Hello Gaming Community,

I am the new marketing intern here at Fantasy Flight Games and I am working on a Comprehensive FAQ project and I need help from you, the fans. If you have any questions about the game that you feel were not addressed in the most current of the FAQ for Cosmic Encounter, please post them here.

Thank you,

Fantasy Flight Games
 

These are questions that I have seen elsewhere or heard other players ask:

- Does the Zombie get compensation?

- If you fail to deal with Void, are your ships eradicated?

- Do you actually get compensation for negotiating to Void, since it says "when your ships go to the warp"?

- Does the classic Filch flare have to be played to be used at all?

- What exactly can the Genesis planet be used for?  There's confusion about how many planets to maintain your power.

- When should alert levels on aliens be mixed?

- How does Mobius Tubes work if you have no planets?

- Does the Machine Wild Flare mean you draw 8 new cards and keep the rest of your hand, or must you discard the Machine flare after you play it?

- What is a cone?

- Can you trade Techs in a deal?

- Do you have to vacate a colony to exhange them in a deal?

- Can Hate discard a Morph card when using his power?  If so, does that mean no one else can discard one, or that whatever they discard will be the same as the Morph?

- Is there a difference between winning an encounter and having a successful encounter?  This came up in regard to Barbarian's power.

- Can you Cosmic Zap a flare when the player is using it to use his own power (say as an ally when otherwise he can't use his power as an ally)?  

- Some powers have different phases highlighted for use that the Super flare doesn't correspond to.  Can you still zap them?

- If you Comis Zap a player that is using his Super Flare, does he discard the flare, or does he have to play the wild?

- What cards can be played when you have a lien on your hand (that is, somone is trying to collect compensation)? 

- Can you play reinforcements on your side if you played an attack, but your opponent played a negotiate?

- If someone plays the Reincarnator flare on me, do I still get to use my power if it happens in the same phase as the flare?

- When can you zap Macron?  His power is used to bring only 2 ships in the gate, so is it then, or during resulotion?

- What is the different between the Start Turn phase and the Regroup phase?

- Can CE be played with only 2 players?    (The short answer is no, but there have been variants created that make it possible.  Check http://redamedia.com/warp for more info on that and hundreds of other variants and analysis for CE).

 My favorite: "What is a cone?"

Here's a link where Kevin answered "What exactly can the Genesis planet be used for?":

http://new.fantasyflightgames.com/edge_foros_discusion.asp?efid=50&efcid=1&efidt=22671&efpag=0#23275

And the Macron question as I understand it is: "When Macron is the Defensive Player, when can you zap him?  

I think the Macron question was answered, though not in the way most would expect - that if the Macron is on defense, if they are Zapped at Launch (when the defense's ship count is determined), then they only count as one (and compensation is one per ship).

We've been wondering: Can I play the Reincarnator Wild Flare on myself?

 Regaining home base where there are no ships on one of your planets.

When you draw you own color from the destiny pile, and you want to automatically establish a colony on your planet, do  you go through all of the challenge phases?  Do you go through any of them past "destiny"?  

Besides powers/cards that trigger on the Start Turn, Regroup, and Destiny phases, can any cards or powers be played that require a later challenge phase to come about?

A comprehensive FAQ, including errata, would be greatly appreciated.  Having one point of reference has to be a good thing.

I asked:

http://new.fantasyflightgames.com/edge_foros_discusion.asp?efid=50&efcid=1&efidt=33505

an official confirmation would be appreciated.

 Communicating the contents of hands:<BR>

Is it allowable to say what is in your hand?  The rules explicitly say you can't show your hand to anyone, but it's vague on the telling.  During a deal, for instance, can you say, "I'll give you a Negotiate and an Attack 10" as part of the negotiations?  

Can you lie?

 Found in this thread on BGG: http://www.boardgamegeek.com/thread/378574

In short: if the Gambler becomes the main player, but has no cards in his/her hand, does the Gambler get to use his/her power to trade hands?  The case seems to be that according to the FFG rules, you don't draw a new hand until the Planning phase , and presumably, you only do that because it's time to play your card face down.   The Gambler power states that you can trade hands BEFORE playing an encounter card face down.<BR><BR>

In past editions, the rule was that as soon as you became the defense, you discarded non-encounter cards and drew a new hand.

 Note: You definitely mean Trader, not Gambler.  :)

I'm interested to know that answer, too.  The rules for drawing a new hand were so much clearer in previous editions.  This is the one area where the new game seems to be causing a lot of needless confusion.

I would say that he has to draw a hand first like in previous editions.

Adam said:

Oops, thanks for the catch!

Here's another one:

Can Amoeba ooze all 20 tokens into the hyperspace gate, or would he loose his power immediately upon reducing his home colonies to 2?  What happens to the tokens that were removed from home colony #3?

This question is with regards to a BGG discussion where you played 2 powers, with the combo of Masochist/Amoeba; it's argued that you could win in one encounter.

RobertDG said:

And I will say, again, that "increase or decrease" does not mean "count out the ships one at a time." The card also says: "... you may add as many ships as you want from any of your colonies."

But I do agree that, as long as a FAQ is coming out, it couldn't hurt to add one Amoeba example.

 I agree with Mr. Duke.  There are similar actions in the game where people have asked if ships should be counted out one at a time, and I would assume the rules would clearly spell this out if it were the case.  As a rule of thumb, I consider all actions "instantaneous" unless there is reason to think otherwise.

 Can Zombie use the Wild Kamikaze or similar cards that require sending ships to Warp to use, and if so, are the ships actually sent to Warp?

In a deal, do both players have to give something to the other, or can a successful deal be "one-sided"?