Gaia Project rules refresher

Read the refresher

You are competing for victory points, and the player with the most at the end wins.

A quick pass over setup. With three or four players you use all ten sector tiles, with sectors 05, 06, and 07 solid side up. With two players you use sectors 01 through 07 only, with 05, 06, and 07 outlined side up. On the research board, the nine standard tech tiles with green backs go randomly on the nine tech spaces, and the rest stack on matching tiles to make nine piles of four. One advanced tech tile goes on each of the six spaces between level 4 and level 5. Set the Gleens federation token aside, then place one random federation token on level 5 of Terraforming. The rest are sorted into six piles, green side up, except the 12 victory point tokens, which are gray on both sides. One random round scoring tile goes on each numbered space of the scoring board, and two random final scoring tiles go beside the ranking tracks. Deal out as many round boosters as there are players plus three. Set your faction up from your board: resource markers on their starting positions, power tokens into the areas shown, any starting Q.I.C. taken from supply, a token on level 0 of each research area, and if your board shows level 1 of an area, advance there and take the one-time bonus. The level 1 bonuses of Economy and Science are income, so you do not gain them during setup. Your victory point marker starts on space 10. Place one satellite on each zero space of the scoring board. If you are using the advanced setup, mines are placed starting with the first player clockwise, one mine each on a home planet of your color, then a second mine in reverse order, counterclockwise from the last player. Players do not charge power for mines placed during setup. The Xenos place a third mine after all second mines, and the Ivits place their planetary institute last, on any red planet. Then, starting with the last player and going counterclockwise, each player takes a round booster. With two players, add the neutral player: place a satellite of an unused color on each ranking track, at the position shown by the number on that final scoring tile.

There are six rounds, each with four phases. First, income. Take income from your faction board, your round booster, your tech tiles, and your research levels. You choose the order in which you charge and gain power, but each single income icon must be taken all at once before you move to another source. Remember the track caps: 15 ore, 15 knowledge, and 30 credits. Second, the Gaia phase. Move any power tokens in your Gaia area to area I of your power cycle, or to area II if you are the Terrans. Any Gaiaformer sitting on a Transdim planet now gets a Gaia Planet token, and that planet becomes a Gaia Planet. Third, the action phase. Starting with the first player and going clockwise, each player takes one single action per turn until everyone has passed. Your options are: build a mine for two credits and one ore on an empty, accessible, habitable planet, paying any terraforming cost first; start a Gaia project by placing an available Gaiaformer on an accessible Transdim planet that has no Gaiaformer, moving the required power from areas one, two, or three into your Gaia area; upgrade one structure one step, which is mine to trading station, trading station to planetary institute or research lab, or research lab to academy, with a research lab or academy upgrade also giving you a tech tile; form a federation; spend four knowledge to advance one research level; take a power or Q.I.C. action from the research board; take a special action; or pass. Terraforming cost is three ore per step at Terraforming level 0 or 1, two ore at level 2, and one ore at level 3 and above. Your range is one at Navigation level 0 or 1, two at levels 2 and 3, three at level 4, and four at level 5, and you may spend any number of Q.I.C. for two extra spaces each. A Gaia project costs six power at Gaia Project level 1 or 2, four at level 3, and three at levels 4 and 5. Upgrading a mine to a trading station costs six credits and two ore, reduced to three credits and two ore if there is at least one opponent's structure within a range of two spaces. You may also take any number of free actions from your faction board's exchange list, before or after your action but never during it. Fourth, clean-up: remove all action tokens from power, Q.I.C., and special action spaces, flip all round boosters faceup, and discard this round's round scoring tile. Skip clean-up after round six.

Here are the things people often forget. When you pass, take one of the three available round boosters, including one another player returned this round, then return the booster you started the round with, and place the new one facedown. You cannot keep the same booster two rounds in a row. In the final round, do not take a new booster before returning yours. The first player to pass in a round takes the first player marker. On the passive charge power, whenever someone builds a mine or upgrades a structure, each other player with a structure within a range of two spaces may spend one fewer victory point than the power they charge, and only for their single structure with the highest power value. A player who has already passed can still charge. Each power, Q.I.C., and special action can be taken only once per round, and a special action cannot be combined with another special, power, or Q.I.C. action. On federations, the connected structures need a total power value of at least seven, you build satellites by discarding one power each, and you must use as few planets and satellites as possible. Planets and satellites of a new federation cannot be directly adjacent to planets or satellites of any of your existing federations, and each planet and satellite belongs to only one federation. On tech tiles, you can never own two of the same standard tile, a tile directly below a research area only lets you advance in that area, and an advanced tech tile requires level 4 or 5 in that area, flipping a green federation token to gray, and an uncovered standard tile to place it on. Advancing to level 5 of any area also costs a federation token flip, and only one player can reach level 5 in each area. Every time you advance from level 2 to level 3, you charge three power. And a Gaia project started in round six is never completed.

The game ends after round six's action phase, then you score. For each of the two final scoring tiles, the highest ranked player gains 18 victory points, second gains 12, third gains 6, and fourth gains nothing. If players tie, add the points for the highest remaining ranks together and divide them evenly among them, and remember the neutral player's satellites in a two player game. Then score four victory points for each level 3, 4, and 5 you have reached or passed on the research board, so level 5 in an area is twelve points. Finally, gain one victory point for every three ore, knowledge, or credits you have left, in any combination. Most victory points wins, and tied players share the victory.

A turn, played out

It is round 3, and it is your turn. You sit at Navigation level 1, so your range is 1, and at Terraforming level 2, so each terraforming step costs you 2 ore. You hold 5 ore, 6 credits and 1 Q.I.C. The planet you want is empty, 3 spaces from your nearest planet, and 1 terraforming step away from your home planet type. Range 1 will not reach it, so you spend your Q.I.C. for 2 extra spaces. Your range is now 3, exactly enough. Terraforming is paid first: 1 step, 2 ore. Then the mine itself: 2 credits and 1 ore. You are left with 2 ore, 4 credits and no Q.I.C. Your new mine lands 2 spaces from a trading station of the player to your right, who also has a mine 1 space away. Both are within range 2, but they charge power only once, for whichever of the two has the higher power value, and they give up 1 victory point less than the power they charge. They passed earlier this round, and they may still charge. The player to your left has nothing within 2 spaces, so they get nothing. On your next turn, 2 ore and 4 credits would buy a trading station at the reduced 3 credits and 2 ore, but you choose to pass. Three boosters sit available, one of them the booster the player to your right returned when they passed. You take it, return the booster you started the round with, and place your new one facedown. Because the player to your right passed first this round, they already hold the first player marker and will open round 4.