General Questions

Q: What is a “challenge”?

A: “Challenge” is an old term for “encounter” that slipped through in a couple of places.

Q: What is the “cone”?

A: “Cone” is an old term for the “hyperspace gate” that slipped through in a couple of places.

Q: What is meant by a “token” on the Gambler Super flare?

A: “Token” is an old term for “ship” from previous editions of CE.

Q: What happens if a player needs to draw a new hand and both the cosmic deck and discard pile are empty?

A: Cosmic Quake! Each player discards all of their cards, and the discard pile is shuffled to make a new deck, then 8 cards are dealt to each player. If after performing a Cosmic Quake there still aren’t enough cards to deal out a full hand to each player, then a Cosmic Aftershock occurs. All cosmic deck cards (and reward deck cards) are discarded (including Miser’s hoard, Cryo’s deep freeze, etc.). Game Setup effects like Cyborg and The Claw get to replenish as if starting the game.

Q: What happens if a Cosmic Quake does not free up enough cards?

A: If a Cosmic Quake does not free up enough cards, all cards are discarded and shuffled together. Any alien powers that start the game with 1 or more cards (such as Miser’s hoard) are dealt those cards now.

Q: What if a player is taking rewards from the reward deck while there is no cosmic deck or discard pile? Does a Cosmic Quake still occur?

A: The Cosmic Quake is only triggered when a player needs to draw from the cosmic deck and there are no cards available.

Q: When should alert levels on aliens be mixed?

A: It is recommended that players start with green aliens only with no flares when first playing, then add flares. Play a couple of games, then introduce yellows to the green alert. Play a few more games with those, then add the red level aliens. The alert level is not how powerful they are, but how experienced your group should be to include them in the game.

Q: Do I receive compensation if my ships do not go to the warp (because I am the Zombie or because I lost to the Void, for instance)?

A: No. You only receive compensation for ships you lose to the warp.

Q: Is a ship still considered “sent to the warp” or “lost to the warp” if an effect interrupts its arrival to the warp?

A: No. Therefore, Healer can only heal, and Ghoul can only feast if the ships actaully reach the warp. This is why Healer doesn’t normally heal Zombie, and Ghoul does not feast on captured ships.

Q: Does reclaiming an empty planet in your home system count as a win?

A: Yes. It is a win, and a successful encounter.

Q: Can you always interrupt an effect to do something else? As an example, playing a flare in response to compensation, or an effect like a Finder artifact?

A: Other than playing a Zap of some kind, or an effect that specifically allows you to interrupt an action, no. You must complete an effect before executing another one. When two things should happen simultaneously, use the Timing Rules. Keep in mind, a subseqent effect could still undo the original effect.

Q: What cards can be played when someone is trying to collect compensation from you (for instance, if someone is trying to collect compensation from you, or if you’ve been Plagued)?

A: Compensation does not create any kind of “lien” or “hold” or “freeze” on your hand. You are free to use any cards that may be legally played before compensation begins to be collected. So, you could play a reinforcement card to get it out of your hand before compensation is taken, for instance. However, once the opportunity to play such cards has passed and compensation begins, then it is too late. For example, you cannot wait to see if Hacker is going to target you before deciding whether to “dump” your reinforcement cards, because the time to affect encounter totals has already passed. Once an effect targets your hand, nothing can interrupt that effect except a Zap or some other power or effect that specifically lets you interrupt it.

Q: Can you play reinforcements if one side revealed an attack, but the other side revealed a negotiate, or if both sides revealed negotiates?

A: Yes, any player involved in the encounter may play a reinforcement on either side, regardless of what type of encounter cards were revealed.

Q: Is there a difference between winning an encounter and having a successful encounter?

A: Winning an encounter counts as having a successful encounter, but so does making a deal. A deal does not count as a “win” for effects that do not explicitly mention deals, such as Cudgel, Barbarian, and Guerrilla.

