Catan vs Gaia Project

I actually thought it was boring at first as I didn't have a clear grasp of the mechanics yet. After re-reading the rules and playing games a couple more times I slowly came to realize this game is deep in strategy, and even if you're dealt the same set of cards you can approach the game from different angles.

Clicked after a bit: Terra Mystica and Gaia Project. I learned TM first, but I was a bit overwhelmed by the rulebook and what I considered subtle strategy differences between factions. But now this game is a consistent favorite, and one I consistently win (much to the chagrin of my husband)! :) Then we learned Gaia Project, and I think I struggled at first just because I was expecting a re-theme of TM, so I struggled to adapt to new rules and strategies. But now it's also a favorite for sure!

Get the extension if you want five or six players. The game involves the strategic gathering of resources and trading with opponents. Instead of traveling across a board to reach the end or a certain destination, Settlers of Catan involves building roads and settlements which eventually lead you to victory.

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 advanc...

If you like strategy games, you will like this. The only reason I gave it 4 stars is there are often times where it is not going well for at least one person in the game and this can be VERY frustrating. If your family is overly competitive, you may want to consider a different game.

**Gaia Project** ​is much better at a competitive level with strong players because there is a lot of responsibility to set up the map by the person last in turn order; with less skilled players they don't really know how to create it in such a way that makes an interesting game (understandably, it's a very difficult task).

All this, and then of course, young people. 8-16 year olds adore the Munchkin system. One of the best parts of playing board games for them is ruining someone else's plan, or stopping a friend or parent from winning. That is the fun part, and they aren't thinking even a little about the mechanics involved

The stuff that gets old and has diminishing returns to me either: a) has very little player interaction, b) is too tight (pursuing a tactical move will hurt your endgame too much), effectively lowering player interaction to all but incidental contact, c) has low variability in strategies, namely low variability in how those strategies are pursued (scripted openings or strategies), d) is too dependent on random factors (excessive swinginess in card draw or dice rolls), or e) give you too few options during your turn (i.e. take 1 of 2 possible actions, limited flexibility in play).

Good, but half of the pieces had some black stuff on them that wouldn't come off. We didn't know what it was and even cleaned them in a bleach solution. Still stained. But other than that everything was perfect!

I posted the other week about selling **Etherfields** and what to get next, I ended up picking two off my list, **Everdell** and **Gaia Project,** which both arrived last week.

don't say you weren't warned. ○ Short Synopsis : Way, way, way too much luck for such a long, laborious, & way overpriced game (for $68+ w expansion, you can get one or more games that are way, way, way more fun.) ○ Why This Review : Pre-pandemic, I ran the largest irl board gaming group in NJ

Just finished my first game of **Gaia Project** and phew that was a long intense game. I won 116 to 102, was able to advance to a couple research tracks far enough to earn points and then beating the automa on one of the end goals (sectors) and tied for the other (planet types).

Ever version of Catan has gotten worse and worse in my opinion. And not just the board pieces. Renaming the soldier to knight after already having a different knight piece with a different mechanism of play in Cities & Knights expansion was such a poor decision.

Not guaranteeing huge payoffs also allows the game design to give the players a chance to run their full engine, which is a common complaint of weaker designs.

We're not exactly dummies in my house but we couldn't figure out after two nights the rules of the game. My brother and his wife enjoy the game so much that we gave it a try. It's in the garage to go off with the next load to Goodwill. Hopefully to a family smarter than us will get it

[*] This games tutorial [b]will not[/b] teach new players the rules to Gaia Project. I have previously played the physical board game many times, but it had been about 2 years since I last played. I tried to do the tutorial as a refresher. I gave up, and eventually watched a YouTube overview of the game rules

I love it! It looks true to the natural theme of Catan and doesn't go too far out. Quality looks fantastic as well!

I did not talk much about the game itself. It's Gaia Project! You might need to check Boardgamegeek or such to get a full review. Let's just say that while it is not overly difficult to learn the rules, the game itself is fairly hard. It's a euro with a space theme, there is no combat or such, it is mostly about expanding and managing your resources and your research properly

As for the game itself, Catan offers a great balance between strategy and competitive gameplay. While luck is almost always a factor in boardgames and Catan is not the exception (dice rolling involved), the game feels more guided and affected by your strategy and decisions rather than by luck, which is good, since this makes the game more compelling and adds weight to the decisions that you make throughout the game. There is also a trading component that allows you to interact with the other players, which is great for stirring some fun arguments and debates. While this game has a competitive approach, it doesn't pit the players against each others through direct confrontation (which is welcomed if you are not looking for an aggressive game where everyone ends up mad at each other), it plays more like a race in which you need to focus on your strategy while keeping watch of the opponents and overall it is extremely fun

* **1923 Cotton Club**: played once. Awesome theme, but otherwise a bit "thin". The mechanic is a bit too visible. Will sell or trade quickly