After near a hundred or so games of the Fantasy Flight version, no one ever wants to play with Tick-Tock. Any time that Tick-Tock is in a game the other players resent him for "trying to shorten the game" so they all lay off one another until they can all whipe the Tick-Tock's power out. This happens every time making the power completely useless since, unlike other disliked powers like Virus, it has no special abilities to defend itself or to attack others. I was curious how Tick-Tock is used in other peoples games and how well he fares, and also what powers other groups don't like to play with.

We haven't really singled out any powers that no one likes to play with... there are definite favorites to have.  We tend to try and win the game more quickly when Tick Tock is in.  But we also usually play with 2 powers, so even if you have Tick Tock, you also have another power.  I look forward to having enough alt win powers in the game that each player can have one of those as well as a "normal" power.

My sisters really loathe Hate and Shadow, probably because they think that picking on people is the most unfair thing in the world. (The Plague, similarily, is never ever played unless it's by me or against me.)

I tend to dislike Vulch. Ever since the old Eon version i have always found this particular alien a bit useless and boring.

BUT more often than not i tend to win when playing the old wierdo.

So i guess i have an Love-Hate relationship here hehe.

I don't know, I've always found Vulch to be one of the most powerful, since a well placed forcefield when going for ones final planet, or an emotion control when someone else is going for their final can completely turn the tide of the game. But then, I suppose everyone plays differently.

Roachmill said:

Wow, I found Vulch quite a good alien. You colect all the zaps and other scarce artifacts. You can even card zap the card zap 

Well,, can agree that vulch is much better in FFG, becouse there is a few more artifachts (and a few more useful ones)

When I play my old set, artifachts doesnt get into play that often plus there are som quite useless ones. I geuss thats why i dont like the Vulch.

BTW, I wrote when i play my old Eon set earlier, but thats not quite true. I dont have an Eon set becouse I'm swedish. I only have a swedish translated version from 1986 called Universums Härksare (Master of the Universe). I guess the swedish translators picked out what they thought were the goodies,but it aint really true to its Cosmic original. Although its still one of my favorite games (of course). :)

Most people I play with like Tick-Tock, specifically because it shortens the game. We play a lot, and sometimes it drags quite a bit.

In my group the aliens that nobody seems to want are Observer, Hate and Gambler. Observer in fact is yet to make his debut in our cosmic gatherings.

Gambler is made from Pure Evil, and is to be avoided like a hooker who missed her last three check-ups.

It is easily my 50th-favorite alien in the set; I like to hide the flare before any games just to ensure that it is not chosen.

What's wrong with Gambler?

Gambler's one of my favorites.  I love any alien that encourages bluffing, and that is the heart of his power.  Personally, my least favorite is Hate because "Start of Your Turn" usually means, "Despite having a pretty cool power, you are going to get to use it 0 to 2 times."  I am glad for the "Receive 2 flares, choose 1" model in this game because I would never pick Hate unless in a 4-player game, and even then only if the other alien were one I just didn't feel like playing.

 I have a feeling that if you're only expecting to have 2 turns, people are inviting on offense much too often. Newbie thing :P

Big Head Zach said:

Agree. I see a lot of disdain for Hate and wonder why anyone would think they would only be getting 2 turns per game. We have a mix of players, from long-timers to beginners, and all of our games last several rounds because people stay aware of who is getting close to victory and what the cost-benefit ratio is to allying on either offense or defense. Hate is certainly dependent on a decent draw and careful use to ensure that you don't dump a new set of 8 cards into someone's hand, but I think it's an interesting new power.

Our group is fine with Tick-Tock. He's never won, but everyone is interested to play him. I've seen some reluctance to play Observer and Hacker and I'm the only one who has been willing to play Citadel so far, but most people are at least interested in all of them.

 I *LOVE* Hacker, because I'm of the opinion that if I steal the right cards from the right opponents, 15 of my ships are used for Compensation-raiding. I only need 5 ships out of the Warp to win ;)

Yea, my group does invite a lot, but when you play with six players like we often do, you sort of have to or risk being ganged up on.  Also, I don't know if it's fair to say people are inviting "too much"; it's just another way to play, a way that we enjoy.  And it's only a couple of them who tend to invite everyone all the time, not all of us (fortunately).

But even if a game goes on for four or five rounds, that's still not much.  And if you do happen to have a group that tends to play for ten or more rounds every game, you still have to consider that his power is used far less in this long game than any other power.

So maybe my example is underestimating the average game length (not really sure about that, as obviously I only know my group's average length), but I still think its power is used too infrequently to be particularly exciting.  But hey, it's an okay alien, just far from my favorite.