FAQ
47 answered questions44 official
Rules questions from the BoardGameGeek forum. Answers marked Official were confirmed by Burnt Island Games or the designers.
Common mistakes
- Taking back discs from Sonar tracks, Conservation or Journal sites at Reassignment — only discs on Specialists come back. Ruling · Rule
- Spending every disc in one go — one activation per turn, then the next player. Ruling · Rule
- Using any Dive token to Dive again — a token gives only the action printed on it. Ruling · Rule
- Ending your turn with two or more Dive tokens — keep at most one. Ruling · Rule
- Travelling out and back to the same zone in one Travel action to repeat its Arrival bonus. Ruling · Rule
- Treating the Journal action "Discover depth 3–5" as a Sonar action that needs a Sonar track. Ruling · Rule
- Counting attribute tracks or Mission goals towards the co-op points goal. Ruling · Rule
Showing 47 of 47
In the Preparation phase, does each player do all three steps before the next player starts? Official
Yes. You recruit, gain discs and reclaim discs, then the next player does all three. This differs from the original Endeavor and is meant to speed the phase up: pick your Specialist, pass the tray on, and do the other two steps while the next player chooses. If your choice depends on what earlier players take, wait for them.
Source: BGG thread
What if no Specialist is left at any tier my Reputation lets me recruit from? Official
You always recruit. Take a Specialist from the lowest tier that still has tiles, even if it is above your Recruitment level — the same rule as in the original Endeavor.
Source: BGG thread
Are the tier-5 Specialists below the top of a pocket public information? Official
No. Only the top tile of each tier-5 pocket is visible; the ones under it stay hidden.
Source: BGG thread
Why put a disc on the Team Leader at setup, when Reassignment takes it straight back? Official
Only to walk new players through every step of the first round.
Source: BGG thread
How many discs should I have for my first Activation phase? Official
It depends on the scenario's launch zone, but usually three: one from your Effort level, the Team Leader's disc you reclaim, and the disc from the launch zone's Arrival bonus (Mission 1's Sea Star).
Source: BGG thread
Do discs I place in the ocean or on a Journal ever come back? Official
No. Reassignment only reclaims discs from Specialists. Discs on Sonar tracks, Conservation and Journal sites and on Journal activation circles stay for the whole game.
Source: BGG thread
After Preparation, can I spend all my discs in one turn? Official
No. A turn is one activation (plus any Dive tokens you spend). Players take turns, one activation each, round the table until everyone has passed.
Source: BGG thread
My Vessel Captain shows two Travel symbols. Can I move the same Vessel twice? Official
Yes. Each symbol is a separate action: resolve the first Travel completely, rewards included, before the second. You may move one Vessel twice or two different Vessels.
Source: BGG thread
When can I spend a Dive token? Official
At any point in your own turn: before or after your activation, or between two actions of one Specialist. It can replace a Specialist or Journal activation, or come on top of one. You get either its Research or the effect it shows — nothing else.
Source: BGG thread
Can I spend any Dive token to take a Dive action? Official
No. A token gives only the action printed on it. Only a token that shows Dive lets you Dive again.
Source: BGG thread
Can I chain several Dive tokens in one turn? Official
Yes. You may hold and spend any number during your turn. At the end of your turn you keep at most one; spend or discard the rest.
Source: BGG thread
Does a token's Sonar, Conserve or Journal action still need a Vessel there and a second disc? Official
Yes. The token replaces the Specialist activation only. The action itself works as usual: a Vessel in the zone, a free site, and a disc from your Staging area for the site.
Source: BGG thread
A Dive site gives a bonus when I take a token. With two Dive actions, or a "Dive and claim an extra token" Journal, do I get the bonus each time? Official
Yes. The bonus comes with each token you take. The Journal's two tokens are taken one after the other from the same site, so at the Scaly-Foot Snails you could Journal twice if two Journal sites are free.
Source: BGG thread
Can I keep a Dive token and spend it during the next Preparation phase?
