Endeavor: Deep Sea
130 questions players ask about Endeavor: Deep Sea, answered in plain words and graded by where the answer comes from. See also the full rulebook.
Updated 2026-10-30.
130 questions players ask about Endeavor: Deep Sea, answered in plain words and graded by where the answer comes from. See also the full rulebook.
Updated 2026-10-30.
An official source (designer or publisher) answered this directly.
No one sees them all: setup puts three random Tier 5 Specialists, Junior side up, in each pocket of the Tier 5 column, so only the top tile of each pocket is visible and recruitable. You cannot search the stacks. When a recruit empties a pocket, the top tile of another pocket moves over so three are always available.
An official source (designer or publisher) answered this directly.
Usually three: the Team Leader's disc (reclaimed in Reassignment), the disc from your starting vessel's launch-zone Arrival bonus, and the disc from your Inspiration in Effort. If your start zone gives no disc, you begin with two. The Team Leader disc is a teaching aid that makes the first round play like every later one.
Best-supported reading from the forum; no official ruling.
No. Every Team Leader is the same: it simply provides an activation circle you can use for any action. The asymmetry between players comes from the Specialists they recruit afterwards.
An official source (designer or publisher) answered this directly.
Remove them during setup. If you miss one, take it out when it is drawn. Boards from a depth stack that will not be used can also be set aside, though in co-op it is wise to keep the three-board stack handy for setbacks.
Usually yes. In scenarios that do not start on the Sea Star, players generally choose their start location. In scenarios that start on the Sea Star the choices are already balanced, and a fifth player uses the Sky tile.
Several experienced players agree and nothing in the rulebook contradicts it; no official ruling.
Only one component: you add The Sky Above tile on top of the launch tile, giving extra action options in that zone. The rules are otherwise unchanged.
No. Nobody discovers the starting boards during play, so their Discovery bonuses are never claimed. The bonuses are printed for consistency and possible future scenarios.
An official source (designer or publisher) answered this directly.
Substitute. Discs, Impact markers, track cubes and vessels are effectively unlimited, so use an unused player colour or any stand-in. The designer confirms these tokens are not meant to be a limit.
An official source (designer or publisher) answered this directly.
Count Specialists: each player has one Specialist more than the round number (the Team Leader plus one recruit per round), and the game ends after the sixth round when everyone has seven. The board has no round counter, so remember the end round.
An official source (designer or publisher) answered this directly.
Six rounds for every player count, and seven in solo. The designer says six gave the best balance, and solo gets an extra round for more exploration.
An official source (designer or publisher) answered this directly.
Yes. Each player completes Recruitment, Effort and Reassignment in turn, starting with the Wave holder, before the next player begins. This differs from original Endeavor; players may let others go first if their own choices depend on it.
An official source (designer or publisher) answered this directly.
One main action per turn: activate a single Specialist or use one Journal action space, then perform the actions shown on it (a Specialist with several unslashed actions lets you do any or all of them). On top of that you can spend any number of Dive tokens. Turns keep rotating clockwise until everyone has passed, so you act many times per round, and unplayed discs stay in your Staging Area.
The rulebook text answers this directly.
Only at the end of the round, after everyone has passed, and before the next round's Preparation. It does not move during the Activation phase; the Wave icon on player mats just reminds you of clockwise order from the Wave holder.
Only discs on Specialists can be reclaimed (to your Staging Area), and only up to your Reassignment level. Discs on ocean boards (Sonar, Conserve, Journal sites) and on Journal action circles stay for the whole game. Discs unplayed in your Staging Area when you pass are kept for next round.
Yes. You may always decline a reward or action, including a promotion. One designer exception was noted: moving to the Robotic Wanderer's dock obliges you to move the Wanderer, which is a zone effect rather than a reward.
The rulebook text answers this directly.
You may perform any or all of them, in any order, in different zones and with different vessels, resolving each fully before the next; it is still one turn. Each symbol is a separate action: two Travel symbols can move one vessel twice or two vessels once each, you take the Arrival bonus at each landing, and two Conserve symbols each trigger the zone's special ability.
