Gaia Project - Playthrough & Review

[@BeforeYouPlay]

The great debate, Gaia Project or Terra Mystica... which do you prefer?

[@griffinsroost]

Gaia Project is the better game, no question. The GP tech tracks and variable board layout are vast improvements over the static setup of TM.

[@jeffw7382]

Gaia Project. The tech board is just sooooo good.

[@tylerbrown9797]

What about Clans Of Caledonia tho? I feel like TM and Gaia are a bit crunchier but Clans seems so much easier to teach! To be fair Clans Of Caledonia isnt made by the designers of TM and Gaia and its got significant differences but it does share much of the same dna and if you taught someone Clans it would be an easy, mostly lateral teach to teach them Gaia or TM

[@jelledaems808]

Gaia Project is probably the better game, but - and I don't know why - but I like Terra Mystica a whole lot better. Ok, I like the fantasy theme better than space, but is that the reason I like TM more? I don't think so, there must be something else... Guess I'm just weird that way.

[@seasand6705]

I like Gaia Project better, though when I play Gaia I still use TM terminology, so I still have an attachment to Terra Mystica. I think the the factions of Terra Mystica are more memorable, even though they are generally simpler.

[@sewaprolo]

I was having such a horrible day, but this upload just made my day exponentially better. You're my favorite channel. Love your videos.

[@mdhindley]

Hope your day gets better!

[@BeforeYouPlay]

Hi Abner, hope your day turned around for you, we are so happy that you spent a part of your day with us! Much love!

[@rafaelkumakura4961]

@1:23:01 when Monique took the advanced tech tile she should have covered a basic tech tile she owns. Good job guys, great gameplay!

[@AlanBraga79]

Beside that she should have score the round bonus tile, five more points... She won the game...

[@rudirincewind6449]

TM is perfect for 4-5 Players. Gaia is perfect for 2 Player. 🍻 From Germany

[@MoriMemento117]

Agreed!

[@AhJong0]

What a fantastic play through - love the style of your play with commentary on thought process. The visual framing is great and the video length is ace - awesome stuff!

[@helgeostertag6189]

Great review! You really did a thorough analysis of the game. God job and a very pleasant way how you talk about everything.

[@elsawagner879]

This is a great playthrough! Could you please do another one - with different factions?

[@HITFORDCYCLE1]

I played this at one of the first Cons I went to. I was kind of nervous going to my first con by myself. I walked up to the table and they asked right away if I wanted to play, warning me That it is a heavy game. I said I play terra Mystica. The people in our hobby are so nice. They welcomed me to the table and I had a great time.

[@coltonbeatty6117]

Terra Mystica is garbage you mo ron

[@-Ambos-]

I am so happy to have your videos. I am new to board games and there are so many games that I feel a bit lost. It helps a lot to watch specifically your videos because I can relate very well to the way you think about games. Also it feels very honest what you say ahout games. Thank you for your nice videos! Greetings from Germany (Btw I just ordered the game after watching this video)

[@TheBrothersMurph]

We haven’t played terra mystica or Gaia project yet but this has me hyped to try this one for sure. Seems like an awesome game and the 2 player experience seemed rad. Great play y’all!

[@STFOURNARIS]

That was a very nice demonstration . As a new player this helped me understand how this game works. Thank you

[@201990neilirving]

Wow I'm impressed!! I've watched a couple of your videos and it's always Monique that wins, this totally caught me off guard!!! Another great video guys! We played this a couple of months ago and your video made me want to play it again.

[@SoloClub123]

1:22:50 when you take an advanced tech tile, you state that you go up the track you took it from but you can actually pick any track you want (even though you picked the best choice at the time anyways. You also forgot your 5 bonus points for gaining a federation token when you went up that track and should have won the game by 3 points.

[@user-yr5nv2gv7m]

AND to trade in a basic tech in exchange for the advanced one...

