On Expansions

By webslinger9, in Cosmic Encounter

oatesatm said:

Vincent_V said:

There isn't that many tiles in the game and they still charged $60 (although I think it's worth it), Android costs the same with 10 times the number of components ---

Keep in mind FFG had to purchase the rights to make their version of CE. That adds overhead to the product. CE is worth every penny they are asking.

Wildeyedjester said:

oatesatm said:

Vincent_V said:

There isn't that many tiles in the game and they still charged $60 (although I think it's worth it), Android costs the same with 10 times the number of components ---

Keep in mind FFG had to purchase the rights to make their version of CE. That adds overhead to the product. CE is worth every penny they are asking.

I'm guessing / hoping that the Eon guys are getting per-copy royalties as well.

So far as the nature of the expansions, I'd hope that FFG follows the Eon track: multiple small expansions that can be priced economically, but which add up to a lot of features when you put them together.

I'm kind of hoping that the fourth expansion or so will be called something like Cosmic Chaos, and will include all the madness that some of us truly enjoy in a game of CE... things like:

-Schizoid
-Changeling
-Alternate Systems (Gas Giant, Rings, Pulsar, Binary, World Ships, Six Pact, Spiral, etc)
-Moons (with Full, Half, Crescent, Cheese, and Blue)
-Asteroids
-Lucre??
-Special Aliens like Moon aliens, Tech aliens, Lucre aliens
-Zilch

I'm fine with the first set of expansions being more mainstream and accessible... but by the time you have assimilated all of that and you're still hankering for more... then you're ready for Cosmic Chaos. Bwaaahahaha.

I'd like to see Moons early on. That way, later expansions that add new concepts can include Moons to affect whatever the new stuff is.

I'm also looking forward to things that make use of the moveable planets.

A good Prometheus ship would be the old carrier from the AH Encounter.

I haven't had a chance to play the older versions of CE. I only played a couple of 2 player games from the AH version. I couldn't find anymore players at the time. I'm looking forward to playing the new version this weekend. So, at this point what I'd like to see in an expansion is more players, aliens, the lucre (I've heard about it) and well just about anything they want to put in, cuz generally FFG does a great job with expansions.

I was just looking at artist Felicia Cano's website (she did the artwork for some of the aliens) and along with artwork for alien races that are in this version there is a picture labeled as "Berserker." While far from a confirmation of this alien being in an upcoming expansion, it does give a possible and tantilizing glimpse into what might be coming. http://feliciacano.com/concept/index.html (second column, third row down).

All i want are new aliens ( of course) new flares, new cards, more players, maybey a special ship which will add defense capibilities to 1 planet only, and their can be one for ach alien (that would be a lot, but cool, like alien specific effects) and a new mechanic.

Either one is fine as long as what they release is quality.

I am not a fan of moons/lucre/bad powers/prisons/ any of that side junk that makes the game far too complex.

I just want another 50 powers and the corresponding flares, the rest of the edicts, more techs and special morph cards, and the ability to play 8 players. That is all.

Messianic said:

Either one is fine as long as what they release is quality.

I am not a fan of moons/lucre/bad powers/prisons/ any of that side junk that makes the game far too complex.

I just want another 50 powers and the corresponding flares, the rest of the edicts, more techs and special morph cards, and the ability to play 8 players. That is all.

I'm pretty sure most of us would die of happiness if we got ANOTHER fifty aliens alone, never mind the extra players and cards.

Like I said, as long as they add at least 20 aliens, good ones, with a few of my favorites (oh, please choose Seeker!!!!) I'll be more than content.

Btw, whoever found that beserker pic, nice job! Not sure how significant it is....

How about doing it as a living board game? Small box every month. That would work for me, constant new content.

Here’s what I would like to see in an upcoming expansion.

-More Powers
Joy will be proportional to quantity here…

-One Player Set
I would like if it was Orange or Light Blue.

-More Tech Cards

-More Artifact Cards
I think that there are few in the deck, so here’s my add-on suggestion

1 or 2 Cosmic Zaps
1 or 2 Rebirths
1 or 2 Ionic Gas
1 Emotion Control
1 Quash
1 Forcefield
1 Plague

-More Encounter Cards
I’m in favour of negative cards and I think that there’s a too large spread between attacks 15 and attacks 20, so I would like:

2 Encounter Cards 18
1 Encounter Card 16 or 17
2 Encounter Cards -2
1 Encounter Card -4

-One Bigger Warp
The warp is already a bit small, if more players are added in future expansions I fear that it’s going to get too crowded.

-Extra ships for all Players

-Tuck boxes

-A plastic Prometheus token
This is an unimportant request, but I think it would be nicer if the Prometheus was three-dimensional and more fitting with the normal ships.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
What I wouldn’t like to see in an upcoming expansion

-Blank Power Cards
I think that the blank cards are unnecessary, I would even call it a waste of resources.
Like all fans of cosmic I want more and more powers, but I want them to be selected by FFG. I want power sheets with amazing illustrations (Thank you Ryan Barger).

I'd at least like blank encounter cards so we aren't forced to uglify the deck with card sleeves in order to use flares with homebrews. The blank card for the actual alien is unnecessary for all purposes other than Reincarnator or similar effects, which are few and far between anyway. The alien cards are super nice, but the encounter cards are just cards. That wouldn't be much of a waste of resources, I'd think. I imagine blank cards will be made available eventually, whether in an expansion or separate. It seems like a no-brainer. Blank tech and/or destiny would be cool, too, but not nearly as useful as blank encounter / flare cards.

