Terra Nova

I am almost tempted to just write that Terra Nova is a simplified version of Terra Mystica. End of story. It's technically true, but that's a bit lazy. I have played Terra Mystica before. It's a hugely popular game. I can't say I'm a fan, but I do enjoy myself when I play it. 

Just like the predecessor, you play a tribe starting with small settlements, and you grow your settlements and your tribe, constructing more buildings and upgrading them. You can only build on one specific terrain type, and often you need to terraform terrain so that you can use it. There is magic power in the game. It works like charging battery. You need to charge up the magic stones before you can use them. After they are depleted, you need to charge them again to be able to use their power. 

If you have played Terra Mystica, all this is familiar. Now I must admit I haven't played Terra Mystica that many times. When I played Terra Nova, I thought, wait, isn't this the same thing? It has all the key elements that I remember of the original. The only thing I was sure was missing was the four temples. You don't need to advance your markers on the four temples to compete for majority anymore. Only when I checked in more detail I realised a few other simplifications. You have fewer types of buildings now, and you don't have workers as a resource any more. In Terra Mystica you spend workers to terraform. Now you just spend money. 

In Terra Nova you will compete for space. You want to expand your settlements. There is this interesting rule where you get a discount when upgrading your building if it is adjacent to an opponent's building. So you have incentive to build near your opponents, even if it means more competition. 

The more buildings you have, the more income you will also generate every round. The largest buildings (palaces) give you special abilities, and these are different depending on the faction you play. Every end of round there is a special scoring opportunity. You want to plan your expansion based on these, to maximise your points. For example one may give you points for palaces. You will want to build palaces in time for that. 

If you like Terra Mystica, I don't see much reason for you to want to play Terra Nova, unless you specifically want a similar experience but shorter and simpler. I think fans of Terra Mystica love it partly because of the complexity. They don't need the game to be streamlined. In fact Terra Nova may feel diluted and less interesting to them. I think Terra Nova is meant for a different audience. I like Terra Nova more than Terra Mystica, in the same way that I like Great Western Trail: El Paso more than Great Western Trail. I think the simpler versions deliver the most fun parts of the game while reducing work you need to do. They are the executive summaries of the originals. Maybe they are not the "full experiences", but they are more succinct.