[@SoloClub123]

@@user-yr5nv2gv7m You don't have to trade it in to get the advanced one. You do need a basic that you will cover up with the advanced. Each basic can be covered once with an advanced tile.

[@user-yr5nv2gv7m]

@@SoloClub123 u do, u make it sound like the cannibalized tech is still usable or retrievable later, its not so u could just as well throw it back in the box, either way if i saw well she forgot it...

[@LeRoi81]

​@@user-yr5nv2gv7mNo, you keep it for tracking, because you cannot take a Tech a second time.

[@Asaloy]

Why 5 points for gaining a federation token?

[@donthatethegame42]

I just re-watched this video, one year later. Great playthrough.

[@jaysonjota]

For any game I buy this is the go to channel. The best and thank you for such great produced videos

[@SBPlaysGames]

Happy to see an upload from one of my favorite board game channels playing one of my favorite games. Also, Naveen's shirt is super cool!

[@Dumpsta121]

Another great video! You guys are definetely my go to for learning and reviewing games now!

[@BeforeYouPlay]

Thanks David, we really appreciate you spending your time with us! 😃

[@bgt2701]

Oh wow! Just when the game released on Steam. Great timing!!!!

[@BeforeYouPlay]

It was pure dumb luck lol, we had no idea!

[@damaddestgamer]

Probably the best teach of this game I've seen yet, though would prefer you keep the clingon subtitles, as mistakes were made!

[@WakalabisWaka]

GG, guys! Thank you for the video. It was both educational *and* fun to watch! Keep it up.

[@BeforeYouPlay]

Thank you!

[@Dondideeda]

Such awesome explanations, I love the way you setup the camera to capture the whole game.

[@lelandcheng7390]

Hi Monique and Naveen! I just picked up Gaia Project last week and played it through once. I totally agree! Looks like a keeper for sure! Keep the videos coming!

[@kailaria]

Oh yea, I completely forgot about Gaia Project! I used to play rather frequently on the BGG Play-by-Forum forum with the extensively-scripted Google Sheets, but then I fell off at some point (and rather behind on all of my other asynchronous games on BGA and Snellman) and haven't returned until maybe the near future. This is reminding me to maybe check back in with the PBF community since I generally like Gaia Project more than Terra Mystica due to the Research tracks, tech tiles, and modular map setup, plus a generally better balance among all of the factions compared to TM. Great video!

[@atkmonkey]

I like how the two of you can be nice yet competitive at the same time. I am super competitive which makes the nice difficult for me. Regardless of how nice I talk to people, I am cut-throat in the game. This can lead to bad feelings. Luckily, my friends that I play with are the same.

[@sergiojuan217]

I just love watching your videos. It’s so refreshing to watch euro games being played. There are so few out there and you guys do such a great job with them.

[@megalodon2012]

Adding this game to my list of must owns. I always thought it would be too heavy for me to teach to my gaming partner but after watching this i think we could do it. Would love to see you guys teach/play/review Pulsar 2849.

[@ian_forbes]

Pulsar is great, plays quite differently but prefer it to GP for my personal taste. Agree would be nice to see that played (maybe a Vladamir Suchy series?). There are some decent runthroughs of Pulsar online already as well.

[@BeforeYouPlay]

Hi Ben so glad we could help facilitate this one for you! We've played Pulsar twice in the past. We unfortunately don't have it in the collection but we can see if a friend of ours still owns their copy.

[@ZeroTSONG]

I have to teach this game this weekend to a few friends (who've never played TM) and will be copying the overall structure of your teach. Thanks and gj!

[@danvenables4935]

You missed out explaining the right half of the tech board, but it's understandable with so much to cover and explain with such a monster teach! You guys are my go to for rules explanations (and to watch the game to see if I'd enjoy it), Monique particularly is incredible at explaining games clearly!

[@MostVictoryPoints]

What an amazing explanation and playthrough! Monique should have won though!! As someone else mentioned, at @1:23:20 Monique missed a 5 point round bonus for gaining a federation token (no matter how you gained it).