Q: How does Mobius Tubes work if you have no planets?

A: Your ships exit the warp, then any ships that have no colony to return to are returned to the warp. If you are the offense, you may place up to four of your ships in the hyperspace gate before the others are lost to the warp.

Q: What is the difference between the Start Turn phase and the Regroup phase?

A: Start Turn is essecntially the first part of the Regroup phase (only occuring on a player’s first encounter as offense), and any effect that happens during Start Turn must take effect before anything that is supposed to happen during Regroup (e.g., the offense draws a new hand before a Plague artifact can be played).

Q: When you draw your own color from the destiny pile, and you want to automatically establish a colony on your planet, do you go through all of the encounter phases? Do you go through any of them past “Destiny”?

A: Only through the Launch phase.

Q: If you have no ships outside the encounter, can you still invoke effects that require sacrificing a ship from outside the encounter (such as Void Wild flare) by sacrificing one that’s in it?

A: No.

Q: If you must lose ships that aren’t in the current encounter (such as Grudge), what happens if you have no ships outside the encounter?

A: You lose nothing.

Q: If you have no ships to place into the hyperspace gate, or your last ship there is removed, what happens?

A: Proceed with the encounter. If the offense wins, they don’t establish a foreign colony unless some effect specifically allows them to do so.

Q: 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. Can you lie?

A: You may make whatever ludicrous claims about what you have in your hand, but you cannot SHOW your cards to anyone else (unless a game effect causes you to do so). Note: the Mind has specific restrictions about what can be said.

Q: What is the difference between an encounter card’s value, and its identity for all the effects that change values or target certain cards?

A: An encounter card’s value can change, and whatever it is changed to becomes its new value (e.g., Mirror reversing digits, Tripler dividing a high value into a low one, Warhawk changing negotiates into attack 00). In these cases, the card has a new value. Thus, if Joker’s current wild is an attack 00, the negotiate revealed by Warhawk’s opponent would become wild. Values only matter for encounter totals. A card’s identity is the actual printed value. A Morph’s identity is a morph, no matter what it copies. Any game effect that targets a card outside of encounter totals is targeting its identity. See next three questions.

Q: Does a modified card retain its original identity or

its modified identity when something else references it (e.g., a Morph of an attack 08 when The Claw has an attack 08 as its claw card)?

A: Unless otherwise specified, game effects that strictly affect encounter resolution—meaning those effects that impact encounter card types/values, kickers, reinforcements, main player totals, the method of determining the winner and loser, deals, compensation, rewards, and disposition of the involved ships such as landing on the planet, returning to colonies, going to the warp, etc.—all refer to the card’s current, modified type/value. Every other kind of game effect refers to the card’s original, printed type/value. Therefore, The Claw does not activate on the Morph card unless an actual Morph card is the claw. Likewise, if the claw is a 12 and the Mirror causes a 21 to turn into a 12, The Claw does not use its power.

Q: Does a Morph count as an attack card if it duplicated an attack card?

A: Yes. Once it has duplicated your opponent’s card, it is treated as that card in all ways pertaining to encounter totals (therefore, not for The Claw’s claw card).

Q: If a power such as Calculator, Mirror, or Tripler affects a card, does a Morph copy the card’s value before or after the modification?

A: The Morph copies whatever value is initially revealed. If that value is later modified, the Morph’s value does not change with it. However, the Morph’s value may be affected by modifications separately.For instance, if the Tripler revealed a Morph and their opponent revealed a 12, the Morph would become a 12 and then get divided to a 4 by Tripler’s power. On the other hand, if Tripler revealed the 12 and their opponent revealed the Morph, the Morph would become a 12, but would not get divided to a 4 just because the card it morphed into did.

Q: If a player discards several cards at the same time, are the other players allowed to look at all of them? It is especially useful to have this information before deciding whether to play the Reserve Wild flare or Space Junk artifact.

A: Yes, since each card is discarded faceup it is open information unless a power states otherwise.

