1. Pay attention. Look,
if you want to win, you need to pay attention. Yes, it’s a very social game and
it’s great to have fun, but you still need to pay attention.
by Alan Emrich
There are four areas of strategy in a game of Cosmic Encounter. Simply put, they are the general play of the game, Alien Powers, Artifacts, and the psychological battlefield in your opponents’ heads. A firm grasp of each is required for consistently winning this addictive, durable multi-player delight. I will discuss each of the first three in detail with important references to psychological warfare sprinkled throughout. This article will be based on the Hasbro edition of Cosmic Encounter, but the author’s experience dates back over twenty years when Eon Products first released it back in 1977.
1. Pay attention. Look,
if you want to win, you need to pay attention. Yes, it’s a very social game and
it’s great to have fun, but you still need to pay attention.
First and foremost, know who has how many bases needed to win. Announce how well everyone else is doing (omitting your own position in such announcements). Trumpet to the entire table when someone else is “going for the win” (if you’re not allied to that side). Make it sound like Armageddon approaches along with an opponent’s winning base. Never “fall asleep” on the base count! More Cosmic Encounter games are won and lost through base count negligence, I suspect, than any other single factor.
Second, know whose “3s” are up in the Orders pile. In other words, there are three discs of each player’s color in the Orders pile. Your job is to remember who won’t be selected on its next turn. That can greatly effect your decisions know who the defensive player in the next Encounter can’t be (see #2, below)
Finally, this also means clocking the deck to keep track of the following key cards. You must know at all times if they are in the discard pile (or your hand) or not. That is, which of the following cards can’t currently be used to screw up your plans:
· the Attack 30
· both Attack 20s
· the Attack 18
· the two Cosmic Zap Artifacts
· both Mobius Tubes Artifacts
· the Emotion Control Artifact
· and the Plague Artifact
Whether or not these cards are “lurking” should affect many decisions you might make in an Encounter. (And, again, see #2, below.)
2. Unless the game can be won during the current Encounter (which might require extra focus on your part to tip the scale), consider at least as much about what will happen with the next Encounter as the current one. That is, consider the next Encounter when deciding (if any) card(s) to play, or how many ships to commit, etc. Cosmic Encounter is never about the last Encounter. The game has no memory. It’s half about the current Encounter, and half about the next Encounter.
That’s why you have to pay attention as per #1. As much as any poker game, Cosmic Encounter rewards the player who knows “when to hold ‘em and when to fold ‘em.” That is, when to risk ships and use cards, and when to await better opportunities. It’s all about risk assessment, folks. And if you’re not considering at least as much about the next Encounter as the current one, you will make too many poor risk assessments over the long haul.
3. Never alienate another player. This Encounter’s enemy is next Encounter’s ally. Don’t let things get personal at the game table. Keep it light, keep it fun, let everyone play loose (i.e., don’t be an uptight rules lawyer), but keep your eyes on the prize.
Although Stellar Gas and the
Force Field have their uses, they are seldom decisive elements of an Encounter
by themselves. Therefore, I will focus on the remaining Artifacts and how they
fit into the strategy of playing winning Cosmic Encounter. Each of them
is akin to holding a powerful joker up your sleeve. Note that their timing and
application are very important.
Now, these cards need not necessarily be kept a State Secret if you should acquire one. In fact, announcing to the whole table that “you have the juice” to upset their plans may make others cautious without your ever having to actually play that Artifact and slap them down (depending on your credibility). So, don’t be afraid to “let it slip” that you’ve got a joker in your hand; that knowledge can be a powerful seed planted in an opponent’s head.
Mobius Tubes: This card is strongest when you’re holding onto the second one. That is, the other one has been played and is buried in the discard pile somewhere. It gets stronger as more ships occupy the warp. What this card allows you to do is play more reckless with your own ships (committing them to riskier Encounters), particularly as your own turn approaches when you can play this card and make good everyone’s losses. If you need allies for a suicide attack, assure them with promises of Mobius Tubes that they’re really risking nothing at all.