I definitely want to be able to buy extra ships... they don't have to be released in an expansion... just available to buy. I think a packet with one ship of each color would do... people buy as many as they need. I need one right now.

I definitely want small boxes, so they're cheap (compared to the base game), and come out more quickly. I'd rather wait 6 months between small boxes than over a year for a big expansion.

As for what I want in the boxes: New powers + flares every expansion, of course. I miss the crazy powers like Schitzoid and Terrorist.

Lucre, the simple variety. I always played with in the EON version, and it added so little complication while allowing you the last-ditch option of buying more cards from the deck or ships from the warp. I've never been crazy about most of the Lucre aliens, but the lucre component was very handy without being overly complicated.

More tech would be awesome.

Alternate planetary systems! Nifty art on new boards that look like giant planets, space stations, or whatever. Judging by the quality of the design of this version of CE, I'm betting they could blow us away.

More player planets & ships would be great, though I found that 6-player eon games, even without moons or double-powers, took significantly longer than 5 or 4 player games. Plus too many players means some powers (Hate, for example) would be less effective, so I don't know that I'd want to play with 8 players. But for the love of mike, please let the colors be easily distinguishable! The current set is fine for my R/G color blind friends, but adding orange or brown would be terrible for them. I vote White and Black for the next two colors.

A reverse cone mechanic would be nice; maybe just a single special destiny card that reversed allies rewards would accomplish this, but having too many special destiny cards in the Mayfair version annoyed me. I just want to know who I'm attacking! However if new SD cards made the Mind more interesting to play...

I also am not very enthusiastic about powers that require optional components, so I say "no thanks" to tech Aliens. I'd even go so far as to say the same for Lucre Alien powers, so you don't reduce the pool of aliens you can play if you opt out of using that component.

I could do without moons for a long time, unless the mechanic was revamped a lot. I always felt it was a waste of an encounter to go after a moon instead of trying to gain a colony, and many of the moons were too goofy/useless. But if the offensive player were to occupy the moon orbiting a planet they were attacking (instead of the planet itself), and get to count it as a base... or something like that, then I'd be more enthusiastic.

What I want to see:

More aliens and more players, obviously. My ideal Cosmic games from the Mayfair days tended to be 10ish players.

More techs.

Blank cards.

Beyond that, I'll take moons. I never liked Lucre so I'll pass, but maybe they could make it something I'd enjoy. I would love to see Schizoid back but maybe with some more constraints on what his win conditions can be. That was always my favorite alien. Oh, and give us Pentaform, too. :)

I'd love to see Zilch back, but please leave out the Shark. The game has enough randomness to it without adding the frustration of doing well and then getting replaced as a player. The Schizoid Wild flare was marginally better.

Adam said:

I'd at least like blank encounter cards so we aren't forced to uglify the deck with card sleeves in order to use flares with homebrews. The blank card for the actual alien is unnecessary for all purposes other than Reincarnator or similar effects, which are few and far between anyway. The alien cards are super nice, but the encounter cards are just cards. That wouldn't be much of a waste of resources, I'd think. I imagine blank cards will be made available eventually, whether in an expansion or separate. It seems like a no-brainer. Blank tech and/or destiny would be cool, too, but not nearly as useful as blank encounter / flare cards.

I understand what you mean Adam, but I’m only talking about the next expansion. I think that blank cards shouldn’t be released in the first two or three expansions.
After that I have no objection about blank flare cards, blank encounter cards… only about blank power cards :)

The Warp said:

I definitely want to be able to buy extra ships... they don't have to be released in an expansion... just available to buy. I think a packet with one ship of each color would do... people buy as many as they need. I need one right now.

While they aren't available OTC, you might be able to order them directly from FFG. My set shipped with one green ship that wasn't fully formed -- it hadn't gotten a full load of plastic in the mold -- and when I emailed FFG they sent me one. Even if yours wasn't a factory problem, they still might be able to sell you replacements.

Small expansions would be so very win.

A little birdie told me the next expansion will have +50 alien powers, a sixth player addition, and significantly updated rules.

We'll see...

"Updated" rules? Are we talking about clarifications here, or additions?

Messianic said:

A little birdie told me the next expansion will have +50 alien powers, a sixth player addition, and significantly updated rules.

We'll see...

Hmm. Kevin Wilson made it clear before the game even shipped that a 6th player would be in the first expansion. As for the rest? A little birdie told me something a lot more modest than that. I wonder which birdie is telling the truth?

I'm scared of birds. I was attacked by them when I was a kid.

Adam said:

I'm scared of birds. I was attacked by them when I was a kid.

That explains a lot.

If it's true that there is already a CE expansion in the works, why isn't there a note about it in the upcoming games page? There are two categories on that page that would work: "In Development" and "Concept Stage," so it there doesn't seem to be a good reason for it to not be there. Unless FFG is just spotty when it comes to keeping that stuff up to date.

RobertDG said:

If it's true that there is already a CE expansion in the works, why isn't there a note about it in the upcoming games page?

Because there's no rules or regulations that govern that page. FFG is free to announce or not announce their products as they see fit. See Android for a fine example; that game was only announced for the first time when it was actually ready to ship .