by Game Knight
I know I am firmly in the minority, but I greatly prefer Terra Mystica over Gaia Project. I’d be hard pressed to name a change that I think is for the better: all the added mechanisms make GP unnecessarily bloated, the plastic makes it look worse, and the 4-player cap takes away the amazingly tight 5-player games I enjoy in Terra Mystica. So I will take TM over GP any day!↧
Reply: Terra Mystica:: General:: Re: A question for those who've played Gaia project..
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Reply: Terra Mystica:: General:: Re: A question for those who've played Gaia project..
by AlexFS
GP benefits from second edition improvements (modular board, improved research tracks, improved solo and 2p mode) but both games are different, with TM being faster and providing a tighter game and blocking on the board.I could imagine some expansion back porting some of GP improvements to TM.
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Reply: Robinson Crusoe: Adventures on the Cursed Island:: Rules:: Re: New Flock / It’s all Vanished (Gather adventure)
by nglamarc
Is there anyone sure about this card? :(↧
Reply: Terra Mystica:: General:: Re: A question for those who've played Gaia project..
by OedipussyRex
Terra Mystica edges ahead for me. It's more cutthroat. In Gaia Project there are always enough basic tech (favors) for everyone; it's harder to cut anyone off, you just make it a little more expensive for them to expand; the research track (cult) scoring isn't zero-sum, everyone's score is based on how far they've advanced, not their position compared to the others'; and other things.This is not to say that I don't think Gaia Project is a great game. It is. I just like Terra Mystica a smidge more.
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Reply: Robinson Crusoe: Adventures on the Cursed Island:: Rules:: Re: New Flock / It’s all Vanished (Gather adventure)
by runtsta
It covers up all sources on the tile that the card originally modified (4 and 5 in your example image). You'll have to remember which +food token corresponds to the original effect somehow.↧
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Reply: Pandemic Legacy: Season 2:: Rules:: Re: Question about may objectives (SPOILERS)
by Tonesta78
What's most impressive is that you managed to win late April without having been to the pacific haven!With dwindling supplies, and a growing grid, that must have been tough!
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Reply: Ginkgopolis:: Reviews:: Re: Ginkgopolis - A Quick Solo Review
by sgtpepere
I truly love this game but it can be frustrating as the last drawing of tiles can flip over the whole game.Still I like to play it solo and it makes such gorgeous boards at the end of the game that even if you don't beat the AI, it's still a nice experience. :)
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Reply: Tash-Kalar: Arena of Legends:: Reviews:: Re: Tash-Kalar Review: Fight well young gladiator!
by curtc
I don't get the discussion on flares. I've played the game many times (and love it), but flares seem pretty clearly to be a catch-up mechanism. With no apology necessary. I strongly disagree with calling them inelegant. They work beautifully. It forces players to play for objectives, not to stomp the opponent(s) into the ground. In fact anecdotally, I think in my games the team that flares more often than not wins. Don't want the other team to flare? Don't stomp them so hard! But you don't know exactly how hard is too hard since flare cards are hidden. Seems perfectly elegant to me.BTW, no mention of team play. 2v2 is exclusively how I play this, as there is sadly a dearth of good team games. This game is so good as a partnership game. It does drag a bit, but it's fun to watch people squirm. And choosing when to punt and hand things over to your partner is a really interesting decision.
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Reply: Majesty: For the Realm:: General:: Re: Initial info on an prototype expansion
by mrranch
If you wanted to do as the original poster you were quoting (in the link)you will see that they removed this quote per the requests of either the publisher or creator.↧
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Reply: Tash-Kalar: Arena of Legends:: Reviews:: Re: Tash-Kalar Review: Fight well young gladiator!
by Pintsizepete
curtc wrote:
I don't get the discussion on flares. I've played the game many times (and love it), but flares seem pretty clearly to be a catch-up mechanism. With no apology necessary. I strongly disagree with calling them inelegant. They work beautifully. It forces players to play for objectives, not to stomp the opponent(s) into the ground. In fact anecdotally, I think in my games the team that flares more often than not wins. Don't want the other team to flare? Don't stomp them so hard! But you don't know exactly how hard is too hard since flare cards are hidden. Seems perfectly elegant to me.
BTW, no mention of team play. 2v2 is exclusively how I play this, as there is sadly a dearth of good team games. This game is so good as a partnership game. It does drag a bit, but it's fun to watch people squirm. And choosing when to punt and hand things over to your partner is a really interesting decision.
BTW, no mention of team play. 2v2 is exclusively how I play this, as there is sadly a dearth of good team games. This game is so good as a partnership game. It does drag a bit, but it's fun to watch people squirm. And choosing when to punt and hand things over to your partner is a really interesting decision.
It's because "catch-up mechanism" is normally meant in terms of catching up when someone is behind in points, but flares "catch up" when someone is behind in board position, not necessarily correlating with points at all. Creating the decision of gaining points without gaining overwhelming board position, or only gaining the overwhelming board position when you can get good points off of it.
A catch-up mechanism would be something that gave someone an advantage when they were behind in points, I believe.
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Reply: Terra Mystica:: General:: Re: A question for those who've played Gaia project..
by Ranior
Ah, I am not alone!I too believe Terra Mystica is better than Gaia Project, but the nearly universal opinion has seemed to be the reverse. Glad to see other dissenters like me are out there.
