Bay 12 Games Forum

At the start of the game, players are randomly assigned an alien power and are given five planets in a star system, or hex, each with four tokens (or ships) on it. These tokens represent your military forces or the ilk; basically, what you attack and defend with. You'll also be dealt a hand of 7 cards, which will either be Challenge cards (which, in turn, are either Attack cards or Compromise cards) or Edicts. Challenge cards are used in challenges, whereas Edicts have a lot of possible uses and I'll go into them later but first other stuff. I'll then randomly select a player to go first, and then we'll begin.

A turn is usually composed of one or two challenges, and each challenge has a series of steps to it. Firstly, at the start of the challenge, if a player has any tokens in the Warp, he may (and probably should) take one and put it on any base he already has. He then flips over the top counter in the Destiny Pile and then has to attack the relevent player shown, by aiming the Hyperspace cone at one of the planets on that player's Hex. If a player gets his own colour, he can attack a single foreign colony on one of his own planets, or draw a new counter. In either case, the player becomes the main offensive player, and the target of the attack becomes the main defensive player.

Once the Cone has been put into place, the offensive player may take between one and four shipss from anywhere he has them, as long as he leaves at least one in each base, and puts them on the top bit of the cone. Both players then have the chance to ask for allies; firstly, the main offensive player asks as many people as he wants, including none if he so wishes, to ally with him. The main defensive player may then do the same, and can ask players asked by the main defensive player if he wants to. All players invited to ally then have the chance to accept (and choose a side if asked by both), and can provide between one and four shipss towards their side of the battle. Offensive allies go to the top of the cone with the main offensive player, and the defensive allies go to the little ring on the cone.

Both main players then choose one Challenge card from their hand and would place it face down in front of them. Because this is the internet, we'll settle for they just PM me the card they want to play. I'll then reveal both cards and at that moment in time a whole load of shit can happen so if you'll just bear with me I'll explain as much as I can as quickly as I can.

Firstly, the most likely scenario is that both players play Attack cards. You'll notice that all Attack cards are just a big number so nobody can miss it. In in-game terms, an attack card is "We're going to try to blow the everloving shit out of you", so if both players play attack cards we have a fight on our hands. They are pretty quickly resolved, though, with a quick bit of addition; the total power of a side is the sum of the number on its card and the number of ships fighting for that side. The side with the bigger number is the winner. If the defense wins, then all the attacking ships are sent to the Warp and the defensive allies get one reward for each ship they sent in (either a ship back from the warp, or a card) and return their ships, and that's it. If the attacking force wins, all defensive ships (allies inclusive) get destroyed and all attacking ships are placed on the newly vacated planet.

Another possible scenario is that both players have played Compromise cards. If this is the case, then all ships go back home and twiddle their thumbs, and the main players have 72 hours to negotiate a deal amongst themselves. A deal can involve the trade of cards and/or allowing the other player to establish ONE base where you already have one (your own planets count). You can also promise to do something, but there are no requirements for promises to be kept at any point. I'll accept a deal to be made when there appears to be a sensible agreement on the table. If 72 hours pass, or one player juts flat out refuses to agree to a deal, then it collapses and both involved parties lose three ships to the warp.

And finally, we could have a situation where one player wants to Compromise and the other wants to Attack. Think about it logically; if one person wants to talk and the other wants to blow something up, who's going to win in an intergalactic war? The player who played the Attack card automatically wins and gets the colony/the allies get the bonuses, and the compromising side gets blown to the warp. However, attacking a defenseless fleet is looked down upon in intergalactic politics, and so the player who played the Attack gives compensation in the form of one random card from his hand for every ship from his opposition's main player that he destroyed. Allies get nothing but death.

After all of that happens, the challenge cards are discarded, and if the offensive player was successful, either by means of destruction of the opposition or a successful compromise, then he has the option of attacking again. However, he can only do this if he still has a Challenge card in his hand. He can also decline the second attack if he so chooses. If he's already made a second challenge, then that's the end of his turn and play passes to the left. I should probably mention at this time that if you are on your first challenge, or are being targeted as part of one, and you have no challenge cards in your hand, then you must discard your entire hand and draw a new hand of seven cards.

Play continues as such, with constant challenges, until there comes a point where a player has managed to gain 5 foreign colonies (bases that aren't on his hex). Whenever this happens, the player who has done so is the winner. Wow that was simple what have I forgotten oh I know the Edict cards and alien powers. Firstly, the latter. Remember at the start when I said each player is given an alien race? Well, each race has a power attatched to it, and that power has the ability to screw the rules. I'm not going to go into them in this spoiler, check the next one. However, if you are in a state such that you have 2 or less bases on your hex, you lose your power until you can get 3 bases.

