r/wingspan • u/Objective_Bake_4477 • 3d ago
Strategy
How do you all win? I feel like I have strategy, but I can’t win. I try to keep a well rounded game, but I don’t chase bonuses if I can get more points from other cards, I tuck (last game I had 28 tucks) and I try to get cards that give me food without needing to do the gain food action. I also just change strategy based on my cards. WHY AM I NOT WINNING?? Is it my strategy or my luck. I get I need to focus on certain cards, but if I don’t draw those cards, how do I win?
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u/TejelPejel 3d ago
Don't plan on a strategy for cards you don't have. Only plan for what is currently in your hand or that you are sure to get.
The best starter birds are ones that let you get a yield outside of their habitat; using hummingbirds in the grasslands or wetlands to get food while you also get eggs/cards is huge. That's one turn for food and eggs instead of two turns.
Bonus cards can win you the game or cost you a win. If your bonus cards have no synergy with your starting hand, it may be worth just ignoring the card altogether. Don't pause on playing birds in your habits because you're trying to hold off to get better ascending scores/wingspan birds. Bonus cards can be fantastic, but they can also be a distraction.
Know what your opponents have on the mat (I play on PC so it's not as clear and exposed as the physical game, since you have to click on theirs to see it). Are you using a bird that gives everyone a wheat? Great, but what if your opponent has the whistling duck or sandhill crane that turns that one wheat into two tucked cards? Are they benefitting from your predators? Is it worth skipping those powers? Things like that can have an impact. I was playing online and someone kept tucking their cards to get everyone a wheat and did what I said above and that other person had a tuck engine that ended with more than 140 points. I was having a good game, but not 140 good.
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u/Icy-Background6697 3d ago
You said it yourself - change strategy based on your cards. I like to have cards that let you do something that the environment normally wouldn’t let you do (like drawing cards in your forest with a wood duck)
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u/Objective_Bake_4477 3d ago
That is part of my strategy, but i seem to not have luck with that working lol. I think I get too focused on trying to get food? Or I just suck at the game 🤣
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u/Gregory-al-Thor 3d ago
It depends who you’re playing. Theres also a bit of luck based on which cards fall. I mostly play my spouse and sometimes I get 120 and other times I get 90. Sometimes 90 is a win and sometimes 120 is a loss.
I’d say if you’re averaging 100 you’re doing good. Eventually you’ll get a game at 110-120 and your opponent will be lower.
I don’t know, I don’t see this as a game you play to win. I play to get as many points as I can. You can’t really stop your opponent from getting points, apart from keeping an eye on nectar or end round goals.
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u/Sea_Bee_Blue 3d ago
Wingspan has a lot more tactics and nuance than people generally think. You play against yourself more than your opponents.
i suspect most casual or average players are unaware of how many points they lose 1 or 2 points at a time. Nuance matters.
Look for birds that give abilities normally found in other terrains (drawing cards/getting food/laying eggs. Wood Duck, Mourning Dove, Ruby Throated Hummingbird, Nightingale, etc.
There’s a fine line in when playing a bird is worth it… How many times will one activate that brown power on that Mourning Dove? Playing Mourning Dove after the second round rarely is worth it.
It’s a much deeper game than people give it credit for. But it’s also not a terribly competitive game as there’s not enough player vs. player interaction.
Don’t overestimate winning in this game; there’s card and food drafting but taking the game in anything but a “let’s see how high everyone can score” spirit is taking it too seriously, i think.
You aren’t a bad player there’s just a lot to learn. The smarter you are, the harder the game is to master because you are aware of more decision points to consider.
i suggest getting the app an playing vs. easy AI. i have played digitally a few thousand games over a few years. Very relaxing .
Hope that helps! 😊
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u/jbc99 3d ago
There are a number of very good players who post their games on YouTube. You can lean a lot from watching them. Check out @WinginitWingspan and @Plexa_WS. There’s a pattern to the flow of the game that when you recognize it allows you to maximize your score. Playing expensive birds too early, low-point-value birds too late; there are a lot of ways to lose a wingspan game, and I continue to find new ones. 🙂
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u/SultanYakub 3d ago
How many points are you scoring? What expansions are you playing with? How many players? The game shouldn't revolve around trying to find specific cards except under special circumstances, so there's something that isn't clicking here.