[@xiucutil6170]

Thank you for video, I have to say you and Edward from Heavy cardboard are the best board game teachers I have found on ytb.

[@shiaho4068]

Glad y’all are playing my favorite game 😍

[@saintsalieri]

For me this is probably the pinnacle of Euro game design so far. I've never sat down to play this and not gotten entirely engaged in the puzzle it presents.

[@Cissewis]

Awesome playthrough and review Monique and Naveen! Thanks for taking the time to film this one :-) If you had to choose between On Mars and this one, which one would be your favourite? Love to hear your thoughts! Take care both of you!

[@marybethboyd]

I have played Terra Mystica and not Gaia Project. After seeing this, I think I’d probably prefer Gaia Project! I LOVE the functionality of the tech tracks- they just seem so much better than the cult tracks haha. I want to try this one the next time we go to a con!

[@matthewpauls8560]

I just bought this last week! Perfect timing.

[@rogerschmitt1214]

This is BY FAR the best Gaia Project gameplay video on KZbin! Could you please do another one with different factions?

[@gardamun]

Gaia is one of my few 10/10 games on BGG. I got rid of Terra Mystica after owning Gaia for a month. Such an amazing game. I'd play it anyplace and at any time. Great review!

[@paulhamrick3943]

Great review as always. I must admit, I chuckled a little bit when you said that you preferred Terra Mystica's theme to Gaia Project's theme, for the reason that "space is overdone". Terra Mystica is medieval fantasy, no? Isn't that, like, the MOST overdone theme in board gaming? :) With that said, I haven't played either but I actually prefer the look of Terra Mystica as well.

[@elqord.1118]

It really isn’t medieval at all actually

[@Botanica_Gaming]

i made a bet with my wife over how fast you two could explain the rules. Even with the minor edits, 20-25 mins seems very speedy to me.

[@timmybegs1]

Great video on my favorite game and the game that got me into heavy games! Thanks guys!

[@wenchwoggYT]

Awesome - I literally just built the insert for this game last night and am ready to play my first game.

[@financialliteracy8204]

What a game! I love it when it's a tight race!

[@zero-il9on]

Bout time you playing this AMAZING game. Love your vids! Still waiting anachrony.

[@Harald-rq2xw]

Hi, it was a great pleasure do look your gameplay, although you both made so many bad decisions... ;-) But nevertheless, you explained the game really good, and it was a very nice play. Because I was so convinced, that I could do better, I played yesterday the same game, with the same fractions, tech tiles, round booster, and round and end goals as you played, so it was only the tactics to make the difference. In the first turn, I choose the round booster with one terraform-cycle extra and 2 credits for Xenos and colonised the orange planet near the northern red starting planet, using the round booster and 1 QIC for covering the distance. And then, I build for both fractions very fast their governmental center. In the rest of the game, Hadsch Halla learned the technology of terraforming and navigation to level 5, and Xenos the technology of KI and Gaia-Technoloy. This was very different to your gameplay. At the end of the game, both fractions had 13 buildings and 10 satellites, so they both get 30 victory points for the end goals, and for technology, Hadsch Halla get 28 VP and Xenos 24 VP. But before, Xenos could made so much VP for tech tiles and alliance tiles, QIC Actions and the level 5 gaia-forming technology, that they won very comfortably with 175 VP to 157 VP. So I will agree, the charge of this expert game is to optimize your turns and made the best of each situation. A very great game and for me the much better game then Terra Mystica!

[@TomDeFrank]

I would suggest adding rules corrections in post/editing overlay if possible. Anyone watching on their TV apps (e.g. webOS TVs, ROKU) can't view the description.

[@burgek1]

Well I read the description of this game and thought it sounded awesome. Having watched your playthrough I realise its not a game for me! Thanks for video :)

[@kurnte]

I was so ready to turn on the klingon subtitles

[@murrrr8288]

I watched another tutorial, played a game, was totally lost (both mentally and point wise) and now when I watch this video, a lot of things make sense.