Not as a rule: Dive tokens are spent on your turns in the Activation phase. Players allow it only as a courtesy if someone forgot.
Source: BGG thread
Can I Travel back to the zone I started in to take its Arrival bonus again? Official
No. One Travel action must end in a different zone. With two Travel actions you may go somewhere and come back, taking each Arrival bonus.
Source: BGG thread
If a "travel away" bonus raises my Ingenuity, can I use the new Technology level in the same move? Official
No. Finish the move first, then take the travel-away bonus together with the Arrival bonus of your destination. A second Travel action on the same Specialist would use the new level.
Source: BGG thread
Can my Technology level go above 5? Official
Yes. A "+1 Technology" effect on top of level 5 lets you move 6 zones (and would reach depth 6 if it existed).
Source: BGG thread
Do the Vortex's travel-away bonus and a Journal's "+1 Technology" Travel stack? Official
Yes. Both apply to that move. What counts is the depth of the destination, not of the zone you leave.
Source: BGG thread
After a "+1 Technology" trip, can my Vessel stay deeper than my Technology level allows? Official
Yes. The depth limit only matters when you Travel. The Vessel may stay and act there; its next normal Travel must end at a depth you can reach.
Source: BGG thread
What if no depth on the Discover symbol has a legal spot? Official
Draw from the shallowest depth that has a legal spot. A "3+" symbol already allows depth 4 or 5; for a closed range such as "1-2" or "3", fall back to the shallowest legal depth, which may be a new depth-1 column if the Scenario allows more columns. Only when the whole play area is full do you gain an Impact instead.
Source: BGG thread
Is the Journal action "Discover depth 3–5" a Sonar action? Official
No. It is a Discover: put a disc on the Journal's activation circle and draw two boards from depths 3–5, place one. No disc goes on a Sonar track, so it costs one disc instead of the usual two.
Source: BGG thread
Can I Sonar on a track whose spaces are all taken?
No. A Sonar action needs an empty space on a track in that zone; with none left, you cannot Sonar there.
Source: BGG thread
The Sunken Ruins let Vessels travel away once its Dive site is empty. Does the Submerged Cave System's Dive site next to it count? Official
No. Only the Sunken Ruins' own Dive site. The cave is a separate zone reached through its neighbours.
Source: BGG thread
Do I get the Sea Turtle Migration's move if I Conserve there with a Journal's "Conserve at the depth of a Vessel" action? Official
No. The bonus moves a Vessel away from that zone, so you need a Vessel there. The Journal still lets you Conserve in the zone without one.
Source: BGG thread
If a Setback removes a disc from the Decommissioned Oil Rig, can the zone be completed — and rewarded — a second time? Official
Yes. Nothing limits it to once.
Source: BGG thread
Mission 4: which Impact may go in the 3-point hex? Official
Impact you gain as a direct result of your own Conserve action, including Impact from a link that your Conserve completes. Impact from a link completed by a Sonar disc does not qualify, for either player. The marker you put in the zone is an extra one from your supply that only records that the zone's bonus has been used; only one player can claim it per zone.
Source: BGG thread
Mission 2, Goal 3: how do I score "zones at depths 2/3/4 where you have a disc"? Official
Count the zones at depths 2, 3 and 4 that hold at least one of your discs; the player with the most such zones takes the leader bonus. In co-op, a zone counts once however many players have discs in it.
Source: BGG thread
Mission 3, Goal 3: which Field symbols count? Official
The Field symbols you own (on your published Journals, plus the Impact board symbols the mission counts as yours), scoring only your most-owned type. In co-op each player must reach the threshold with their own symbols; the team's symbols are not added together.
Source: BGG thread
Mission 7, Goal 1 in co-op or solo: must Vessels end in every zone of column C? Official
No. You need a disc and/or a Vessel in every zone of column C; a disc is enough.
Source: BGG thread
Mission 8, Narrow: does the player who chooses it also pick the Field symbol type for everyone? Official
No. They choose Narrow or Broad only; each player then scores their own most-owned type.
