Tips circleoflife

Coordinates system

- The upper line ranges from hex A0 to A4
- The middle line, from E0 to E8
- The bottom one, from I4 to I8

Early game

Do not attempt to grow too rapidly in the beginning! Circle of life is in tension between two competing mechanism:

- big species eat smaller ones
- small species can easily morph into bigger ones

When you evolve a species into a bigger one, keep in mind that you are reducing your options. This also makes it easier for your opponent to develop an attack, because they have less uncertainty to plan for. As a result, keeping your options open is of paramount importance in the early game, while points are secondary. Later in the game, your ability to score points will be a function of how easily you can force your opponent to choose among a limited set of options.

Save the snack for later

It is very tempting to immediately capture an opponent's species when you can, but think twice! Aside from the fact that large groups (which are needed for capture) limit your future options, there is often no reason to rush for points.

As long as you can guarantee the capture will occur eventually, postponing it will put you in control. While the opponent's species is still alive you can use it to

- prevent the opponent from capturing yours
- have exclusive access to some locations
- add uncertainty to your opponent's plan

Later in the game you can use the capture to score just as many points as you would have from immediate capture.

Two winning conditions

It is sometimes easy to forget that there are two winning conditions:

1. scoring X points, with X = 20 for the standard game.
2. having no placement option

The second condition matters and needs anticipation! It is relatively easy to protect your bigger species: you can clutter up their surroundings with your own species, or force your opponent into positions that are incompatible for capture.

In contrast, making sure that your opponent has more space to fill than you is difficult. As the game progresses, this will compete more and more with the need to keep your options open, which is why storing capture for later can become vital.