[@nunt2]

Thanks for the playtrough! I am trying to decide on a heavy euro to splurge on, but since the nature of the gameplay I really struggle to get a feel if *I* will enjoy playing the theme, especially solo. Now this has nothing to do with your playthroughs, which are amazing and clear, and I love that you do the teach in the beginning, but it's like watching someone do calculations in Excel. However, I LOVE Excel when I use it myself, so... I know I will love a euro, I just have to decide which one to get :D

[@onkelkonkel5]

Every gaming group comes up with their own terminology. For some reason, our group calls terraforming and power "dig" and "spins" respectively. Although, the manual also calls it dig at one point.

[@Asaloy]

1:00:33 I think you are not allowed to do a free action without taking a main action. Great replay!

[@ForChitsGiggles]

This was a really fun video, you did a great job! I have been wanting to play this for ages but it's hard to get to the table (particularly of late!) so this was a good proxy playthrough. I would really like to play it even more after watching this!

[@Arahmon1117]

Great playthrough guys. What a close game.

[@seand8760]

Monique won! When she took the federation tile from the top of the tech track, she forgot to score the round bonus for forming a federation.

[@BeforeYouPlay]

Sean, GREAT CATCH! We had to consult the rulebook for that bit, but you're right, Monique technically would have scored those 5 points. However, Naveen argues that had we both realized that rule, he may have acted differently. Muahahahaaaaa (this is clearly Monique LOL)

[@snowchamp9447]

@@BeforeYouPlay very nice video. Always love watching you guys play. Just a small tip, Monique could have upped the Income track over the Terraforming track when she took that Advance Tech tile. Advance tiles are like the bottom 3 Tech tiles allowing you to go up any tracks. That in turn would have given Monique a huge boost of resources that could have done a lot of things! All in, Naveen played really well to focus on the objectives but Monique had so much potential in her game. :)

[@BeforeYouPlay]

@@snowchamp9447 Hi MengYang! (Monique here). You are SOOOO RIGHT LOL. I struggle sometimes in figuring out how to manage those resources and really get the most "bang for my buck." I will try to remember that next time!

[@partypao]

Whoa..! First time to see you guys play a big Euro!!

[@paxgamer3003]

Thanks for the teach! Well done.

[@shinjial]

Holy s*! The scoring was super tense! Amazing! This was super fun. PS: I've been playing several rules wrong lol.

[@Multch]

Just bought the digital version of this game.........with it's awful broken tutorial, hadn't got a clue how to play or what was going on, found your tutorial/playthrough.........didn't win but at least I can now actually play it, keep up the good work (you're certainly my top goto for tutorials/playthroughs now!)

[@youreatowel1103]

I'm pretty sure I'm subscribed to Naveen's Glossary of Re-named Terms. I always make up names for the mechanics in ALL games.

[@ljubicakovacevic5047]

Great video, helped me a lot. Thank you :)

[@BeforeYouPlay]

Glad it helped!

[@smilingbadger6209]

Not that it matters but the upgraded tech is suppose to cover a regular tech which yellow could do.

[@markussutter1119]

For me this is just one of the best games ever made.... The repeatability is just insane.

[@Orteth]

Can you evaluate Terra Mystica too? I really liked that both analyze the games in an almost... math way! Very, very nice!

[@derekbowen5820]

I have played, and owned, both. Terra Mystica was my introduction to heavy games and is still one of my all-time favorites. For me, it's the meanest game without direct player conflict, and I love the tension that creates. I agree with a lot of what was said at the end of the video. I greatly prefer the look of Terra Mystica, but the tech track is so much more interesting than the cult track as a mechanic. While I prefer Terra Mystica overall, I enjoy Gaia Project in the solo and 2 player counts, and Terra Mystica for me is pretty much a 3-4 player game only. For that reason, I own Gaia Project because it still gives that same feel/experience of Terra Mystica, but it doesn't end up stuck on my shelf.

