March 12th, 2019: Deep Space

Crew Members: Kevin, Zevvy, Yehuda, Shlomo

With Kevin back in town, Eli commented it had been some time since he’d seen a game like this spread out on the table. Maybe we went a bit overboard with this one…

Gaia Project

Rules explanation took about 30 minutes as expected. For games like this a video how to play should be watched first. It didn’t take long before it was clear what could be done on a turn, but with the amount of information on the Tech board it can take some time to decide. The round bonuses provided direction and since the first round was “build on Gaia planets” I upgraded my Navigation, and used all my QIC to settle 3 Gaia worlds for a good start. Yehuda built his PI right away, thought next round was Planetary Institute / Academy points. Kevin had begun Terraforming as Terrans, though we mistakenly allowed his PI power before building it. Shlomo and Kevin were kind of competing for territory, while I was mostly on the periphery with Yehuda. Round 3 was 2 points for research advance, which Kevin was prepared for. I began calculating to get my PI before round 4, where federations gave 5 points. With the help of my PI I made two 6 power federations, scraping by with very little power in my pool to make satellites.

Round 5 was terraforming, and I got my tech to level 4 allowing easy terraforming for a few points. Final scoring was for most buildings and most buildings in federations, which I was mostly competing with Kevin for those. Kevin got the advanced tech giving ore for each sector settled, but we mistakenly gave points at first. Final round was building Trading Stations, which I did a few in addition to completing another federation. With only two Round Boosters offering points (mines / Gaia planets), which I took quite often, I was a good deal ahead. Kevin also did quite well, having played Terra Mystica before. Shlomo and Yehuda were actually pretty close in points, Yehuda gaining most of his points in the last few rounds, and their scores were pretty good for first time playing this game. Hopefully next time the game can run faster since everyone will track their own stats. In the later rounds we kind of overlapped actions as much as possible to save time, though I still won’t touch this game unless I know it can be finished in less than 3 hours. 2 seems like an unrealistic ideal.

Looks like I forgot to cover a tech with my advanced tech but I got it in the last round, so it didn’t matter…

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It was good to gather as we do, with good friends and good snacks. I need to learn to pick the right game for the number of players and the time frame. I wonder if an app exists for making suggestions…maybe I will make one…

Sick Leave

I had some sick leave, and played a few games during this time.

Gaia Project

So I have been playing a rule wrong, I have been using the same Federation token to access Advanced Tech and the Level 5–just now realized you need a token for each of those, which would seriously have changed the scores and strategies of my previous games. Anyway, I played one game as the Orange Baltaks, in which I spammed QICs and did pretty well. There were no bonuses for federation forming, but a lot for Research Facilities. I played another game as the Bescods, whose race power seems a little weak but I was able to apply it helpfully in the early game, when all Tech is low, it’s quite flexible. Didn’t quite plan as well as I thought for building Academies at first, but having Federation bonus last round allowed me to set up several regions for extra points. I had to form one Federation earlier to get some resources I needed but was able to save the last two to the end, helped by my Planetary Institute. Scores these games were certainly less, but I followed the rule properly about level 5, and played more difficult AI.

Caverna: Cave vs. Cave

Here I was surprised to not only break 60, but by a lot–scored 68! I focused on stone and gold early and was able to pick up the Dungeon as soon as it came out. Building walls really added up in the gold department, and allowed me to build a decent engine as well. I just now realized how helpful it can be to use early wheat and emmer as food. Alas, I realized later that my score was probably so high at the end because I used the Shelf in the last round to give myself 2 of everything, not 2 of one thing. But I only built the Shelf at the end, so while I certainly would not have made as much gold in the final round, I still likely broke 60 otherwise.

February 12th, 2019: Power is Knowledge

Crew Members: Zevvy

Gaia Project

Ivits were on top of the pile, so I played as them. Focused heavily on QIC and then Knowledge, which allowed me to skyrocket to top of Navigation at the end, claiming the 2 points per placed Mine and the Lost Planet. I settled two Gaia planets in the first round to make use of the round scoring, but maybe in the long run could’ve saved for later. Still, each round was tight but thanks to Four Power from PI and Academy I got tons of power from the Automa. Despite the cost in points, it was worth it as I managed to extend my Federation four times, twice during round three for 5 point bonus on each. The scoring tile and two round tiles for PI and Academy gave decent points as well, while I used QIC to supplement my tech gains. The Automa did mess up some of my plans but it was to be expected since I had so many ‘Special Actions’ which each take a turn to execute. But with copious amounts of power, Knowledge, QIC and Federation Tokens, I was able to seriously maximize a lot of bonuses and end with a very high score of 186. The Automa started with card 9 in his deck, and was the Geodens, and actually got a lot of points from research.

Caverna: Cave vs. Cave

The spinning wheel was available, and I got furniture room and Secret Chamber. Towards the end I got prospecting site, making use of Undergrowth to make furniture. I built the state room and in the last round built equipment room before using expedition to do one more round of actions. Ended with 43 room and 9 gold, for 52 points.

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Sold Viticulture EE–these games have way better solo. Caverna for short and Gaia for long.

February 9-10th, 2019: Gaia Project

Crew Members: Zevvy

It took some getting used to, but I managed to finish a game of Gaia Project against the Automa. What an immersive experience!

Gaia Project

Zevvy: Itars – 171, Automa: Firaks – 114

I placed my first mine in an easily colonizable cluster, and the second one not far from a group of Transdim planets. First round I upgraded straight to Planetary Institute, using power and adding to Gaia Area for my race ability. The Gaia tech column had the tech worth points for Settling Gaia and Scoring 3 for each mine placed, so I focused there, placing two mines in round 3 which added Gaia settling Bonus, for many points.

Combined with my race power to research discarding Gaia power, I advanced nicely along those two tracks, setting up Gaia Projects with just enough efficiency to research afterwards, and replenish power. I took federation bonuses according to what would help me colonize maximum Gaia/Transdim planets, since that was also an end game goal.

Upgrading Terraforming near the end gave me the last two workers I needed to really squeeze my strategy for all it was worth, and the added range Round Booster let me reach the final Gaia planet, after building every last mine and trading post before getting 13 points from level 5 Gaiaforming. The Lost Planet also helped me form my 3rd federation.

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The configuration of the tech tiles really worked out well for Gaiaforming strategy with my race, which would have been way more competitive in a multiplayer game.