Every space on an ocean board counts as in the ocean, even ones that look like sky, and depth 1 is the surface. Discs on Journals or Specialists are not in the ocean.
An official source (designer or publisher) answered this directly.
You still recruit, taking from the lowest tier that has a Specialist available, as in the original Endeavor. Taking a higher tier instead is only a house rule.
An official source (designer or publisher) answered this directly.
It immediately raises all four attribute tracks by one step.
Best-supported reading from the forum; no official ruling.
No. The Junior side has no activation circle, so it does nothing until promoted. Its blue advance is an immediate gain taken once when recruited.
The rulebook text answers this directly.
The disc goes back to your supply, not your Staging Area, which frees the Specialist's circle so the Senior side can be activated again. You can therefore use the Junior side first and the Senior side later in the same round, getting two activations from one tile.
The rulebook text answers this directly.
Yes. The rulebook says you keep the Junior symbols and then gain the Senior side's reward, so promoting never lowers a track.
You keep the bonus already gained; demotion itself gives nothing. When you promote the Specialist again you gain the promotion reward a second time, and any disc on the demoted side is lost.
An official source (designer or publisher) answered this directly.
Yes. The Mentor may use its own promotion symbol on itself; the designer treats it as the Specialist gaining experience from the work.
The rulebook text answers this directly.
A Team Leader starts as a Senior, so it counts for effects that refer to Senior Specialists. Because promotion only affects Junior Specialists, a Journal cannot promote it.
An official source (designer or publisher) answered this directly.
No. Activation grants only the actions the Specialist had when you placed the disc, so a mid-activation promotion or Underwater Academy badge adds nothing this turn. Unused actions of the old side remain available in any order.
An official source (designer or publisher) answered this directly.
Yes. Any Tier 1 or Tier 2 Specialist may carry a badge, the Marine Engineer included. Its action is only usable after the Specialist is promoted, since a Specialist needs an empty activation circle to be activated.
No. One Travel action must move a vessel to a different zone, so you cannot go away and back within it, and you do not gain an Arrival bonus for returning. A second Travel action (from a Specialist with two, or a Dive token) can bring the vessel back, and each is resolved separately with its own Arrival bonus.
The rulebook text answers this directly.
No. A Travel action moves one of your vessels, up to its limits. Several of your vessels may share a zone.
The rulebook text answers this directly.
Yes. Every time you end a Travel in a zone, including a zone you visited earlier or when you place a new vessel, you gain its Arrival bonus. Zones you merely pass through give nothing.
An official source (designer or publisher) answered this directly.
It can stay. The depth and distance limits are only checked when you Travel, so a vessel can sit deeper than your current Technology level after a boost or setback. Any vessel you do move must end at a depth your Technology allows.
An official source (designer or publisher) answered this directly.
No. The boost applies only to that one Travel action. The vessel stays where it lands and can act there, but its next normal move must obey your real Technology level.
Yes. A Journal effect or zone feature can lift it above 5 for that move, letting you travel more than five zones.
An official source (designer or publisher) answered this directly.
Generally yes, depth only matters for where you end. Exceptions are tiles like Deep Current Deflection that force you to stop on passing through; if you cannot enter that depth, you cannot make that move.
An official source (designer or publisher) answered this directly.
Yes, there is no general limit on vessels in a zone, unless a zone's own rule says otherwise (the Submerged Cave System forbids vessels). There is no general advantage to stacking vessels; the Sunken City is the one tile that benefits from several.
An official source (designer or publisher) answered this directly.
Each Gain Vessel icon on the Ingenuity track gives a new vessel the first time your marker reaches it, so the third needs the second icon. You never lose a vessel if the marker falls back, and re-passing an icon gives nothing new. A drop only limits where a vessel can travel, so a stranded vessel stays put while your other vessels act.
No. It triggers only when a Travel starts in the Vortex zone and moves away. When it applies, it stacks with a Journal's deeper-travel bonus, and the depth limit is judged by the destination's depth.
