Cosmic Encounter
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cosmic_EncounterCosmic Encounter is a science fiction–themed strategy board game designed by "Future Pastimes" (collectively, Peter Olotka, Jack Kittredge and Bill Eberle, with Bill Norton) and originally published by Eon Games in 1977. In it, each player takes the role of a particular alien species, each with a unique power to bend or break one of the rules of the game, trying to establish control over the universe. The game was inducted into the Academy of Adventure Gaming Arts & Design Adventure Gaming Hall of Fame in 1997.[1]
Cosmic Encounter is a dynamic and social game, with players being encouraged to interact, argue, form alliances, make deals, double-cross, and occasionally work together to protect the common good. Most editions of the game are designed for three to five players, although official rules exist for playing with as many as eight players.
Gameplay
Basic rules
Cosmic Encounter is based on a fixed set of rules which are subsequently modified by other elements of the game.
Each player begins with a color-coded "home system" containing five planets, and twenty ships (formerly referred to as "tokens") representing starships that populate these planets as "colonies" (formerly known as "bases"). A central "warp" is used to place defeated ships for all players. The object of the game is to establish colonies on five planets outside one's home system. Each player is dealt a hand of cards from the "cosmic deck," which includes several types of cards: Attack cards with numbered values, Negotiate (formerly Compromise) cards, Reinforcement cards, and Artifact (formerly Edict) cards.
The turn player is referred to as the "offense." On a player's turn, they retrieve one ship from the warp, and then draw a card from the "Destiny" deck, containing color-coded cards which indicate which player they must have an encounter with; that player becomes the "defense." Using a special "hyperspace gate" (formerly "hyperspace cone" or simply "cone") indicator, the offense selects the planet at which the encounter will take place, and then places 1 to 4 of their ships on the gate; the defense simply defends with however many ships they have on the targeted planet. Both the offense and defense can then ask the other players individually to ally with their side; each invited player may commit up to 4 ships to either side of the conflict.
Once allies have committed, the offense and defense both select encounter cards from their hands to place face-down, then reveal them and play out the encounter based on the types of cards they used.
If players use Attack cards, the total of the card's value and number of allied ships are added for both sides, and the side with the larger value wins, with the defending player winning in case of ties. All players involved in the encounter may play Reinforcement cards from their hands to add numerical bonuses to each side's forces. If the offense's side wins, the defense's colony is lost and all ships on the defense's side are sent to the warp, and the offense and their allies land their ships on that planet, establishing new colonies on it (or adding more ships to existing colonies there, if they already had colonies there). If the defense's side wins, all ships on the offense's side are sent to the warp, and defensive allies gain a reward of either a ship from the warp or a new card drawn from the deck for each of their ships that they sent to help defend.
If both players use Negotiate cards, they have one minute to make a deal, such as exchanging colonies or cards from their hands, while all allies are sent back to their owners' colonies (allies get nothing in this situation). If a deal can't be made, both players lose three ships each as a penalty.
If one players plays a Negotiate card and the other plays an Attack card, the player who played the Negotiate card immediately loses, but they get "compensation" from the victor by drawing cards from the victor's hand equal to the number of ships they lost in the battle. Allies on the Negotiate player's side do not get anything.
At the end of the offense's turn, they may have a second encounter if they won an attack or made a deal. If they can't, choose not to, or have already had two encounters this turn, then play proceeds to the next player.
Alien powers
The rules become more complex with the introduction of alien powers. These are typically drawn randomly at the start of the game and known to all players; however, variants exist where players can select their powers, use multiple powers simultaneously, or hide their powers until they are used. Each power gives the player a way to bend the core rules to their advantages, typically in one of the following ways:
Continuous effects, such as the Macron, where each of its ships is valued as 4 instead of 1 during combat
Combat resolution effects, such as the Void, where any ship that loses against it is removed from the game entirely instead of going to the warp
Victory condition changes, such as Masochist, who wins if it loses all its ships
Role-playing elements, such as the Sniveler, who, if in a losing position, may whine to the other players to gain benefits
A player's alien power is only active if they have three or more colonies in their home system, and if lost, can be regained by taking back a third colony.