Edicts are a little more easier to explain because they have less caveats to them than the alien powers. Each of them can turn the tides of the conflict if used at the right time, and for that reason are extremely powerful and rare - there are, for the most part, only one of each flare in a deck roughly 80 cards big. Edicts can only be played when the card says they can be played, and are one shot things-once used, they are sent to the discard pile. Not gonna tell you what they are, though, because I'm a heartless bastard and if you really care that much look it up yourself.

In case I've missed anything here's the full rulebook: http://daveola.com/CosmicEncounter/Rules/Eon.Rules.pdf Just note that we're playing a reduced version than the book, we're basically playing sans expansions.

At the start of the game, you'll be given at random one alien power from the 15 from the original game. Here they are:

AMOEBA
As the Amoeba, you may Ooze your ships in or out of an attack. As a main player, when playing a Challenge card, you may also elect to remove your ships from or put more ships into the encounter. You may return or take your ships from anywhere, and can exceed the 4-ships-per-attack limit. You can't Ooze as an ally.

CHRONOS
As the Chronos, you have the power to Do The Time Warp Again. No, you don't need to call it that. As a main player, after Challenge cards are revealed, if you don't like the outcome, you may declare "Time Travel". You then take your card back and your opponent puts his momenterily aside (unless it his last Challenge card-if so, I'll point it out and it goes back to the hand from whence it came). You are now at the point in the challenge where you are choosing cards. Whatever happens the second time around sticks, and your opponent puts his extra card back into his hand.

CLONE
As the Clone, you may Replicate any Challenge card you play. Instead of discarding it, you may elect to keep it. Man that was simple.

EMPATH
As the Empath, you are blessed(?) with Eternal Harmony. Any time you play a Compromise card, your opponent's card automatically becomes a Comromise card and you must make a deal within 72 hours.

LASER
As the Laser, you have the bad habit of perteptually Burning People's Eyes Out. Whenever you are a main player, your opponent's Challenge card will be chosen randomly at random.

MACRON
As the Macron, you are Obese. Your incredible mass makes each of your ships worth 4 ships in Challenges, though one for the sake of effects and such. You may only send in one ship when attacking/allying, however.

MIND
As the Mind, you can Read Inferior Minds. At any point during a challenge, as any player, you may choose a main player (your opponent if you are a main player) and look at his/her hand. You may only do this before cards are played, however.

MUTANT
As the Mutant, you can, well, Mutate. Whenever you are a main player and are about to play a card, if you have less than a full 7 cards in said hand, you may gain new cards, either by drawing from the deck or taking one from a hapless player. You may pick and mix until you have 7 cards, then play any of them.

ORACLE
As the Oracle, you are Psychic. You can peer into the very depths of the Cosmos itself and it will reveal to you all of the secrets that the enemy is withholding from you... in in-game terms, as a main player, your opponent must publicly reveal what card he plays in a challenge.

PHILANTHROPIST
As the Philanthropist, you have the gift of Giving. As a main player or ally, you may, before cards are decided, give one card from your hand to a main player (that isn't you). They have to accept it, though they can use it instantly if applicable.

TRADER
As the Trader, you may Force Trade hands with your opponent. More specifically, if you are a main player, you have the option of, before cards are played, giving your hand to your opponent and taking his. You keep the new hands afterwards.

VIRUS
As the Virus, you have the ability to Rotate The + Sign 45 Degrees. When calculating power, when you are the main player, instead of adding the sum total of ships to the card value played, you multiply. Simple.

VOID
As the Void, you DESTROY ALL MATTER when you win a Challenge as a main player. Whenever someone loses ships to you, I will simply delete them. Your ships go to the Warp as normal. If a player has 4 or less ships still in play in some form, then they can no longer win and will no longer play.

VULCH
As the Vulch, you can Steal Someone's Garbage. When someone else plays an Edict card, you may take it instead of it going to the discard pile. You can't do this to your own Edicts.

ZOMBIE
As a Zombie, your only weakness is to have your brains destroyed. Fortunately, the rest of the galaxy hasn't quite worked that one out, so you are Invincible. Whenever your ships go to the Warp, you can instead laugh and place them anywhere where you have a base. In addition to this, you can free ships from the warp as part of a compromise deal. I should warn, however, you aren't immune to the Void.