Draw from the shallowest depth that still has a legal placement, which can be deeper than the icon shows. You still place your Sonar disc as normal. You only gain Impact instead when no legal location remains anywhere in the ocean.
An official source (designer or publisher) answered this directly.
No. You must use the shallowest legal depth; if a shallower placement exists, you cannot skip it to go deeper. Deeper depths are legal only when the Sonar space's range allows them or nothing shallower is possible.
Yes. When all existing columns are full and there are fewer than five, you may start a new column with a depth-1 zone.
The rulebook text answers this directly.
At depth 1 it goes beside the existing surface zones with no horizontal gap, and the ocean is never wider than five columns. Every deeper board must sit directly below a zone of the shallower depth, and the Vortex's sonar ability is the only exception to that. A column cannot jump past empty spaces above it.
Several experienced players agree and nothing in the rulebook contradicts it; no official ruling.
You gain an Impact instead of drawing boards and skip the rest of the Sonar steps.
The rulebook text answers this directly.
Yes. Draw two boards from the shown depth, look at both, place one, and put the other on the bottom of its stack. Peeking at the first before drawing the second is not allowed.
The rulebook text answers this directly.
No. Use the leftmost empty space of a Sonar track in a zone where you have a vessel, choosing which track if there are several.
Best-supported reading from the forum; no official ruling.
No. Only spaces showing depth numbers let you discover a board; a space with a different bonus just gives that bonus. The 'X+' notation means depth X or deeper.
An official source (designer or publisher) answered this directly.
As many as you like, each resolved fully before the next, and before, between or after your Specialist or Journal action, or on their own, including a token you just drew. Dive tokens are not a Specialist activation, so they can accompany your main action or stand in for it.
An official source (designer or publisher) answered this directly.
Yes. Spending a token instead of a Specialist counts as your turn, and you may take only its Research. The older rule that every turn needed a main action was changed after the crowdfunding version.
An official source (designer or publisher) answered this directly.
No. A token with an action symbol allows only that action, and a token with no action symbol can only be spent for Research.
Yes for Journal, Sonar and Conserve: the token replaces the Specialist, saving that disc, but the action's own disc is still placed on its space and you need a vessel where it applies. You still pay any Research cost, such as a Journal's. A Travel token needs a vessel but no extra disc.
An official source (designer or publisher) answered this directly.
One. You may hold as many as you want during your turn and decide at its end which one to keep, spending the rest first. It is the end of your turn, not the round, that triggers the cap.
An official source (designer or publisher) answered this directly.
No. Only a token that shows a Dive action can be spent to dive again; other tokens give just Research or the effect printed on them. A token you draw can be used to dive again in the same zone.
An official source (designer or publisher) answered this directly.
No. Tokens are spent during the Activation phase on your turn, not during Preparation, so a held token cannot be saved to influence recruitment.
Best-supported reading from the forum; no official ruling.
It depends on how the token is spent. Used in place of your main action, it is your main action for the turn, so no Journal action follows; used in addition to it, you can still take the Journal or Specialist action afterwards. The rules give no formal timing, so it is best to say which you mean before resolving the token.
An official source (designer or publisher) answered this directly.
No. Once a dive site's tokens are gone it stays empty for the rest of the game, and a new zone only receives tokens as it enters play. If the supply is short, reshuffle the discard; if that is not enough, place as many as you can and ignore the rest with no catch-up later.
For each token taken. A Specialist with two Dive symbols may dive twice at one site if enough tokens remain, and a Journal dive that claims an extra token earns the bonus on both.
Yes. Tokens are revealed when drawn and stay face up, and discards are visible too.
No. Dive tokens and discs are separate components with different jobs.
Advance the attribute track where you are furthest behind; if several are tied, choose one of them.
An official source (designer or publisher) answered this directly.
A Shipwreck dive means taking two tokens, keeping one and discarding the other. If an upgraded Robotic Wanderer lets you look through the stack, the designer ruled that you may search the whole stack for your two tokens, then still keep just one of them.
The rulebook text answers this directly.