However, if everyone else is bled dry of ships and you are flush, then one excellent strategy is to “play it cheap” with your ships to keep your losses down (thus maintaining your advantage for as long as possible). At that point, Mobius Tubes is something you want to discard as quickly as possible (before an opponent can pluck it from your hand and use it) so as to safeguard your ship superiority. Yeah, you can promise to be ‘the candy man’ for everyone and assure them that the reckless Encounter you send them won’t cost them dearly because of your Mobius Tubes – but then you can also forget to deliver on that promise. It’s perfectly within the spirit of the game to have only one ship at risk when each ally has four and ‘sell them out’ by playing an Encounter card you know will lose. If you’re holding Mobius Tubes, especially the second one, you position is that much stronger.
Cosmic Zap: The timing and use of this card varies with the opponents in the game, but it can often be a very decisive card in determining the outcome of an Encounter. Its beauty is that you can use it whether you’re involved in an Encounter or not, so you can always upset someone’s best laid plans. Remember, its effect is strongest in negating the strongest powers, so that’s where you should mentally have it targeted whenever there is one in your hand.
Emotion Control: This is the ‘fix it’ card that has created more surprise endings than any other. You always want to have this card in your hand when you are a main player in an Encounter and both you and your opponent are one base short of winning. Then, if you don’t win, you can play this card and usually get your opponent to agree to a joint victory with just the two of you (leaving your respective allies out in the cold). Think of this as the “base for a base” card to end any Encounter, and you’ll have the right mindset.
Alternately, you can use this to help any defender who is two or more bases short of winning and confronting a player going for his last base needed to win. If that player wins his final base he need in that Encounter, a sudden Emotion Control will generally not yield the attacker his victory base and the game can continue. Of all the cards you would want to keep most secret, the powerful Emotion Control is it. It is an ultra-important card during the end game and should be cherished once players get close to winning.
Plague: This card is everyone’s favorite, but it is so seldom used to devastating effect. Instead, most players toss it out cavalierly just because “they can.” Don’t you make that mistake! Let me teach you when the best time to play the Plague is by asking you to memorize this question and answer: “When is the best time to kick a man? When he’s down.”
That’s right. The plague is all about making someone’s bad position worse. If someone is low on cards and it’s their turn, plague ‘em. If they’re low on ships and are scraping up some for the current Encounter where you’ll be on the other side, plague ‘em. If someone’s too strong and the Vulch is in the game, tell him that you’ll plague your common foe if he’ll turn around and play it on him, too. (In effect, the Vulch is promising to deliver a deadly ‘double plague’ against that foe.)
But the plague is not all hindrance and malevolence. I remember one game when I was defending in a another player’s victory Encounter. He had twelve ships lined up against me (he and his allies were going for a three-way win at my expense) and I had no ships on the base being attacked. In my hand was the Plague, Mobius Tubes, an 8 Attack and a Negotiate card. To the others, they saw me with four cards and figured I had a chance but that they’d probably whup me. But I knew with that hand that I had no chance. Well, they all looked very surprised when I whipped out the plague and announced I was using it on myself! Think about it. That bought me a fresh hand of seven cards. (It turns out that the discard pile had to be reshuffled halfway through my draw and, guess what? I got the plague back and an Attack card big enough to get the job done.)
Like so much in Cosmic Encounter, the obvious way to use a card or power isn’t the only smart way to use it. You need to consider every tool in your toolbox with each evolving situation in the game. There are many clever ploys, like that one, to discover.
Anti-Matter: This power
generally gives you a nice numerical advantage in any Encounter. While not huge,
your opponents will have to work to constantly surmount it. This isn’t often too
difficult for them, because they’ll save all their low-value Attack cards for
their Encounters with you.
Remember to hit the largest mass of enemy ships that you can find. One excellent ploy is to use a Cosmic Zap on yourself when you have to play a ‘crummy’ Attack card (like a 20 or 30). (Referred to as self-zapulation by the Cosmic Literati.)
Amoeba: This power often requires a lot of nerve and a good understanding of your opponents’ to use effectively. You’ll need nerves of steel every time you push a dozen or more of your own ships into an Encounter, knowing that they’re one short calamity from the warp. For without a lot of ships, your power is utterly worthless. So, much of the game for you is about preserving your ships (and, hence, your power’s strength). Often, you can psyche other player’s out with your potential strength, but when it’s time to relocate your ships, you need to think psychologically. Ask yourself, “will this opponent ‘back down’ thinking I’ll come screaming in there with a bunch of ships?” If you have that player pegged as someone who is determined to win that Encounter no matter what, and resourceful enough to possibly figure out a way how, then don’t commit your ships. In fact, you may even want to pull some out.
