By this time two years ago (it was 27 October), Cosmic Incursion was announced. By next week, it will be a year since Cosmic Conflict was announced (15 November). So, logically...
Where is the Expansion #3 announcement?!?!
We need it soon. That is all.
Gah, I know. We are driving ourselves crazy trying to figure out when it should happen. There's no reason to assume the next expansion will be announced soon, except that it was done this way the last two years.
Watched Pot. You have the power to never boil....
Cosmic Zap Watched Pot. It should be boiling now, unless FFG Card Zaps me...
I don't think there should be an expansion unless they have a more solid list of new aliens than they did for the last expansion. I mean, the Trickster, Changeling, Empath, and several others struck me as scraping the bottom of the creative barrel. There were a few really great new powers in there though, so don't get me wrong. The Warp has enough awesome powers to make this happen, but parsing this database to find the good ones is a real chore.
Also, we could definitely use more tech in the game.
Really? You cite Trickster, Changeling, and Empath as the bad aliens in this set? I felt that each of these was unique and solid. Certainly functional, unlike Visionary or The Claw, which are both easily non-powers for the whole game. But overall, the alien quality in CC was fantastic: Cavalry, Filth, Glutton, Industrialist, Lunatic, Relic, Warhawk, and Xenophile were all amazing additions. I would be more than happy with another expansion of CC's quality.
Somehow, I don't see more tech cards coming in a standard expansion. FFG has appeared fairly consistent in including one unique deck in each game: tech in Base, Rewards in Incursion, and Hazards in Conflict. It would match their other expansion models with other game series to very rarely expand previous expansions. (The negative reaction to support for Cylon leaders in the second BSG expansion would be a solid example.)
On the other hand, if FFG puts out a Miskatonic Horror-esque expansion for Cosmic (ie, an expansion which exclusively expands other expansions), that would be pretty awsome. On last big box to double techs, rewards, hazards, etc. Now, Cosmic would have to be as successful as Arkham Horror to dictate such a fan-pandering expansion, but it would be nice.
The simple counter argument is that Tech was in the FFG base game, so everyone has access to it. My rebuttal to that is that Tech was included as an optional rule which doesn't interact with any other of the module parts of Cosmic. Releasing more Tech cards would be like releasing an expansion for an expansion, pandering to a subset of overall Cosmic players, especially since many people don't play with it. Additionally, some people might not want to spend money on an expansion that they essentially already have; why spend money on new Tech cards when they could be making something else new?
Now, I'll take whatever they put out for a third expansion. Cosmic is probably my favorite board game and I look forward to increased customization through new modules and new aliens. I just don't see more Tech coming out soon. Feel free to quote me if/when I'm wrong.
Yeah, I also thought that the aliens in Cosmic Conflict were particularly good. Empath and Changeling are classics going back to the '70s. This version of Changeling is the best yet.
Announcement of Expansion #3 would sure be a sweet medicine for the pain from Rex being delayed
I love CE, but I have little desire for a new expansion. When I introduced some new players to CE, I was initially unhappy, for the sake of simplicity, to play without Hazards and Tech, but once the game got started, I realized that it was just as much fun.
Would I buy the expansion... probably.
New players aren't new for very long. If you wanted to play with expansion components, it isn't a very compelling argument for not wanting an expansion. Personally, they could put out an expansion every two months, and I'd be thrilled. Bring it on!
I'm with Jack on this. Which is why the anticipation for the next expansion is keeeeeeeeeeeeeeling me. *snivels*
NidoKing said:
Announcement of Expansion #3 would sure be a sweet medicine for the pain from Rex being delayed
Definitely. Like giving Tylenol to someone whose arm has been ripped off. It is unfair to tease us with that awesome box cover and then say nothing for months.
I thought Conflict's aliens were great. Trickster and The Claw are low points for me, but it was otherwise great. I can't wait to find out what will be in the next expansion other than new aliens.
Schizoid and Gorgon confirmed for Expansion #3!!!!
This is gonna be a GREAT expansion, I can feel it!
Wahoooooo
I hope Toady makes it in.
NidoKing said:
Wahoooooo
I hope Toady makes it in.