On any available Conservation site in a zone where you have a vessel; players report no further placement restriction beyond a zone's own special rule. You pay its Research cost, gain its rewards and place the disc, and a second disc is needed for the Specialist.
The Orca only removes that one conservation's Research cost; you still spend both discs, one for the Specialist and one on the site. It applies to a single Conserve only, even if the Specialist has two Conserve actions.
An official source (designer or publisher) answered this directly.
No. A Journal action space is your one main action for the turn, used in place of activating a Specialist. Only Dive tokens add to it.
An official source (designer or publisher) answered this directly.
Most Journal action circles need one disc, with Conserve the exception since a disc must also go on the board. Discs on Journals and the ocean never return, and each space holds a single disc.
The rulebook text answers this directly.
No. You pay the Research cost of the Journal you publish and then place the disc, so declining the payment means you cannot publish.
An official source (designer or publisher) answered this directly.
After everything resolves. The designer's intended order is to claim the Journal, resolve your rewards and the Others reward, then reveal the replacement; this refines the rulebook's simple 'claim then refill'. It rarely matters, except when a reward lets someone afford the newly revealed card.
No. It is a Journal action: placing one disc on the Journal's circle lets you discover a zone, drawing two boards from depths 3 to 5 and placing one, with no Sonar disc required.
An official source (designer or publisher) answered this directly.
It lets you conserve at a site at the same depth as one of your vessels, even without a vessel in that zone, so a vessel on any depth-1 zone allows conserving anywhere on depth 1. It still costs a disc on the site, and the Interlinked Ecosystem Conserve works in the Submerged Cave without a connected vessel.
Yes. Claiming two Dive tokens from Scaly-Foot Snails gives two Journal actions if Journal sites remain, taken one after another, and other dive sites with a Journal-on-dive bonus work the same way. A Journal Dive action claims one extra token, two in total, from the same stack. Each Journal still has to be bought from an open site.
The rulebook text answers this directly.
As soon as both of its ends hold a disc, whatever else is empty on the track. Both players with a disc at either end gain the reward, once each, with the active player first.
Forum players disagree and no official ruling exists.
The rulebook does not clearly settle it. Read literally, Sonar and Journal place the disc (and resolve links) before claiming the space's reward, while Conserve pays its rewards first. Many players simply resolve the circle first, then links, then the action's other rewards; agree an order at your table if it matters.
An official source (designer or publisher) answered this directly.
Once you hold the marked Journal space, a Conserve action at one of the zone's sites grants one extra Conserve action in the zone. Each is a full action with its bonuses, so players pay the Research and a disc for each. A Specialist with two Conserve actions can chain this into four Conserves in one activation if you can pay.
An official source (designer or publisher) answered this directly.
No. A disc on the yellow-ringed space turns on that rule for you when you perform the related action.
An official source (designer or publisher) answered this directly.
No. They apply only to the player taking the dive action, based on their own discs.
An official source (designer or publisher) answered this directly.
When its dive stack is emptied by a Dive action, vessels there may travel, and it is a one-off effect like the Decommissioned Oil Rig. It looks only at Sunken Ruins' own stack, not the Submerged Cave System's.
No. Finish the move first, then collect rewards, including the travel-away bonus and the Arrival bonus. Technology cannot rise mid-Travel.
An official source (designer or publisher) answered this directly.
Yes. The bonus is for moving away from that zone, so you need a vessel there; a Journal Conserve made from another zone does not trigger it.
No. Nobody is on the Wanderer Dock at placement, so that bonus is lost. The player who places the tile does not get it either; you must be at the dock to count the Wanderer as yours.
An official source (designer or publisher) answered this directly.
Yes. The designer confirmed that a completed zone can be completed again and pays out again, which is a useful trick in solo and co-op.
The rulebook text answers this directly.
Advancing beyond the Impact symbol sends the marker back to the symbol and gains Impact again, repeatedly. You may decline an increase to stay on a space, and final scoring uses the bracket where the marker ends.
The rulebook text answers this directly.
In an empty hex that has an entry arrow pointing at it or touches an occupied hex. The infinity hex needs no extra rule beyond being connected, and can hold any number of markers.