[@pauloyanez2640]

Excellent playthrough!!!!!

[@MikeVarelaDaSilva]

really great playthrough. I love terra mystica but didn't want to buy all the expansion so I got gaia project.

[@tylerbrown9797]

I was just wonderin whether to get the steam version, good timing with the steam release :P

[@artemlarionov7084]

I played one game with a friend, it was bug-free for me. The user interface is good with some little quirks. There is only one feature that I missed: it's an open lobby to mix friends and random people, but developers will add it later.

[@BeforeYouPlay]

We actually had no idea this was releasing on Steam today! Total coincidence!

[@spacemonkeyentertainment6413]

Thanks for posting this here. I had no idea either. Could you answer me, if there are bots to play against and if they are any good ?

[@CandiceLikes]

Holy crap this looks tough! But I still want to play it! Lol great tutorial!

[@andrewboyd105]

Definitely a top tier game for the hobby

[@troyajohnson26]

Always wanted to learn this game due to the very high reviews, but am intimidated by it. I bought Dune Imperium and that seems like a more chill version on this.

[@omgwtforz]

Great Great Great playthrough!

[@smilingbadger6209]

Hate to nit pick but yellow forgot to charge when red build on the Gaia and red must charge his largest building if he choses to when yellow upgraded.

[@rodrigogonvaz]

Your videos are great! (I am from Mexico City 🙋‍♂️)

[@yemendel]

Gaia Project! Nice nice. But wait, this isn’t by Uwe at all. ;)

[@BeforeYouPlay]

You're right! Uwe will be dripped in over time haha

[@bookaddict777]

I love this game, but am so terrible at it, lol. Thanks for the play through!

[@IIIypIIIyH4ik]

1:23:17 not only 8 but also 5 more for the bonus round (page 24)

[@6mortE]

Thematic Shirts, you're funny. I like it.

[@j.r.cilliangreen4083]

My first (and only game) I was so out of the game by halfway it just sat for another hour doing near literally nothing…should try again

[@doggyaugie]

can't wait to finish watching this! out of curiosity, any reason why klingon subtitles are no longer being used?

[@smilingbadger6209]

Xenos starts with three mines as a Faction Appendix

[@Luke_L]

Gaia Project is on my shelf of shame. Looks like the game just dropped on Steam, so I think I might learn it there first before I try to teach my game group :)

[@mAeX135]

At 12:50 the explanation on how to recharge power is wrong, the power you can recharge depends on the player that is leeching power, in that case when an opponent constructs something and you have a mine in range since that mine has only 1 power the most power you can recharge is 1 spending 0 VP points.

[@RozanovaHunter]

Effortless high five to end a great game

[@Jagkt]

Great video! Question : there are differences between the Capstone and the Z-Man edition?

[@zenzey80]

I don’t speak to much english but with you two i understand the game

[@nawtyit6271]

Rules question: in the last round when Monique took the federation tile from the research board, should she have scored 5 points for round scoring or did that not count?

[@SoloClub123]

Looks like she forgot her round bonus points. She should have won by 3 points as long as there weren't any other points mistakes.

[@KP-qt7mv]

I think it's strictly "forming" a federation so by simply taking another tile it did not count for the 6th round scoring.

[@SoloClub123]

@@KP-qt7mv page 24 of the rulebook covers it. Says it doesn't matter how you gain it.

[@NicholasLee0]

Yes. They missed those points and Monique should have won. 😁

[@KP-qt7mv]

@@SoloClub123 Awesome! Thanks for pointing it out!

[@billturner]

Have only played this a couple of times, but really enjoy the game. Looks like you have the foldedspace insert. How do you like it? If there's anything to help the setup time on this big game, I'm all for it. Been eyeing that insert

[@corrado8955]

It’s a nice insert. Personally I don’t think it helps with setup quite as much as other games buts it’s more the nature of the beast. So many components have to come out of the trays still and be shuffled, randomized, or moved to boards. Still everything fits in the box great and there are definitely some efficiencies. I still think it’s a 20 minute setup though no matter how you slice it. Perhaps half that time if you have someone helping you.

