Hi, and welcome to Hands On Board Games. I'm Dan. [Name sign: Dan]
Today's game is Gaia Project (GP).
The game is set in outer space, but it's not a normal outer space game.
There's no fighting, no rolling dice for combat and killing, blowing stuff up, or rockets . . . none of that.
This is an economic and resource management game.
This game plays up to four players, and includes solo rules to play with an automata.
Here, I've set up the game for three players.
The sprawling board represents the galaxy.
Your job is to expand your faction and try to colonize other planets . . .
. . . upgrade your structures, and develop your technology.
There are a lot of rules, and I'm not going to explain all of them.
Each player controls one of fourteen factions; all factions have different abilities.
This makes the game interesting, as you can try a different faction from one game to the next.
The game never becomes boring.
You want to take advantage of your faction's abilities, but watch out for the other players' factions . . .
. . . as they can interfere with your plans.
The game has six rounds, and each round there is a different round scoring tile on the board.
If you do that action during that round, you score extra points.
Also, we have two final scoring tiles, drawn at random.
You have to pay attention to the round scoring and the end game scoring.
Whoo, that's a lot of information to digest!
But once you've played and start to understand the strategy, you can plan carefully . . .
. . . by paying attention to both the round and end game scoring.
At the beginning of the game, you will have already placed two mines. These are basic structures.
If you want to expand your faction, you need to build another mine. How to do this?
You need access to another planet, and pay the cost for terraforming.
If a planet is adjacent to one of your structures, it's accessible.
But if it's farther away, you need to improve your navigation.
How to do this? Either pay a QIC (short for "Quantum Intelligence Cube") . . .
. . . or if you move up on the navigation tech track . . .
. . . you can move farther more easily.
But you have to pay attention to other tech tracks as well.
If you want to make another planet habitable, you have to pay the cost for terraforming.
At the beginning of the game, this cost is three ore.
For example, I want to colonize and build a mine on this gray planet adjacent to my white mine.
I have to pay three ore to terraform.
Now I'm required to build my mine. The cost is shown on my board: one ore and two credits.
To upgrade your structure, pay the cost shown on your board . . .
. . . and replace the structure with your new structure.
For example, I want to replace a trading station with a lab.
I have to pay three ore and five credits, as shown here.
When you build a lab, you gain one tech tile from a research area.
When you get a tech tile, it can be really useful in the short term or long term.
For example, where you see a white star, that means you get something one time.
But if you see a hand symbol, it means you'll get that income every round.
But sometimes you'll want to build your institute early.
Then you can take advantage of the special ability of your institute during the game . . .
. . . instead of getting a tech tile.
I'm sure you're curious: What is a Gaia Project?
That's a special action you can do if you have what's called a Gaiaformer.
It's a strange thing that looks like a UFO.
Move purple power tokens into the Gaia area on your board to pay the cost for the project.
Now, put your Gaiaformer on a purple planet.
Between rounds, replace the purple planet with a green Gaia planet token.
Now that planet is reserved for you, and other players can't access it.
Hey! This is my friend Wes Ferrer.
We've been playing together for years.
He's the first player, and I'm second.
That means I select my round booster first, and he selects second.
And he also makes the first move.
Let's see . . . I want that one.
Okay, now we both collect our income.
Three ore . . .
One knowledge . . .
Plus one power token.
Two credits.
Okay, now it's his first move of the game.
He spent four knowledge to move up in a research area.
(Gray) Navigation.
Now it's my turn.
(Using free terraforming step and paying cost to build a mine.)
Over the course of the game, we've expanded and the board has become crowded.
Whoo, this is a tight game!
This guy is competitive!
It's Wes's turn.
Oh, what's that? Three?
I can charge three power, but will lose two points.
I think . . . fine, I'll take it.
I now have four power in bowl three, so I can use it.
Seven credits. I needed that!
I know there are some people out there who complain that the game is thin when it comes to theme.
I agree, there's no fighting, no dice, no rocket ships shooting at things.
This is really an economic game with resource management.
If you enjoy euro games with a lot of thinking and strategy, you will enjoy this game.
If you're skilled at math, this is your game.
I'm a little disappointed, it's only a minor thing, but there's no story about the factions.
Where are they from? What's their goal?
I read the rule book and there's no story, but that's only a minor negative.
The system . . . I love this system. It's a really thinky system.
You have to plan and strategize.
It's all open information, there are no secrets . . . none.
You can see the other players' resources and tiles.
You have to really think carefully in this game.
Sometimes that causes a slow game.
Your first few games may be slow, possibly around two, three, or four hours.
But as you learn to play the game, it becomes faster.
I'll play a two-player game in about ninety minutes.
A four-player game is about two or three hours.
In this game, there is no luck. It's all about your choices, and making your choices at the right time.
If you hate dice games, or if dice hate you . . .
. . . you could enjoy this game.
Thanks for watching. I'll see you soon. Bye!