An official source (designer or publisher) answered this directly.
Only if a Conserve action directly leads to the link; a link completed by a Journal or Sonar action does not use the special placement. Impact gained indirectly from a Conserve action still counts.
An official source (designer or publisher) answered this directly.
Yes. Shuffle them into any mission and apply their effects as they appear. They do not interfere with each other, so all three can be mixed in.
An official source (designer or publisher) answered this directly.
No campaign. Each mission is an alternate setup you can play in any order, and the designer balanced them to similar difficulty. Challenge comes from goals and setbacks drawn; a player did find higher-numbered missions stray more from basic rules.
The rulebook text answers this directly.
Five depths, unless the mission states a different limit. The depth-1 tiles in setup diagrams only show the side boundaries, not a cap on how far down you can go.
They are printed for consistency and possible future scenarios. The Looking Glass is shuffled into the depth-2 stack in Mission 8, the Fallen Star can be discovered in Mission 6 (it starts in play in Mission 7), and the Sea Star is never discovered in current missions.
An official source (designer or publisher) answered this directly.
It is in the top four boards of the stack with 1 or 2 players and the bottom four with 3 to 5. No rule forces you to pick it when drawn; Mission 7 starts with it in play.
An official source (designer or publisher) answered this directly.
To a legal depth-2 space.
An official source (designer or publisher) answered this directly.
Markers may move to any legal adjacent hex, not only downward. A new marker must start on an entry hex, and starting one is allowed only when no existing marker can move or each sits in the deepest empty scoring hex of its column.
The depth of the zone where the action was taken, even through chain reactions, not the vessel's depth. A vessel's depth is used only when the source is unclear, such as a track bump. The race goal discs come from your supply.
It is for the first Conservation Impact added to the 3-point zone, one claim per zone. The extra marker placed there comes from supply and only marks use.
Community posts agree and the designer confirmed the Exhaustion point.
In Mission 9 the first Conserve in a zone can be marked with an Impact marker instead of a staging disc. Exhaustion returns nothing for such a site, those markers count as discs for goals, and Conservation Impact has a shortcut to the infinite 2-point space, even when the main board is full.
An official source (designer or publisher) answered this directly.
Whoever takes the goal picks only Narrow or Broad. Each player then scores their own most-owned symbol type. You collect field symbols, from Journals or the board, not cards.
Best-supported reading from the forum; no official ruling.
They count as an extra Journal of that colour for end-game scoring and give no Journal action.
Best-supported reading from the forum; no official ruling.
It only indicates which kind of round disc on ocean tiles earns a point and gives no action.
Best-supported reading from the forum; no official ruling.
No. You keep bonuses already gained and earn them again if you later place a disc on the freed space.
The rulebook text answers this directly.
Each qualifying object scores for everyone; the top two placings add a bonus. Players tied for first all get the full first bonus and nobody gets second; a sole first with a tie for second gives every tied player the second bonus. A player with zero does not place.
The rulebook text answers this directly.
Leftover Research, including on a stored Dive token, plus discs in your Staging Area, divided by three and rounded down. Discs on Specialists, ocean boards or Journals do not count.
The rulebook text answers this directly.
Yes. Only Tier 5 Specialists on their Senior side score their end-game criteria.
The rulebook text answers this directly.
The highest score wins and tied players share the victory. The game ends after round six in competitive play.
Symbols on your Journal cards, with two-symbol Journals counting twice, and Journal icons gained from the Impact board in Missions 3 and 8.
Best-supported reading from the forum; no official ruling.
One point per distinct depth where you have any Journal; Journals on depths 1 and 3 give 2 points.
An official source (designer or publisher) answered this directly.
Tied clusters share rank, so with sizes 3, 3 and 2 a 3 is second-largest and the 2 is third. In co-op each player scores their own.
Score 1 point per symbol of your most-owned type, counting Journal cards and Impact-board symbols, not ocean-tile spaces. Separately, the player with the most of each type takes the leader bonus even if it is not their top type.
