From: dvc@cbnewsb.cb.att.com (david.a.vancleef)
Subject: Re: More Cosmic review (Very Long!!)
Organization: AT&T
Date: Mon, 28 Sep 1992 14:12:44 GMT

>>>>> On Sun, 27 Sep 1992 04:48:27 -0400 , Julian D Lighton <jl8e+@andrew.cmu.edu> said:

JDL> Disclaimer: everything in here is IMO.

My Disclaimer: Me too, plus I was involved in playtesting this monstrosity.
Also, I haven't seen the production set.

JDL> kickers: i don't think that kickers have changed at all since the Eon
JDL> set. They range from -2 to 3, mostly being x2s.

The original Eon version had 5 kickers, 1 x0, 3 x2, and 1 x3.

JDL> edicts: a few new edicts that negate some of the components added in
JDL> this set. I think they should have put in a lucre zap type edict and
JDL> possibly something that stops reinforcements.

In my heavily bastardized personal set I put in a lucrezap which
prevents lucre from being spent by the recipient for the remainder of
the challenge.  I've been toying with allowing stellar gas to disallow
the playing of reinforcements.

JDL> reinforcements: ranging from +1 to +5, these are played in a sort of
JDL> free-for-all right at the end of the challenge. They aren't common
JDL> enough to disrupt the game, and they can add an additional element of
JDL> strategy to the game that I like.

When we were playtesting these, we found that there weren't enough
reinforcements.  It appears that they've dumped some more into the cardmix.

JDL> moons: the rules for moons don't seem to have changed much since the Eon
JDL> rules. The moons are larger, durable, and have the description and the
JDL> icon on the moon.

At least Jim Musser took one of our suggestions to heart.  This was
put in our report in no uncertain terms.  (Hint for you Eon players:
You can create a nice set of replacement moons by printing out the
descriptions in about 5-6 pt type and blowing up the Eon moonbacks
about 50% on a xerox, glueing them onto a light cardboard, and going
over the back with yellow highlighter.  Makes a nice snazzy-looking
game piece.)

JDL> lucre: the lucre counters are smaller and flimsier than the moons, and
JDL> have the denomination printed in a tiny number in the counter. lucre is
JDL> now worth less, and must be spent to add to the total. The price chart
JDL> says you can also buy a random flare from the deck of unused flares for
JDL> seven lucre, but I think that you should either increase the price or
JDL> eliminate this option, because the flares can really disrupt a game. The
JDL> flares for the lucre powers all have a big L at the bottom to make it
JDL> easy for them to be sorted out. If you have something like an Illuminati
JDL> set lying around, you might want to use the money rom that because it is
JDL> much easier to read the values.

We didn't like the new lucre rules much at all, and will probably be
going back to the old rules.  The main reason for the higher
granularity in lucre values was to accomodate technology, which was
removed from the set before production.

We didn't find a big problem with the ability to buy extra flares.
The high cost tends to self-balance it.

JDL> My comments on the new and altered powers in the set follow. If I didn't
JDL> list a power, there was probably not much change in the new set.
JDL> Comments on the powers that were in the Eon sets is based on memory and
JDL> what I've been told. I may get some of my facts wrong.

JDL> Berserker: can challenge everybody on a planet at once, instead of just
JDL> one player, and all his compromises are attack 15's. I've never seen it
JDL> used, so I don't know how good it is.

I liked the (totally different) version from Spartan magazine issue 12
much better.

JDL> Disease: now needs four tokens to spread

Still a fairly good power.  Won at least its fair share of games in
playtest in our group.

JDL> Doppelganger: Incredibly powerful now. gets to pick cards. should
JDL> probably be punted or weakened.

Didn't find this so.  Tends to mean that you'll always be out-powered
card-wise, but there are lots of other factors in winning challenges.

JDL> Ghost: gets to bring tokens in from the warp to help in a challenge. A
JDL> pretty good power.

We liked this one a LOT.  A "finesse" power.

JDL> Gorgon: any tokens sharing a base with him can't move. I dislike this
JDL> power because it doesn't really help the player holding it, and tends to
JDL> make everybody hate him.

Has the ability to tie lots of resources up.  We liked this one,
although it won only an average portion of its games.

JDL> Hurtz: has a limited stock of items that he can rent at any one time.
JDL> This probably makes the powera lot more balanced.

One of the best "updates" for MCE.  The power tended to get used a lot
more once you could look over what was available for rent.

JDL> Industrialist: can add attack cards that he lost with to his total in a
JDL> later challenge.

OK, although I liked the original (Matt Stone?) version much better.

JDL> Pavlov: see Encounter v. 2 no. 1

I like this one.  A very subtle power.

JDL> Prophet: no change. Another power to consider putting controls on

Why?  The fact that the power is used before playing cards makes the
power self-balancing.

JDL> Queue: see same issue

The only MCE power I really dislikes.  Greatly interrupts the flow of
the game.

JDL> Reserve: can play low attack cards as reinforcements, and can negate
JDL> other players' reinforcements

I like this one, but I'm not really sure why.  I played it three times
during the playtest, won every game, and never used my power.

JDL> Serpent: can make a deal with an his opponent or one of his opponent's
JDL> allies to end the challenge and send everybody else to the warp.

One of my two favorite MCE powers.  Another "finesse" power.

JDL> Sting: when he loses tokens "involuntarily" he can cause somebody else
JDL> to lose them instead and draw cards in compensation. This is a very
JDL> unbalanced power. I strongly reccomend not using it.

Are you sure you read this one right?  The playtest version had to
give away cards from his hand as consolation to the player he caused
to lose cards.  We added the clause that he could only force other
players to lose cards up to the amount he had in his hand to give
away.  This is my other favorite MCE power.



Organization: Junior, Math/Computer Science, Carnegie Mellon, Pittsburgh, PA