23.0 References

Bios Megafauna Player Aids

ON YOUR TURN, PERFORM ONE ACTION:

1. Purchase and play/discard a card. Purchase a card of your choice by dropping one gene on each card to the left of it in the Display. This card must either be played on one of your species, or discarded immediately; you may not hold cards. Then draw a new card and resolve its event. Finally replenish the Display with the drawn card, putting it into the rightmost position in the Display row.

2. Resize one of your species. Move a size animal up or down one spot.

>If you grow outside of the size-range of a mutation card, discard it.

>If you grow outside the size-range of an inheritance tile, return it to your reserves.

3. Acculturate one of your species. If your species has the necessary two instincts, add a species animal from your reserves to the appropriate culture area on the map. This gives the species the special power listed.

4. Expand an animal. Choose a parent, then add an animal from your reserves to a habitable habitat within the migration range of that parent. You may expand with the same silhouette as the parent, or a new one. Your destination can be any habitable triangle or biome.

After your turn, cull any animals that have been adversely impacted by your turn, starting with the herbivores.

THERE ARE 4 KINDS OF EVENTS:

1. New Era Tile: Draw two Era tiles at random from the current Era pool.

>If Orogeny Biome Tile. Place into lowest-climax biome or slot in one of the mountain ranges. A replaced biome goes into the tarpit.

>If Non-orogeny Biome Tile. Place into lowest-climax biome or slot in the latitude specified on the tile.

>If Immigrant Tile. Place into lowest-climax habitable habitat in the latitude specified on the tile.

2. Catastrophe:

>Perform Extinctions. The Catastrophe level drives animals and immigrants extinct that have that much DNA or more.

>Move Greenhouse Disk one higher or lower, as specified. A rising level displaces all non-orogeny biomes north, along with the animals in them. A falling level displaces them south. If 2 biomes end­ up in the same habitat, the lower climax one goes to the tarpit. If the greenhouse is at its highest level, all biomes with a blue star are inverted. If the greenhouse is at its lowest level, all biomes with a white star are inverted.

> Episodes. Right after the 1^st catastrophe of the game, the Atlantic opens up. You need MM DNA to cross the dark blue line. Right after the 2^nd catastrophe of the game, the Era changes to the Cenozoic. Thereafter, new era tiles come from the modern era.

3. Erosion: If the Greenhouse is 800 ppm or higher, send the highest-climax orogeny biome to the tarpit, and then lower the greenhouse.

4. Milankovich: Put the lowest-climax biome of the latitude(s) specified into the tarpit.

MIGRATION LIMITATIONS.

Range: During expansion, newly-created animals may migrate up to a number of habitats equal to their size. Diagonal movement is not allowed.

Wings may migrate up to seven habitats (but not over oceans).

Amphibians. Those with one M DNA migrate 1 less.

Land Habitats may not be entered by animals with 2+ more M DNA.

Sea Habitats may be entered by species with flight or at least one M DNA.

Ice Habitats may be entered only with wings.

Must end in a habitable triangle or biome.

HERBIVORE CULLING RULES.

In each overcrowded biome or rooter triangle, keep applying culling rules (in the order listed) until there is one animal left:

1. Suitable: Those without the DNA required to eat the biome die.

2. Niche: Those with less of the Niche DNA die.

3. Predator-Defense: If (and only if) there are one or more predators present, then those inedible to all the predators survive; the others die.

4. Dentition: Herbivores with the most teeth survive.

CARNIVORE CULLING RULES.

In each overcrowded predator triangle, keep applying culling rules (in the order listed) until there is one animal left.

1. Suitable: A predator must be within one size of its prey, and have at least as much roadrunner in all 4 categories as its prey.

2. Physiology: Those with more P DNA survive.

3. Dentition: Those with fewer teeth survive.

EXTINCTION.

A species with no population discards all its cards and returns all its tiles to reserves. Extinct era tiles go to the tarpit..

LAZARUS PLAYER.

A player with all 4 species extinct can resurrect by buying and playing a mutation card, and starting a map and size animal..

THERE ARE 4 PERIOD DECKS.

The number of cards in each deck is 3N, 5, 8, and 7, where 3N = three times the number of players. Each Display has 5 more cards.

Scoring occurs at the end of the last turn of each period.

The game ends at the end of the last period. It can also end if the pool runs out of Era Tiles, the greenhouse goes high or low.

IF A DECK RUNS OUT, PERFORM SCORING.

at the end of the turn that each of the 4 Period Decks run out. For each scoring, the player with the most map animals takes half the tiles in the tarpit, rounding up. Then the next most populous, etc. Players with no population do not take any tarpit tiles.

HABITAT.

Animals trying to be predators move to the upper triangle, rooters to the lower triangle. Other herbivores are placed on the biome tile. A species within range can freely expand into any of these areas, as long as it is habitable.

PLAY CARDS.

Mutation Cards. Play on a species stack that is in the card’s size-range.

Genotype Card. To play this, you must have a parent matching the size and at least half the DNA (rounding up) on the card. If so, play it to start a new species stack, or (if the parent is already using the genotype’s silhouette) play this into your fossil record for endgame victory points.

INHERITANCE.

If expanding a new species, the child starts as the size of the parent, and may inherit Dietary DNA (maximum of 1 inheritance tile) and Roadrunner DNA (maximum of 1 roadrunner track value).

EASILY MISSED RULES.

>You may not use your inheritance tiles to specialize a species. You may only use it to show dietary DNA inherited from its parent.

>Any expanded animal can migrate into a predator triangle if it is within one size of its prey and matches its prey’s roadrunner DNA.

>If you have a predator, and its prey changes size, you are allowed a free and immediate one-step size change with that predator species.

>The number of genes in the game is constant.

>Once you place an animal, it cannot move to a new habitat.