Z-Man games is excited to announce Gaia Project, the spiritual successor to the critically acclaimed Terra Mystica!

Among the vast reaches of the galaxy lie planets teeming with precious resources waiting to be claimed by intrepid spacefarers. For centuries, your civilization has yearned to take to the stars and explore these unknown worlds. Finally, your people have developed the technology to take their first steps into the cosmos.

True to the foundations that made Terra Mystica a massive success, Gaia Project invites up to four players to boldly forge their own galactic empires. Command one of fourteen unique factions as you lay claim to new planets, increase your resource production, and develop new technologies to help your faction colonize distant planets before your rivals.

As your empire grows, you’ll unlock powerful abilities as you develop and discover new technologies. Each option offers tantalizing possibilities and it’s up to you to combine actions to maximize your growth each round. In the end, only the most developed faction will dominate the galaxy.

Worlds for the Taking  

You never know what you’re going to find as you traverse the far corners of the galaxy. It’s a big place that contains countless planets teaming with resources for the taking. To reflect this great diversity, Gaia Project features a modular board that players use to create a new galaxy every game. But remember, galaxies are meant to be explored.

Once your galaxy is constructed, it’s time to begin building your civilization and, like Terra Mystica, Gaia Project offers plenty of options to do so. You’re going to need a lot of resources to travel to and colonize planets, so the obvious starting point is to build mines. By placing a mine on a planet, you claim it for your faction and begin generating resources. How you decide to allocate those resources will determine the future of your galactic empire.

As your empire grows, you might upgrade your mines to other strategic structures, invest in research, or tie your planets together into powerful federations to maintain control of large areas of space. Your rival factions will be competing with you as you work to expand your reach. Claiming a planet before a rival faction is going to be a continuous challenge as you must first deal with the unforgiving environments of the planets you discover. Your ambitions hinge on your ability to make as many planets’ habitable by your faction and its unique environmental needs as you can. With so many choices laid out before you, you will need to be make your decisions wisely, and use your resources efficiently to increase your faction’s control of the galaxy.

On the Cutting Edge

When the game begins, your faction has already developed some miraculous technology. You are able to travel between planets with relative ease. You have the ability to terraform planets, allowing you to bend their environments to your will, creating the specific conditions to match your faction’s unique needs. However, to stay ahead of your rivals you will need to focus on developing new advancements.

Technology forms the backbone of your faction’s capabilities and investing in research is fundamental to your success. Depending on where you focus your research, you might boost your economy, increase your scientific output, or even make it easier for you to terraform planets. 

The red player is at level four of the Navigation research area so, without the aid of Quantum Intelligence Cubes, planets within three spaces of their mine can be colonized.

Despite your scientific accomplishments, your technology is simply on par with that of your rivals at the beginning of a game of Gaia Project. Without the help of Quantum Intelligence Cubes, you will be limited to colonizing plants adjacent to a planet you have already colonized. If you choose to focus on the “Navigation” research area, however, you can gradually increase this range and more easily reach distant planets.

As your reach increases, new planets will be within your grasp. Among the many potential worlds, you might encounter are the mysterious Transdim Planets. These purple planets contain resources like other worlds, but cannot be directly built upon. To lay claim to a Transdim planet, you must first initiate a Gaia Project to transform it. Investing in the “Gaia Project” research area grants you Gaiaformers. Once these powerful machines are in your possession, you can place them on Transdim planets and begin the conversion process. 

The yellow player initates a Gaia Project by placing one of their Gaiaformers on the Transdim planet. At the beginning of the next round, the planet is converted into a Gaia Planet.

Completing a Gaia Project is a powerful way to gain a foothold in the galaxy. They allow you to claim planets not suited for your faction without undertaking the costly terraforming process. Committing to Gaia Projects and furthering your research in this area , then, should become part of your long-term plans for galactic domination. 

To the Stars

The galaxy waits to be claimed. Set your sights on the stars and reach them before your opponents in Gaia Project, arriving soon!