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u/Objective_Bake_4477 3d ago
3-4 plays and usually around 100, but I’m usually it’s like 10 less than the winner. We just added the Asia expansion. By specific cards, I mean some cards are more valuable and useful for the game, so if you see those get them. I think my issue is feeling like I spend too much time on turns getting food to lay cards and getting food doesn’t give you as many points. I have read some tips, but even following those, I’m not winning, so my strategy has to be off with how I’m losing so often it’s making me mad 🤣
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u/Own-Ad2950 3d ago
You're onto something with the food idea. While focusing on the Forest habitat doesn't help win in terms of points, I find it is crucial to have at least 1 good forest card on the board (meaning, it always provides an extra food) as soon as possible in the game. From there, focus on one of the other habitats to create an engine to build points. Always, do not underestimate the face value of cards. I used to select some 1-3 point cards regularly because theoretically they were decent engine builders. But depending on the timing in the game, slapping an otherwise pretty useless Bald Eagle on the board can ensure more points than some of the ones (like Bushtit) that are more valuable early in the game. Finally, be careful with cards that look great like Common Chiffchaff; if you are combining it with other cards that allow more draws, wonderful. If you have it stuck in the Forest and no other cards helping to draw birds, it just becomes wasted filler on your board.
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u/telekinetic 3d ago
If you are getting that many tucks and not winning, you are probably failing at building your engine up enough in the early game.
Efficient food and egg production build your economy, which gets you points via birds, which builds your engine, while tucks only give you points at the end game without helping your engine.
How close are you getting to filling your board each game?
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u/ArenRaizelus 3d ago
There are multiple ways to earn points - eggs, high bird cards, tucks and bonuses in my experience are the primary ways to earn points and different cards do these at different levels. I had games where I scored 100+ with no eggs or round end bonuses, purely by placing high birds, multi placong cards and bonus cards. At every point in the game, based on the cards you have and the cards you already put down, there will be 2-3 of the 4 point ways your game will be leaning towards. You need to continuously think and see in which path you will score the maximum points and play towards 1/2 paths. Its a chill game don't think too much like an engine but more of a general vibe on how you do things. Generally works most of the times.
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u/Smauler 3d ago edited 3d ago
One of the things I often do early is see if I can get a source of eggs that is not the middle row, like a tucker with an egg on the bottom, or an egg layer at the top, or any pink egg laying power. Then I just basically ignore the middle row. If the killdeer or franklins gull pops up, I'll just put them in the middle and ignore the bottom.
100 points isn't bad, at all, don't be disheartened. My basic rule is that I'm only disappointed if I get under 100. I probably average about 120 with 5 opponents, 110 with 3.
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u/Emergency_Squirrel80 3d ago
The best strategy i have is to get food birds locked down. I will grab cards off the bat to get a food bird, or plan to get at least 2 food birds by the end of first round. Ill ignore an egg bird to get two birds in the forest first.
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u/Leonard_James_Akaar 3d ago
Well rounded games can do well in average, but they’re not necessarily winners. Find an advantage early (given your opportunities) and exploit it as much as possible.
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u/Kemya-Magnus 3d ago
Maybe you are doing everything right but you are always playing someone very strong? How many points do you average in a game without expansions?
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u/Objective_Bake_4477 3d ago
No expansion I’m averaging closer to 70- 80. I’m not admitting that my husband is better than me 🤣
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u/cromulent_weasel 3d ago
My first two birds i like to be brown powers in the wetlands and forest, ideally extra resources. Birds that live there and grant eggs are amazing. Draw lots the first round to determine the game path.
If I get a tuck engine, build out the wetlands. Otherwise, forest and try to play as many birds, particularly high point or bonus birds.