I've recently written way more about my opinion on this than anyone really wanted in another thread. But if you want to read mini-essays go here:
https://boardgamegeek.com/article/28869020#28869020
https://boardgamegeek.com/article/28881287#28881287
I'll try to do a very quick summary here though: I prefer Terra Mystica because of three main factors: Aesthetics, Interaction, and "Simplicity"
I prefer how Terra Mystica looks. I love the chunky wooden buildings. I think the game does a much better job of presenting information than Gaia.
Terra Mystica feels much tighter and more interactive. My opponents are more likely to mess me up and seriously mess me up in TM. Between fighting for cult tracks to fighting for key hexes to key power actions, everything in Gaia is diluted--the cults are not zero sum, the hexes can be reached in so many ways it's harder to seriously impact anyone, and there are so many once per round actions available there's less focus on any of them. (Oh and the favor tiles too, although I've always been of the opinion Terra Mystica might be a more interesting game if there were 5 copies of the 1 and 2 cult step favor tiles).
Finally, while Terra Mystica isn't simple, I find new players can learn it and really start to grok it. There's something wonderfully brilliant about the way information is presented about the game state of Terra Mystica that you can really dive into it fairly quickly and start to hit that flow where you just are thinking about the consequences of your actions instead of just trying to figure out what you can do. Gaia I find is harder to that in. There's a lot more going on that you have to look at and consider, it's not as cleanly presented, there are confusing rules to grasp, etc. Much more of my thinking time is just determining what I and my opponents can do, and less on thinking about what those moves will actually mean.
Essentially my key complaint is that Gaia Project has more of everything and in the process has become this bloated beast of a game. Essentially there is ever more to consider on your turn, ever more subsystems to grapple with, ever more options and ever more starting variability, but I'm ill convinced it actually makes the game better. I've never paused while playing Terra Mystica and thought "Geez, I don't have enough possibilities on this turn, I really wish there was more to consider". Instead every turn is already full of tense decisions and tight player interaction. Gaia manages to partially lose the tension and adds more moves to consider, but I don't think it actually achieves in making those decisions more interesting. I doubt it is much deeper if it is at all, and I have serious doubts that it is balanced better. (I believe that the even more variable set up is likely a curse to helping alleviate balance concerns or the 1st player problem) It's still good at all player counts and better if you're playing solo or 2 players often. But for 3-5 I'd much rather play Terra Mystica.
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Reply: Tash-Kalar: Arena of Legends:: Reviews:: Re: Tash-Kalar Review: Fight well young gladiator!
by curtc
Pintsizepete wrote:
It's because "catch-up mechanism" is normally meant in terms of catching up when someone is behind in points, but flares "catch up" when someone is behind in board position, not necessarily correlating with points at all.
Focusing on points seems unnecessarily specific. But I know how these semantics discussions go. Call it whatever you want.
The bigger issue is whether it works well, is "elegant", etc. My argument is that it does, and is.
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New Video for Pandemic: Contagion
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New Video for Carcassonne
by LogicianTim
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Reply: Tash-Kalar: Arena of Legends:: Reviews:: Re: Tash-Kalar Review: Fight well young gladiator!
by Pintsizepete
I agree!↧
Reply: Robinson Crusoe: Adventures on the Cursed Island:: Rules:: Re: New Flock / It’s all Vanished (Gather adventure)
by La_Gofr
nglamarc wrote:
Is there anyone sure about this card? :(
Ok I will try to clarify it for you. When we proofed rulebook, Ignacy removed the effect that +1 token acts as a source if there is no corresponding source on the tile. But to keep the exact same effect of the new flock card, this one should have been reworded for the token to act as a source if there is no corresponding source but this works onĺy for this specific card. Is the setup photo you shared from the card comes from the last edition? From what I remember it was not worded this way on the last card...
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Reply: Tash-Kalar: Arena of Legends:: Reviews:: Re: Tash-Kalar Review: Fight well young gladiator!
by Nate Dorward
I agree that the flares are not a catch-up mechanism, but instead a separately manipulable economy that a good player can work with, to put an opponent in a bind. If you keep your piece count down, then whenever an opponent scores, then they hand you a flare and you can score in return and wipe out their hard work. I've won a ton of games versus players who think of flares as a minor consideration.But thanks for the thoughtful review--it touches on all the major bases!
I've never played 2v2 because it's not implemented online. The requirement that you pass the Legends back and forth between partners seems a bit awkward but otherwise it seems an intriguing variant.
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Reply: The Voyages of Marco Polo:: Rules:: Re: Moving from Venezia to Alexandria
by gavinDBM
jorl wrote:
The 7 coins is only for the route from Alexandria to the oasis. (With 3 camels and one step more you can got to Ormuz from there.)
Agree - no +7 coin cost if going from Venezia direct to Alexandria.
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Reply: Terra Mystica:: General:: Re: A question for those who've played Gaia project..
by boardmathias
I have played about 50 games of Terra Mystica and 2 Games of Gaia Project.Terra Mystica is the more elegant design.
Gaia Project feels like an evolution of the original prototype. Like the thing the designer brought to the publisher and then the publisher said: This is great but we need to streamline it.
Terra Mystica is this streamlined Gaia Project.
So if you played hundreds of games of Terra Mystica and you want more: Play Gaia Project.
Otherwise stick to the more streamlined Version. Terra Mystica has less rules and provides a very similar gameplay experience.
Once you think you have seen everything Terra Mystica can give you and you still want more of the same: Go for Gaia Project.
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New Image for Robinson Crusoe: Adventures on the Cursed Island
by sebasrez
<div>Robinson Crusoe Dice</div>
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