Although I guess probably not since he pretty much steps on Team Cosmic. Darn
Toady needs to be edited a bit in order to be a more useful power. I gave that a shot on BGG and renamed it "Sycophant." I also tried to re-write Sting, Magnet, and Crystal.
I'm hoping for some Mesmer action in this expansion, and a side order of Berserker, Serpent, Busybody, Delegator, Witch, Worm, and Aristocrat.
Curious to know what the new card back is for. I initially thought it would be some kind of Schizoid card from a deck of victory condition options, but the fact that they show a Morph in the picture seems to imply we're getting yet another means of obtaining cards. Any guesses?
That card back probably is for Schizoid. My guess on the Morph card you see is probably going to part of a set of new cards that are either to be mixed into the deck for team games or for large games in general
Yea the extra cards will be for 8 player games, but I see no reason not to just throw them into the deck regardless. but especially in 6+ player games.
If that red alien is the Schizoid, then I am really wondering what that hideous 2-headed multi-mouthed beast is on the bottom right of the box (not the green guy).
My initial guess was that the new card back was for determining teams. However, I looked on the CE product page (linked from the CA announcement), and it has the following as part of the description of the set:
Cosmic Alliance includes:
The dangling "including" is there on the page. However, we know that of those 54 cards, 20 are flares and 4 (I think... please correct me) would be the White Destiny cards. That leaves 30; if I'm right and there is a special deck to determine teams, that's at least 16 of the 30 (could be more if they allow for further expansions and assume that each expansion comes with a new color). The rest could be extra cards for the Encounter deck, hence the Morph.
But also... the Horde (nowhere to be found in the Amazing Power Thingy)? I take it we finally
do
have enough Cosmic Tokens?
A deck for teams seems redundant. Just take two each of four destiny color cards and deal them out randomly. But this is Fantasy Flight, so who knows. There would still be no reason for 16 of them. With the current number of players through expansion 3, you would only need one card for each of the eight players to say what team each is on. If anyone (other than The Warp, of course!) is crazy enough to start a ten player game, we might see ten cards, but the game is said to be getting six expansions total, so I don't think we'll ever see more than 10 players.
I suppose they could do three-player teams with a ninth color, but three-sided games of Cosmic are boring, and I don't know that teams would make up for that much since you'd always have your team mates to invite automatically (depending on how team rules interact with this), then your opponent's team would be unable to side with you (I think), leaving little in the way of alliance decisions to make. But even if they did account for this, a deck of 9-10 cards could easily have a diagonal line across it with something like 2A / 3B to indicate what team you're on if in a 2p team game or 3p.
Anything's possible, but the way I see it, there's no need for a deck of more than 8-10 cards, if there's need for a deck at all. Bring on the new encounter cards!
Nice find on the Horde, too. Didn't think to check the product page. Wonder what alien could possibly need so many dang tokens.
I'm almost certain the cards with the new backs are for Schizoid's alternate victory condition. On Facebook, Peter Olotka hinted this was true by saying that there would be a "classic" Schizoid option as well. This implies that Schizoid now has a new way of determining victory conditions, and what more FFG-ish way than a little deck of cards. I'm greatly in favor of this, too, having championed this change on BGG for some time. Still, I'm glad that the classic Schizoid will be available for those who want it.
Adam is right that Destiny cards will probably get used to determine teams. There's no reason not to reuse existing components for that.
As far as the Horde tokens go, there's an old homebrew called Wabbit. It has the power to multiply, as in it spawns more ships every turn. I suspect that the Horde tokens are for an alien along those lines.
If anyone can figure out why I took the maximum number of players and multiplied them by two to come up with a 16 card team deck, please tell me. I assume some combination of rum and/or Nyquil was involved, but whether it was consuming them or failing to consume them that was to blame I do not know.
(And yes, I am well over 21.
Also, thanks, Adam.)
Haha. You were probably thinking that the game uses teams of 2 and most games use color to represent one team, so 8 colors, 8 teams, 16 players... and one giant Cosmic game!
Or who knows, they could have done some kind of thing where you get a sort of team power in addition to your alien power and represented it with cards. I doubt Team Cosmic will last long before someone comes up with a variant like this.