cosmic encounter

Cosmic Encounter is one of those old games that keeps coming back for more. Currently, it is being produced by Fantasy Flight Games. One word of warning, I have an older version of the game. This means that some of the features and aliens that Fantasy added to the game I have not played with. In the game, you take control of one alien race, and five home planets. Your goal is to to colonize five other planets. This can be accomplished by invading, or negotiations. The alien races add another level of complexity, as each race has different powers that change the rules of the game. that’s only the beginning. when its your turn, you flip over an ‘order marker’ this represents the planet system you can invade. when you invade, both the player you attack and yourself can ask the other players if they want to ally with you. allies supply additional ships to add in combat. the number of ships present affects the overall outcome of the battle. so, the more allies, the better. the other factor in battle is what card you play. each player has a hand of cards, some of which are attack or negotiate cards. when you attack, the player you attacked and yourself play a card. the cards range from a value of 4, to a value of 30. by adding the value of the total number of ships on your side to the value on the card you plaid, you get the value used for combat. highest value wins.