The current edition of Cosmic Encounter, published by Fantasy Flight Games, includes a total of 238 aliens across all of its expansion and promo sets. In addition, many players have created their own "homemade" powers, and have posted these along with other various game extensions on the Internet.
Variants
More advanced optional game components can add further levels of complexity and unpredictability. Various editions have included varying numbers of these optional components. They include:
Flares: Cards that grant a limited version of an alien power, or, if used by the player who possesses that power, a significant boost to their own power.
Lux (formerly Lucre): In-game currency that allows more control of resources (such as buying more cards for one's hand or ships back from the warp).
Moons: Special tokens which may be occupied by players, doing so grants one access to its special ability. Moon abilities can be powerful (such as retaining an alien power when it would normally be lost), while others are best described as "silly" (such as forcing the owner to speak in rhyme).
Special planetary systems: Added in an expansion to the Eon Productions version of Cosmic Encounter and kept in the Mayfair version, the special systems have additional rules in regards to the player's initial setup, colonies, and victory conditions.
Technologies: An array of boosts and special abilities, which must be researched (by placing ships on them) for several turns before they can be put into play. The power of technology cards varies wildly, with more powerful technologies requiring more turns to research. For example, the Xenon Lasers tech costs two ships, and its owner may change encounter totals by one point, while the Omega Missile tech costs eight ships, and destroys a planet.
Rewards: A deck of powerful cards that can only be drawn by victorious defensive allies. Reward cards include "kickers," multipliers for encounter cards, and "rifts," booby traps that free ships from the warp, or send ships there if they are ever taken from another player's hand.
Large group games: Official variants include rules and cards for adding a seventh or eighth player. However, with unofficial variants, the game can support as many players as the number of available player colors. With all expansions, the Mayfair Games edition has ten player colors for a ten-player game and Fantasy Flight Games' edition has eight player colors for an eight-player game, or up to 13 player colors if the translucent plastic ships from the 42nd Anniversary Edition are each included as their own color.
History
The original version of Cosmic Encounter had exactly six alien powers and was designed for up to six players. This edition was nearly published by Parker Brothers in the mid-1970s; when it was not, the designers founded Eon Productions, Inc. to publish it.
The first Eon edition was released in 1977. It allowed up to four players and included fifteen alien powers. Over the next five years, Eon released nine expansions, adding sixty more alien powers, components for a fifth and sixth player, and several new types of pieces, including "Flare" cards, money (Lucre), Moons, and special power planet systems. The artwork on these early editions included images painted by Dean Morrissey. Eon published three versions of the base game, differing only in box size and cover art.
In 1986, the game was republished in the U.S. by West End Games.[2][3] The game used the same deck of cards and number of players, and the same powers with five additional powers from Eon expansion sets #1 and #2. However, the cards and tokens were incompatible with the Eon edition. Meanwhile, in the UK, the game was published by Games Workshop. The GW edition supported six players, with powers from the Eon base set and some of the first three expansions.[citation needed]
In 1991, the game was licensed by Mayfair Games.[2][3] Mayfair published Cosmic Encounter, an expansion called More Cosmic Encounter (1992), and a stripped-down introductory version of the game called Simply Cosmic (1995).[4]: 16–17 The Mayfair edition revised some powers from the original Eon set, introduced many more, and significantly revised some of the existing components. It also introduced several new components. By combining the three Mayfair products, it is possible to play a 10-player game.[citation needed]
In 2000, Avalon Hill (by then a division of Hasbro) published a simplified version in one box with plastic pieces.[2][3] While the production quality was high, this version was limited to 20 powers and four players and received no expansions.[citation needed]
On August 17, 2007, Fantasy Flight Games announced plans to reprint the game in 2008.[2][5][6] Game designer Kevin Wilson gave demonstrations of Fantasy Flight's Cosmic Encounter version at Gen Con 2008, and the game was released in December. This edition included 50 aliens, flare cards, a new Technology variant, and support for 5 players. Since 2008, Fantasy Flight has released seven expansion sets: