Kia Ora koutou and welcome to
gaia project in about three minutes
review copy used
the game has a solo mode
its a game for one to four players, playing time is long and it's pretty damn complex
across the galaxy many different species vie for interstellar control
but this is not a war it is a race
a race to terraform worlds to your liking, to unlock advanced technological powers and to form mighty Federation's of worlds
the winner is a player with the most points after six turns
you gain points by completing objectives,  advancing tech trees, forming Federation's and much more
variable player powers: each faction has different home worlds and different powers
network building: building sets of connected planets is key to winning
each round a different action will grant you extra victory points as shown here
first of all grab one of the round boosters
this is a special bonus you will get to use on your turn
then get your income, this is determined by all empty spaces on your player board
there are three core resources money,  ore and research
Ore and  money are used for buildings, ore is used for terraforming and research for technology
there is also power which sits in three different bowls
when you get a power boost you must first move power from area 1 to 2
and only when that's full can you move from areas 2 to 3
you can also burn a power to move another power from bowl 2 to 3
power at area 3 can be spent to area 1 to do a variety of power actions like claiming two ore here.
the tech trees are important and determine a lot of your strengths
in order, how much it costs to terraform a planet, how far away you can terraform,
how many QIC's you get (which are special power-ups),
how easily you can turn worlds into gaia worlds and income and research ability
you can move up one step on a tech track by spending four research
if you build a research building you can also claim one tech upgrade and advance your marker up the matching track
if you pick one of the bottom three upgrades you can advance on any track
you can only claim the top space or the advanced tech tile if you have a federation token to flip and more on those later
actions on the board include turning a transdim world into a Gaia world
this costs a lot of power and needs a Gaiaformer, but the power can come from any bowl
this power comes back to you next turn
you can build a mine on a world within range paying its cost to terraform and the mines cost
the cost of terraform is determined by your tech and the type of world, which is different for each faction
we can use the booster we picked up to extend our range and spend a QIC and the mine costs to build on a Gaia world
QICs can also extend your range
and we can upgrade a building paying its new cost.
when someone builds within two spaces from one of your buildings you can spend victory points to boost power as well
once you have enough planets under your control you can spend power to form a federation
this grants you one of these federation tokens
finally return your used round booster and select another one
why would you like this game?
Gaia project is a heavy game with a colossal decision space and so many options on what you can do each game
balancing expansion versus income generation and upgrading,
managing your power expenditure and figuring out what techs to go after are all
massive decisions that will hurt your brain each and every time you play
there are seven different player colours and starting worlds each with two factions with different strengths and weaknesses
this is a game for people who love engine building and long-term planning and decision-making
the best thing about this game is sitting down to play and thinking "where the hell do I start?"
however, there's a lot going on a gaia project and I mean a lot
this is not a game you can just casually pick up and play easily
it definitely rewards repeated plays and system mastery
a quick jolly party time game it is not
prefer fantasy try the precursor game Terra Mystica
and for a more realistic setting consider Space Corp
Gaia project is a three minute board games gold medal game
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