I have only played the Mayfair edition of this game without reusable flares. So I was interested in reading how the FFG version handled the flares. I had assumed you would have then for ever but now I am not so sure.

I accept that if you start your turn (or have no encounter cards when attacked) without an encounter card you have to discard your reusable flare along with any other non encounter cards. However the rules say you can play any cards before discarding them. How does this interact with the flares ? Can you play your flare and refill your hand to 8 cards before picking the flare back up. My gut instinct says no

For those who have played the Eon edition how did this work and did it make hand management even more critical regarding collecting rewards and compensation etc ? Do we have any idea the intention for the FFG edition or have I read the rules wrong ?

on FFg edition flares return back after their use (read rules carefully pag 13) not discarded. Refill of full 8 cosmic cards hand occour when the main player (offense) has no encounter card at the start of his turn and main player (defense) has no encounter card on planning phase. All other cards must be played/discarded then you take 8 new cosmic cards (read rules on pag 13).

Generally, when you have to remove cards from your hand for some reason (compensation, the Plague, out of encounter cards), you're not allowed to play any of those cards unless they would stop you from having to give them away (Stellar Gas to stop compensation, Cosmic Zap to stop Mutant). So if you ran out of encounter cards and you're the offense, you would get to play your Mobius Tubes or Plague (since they happen before you "need" cards if I remember), but the rest of your hand leaves. Therefore, if you want to play that Wild Void before your hand is discarded, you may want to do it before you flip Destiny.

i really like that they are at risk in players hands, it makes the flares very powerfull but still leaves options for players to deal with them. overall i'm looking forward to it a whole lot!

my last post was posted twice, so i will go ahead and write something new here.

i wonder if the finder card will be used in this game? that would make getting the flare you want very easy >

While in some cases you may be able to play a Flare before discarding your hand to draw a new one (it will depend on the phase the Flare can be played), the Flare will be discarded along with anything else, and 8 new cards will take their place. That will also be your only Flare to play that encounter.

So a flare lasts as long as the encounter cards in your hand does. That is proablly a good lmitation on their power. I guess you can try to be a defensive ally to keep drawing cards to keep your flare alive but then no one may want you. The FFG flares are much improved on the MAyfair and makes the finder card perhaps more useful

As an oldtimer who played Eon's version, let me tell you that this can make a real difference in the game.

Right now when you get low on good challenge cards it is a good strategy to get rid of challenge cards for a new hand. With the new flares this is also the case; however, you now have the dilemma over whether or not these new challenge cards are going to be worth losing your flare cards as well because (unless you have a Keeper edict) you lose those juicy flares once you drop your challenge-cardless hand.

When you have a nice little set of mini powers going it becomes really hard sometimes to give them up!

I am definately going to be playing with the "as many flare uses as you want" variant.

The rules look damed good. And retained flares was the one thing I was REALLY hoping for in this edition.

I am particularly interested to see what these technology cards are going to be like. That is a new mechnaic that I am not used to.

I'd have to concur with AB on this - never really cared for how Mayfair implemented Cosmic encounters..just didn't have the same dynamic as Eon's did.

And like most people, will be waiting for the unvealing of the technology cards and how they work.

abfalter said:

Give it a shot with the one flare/encounter rules as written for a few games before you start breaking out varient rules. Some of the flares (like Remora) can go off almost every turn. The one flare per turn rule actually makes you think a bit more. "Do I use Remora right away, or do I wait for later in the encounter to use Human?".

"All the flares you are holding, every time!" is pretty wacky, but not always in a fun way IMHO.

(Remora by the way is one of my favorite flares. Remora arguably benefits more from someone else having it than having it himself!)

But I revel in the chaos! I've been known to run six player three-powers-each games with moons, lucre and alt planet systems!

Heck, half the time I do not even play to win. I play to confuse.

*smile*

Jhamin said:

I like to play to confuse as well, and sometimes I can still win!

I'm sure the "play all the Flares you want" variant will be commonly used at my house.