One point per depth 2, 3 or 4 zone where you have at least one disc, no matter how many discs; most such zones takes the leader bonus.
Only discs on Journal sites of ocean tiles; extra spots granted by Journal cards do not count.
An official source (designer or publisher) answered this directly.
Goals are checked at final scoring, placing a supply disc where relevant. Any exception is on that scenario card, and if you run out of discs, substitute.
An official source (designer or publisher) answered this directly.
Meet enough of the seven goals (the Impact Board Goal, three Mission Goals and three Bonus Goals): four, five, six or all seven depending on difficulty. Co-op has no competitive scoring, only the Impact Board point goal, and leader bonuses are ignored.
Only Impact board points, Journal end-game points and promoted Tier 5 Specialists. Track points and mission-goal points do not, but extra Impact from the top of tracks counts.
An official source (designer or publisher) answered this directly.
The designer's suggested cosiest mode, from the updated co-op rules, is to achieve all 7 goals with no time limit, playing 7, 8, 9 or more rounds; the faster you finish, the better. Use 3 goals and all the setbacks, and consider removing the junior-Specialist goal, which was changed to require Seniors.
You need five Specialists on their Junior side at game end, so promoting lowers the count. In solo you do not have to promote anything; the designer says to treat it as seven Seniors including the Team Leader.
A zone counts only if every player has a disc or vessel there. Solo needs 11 zones; with more players the required count drops, such as five zones for five players. The map can grow beyond the setup diagram.
An official source (designer or publisher) answered this directly.
In co-op, yes, teammates receive it. In solo it goes to no one, which makes those Journals cheaper.
Count each zone once if any player has a disc at the required depth, even when several players have discs there (designer, Mission 2 Goal 3; Mission 6 Goal 1 has identical wording and is played the same way). For Mission 3 symbols, each player individually must reach the threshold with at least one symbol type, and players can differ.
Every player needs a disc or vessel in every zone of the middle column (column C). A disc is enough; it does not have to be a vessel.
Mission 6 Goal 2 counts the total number of revealed zones in the ocean. Mission 8 Goal 3's 3+ refers to sets, so you need three or more sets of the four field symbols.
An official source (designer or publisher) answered this directly.
The designer's intent is to remove the marker and keep your cleanup progress; as written, with no disc there you remove nothing.
In co-op other players count as opponents; in solo it scores zero.
An official source (designer or publisher) answered this directly.
Choose an option you can fully resolve, such as flipping a Senior back to Junior. If only Juniors remain, lower your lowest attribute as far as possible, even from 0 to 0.
An official source (designer or publisher) answered this directly.
Follow every step you can. With no depth-3 zone or no discs to compare, those steps do nothing but the card is still replaced. Vessels placed get no Arrival bonuses and nobody gets a placement bonus; the Robot Wanderer goes on the Wanderer Dock.
Two zones left or up, stopping earlier at the board edge or where no revealed zone exists. Normal movement rules apply, so a gap stops them.
Best-supported reading from the forum; no official ruling.
Yes, immediately when drawn. If you hold no Dive token then, you lose none.
Best-supported reading from the forum; no official ruling.
Add the small numbers in the upper-right of the attribute track spaces your markers reached on your player board.
An official source (designer or publisher) answered this directly.
Yes, the designer confirmed it.
An official source (designer or publisher) answered this directly.
It is a typo: place a random depth-1 zone instead.
Only when a Conservation action completes the link, and the player who does it may claim it. A Sonar completion gives nothing, and indirect Impact from the Conservation can go on the bonus spot.
An official source (designer or publisher) answered this directly.
A dice tile's is always general; a Journal reward's is indirect and depends on where the action took place.
An official source (designer or publisher) answered this directly.
No, choose any available slot.
Best-supported reading from the forum; no official ruling.
You choose which penguin; reaching the colony moves one up to 3 steps, a dive on the colony moves any penguin up to 2.
Likely take a publication of that colour, not perform a publish action. Whether Research costs apply is not settled.
Best-supported reading from the forum; no official ruling.
No. It offers new solo and co-op variety instead.