Source: BGG thread
Mission 8: is the "second-largest cluster" bonus counted per player or for the group? Official
Per player.
Source: BGG thread
Mission 10: which depth track gets Impact that does not come straight from my own action in a zone? Official
If any chain of events started by an action in a zone gives Impact to any player, everyone uses that zone's depth — including a track bump caused by a Journal you published there. Only when no zone is the source (a Specialist's immediate gain, a Dive token, which is its own action) do you choose the depth of one of your Vessels.
Source: BGG thread
Mission 9 co-op: Exhaustion asks me to remove a Conservation disc, but I only have the Impact marker the mission put there. Official
The intent is that you lose that conservation: remove the Impact marker, but keep your progress on the Cleanup track. Played strictly as written, you have no disc there and remove nothing.
Source: BGG thread
Do I need spare discs to mark my goals at the end? Official
No. Discs on the goal boxes are only a scoring aid; use any marker if you run out.
Source: BGG thread
Which points count towards the Impact board's co-op points goal? Official
Only points from the Impact board, from Journals and from Senior tier-5 Specialists. Attribute tracks and Mission goals have goals of their own and do not count.
Source: BGG thread
Must I reach the points goal to win? Official
No. It is one of the seven goals. Win by reaching as many goals as your difficulty asks for — any of them.
Source: BGG thread
How does the Renowned Fleet Coordinator score in co-op and solo? Official
In co-op, read "opponents" as "other players". In solo it scores 0.
Source: BGG thread
Funding Shortage: what if my lowest attribute is only 0 or 1? Official
Choose an option you can fully carry out: flip a Senior Specialist back to Junior. Only if all your Specialists are Juniors do you lower your lowest attribute as far as it goes.
Source: BGG thread
Funding Shortage: if I flip a Senior back to Junior, do I lose what its promotion gave me? Official
No. And if you promote it again later, you gain its Senior rewards again.
Source: BGG thread
Missions 11 and 12: is Impact from a Dive token, or from a Journal's action, gained "in" the zone? Official
A Dive token's Impact is always general (choose the grid): spending a token is its own action, never tied to the ocean. Impact from a Journal action is indirect and belongs to the zone where that action took place.
Source: BGG thread
Mission 14 places the Dying Reef "as shown", but the diagram shows no Dying Reef. Official
A typo: place a random depth-1 zone there instead.
Source: BGG thread
Can I move through the Deep Current Deflection to reach a zone I am allowed to enter? Official
No. Any Vessel entering it must stop there, and you may not stop at a depth your Technology level does not reach — so that route is closed until you find another path or raise your Ingenuity.
Source: BGG thread
[Academy] If I activate a Specialist with a blue badge to act at the Underwave Academy and flip that badge red, do I get the red bonus action in the same activation? Official
No. You carry out the actions that were available when you placed the disc, as when a Journal promotes the Specialist you just activated.
Source: BGG thread
[Wanderer] Where does the Wanderer start if a Setback or the Scenario setup puts the Wanderer Dock into play? Official
On the Wanderer Dock itself. No one discovered the zone, so no one takes its Discovery bonus.
Source: BGG thread
[Wanderer] Do I take the Arrival bonus of the zone where I first place the Wanderer? Official
No. You take the Dock's Discovery bonus and place the Wanderer, but you are not there, so there is no Arrival bonus. The Wanderer moves only as the Dock's Arrival bonus, one zone at a time.
Source: BGG thread
[Wanderer] How does the upgraded Wanderer Dive work at the Shipwreck (draw two, keep one)? Official
Look through the whole stack, pick two of them, keep one and discard the other.
Source: BGG thread
[Orca] Does the Orca board's Sonar bonus need the discovered zone to have a Conservation site, or to lack one?
To have one: you gain a Reputation when the zone you discover contains a Conservation site. The Polish rule sheet says the opposite, which players report as a misprint (BGG thread); the rules refresher video agrees with "contains".
Source: Endeavor: Deep Sea Rules Refresher: Orca Reintroduction, by Table For One