Recently with the announcement of upcoming seven player support, some concern has been expressed over the increased frequency of Cosmic Quakes. In the spirit of reassurance, I would like to remind everyone of the potential to include Antibodies in a future expansion. For those unfamiliar, Antibodies are a special encounter card coded to a specific colour. Each has a main value, and a secondary value if played by or against the alien of the appropriate colour. This facilitates deck expansion nicely, as you only include the Antibodies corresponding to the colours in play - more players means a larger cosmic deck.

Of course this does mean the main deck gets significantly bigger even in four or five player games. One thing I like about the reward deck is that it tends to delay Cosmic Quakes in practice (players are bound to want reward cards at least some of the time), while in theory a Quake can still be engineered by actively avoiding the reward deck.

Regardless, I think Antibodies would be fantastic in the cosmic deck. I also like that they add both Attacks and Negotiates. They should probably come in the last expansion (at least the last which adds a player) so that future sets don't need to include new Antibodies

redamedia.com/warp/antibody.php

Weird concept. Makes sense, but I'd rather just add more normal cards, myself.

Conditional Attack cards seem to be a popular variant. I haven't tried them myself, but they don't grab me as a concept. If I ever get around to expanding my Rewards deck, I'll have to try them and see how they play.

I have had Antibody cards in the Reward deck. They play pretty well there, though I have not tried just adding them to the normal deck. One thing we've been thinking of adding to those cards is that if you play the card, it doesn't get discarded normally, but rather is given to the player whose color it is. If THAT player plays it, it gets discarded. It's more powerful played by and against the player for that color.

Adam said:

Not me. The Cosmic Deck is full of normal cards already. I want new fancies rather than more of the same. I liked that the reward deck gave us Rifts, Kickers, Crooked Deals, new Artifacts, and negative Attack cards.

Kobold Curry Chef said:

I like variable encounter cards because they require careful thought when considering their value. I like Antibodies in particular because they naturally facilitate the deck size depending on the number of players.

My old set did provide 'blank cards' which I used to great effect. Many of my ideas have now been covered. I personally like the idea of dual purpose cards which allow a choice after cards are revealed. I experimented with allowing the reversal of 9s and 6s, plus using 0s before single numbers to reverse 1-9s to 10-90s. Obviously FFG has covered this with the 'Mirror' power. Having Attack/Compromise cards - sorry Negotiate (0ld habits die slowly) - allows a nice option, but the 'Morph' card probably covers this. Extra 'Morphs' is obvious but Morph v Morph must be covered.

As to 'Quakes', I can't see that happening very often unless everyone has huge hands and aren't playing any cards. My invention of the 'Black Hole' Edict - now called Artifact - stopped that by forcing a player to discard their whole hand. See the 'blank cards' thread for more. The 'Antibodies' does look very interesting. Colour specific cards would add a whole new dimension to who and how you attacked or allied with. Like it!!

This all goes to prove that Cosmic is a classic and despite its age and many copiers, it still has a lot to offer. Long may it reign! Cheers!

Morph vs. Morph is covered in Cosmic Incursion rocks fall, everyone dies. Er, I mean, both sides lose, everyone goes to the warp.

It was also covered in the original rulebook.