What happened to no in-jokes? Or does that only apply to me?
You'll miss the beautiful modernist design of the original when you see http://www.cosmicencounter.com/screens/home.html
I played online for about an hour last night. It's still a pretty tight game, although I think it gets funest when you have more than one character each. And online really does not work because part of the fun is in trying to solicit allies and arguing about the rules. The other great thing is the collective win. There aren’t any other board games that work like this, and I remember part of the fun is trying to figure out if you can win on your own without any help or not. Plus the online game is buggy and really poorly designed.
I played Magic the Gathering for the first time the other night and it has a similar feel in that character’s compounding abilities are constantly changing the structure of the game. I can see why Magic is addictive - I thought it was all about collecting cards and the game itself was stupid. Now I see that it is I who was stupid and I have rectified this by shelling out $59.99 for my own deck, the expansion packs (don't want to look like a newbie), my Attack Hawk 2/2 (attacks by air, very special) T-shirt, and a Magic "Special Person" card which will get me discounts on tiny figurines and 10% off the entrance cost to the Magic the Gathering tournament (just called "The Gathering" to those in the know) in Las Vegas. Now I’m ready for the “Magic” to begin!
Sorry, I should've credited joester with unearthing Cosmic Encounter memorabilia online. The lovely jpeg of the Hyper Space Cone came from here. The link for the online game is currently down, but I'll check it out soon. Nostaaaaaaaaaalgia! Fun. That's the Oracle on the old box lid. Seems that the new game looks like this:
The freinds I was playing Magic the Gathering with are also big Settlers players and speak highly of it. Seems like a good investment too. there's a discription of the game on the link you gave to CE.
We played last night with a set I got off ebay. Way way fun. I got really wussy powers, but that's kinda good because everyone was learning the game but me.
Game one
Philanthropist - gives away cards (me)
Seeker - ask yes of no question (hawk)
Empath - may change attack card to compromise (Amanda)
Chronos - Can replay challenge (Ben)
Seeker vs empath lead to some nice rule bending. Seeker can ask about the future and the victim must, if possible, do what they said they'd do. So the Seeker can ask the empath if he's going to time travel, even if he has no idea yet.
Despite this, a very close game ended with Chronos and Empath getting a joint win - Chronos attacking Empath, empath forcing a deal, and them giving each other bases.
Game two
Filch - takes opponent's used card (me Nobody played a big card on me!)
Insect - copies opponent's power (ben)
Amoeba - unlimited token movemnet (amanda)
Machine - can continue turn (Hawk)
The Machine got some extra cards early by being a defensive ally then went on a rampage on his turn. However, the insect went along for the ride, and eventually found himself with an attack 30 card going up against Amoeba with four bases. Even with the power to ooze and all our defenses, it was not enough so the Machine played emotion control forcing a deal. Problem was the Amoeba had four bases too, so they swapped home bases and the game was over.
dang that sounds fun. I think we might start a local chapter, if I can find the game.
Jean's basement. I'm thinking it's there now.
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- sally mckay 2-03-2005 6:05 pm
What happened to no in-jokes? Or does that only apply to me?
You'll miss the beautiful modernist design of the original when you see http://www.cosmicencounter.com/screens/home.html
I played online for about an hour last night. It's still a pretty tight game, although I think it gets funest when you have more than one character each. And online really does not work because part of the fun is in trying to solicit allies and arguing about the rules. The other great thing is the collective win. There aren’t any other board games that work like this, and I remember part of the fun is trying to figure out if you can win on your own without any help or not. Plus the online game is buggy and really poorly designed.
I played Magic the Gathering for the first time the other night and it has a similar feel in that character’s compounding abilities are constantly changing the structure of the game. I can see why Magic is addictive - I thought it was all about collecting cards and the game itself was stupid. Now I see that it is I who was stupid and I have rectified this by shelling out $59.99 for my own deck, the expansion packs (don't want to look like a newbie), my Attack Hawk 2/2 (attacks by air, very special) T-shirt, and a Magic "Special Person" card which will get me discounts on tiny figurines and 10% off the entrance cost to the Magic the Gathering tournament (just called "The Gathering" to those in the know) in Las Vegas. Now I’m ready for the “Magic” to begin!
- joester 2-03-2005 10:29 pm
Sorry, I should've credited joester with unearthing Cosmic Encounter memorabilia online. The lovely jpeg of the Hyper Space Cone came from here. The link for the online game is currently down, but I'll check it out soon. Nostaaaaaaaaaalgia! Fun. That's the Oracle on the old box lid. Seems that the new game looks like this:
- sally mckay 2-03-2005 10:37 pm
The freinds I was playing Magic the Gathering with are also big Settlers players and speak highly of it. Seems like a good investment too. there's a discription of the game on the link you gave to CE.
- joester 2-04-2005 1:53 am
We played last night with a set I got off ebay. Way way fun. I got really wussy powers, but that's kinda good because everyone was learning the game but me.
Game one
Philanthropist - gives away cards (me)
Seeker - ask yes of no question (hawk)
Empath - may change attack card to compromise (Amanda)
Chronos - Can replay challenge (Ben)
Seeker vs empath lead to some nice rule bending. Seeker can ask about the future and the victim must, if possible, do what they said they'd do. So the Seeker can ask the empath if he's going to time travel, even if he has no idea yet.
Despite this, a very close game ended with Chronos and Empath getting a joint win - Chronos attacking Empath, empath forcing a deal, and them giving each other bases.
Game two
Filch - takes opponent's used card (me Nobody played a big card on me!)
Insect - copies opponent's power (ben)
Amoeba - unlimited token movemnet (amanda)
Machine - can continue turn (Hawk)
The Machine got some extra cards early by being a defensive ally then went on a rampage on his turn. However, the insect went along for the ride, and eventually found himself with an attack 30 card going up against Amoeba with four bases. Even with the power to ooze and all our defenses, it was not enough so the Machine played emotion control forcing a deal. Problem was the Amoeba had four bases too, so they swapped home bases and the game was over.
- joester 2-12-2005 11:03 pm
dang that sounds fun. I think we might start a local chapter, if I can find the game.
- sally mckay 2-14-2005 1:07 am
Jean's basement. I'm thinking it's there now.
- joester 2-14-2005 2:59 am