Yours is a great power for ‘selling out’ allies. After all, you can get them to commit forces with them thinking that you’ll rush in when, in fact, you pull out and leave your allies to pay the butcher’s bill. But know that you’re hand is one of those more likely to be pillaged in the game. Because your strength is strength in an Encounter, players will often Negotiate in front of you and take Compensation from your hand. This can be devastating when you’re holding a Mobius Tubes in it and are playing more recklessly because of that knowledge.
Chronos: is one of the least challenging Aliens to play. There’s little reason not to replay an Encounter if you lose. That means that, generally, you’ll be fighting against your opponent’s second best Encounter card. Yes, there can be some ‘head fakes’ in there about your or your opponent leading with your best card in the first Encounter, but that’s not always a decisive decision when the hand are fatefully ‘stacked’ anyway.
Clone: This is another “no brainer.” Your big decisions are whether you want to run your hand down in order to draw a new one or not and whether to keep any ‘junk’ cards you might play in order to protect your best attack card from being plucked by a plague or Compensation.
Empath: This power rocks, but you have to play it on two levels. First, do whatever you can to have some Negotiate cards at the end of the game. There’s always a joint-win out there if you can just encounter the right enemy. Second, tell an opponent that his current Encounter with you is a good chance for him to throw a ‘junk’ Encounter card away, because you’re just going to change it to a Negotiate anyway (then don’t and win the Encounter outright). Often, people will plan Negotiate cards against you ‘just to get rid of them’ thinking you’ll be using your power. But like I said, the trick is to make sure you have a Negotiate card or two available during the end-game.
Filch: Another “no brainer,” but a good power nonetheless. Your goal in life is to collect pretty much everything that passes your way if you have anything worth protecting in your hand (to reduce other player’s chances of pilfering the good stuff). If you don’t, then your power is degraded somewhat while you want for something good to come along.
Healer: You’re everybody’s friend. While you can certainly use your power selectively, the more you use it, the better it should be for you in the long run. That’s because cards in your hand are more valuable than potential enemy ships that might come after you later. More so than ships (except to powers like the Amoeba and Virus), card are power in Cosmic Encounter. Of course, you’re a bit hosed in a game with the Zombie (who never goes to warp), but you’ll just have to play the others up too keep the Zombie from seeing any great advantage from his alien power.
Laser: This is another “no brainer,” but it keeps people in fear of you. You job is to play on their fear of their own card hand. So, you must do your utmost to win the Encounters that will be fought in your opponents’ minds as they and their allies decide how many ships to commit on an Encounter card that could be a real crapshoot for them. Watch out for the Laser opponent who likes to take his best or your worst card and stick it up out of his hand daring you to select it (the old “double psyche”).
Macron: Pray that Anti-Matter does not attack you on your home worlds. Other than that, you should be one of the most willing allies in the game, particularly helping the offensive side (because the defense will only grant you one lousy reward card or ship, because you can only commit one ship as an ally).
Mind: Use your power at every opportunity. Do not let any go by, even when you’re seeing cards you just looked at a minute ago. Keep your memory refreshed. Stay in the habit of always looking! And while you are restricted from telling other players what you see, you can sure blab about “leading by example based on my exclusive knowledge” and suchlike. You must demonstrate confidence to get others to follow you (and not oppose you) based on the use of your power. Always talk about “your chances” and speak with authority. This is a very psychological power, so be sure to play it for all its worth in the other player’s heads (and hope those fools trust you).
Mutant: Whatever you do, get rid of your cards! Talk about slaughtering your enemies in an Encounter just so they’ll Negotiate and rid you of more cards. Plague yourself if it will give you an advantage that moment. Be a bit more liberal in your use of Artifacts. The key is to keep drawing new cards all the time. Be selective about drawing them from players, though. Often, particularly with new players, they’ll play their good stuff quickly and be left with junk. About the best time to pilfer cards from another player is when they have a fresh hand and are opposing you in the current Encounter.
