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Everything posted by pgocosmic

  1. We created the UNIVERSE game in 1972. We licensed it to Parker Brothers in 1976, who paid us $7,000 (I think) and made Encounter Parker Bothers game of interstellar conquest . But then almost immediately cancelled the contract because the marketing department said: "Space doesn't sell." So it's 2018 42 years later, the 42nd year since the first "paid for" version of Cosmic Encounter came into being. And yes we wanted to grab onto 42, because Cosmic Encounter is as good an answer to everything that I can think of. And since the announcement fell on May 25th Towel Day, we also had CE fans give the Cosmic aliens an assist in celebrating Cosmic Encounter Towel day. You can see more at cosmicencounter.com ads we recap our last three days at the Museum of Science Fiction's Escape Velocity 2018 con. As to the actual number of Cosmic Encounter versions - if you count different covers and different languages as different versions along with different physical changes or content adjustments there are about 20.
  2. No - you were playing our original Eon Products version with expansion set 7 MOONS. The moons had weirs effects that we thought were funny. Most CE players were not too fond of our warped sense of humor. Moons were the least popular of the expansions.
  3. Hi Ken, Glad you enjoy the game. However, we consider the Mayfair version of Cosmic Encounter to be flawed. The alien art is washed out and tepid. The components are uninspiring. Mayfair always thought that Cosmic Encounter aliens should be "balanced". Trying to balance Cosmic aliens is evidence that one doesn't even remotely understand the game. The Cosmic Encounter game system is designed to have wildly different aliens that draw their powers from every conceivable source. Sometimes players will find situations where one alien will totally dominate, but in another game that same alien will be very diminished. Its the combination of aliens that determine the relative strengths of all. Even the aliens that seem to be unstoppable have a weak underbelly in certain scenarios. Furthermore, after we (Eon Products) licensed Cosmic Encounter to Mayfair, they stopped paying royalties and but continued to sell the game for years even did a reprint and even made two more versions, Simply Cosmic and More Cosmic with no royalty forthcoming. The sales volume was fairly low and Eon did not have cash on hand so it was not economically feasible to take legal action. The Fantasy Flight edition of Cosmic is a fantastic design and superior to the Mayfair in every respect. There are now six expansions: Cosmic Incursion, Cosmic Conflict, Cosmic Alliance, Cosmic Storm, Cosmic Dominion and Cosmic Eons. They are not compatible with the Mayfair game. Time to come over from the dark side! Regards, Peter Olotka a Cosmic Encounter Designer
  4. 1. Yes 2. Yes 3. Yes 4. Yes 5. NA 6. If offfense won with 0 ships + allies + card beating Defense total, the ally gets on the defensive planet 7. If Defens won, the alliy ships go to the warp 8. Allies only go back to their planets if the offense and defense are negotiating 9 Cute, huh?
  5. You can ask Kevin in person at CosmicCon Sept 19 - 21. http://cosmiccon.eventbee.com
  6. Kevin Wilson The Claw designer says...: [9/11/14, 11:59:13 AM] Kevin Wilson: Pretty much the planets just stop counting as foreign colonies. [9/11/14, 11:59:49 AM] Peter Olotka: And do they just linger there forlornly? [9/11/14, 11:59:53 AM] Kevin Wilson: Yep.
  7. Great post. Here's some history and how I handle expansions with new players. When we first designed Cosmic Encounter, we called it the Universe game. It had 6 aliens and was unpublished - for about 3 years. We got it licensed to Parker Brothers and it was named ENCOUNTER. Still 6 aliens. They canceled he contract. Still unpublished. We finally figured out that there were more than six aliens. So when we created Eon Products our Cosmic Encounter game had 15 aliens. Finally published, DONE! But players wanted more. More players and more aliens - so we started making expansion sets. The game wound up with nine expansions and stuff like reverse planet systems and moons and Flares. At the time there were few (if any) games that had expansions. And there were no games like Cosmic Encounter. The idea of expansion was and still is fan driven. For us it was a to of work and keeping everything in synch was and is a mind numbing process. As for new players. Simple. I never play expansions or even Flares with new players. As for cards that are in the now MASSIVE deck(s). When a card shows up in play that is not concurrent with the game set at that time, simply take it out of play and set it aside and draw another. Its far easier than pawing through the deck terying to remember what in or out. As for using or not using different aspect of Cosmic...player preferences are totally varied. Any single player who thinks he or she can be the One True Judge of what is universally fun/not fun, good/bad in Cosmic is sadly delusional. They can only say for themselves. This goes double for players who try to make the good/bad alien list to serve the general public. As for expansion sets? If players want them...they will be made. If not they won't. Don't forget about CosmicCon September 19-21 at the FFG Gaming Center. We will all be there ready to be schooled by the Cosmic Fans who are far better at the game then us humble designers, right? http://cosmiccon.eventbee.com Peter Olotka designer Cosmic Encounter
  8. Since the Morph is treated as playing an Attack because the opponent played an Attack, and because a tie was within 2 then your brother won the encounter. Dont forget to check out the CosmicCon Here is the link http://cosmiccon.eventbee.com www.facebook.com/cosmicencounter And the Cosmic Encounter Social Media Universe www.CEconnector.com Peter Olotka Cosmic Encounter designer
  9. We are excited to he hosting the first CosmicCon at the Fantasy Flight Game Center. The CosmicCon is a way of thanking the fans of Cosmic Encounter who designed the fifth expansion set, Cosmic Dominion. And to acknowledge all the fans who have supported Cosmic Encounter for four decades. The event calendar is packed with every imaginable flavor of Cosmic Encounter gaming: Multiple Powers, Expansion Set Specials, Tournament Play and many more. You will have the chance to meet with many of the Cosmic Encounter Designers. From Peter Olotka and Bill Eberle from the original game to the skilled FFG designers and the talented fans who designed Cosmic Dominion. CE Players are organizing a CosmicMETACon to webcast Cosmic Encounter games from around the country during the Cosmic Con event. Designers and fans at CosmicCon will be joining Google Hangouts on air to connect with home players. Hope to see you there! Tell me what you'd like to do at CosmicCon. Sign up to come at http://cosmiccon.eventbee.com Peter Olotka designer Cosmic Encounter
  10. Interested in helping with the fan designed Cosmic Encounter Expansion Set? Come join us here: www.facebook.com/cosmicencouter Peter Olotka Designer Cosmic Encounter
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