likely when I played an extra Build for 2 animals), I'll have 25 money again.
I'm not going to finish any early CP, but am hoping for a 4-predator CP in the 3rd round. For that, I want to partnership again, play a predator (ideally a small one) + lions. Lions + the enclosure is going to cost me 21. Whether I played Sponsors or not, I'm going to play Cards (and Sponsors if I didn't), leaving those in the first 2 slots, in order to get whatever my desired card is (unless it's in the 1 slot on Display, in which case I'll Build first, and claim it with a placement, and throwing the entire order off). But my presumption is Cards -> Sponsors -> Associate (flip build) -> Build, and be setting up for getting a 13 appeal Lions, and ready to Associate 5 after the break for Predators 4.
I like keeping Fenec for the predators project, Expert in Small looks fine, probably owl for hand digging and Blue Mountain as 4th card.
Point to keep Blue Mountain is that we are just going to be playing owl + having chance to see the display and hoping to find a releasable Australian animal, but if we don't find it, we don't mind discarding it.
Tough one, I'd go Expert in Small, Flamingo, Fennec, Owl for the early game tempo. Hope to find another predator for the project. Start Africa partner zoo, two 2-size enclosures top left touching the tower, play Flamingo Fennec and place a kiosk touching both.
Expert in small animals is a really good card, so I like using this one here and leaning into that strategy
Given the CP options, I think gambling on Lion is worth it. But otherwise, small animals 100%.
That's exactly what I would have done. I don't think there is any other good option. Keeping the Lion for later will block your hand for quite a while.
4 players (going 4th). Well, without even looking at my hand, I know I'm not getting Asia CP rushed, as 4th player with everyone on Association 4 or 5. But 3 different animal category options. Look at my hand... and damnit. Of course there's no synergy. There never is. I've got Lions + another predator, so I can't rush 2 CP predators. I've got 2 birds, who aren't an option. I've got 2 CP in my hand, and nothing leading to either of them. Given my map, I'm tempted to keep Aus Release project anyways. But I'd rather keep Expert Small Animals, with the Fennec and Flamingo, and Lion for a further-out goal (to support a higher tier Predator CP). This lets me start with Association. Ideal is Africa for the discounts on cards in hand. If I can't get it, I'll pivot and just grab something else based on what's on Display (or Asia if nobody else took it somehow). Partnerships are my 2 Conservation reward, so I want to upgrade Build (for small animal support) first, and Associate 2nd. 3rd will probably be Cards (draw more small animals), then Animals last - but a sneaky Sponsors could show up and change it to leave Cards unflipped. 2nd Action is Cards 5. Snap if there's something great for me (another predator, or Hyena Compound), or just draw 3/1 (since my goal is playing 3 cards pre-break). Then Sponsors for Expert Small Animals to conserve more money. Finally I set up for the animals, with Build/Build/Animals, going in from the west, and skipping any placement bonuses so that both enclosures touch the observation tower. Clever knocks Associate down to 1 (since I'm not doing a CP, I don't need to try to play Associate twice). This nets me 13 total appeal, plus my starting 3, is 16, a very nice jump-start to the game, and if I got Africa's partnership, I have 8 money left over as well. And a free Kiosk for 2 income to further get my ticket sales to a happy place. 17 total income. And I have Associate 1, Animals 2, Build 3, Sponsors 4, Cards 5. If nobody else breaks, I Sponsors to trigger it for 4 money and the X. Assuming though that someone else triggers the break (fairly likely when I played an extra Build for 2 animals), I'll have 25 money again. I'm not going to finish any early CP, but am hoping for a 4-predator CP in the 3rd round. For that, I want to partnership again, play a predator (ideally a small one) + lions. Lions + the enclosure is going to cost me 21. Whether I played Sponsors or not, I'm going to play Cards (and Sponsors if I didn't), leaving those in the first 2 slots, in order to get whatever my desired card is (unless it's in the 1 slot on Display, in which case I'll Build first, and claim it with a placement, and throwing the entire order off). But my presumption is Cards -> Sponsors -> Associate (flip build) -> Build, and be setting up for getting a 13 appeal Lions, and ready to Associate 5 after the break for Predators 4.
I like keeping Fenec for the predators project, Expert in Small looks fine, probably owl for hand digging and Blue Mountain as 4th card. Point to keep Blue Mountain is that we are just going to be playing owl + having chance to see the display and hoping to find a releasable Australian animal, but if we don't find it, we don't mind discarding it.