Oracle: You would think that you could never lose with this power, yet the Oracle loses more than its share, for sure. That’s because opponents never fear the Oracle. Since they can’t do anything tricky against you, they play it straight up and simply either throw the Encounter away with a poor Attack or a Negotiate card, or they’ll clobber you with their best card and dare you to come up with the scratch to win. Although you can always play the correct Encounter card in response, it’s hard to parlay that into a useful advantage that you can leverage into victory. While players are often comfortable using this power, it seldom gives them a decisive edge.
Pacifist: This is a power where the threat is often more powerful than the execution. You must always talk about whether you should play your Negotiate card during this Encounter (whether you have one or not) because it’s important that others believe that you might. Invite allies with the confidence that only your power can bring by saying things like, “I can’t lose.” But, like the Empath, it is most important for you to save a Negotiate card or two for the end game. Acquiring or prevent an opponent from acquiring that final victory base is where you’ll really need to have your power deliver the goods for you. And remember, you’re only a plague away from losing that single Negotiate card you’ve carefully husbanded.
Parasite: Your task is simple. Always commit one ship in support of the offensive player in every Encounter where you’re not one of the main players. You’ll find yourself going for your victory base first (or near first) every time. Expansion note: The Parasite is even stronger in games with more players. The more Encounters that take place without you as a main player, the better off you are risking only a single ship on every feasible offense.
Philanthropist: Arguably, the strongest power in the game. The trick is, its strength is subtle. Your goal in life is to give away cards at every opportunity. What you’re trying to do is keep getting fresh hands for yourself while preventing others from doing so (because you keep filling their hands up with your rejects). Don’t forget, the strength is in the cards – they’re full of surprises and represent the ‘vast unknown’ in Cosmic Encounter. He who controls the unknown can scare the beejeezis out of anybody.
Sorcerer: While one of the most fun to play for all its second-guessing, there’s not a lot of strength in the Sorcerer that you can count on. I mean, every use or non-use of the power is a 50/50 guess. It’s tantamount to resolving Encounters by a coin toss. Your advantage is when you play an “extreme” card from your hand. You’ll never switch a 30, and are very likely to switch a Negotiate or a 4. But it’s the vast majority of cards “in the middle” where you have to sweat, and there I can’t help you.
Trader: Your job is to loot the good stuff out of a hand and then fob it off on another player (particularly one that just acquired a bunch of cards and hasn’t had time to play all the good stuff out of it). There’s really no point in not using your power of the strategy of burning through all your good cards right away as the Trader, so just do it.
Virus: Your strengths are so vast and so apparent that you’re likely to be the least popular alien in any game of Cosmic Encounter. Even after the official errata from the designers, Eon Products (that is, that the Virus only adds its allies’ tokens, not multiplies them), you’re still nigh well unbeatable anyplace where you have three or four ships in an Encounter. The trick for you is to not play too strong early on and invite others to join you in your offensive successes and, thus, keep up with you in the base count department. The best place for you to be is starting your turn’s first Encounter two bases short of winning and trying to blitz a couple quick victories and win the game. Keep in mind that you’re actually weaker with a single ship in a battle (by one point) than other players, and are pretty much helpless defending one of your home worlds when it has zero of your ships there. You’re likely to be unpopular, with the Healer refusing to heal you and everyone tossing plagues your way. All you can do is suck it up and try to be a nice, non-threatening player until you’re in a position to strike for a win.
Vulch: Collecting used Artifacts is great, but it’s not enough to sit back and passively wait for others to play them. No, you must encourage others to use them at every opportunity. Keep reminding players about they advantage they’d enjoy if they just played a Zap now, or the Plague. (And, if they do play the Plague on some deserving opponent, you can turn right away and slap them with again!) Few players will bother to Zap you (since you’ll just steal their Zap), but that doesn’t necessarily win Encounters. You’ll have to be a talker at the table and try to steer people to invite you as their ally and to use their Artifacts liberally.
Zombie: This is yet another “no brainer” power. Your task is to always put four tokens in an Encounter whenever it suits you, since none of them are at risk of going to the warp. :Like the Amoeba, yours is a good ‘sell out’ power because you can invite allies and deliberately loose a battle and watch their tokens go to the warp while yours dance away. The ability to “heal” others’ tokens in a deal you should think of as merely insurance to help assure you getting a base from them in that deal.