We are going to implement 2 small rules updates to Ark Nova from now on. It will take a while until these are going to be included in printed games, but they will be part of the online implementation on BGA.
1) Scoring:
In the future, all conservation point spaces will feature a small number so that to determine your score, you only have to add the number of the space with your conservation point marker on it and your appeal to have your total score. No more calculating the distance between your 2 markers.
Also the numbers are calculated in a way that having your 2 markers reach other will score you exactly 100 points. If your markers cross, your score will be above 100, if they dont, it will be below. But nobody should finish with a negative score anymore.
This will be a real improvement in real life, a bit less so online. Therefor BGA will display both scores, the new value (starting at -14 and going up to 100 to end the game) and the current value (starting at -114 and going up to 0 to end the game).
2) Solo play and Sponsor cards with the requirement "maximum of 25 appeal":
If you start a solo game with 10 or 20 starting appeal, these requirements should read as 35 or 45 appeal. Future printings will contain a small marker with a red 35 appeal on one side and 45 appeal on the other side to use as a marking on the appeal track in these cases.
This requirement was always meant to limit these cards so that you can play them in the early game, but not in the late game. But it did a poor job at that when starting the game with more appeal. This change will make sure that the cards are playable in the same window of opportunity in the solo game, even if you start with more than 0 appeal.
This change is already implemented on BGA.