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u/CharacterWest4661 3d ago
Unless you get a super tucking engine, change. E.g. (most obvious one) you get a great food engine and transition to high point birds everywhere.
On the score sheet you need two or three elements that score well.
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u/AdHot5097 3d ago edited 3d ago
Getting good cards from the start can lead to high points, but life isn't always fair, and that's the way I play Wingspan. The challenge is to make the most of what the game presents.
Most times my strategy is to put a card in the forest that gives me an extra food. I have never tried to win with a strong forest because i think it's lower odds than field/water, and that's where I hope to find success. i seem to collect more quality builds there - an extra egg or two, and/or a cached/extra food or tucked card option, and a bird that lets me copy a brown power. If that doesn't present, I'm trying to look at as many cards as I can in the water build - filling that row with tucks/draws or a repeat brown power. Sometime early during the game I am hoping to pick up between turns (pink) and end round (teal) cards, or usually later in the game a white power for more bonus cards or to play an extra card at a discounted cost, or a high point bird that doesn't have to have powers, to put in the forest. Winning a round end or nectar category is secondary but I don't ignore it. A well-rounded game may not mean I win every time, but I don't remember ever finishing last in 4-5 player games played every weekend. Most of the time I am first or second. This is playing with most if not all expansions, but not hummer option. In our experience in the last year and a half, it 'seems' that around 500+ cards is sweet spot for getting higher scores (above 120), but playing with all 705 cards, scores tend downward a bit unless someone beats the odds due to good fortune. We've had games where the low score was 116 and high score was over 150, and we've had games where 116 won and a couple players might not break 100.
Your mileage may vary
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u/sage_006 3d ago
It's hard to comment without sole more context, but generally I would say check to see if you're optimizing your points per turn. I like to set my board up that evry action is netting me some points. Low cost seed caching birds early in the forest. Tuck + draw or tuck + egg in the wetlands. Also birds that let you draw more cards so you increase your odds and picking up some strong cards (there are many). Pink birds are mostly quite good in 4+ player games. It gives you some flexibility to do what you need to do with what you have and you're always banking points doing it.
Do you play live, online against players or online vs AI?
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u/Illtakeaquietlife 3d ago
I have maybe 3-4 strategies that I implement, depending on my opening hand. But, generally, I try to go for high point birds, bonus cards, and nectar bonuses. If I do well within those three categories it's hard to have a score below 80-90. High point birds means I need to have a way to get food quickly since they're usually resource intensive so I optimize for that. If I have bullshit cards then I optimize for extra card draws so that I can cycle through cards quickly. I try to choose one bird that allows me to gain food and one that I can play in the wetlands and the food needed to do it from my opening hand.
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u/Objective_Bake_4477 3d ago
I think I just never draw birds that give me food lol. I had 0 cards that gave me food the entire game I recently played. I drew a crap ton of cards too because I could tuck up to 5 cards when I drew cards.
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u/SocialMediaTheVirus 3d ago
I feel like when I lose its to the person who simply prioritized feather points on the board even if I completed one or more bonus cards.
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u/BlueOrSo 3d ago
Always gotta remember, that if you are choosing between playing a 3 point bird that bumps your points up a level on a bonus card, vs playing a bird that gives 6-7 points is the same point gain assuming bird abilities are irrelevant on the choice, 8-9 point birds are basically always better than choosing a low point bird that fits a single bonus card
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u/Objective_Bake_4477 3d ago
See, and the game I lost today, I had the most feathers and tucks, but I didn’t have any bonus cards (i literally just couldn’t achieve mine with the cards I drew) and I didn’t have high end of round goals. I sometimes feel more like it’s not me and it’s just my cards. A lot of advice on this page says focus on getting birds that give you things you can’t get in their habit. I had no cards to give me food and didn’t even draw a card to go in my prairie until the end of the 3rd round. Reading the advice makes me feel insane because I’m doing all the suggestions 🤣
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u/BlueOrSo 3d ago
Optimal play doesnt revolve around cards you dont have, it revolves on what cards you draw into/see in card holder