Cosmic Encounter: Cosmic Conflict Expansion - In Stores Now! Hot

I only want this set for the new races and the black planets.

Hopefully this means a reprint of the base game will soon follow, so those of us that keep hearing about how great this game is can finally try it out.

That brings the alien total to what - 90? Nice.

I love how they hype up Cosmic Quakes...AGAIN! (For the uninformed, it's a rule that covers the corner case when the draw and discard decks have been exhausted. Everyone has to discard and draw new hands. It was hyped like this when Incursion came out, now it's just getting silly.)

NO PLAYER'S HAND IS SAFE!

I'm afraid of black planets.

But seriously, autobuy. I'll figure out what I like and what I don't later.

Copy of what Shellhead said.

The hazard deck sounds pretty cool and I wish they would hype that a bit more instead. I'm loving that we have Fear of a Black Planet and Don't Believe the Hype references going on in one thread though.

Man, you ain't gotta worry 'bout a thing.

+2 to Shellhead. All this other crap is just gonna be like Moons and Lucre. Ain't nobody gonna play with them in a few months. Just give me more aliens and some more regular main deck cards.

A hazard deck? Random event cards? Really? Ugh...that's really not what Cosmic is all about.

I'm also throwing in with the pro-Shellhead lot. The new races and extra player are the reasons to by this, not a hazard deck or "Cosmic Quake".

More is better folks

So you may not use the wacky stuff, but even still dont bitch about about extra players and colors. Less we begin to sound like another game site I know.

-M

I agree with Shellhead (hell, I don't even care about the black ships/planets, just the powers), but unlike people above, I don't see that as a complaint. I am THRILLED to get a new Cosmic Encounter expansion, even it includes stuff I'll never use; a lot of people love variant stuff like that, and now they'll feel like they got extra value. I mean, what did you want in place of those hazard cards? More aliens? I definitely don't think the deck needs more cards, and I would have loved more aliens, but then I bet a bunch of people would have complained that it was just aliens and ships.

@Barnes -
The hazard deck was a fan-made expansion that's been around for a while. Jack Reda designed a version of it (not the first however) that's still posted at the Warp. I don't know how similar FFG's version is but the concept isn't new and has been around in the player base for some time now.

Just so I can keep up, we're good on slagging games we haven't played, so long as they're by FFG and not called Earth Reborn, right?

I think everyone here is buying it, so we're not slagging it entirely. I mean it does have new aliens in it and that's all I really want.

I'm cool with that rule.

Madwookiee, why is that every time I see your name pop here it's always to "police" me for criticizing what is apparently your favorite board game company (or your employer or friends, for all I know)? Do you not have anything else to contribute here? Seriously man, we can disagree you know...

Have I said I'm not buying this or have I slagged this at all? Cosmic is one of my top _three_ favorite games of all time, how am I slagging it? Plus, I have CONTINUALLY commented how FFG has done right by Cosmic and how Kevin Wilson was definitely the right man to shepherd it back into print.

I'm just questioning how a random event deck fits into Cosmic. Hey, it might work, I have no idea. I just don't think of Cosmic as a random event kind of game since the core of it is in player interaction, not in what cards do to you. I don't have to use it, and I think like EvilGit said it's something nobody will play with after a month. But sure, it's there for whoever wants it and that's fine with me. I've not seen it before, but I'm not a big supporter of fan-made expansions to begin with. I'll try it just like everyone else will, maybe it'll change my mind, who knows.

I've also always said that I like the FFG expansions best that give you options with what you want to use. The downside to that model is that the expansion material tends to be less integrated and more tacked on, but it remains optional.

Extra aliens and another player is _essential_ though, one of my groups will play this even more now that we can seat seven with it.

But still, slagging FFG games is cool. Especially games FFG didn't even design, like this one.

I'm just a big fan of consistent, that's all. For the record, they're not my favorite company at the moment - I'm buying more Z-man than anything else right now, along with a lot of folks here I suppose. Just picked up Earth Reborn yesterday as a matter of fact. Picked this up too, first FFG offering I've bought since DungeonQuest which I found underwhelming but probably for different reasons than others. Maybe I read more into that comment than you intended, and if so, I apologize, but from where I'm sitting - and I read damn near every thread on here even if I don't comment that often - it's what I've come to expect.

I'll get this but I'm in no rush, as I've only played with the last expansion three or four times. :'(

The Hazard deck is sort of an outgrowth of the reverse cone, it's not an entirely new idea. (aside from it bouncing around on the Internet for years now)

For anyone who doesn't remember the reverse cone, in the Mayfair game (and I believe this came from an Eon expansion), every color had three regular cone destiny cards and one "reverse cone" card. The reverse cone caused defensive allies to gain bases and offensive allies to gain rewards.

I'd expect that notion is in the Hazard deck, along with a number of similar challenge-altering draws. Minor variations of chaos for some extra challenge unpredictability, not wholesale changes to the game.

Half the stuff in the current edition is "fan-made", since Kevin Wilson specifically sought unpublished powers for the original game and each expansion to round out the decks and to add something new for longtimers. Never mind how much of the nine Eon expansions were drawn on "fan-made" stuff. Cosmic is, and has always been, very DIY-friendly.

Maybe it will work, maybe it will wash out. However, it's a time-tested idea from the monks who have kept the Cosmic Book of Kells, not just a wild hair from FFG.

Michael Barne wrote: "Cosmic is one of my top _three_ favorite games of all time"
Only in the top three Michael? Well, that's not good enough! Hang your head in shame!