[@RedEyedGhost1]

I really like the GeekUp bags for this game, and think that they really do help with setup and teardown.

[@FK-Jaja]

gaia project vs on mars vs kanban ev??? i wanna buy one but not sure which one is better

[@BeforeYouPlay]

All are fantastic! What player count is your most ideal?

[@FK-Jaja]

@@BeforeYouPlay mostly 2, somedays 4. I started My Journey on games with Tzolkin but now i want more heavy board games. So right now after saw your vids, thinking on : Gaia proyect, on Mars, kanban ev, lisboa (don't like too much the theme here but i read is the most hard), thinking on frostpunk too (and before checking this heavy games, i was thinking on powergrid but not Even near on Challenge and read that for 2 players is boring). My budget is for 2 games so don't wanna regret it.

[@LeRoi81]

​@@FK-JajaLisboa also works great with two but it's not the hardest.

[@docteurslump5517]

Timestamp 42:06 is incorrect in the description

[@tomlikeabomb6706]

This game is soooo good

[@philipcjohnson]

Hi...I Klingon. No more understand favorite videos cause no subtitles. So sad I cry :(

[@fmargueirat]

Sad you had to get rid of Klingon sub-titles. I thought it was such a clever idea and simple to go back and add to a posted video. I heard your comments about people complaining about mistakes that were already in the sub-titles, but I would have just ignore those.

[@ilqrd.6608]

too much work and I can’t imagine it’s worth it. I have ever used the Klingon subtitles

[@Dharma_Initiative2]

Monique, is your shirt available online anywhere? I’d love to buy it for my wife.

[@BeforeYouPlay]

Thanks, I unfortunately cant remember for the life of me where I picked it up! I think it was in person 1-2 years ago... I'll try and figure it out!

[@PodSaatGard]

love Monique shirt (is the spelling of the name is correct? sorry if not) I realized it after the first round and it made me smile :D

[@jamesburns6603]

Those boxes look like Folded Space Insert for your pieces, is that correct?

[@BeforeYouPlay]

Yes, that's correct!

[@jamesburns6603]

@@BeforeYouPlay I thought so. I got the game to the table for a 4 player teach and those little boxes make it so easy for set up and breakdown.

[@luckilukey]

I definitely prefer Terra Mystica. It's a tighter design with better board play (I'm not really a fan of track games). That being said, it's not worth playing at 2.

[@nawtyit6271]

THAT WAS SO CLOSE

[@trenthogan4212]

After playing this game twice I sold Terra Mystica. I still prefer the fantasy theme but this is just superior. The solo game is absolutely excellent and that's a big deal for me.

[@zamoose]

The one tip I've heard that I always try to factor in is: NEVER pay 3 for terraforming steps. Use the steps on the power actions, or use round boosters, but don't pay 2c1o + anything unless ABSOLUTELY necessary. Figure out how to get range, get onto some Gaia or home planets first round, but don't pay Ore, ever. Also, getting the Research Labs out first round can be really, really helpful, especially for the income tech tiles -- their value just compounds over time, so the later you take them, the less they're worth.

[@LeRoi81]

Round booster with Terraforming not always there in a game, just 5 out in a two player game. And you rarely have enough power for the Terraforming action. Sometimes you just have to pay the 3 ore.

[@chrisjohnphillips6352]

Big fan of your channel. Thank you for all the great content. During the game, I think you may have scored the Round Bonuses incorrectly. For example, I think you gave VPs for every mine you had on the board when you were supposed to only get VPs for the mines that had been placed that round. Since your game was only decided by 2 points, scoring the rounds incorrectly, easily could have swung the game. If I'm wrong, I apologize.