Q: Some powers kick in if one reveals an Attack card (for instance Brute, Cudgel, and Deuce). But what happens if e.g. Cudgel reveals a Negotiate, and then uses the Human Wild flare to turn it into an Attack 42? Can Cudgel then use its power, or not?

A: No, the originally revealed card is the one considered “revealed.”

Q: If you lose your alien power, are you still considered to be that alien?

A: No.

Q: Can you play a reinforcement card on a negotiate?

A: No.

Q: What happens if a player has no colonies or ships on their turn?

A: During the regroup phase, they will retrieve one ship from the warp, and can place it on any of their home planets.

Q: Can aliens like Fodder, Porcupine and Reserve use their power multiple times during the reveal phase or must all cards be discarded at once?

A: Their power includes one or more cards, all must be chosen at the same time.

Q: Does the game end immediately if a player has the required number of foreign colonies, or do you play the encounter through the last phase (Resolution)?

A: Unless otherwise specified (e.g. Masochist’s power), the game does not immediately end. Players have until the very end of the Resolution phase to stop a player (or players) from winning the game. See next question.

Q: Do effects that let you “immediately win the game” still have to play out until the end of the resolution phase, like the Glutton Wild flare if it is played in Regroup?

A: No, unless an effect is zapped, or something specifically lets you interrupt the effect, the game ends.

Q: What happens if players cannot have an encounter in your system because all of your home planets have been destroyed (Omega Missile, Locust, etc.)?

A: Players redraw from destiny when your color comes up.

Q: What do you do if you have colonies on all of the planets in the defensive system?

A: You draw from destiny again.

Q: Do you HAVE to retrieve a ship from the warp during regroup? A: Yes.

Q: Are all discard piles open, public information?

A: Yes, unless otherwise indicated.

Q: Can players keep the number of cards in their hand secret?

A: No. If a player wants to know how many cards you have, you must reveal that amount, unless an effect specifcally allows you to keep it secret.

Q: Does all table talk have to be public?

A: Yes, unless an effect specifies otherwise.

Q: Are defensive allies considered to be “in” the hyperspace gate?

A: Yes.

Q: When you are forced to lose, sacrifice, or give another player one of your ships, does it have to be from a colony?

A: Unless otherwise indicated, you must choose a ship under your control. That will typically be from a colony, or a researching tech.

Q. How do you choose cards “at random” (compensation, Enigma Device, Hate Wild, Mite, Mutant, Mutant Wild, Oracle Wild, Trader Wild, Magician) when both kinds of card backs are involved?

A. Players are allowed to see which card backs they are selecting. In essence, “at random” means “without seeing the faces of the cards.”

Q: Can I start a second encounter with no encounter cards with the hope that I can acquire one before the planning phase?

A: No. If, on your first encounter, you either win an attack or successfully negotiate, and you have at least one encounter card left in your hand, you may choose to make a second encounter. Otherwise, your turn ends.

Q: Do you have to discard a rift, kicker, Retreat, Morph, Intimidate, Variable Attack when someone Plagues you?

A: Yes, you must discard one card of each type that you hold. Variable Attack still counts as an attack card, so if you discard a “normal” attack card, you are not also required to discard a Variable Attack. (See “Card Types” in Errata and Clarifications.)

Q: What happens if a player has chosen an alien with Do Not Use restrictions on it?

A: The alien that has the printed restriction is removed from the game, and the one without the restriction remains in play. The affected player may then choose either to use the second alien they were dealt and rejected, or to draw a replacement flare from the unused flare deck and become that alien (redrawing if another conflict arises).

Q: Who chooses which ships are lost when an effect causes extra ships to be lost (e.g., Gambler or Skeptic)?

A: Unless an effect specifies otherwise, the player losing the extra ships gets to choose which ships are lost.

Q: Are players required to play any applicable cards in hand right before drawing a new hand?

A: No. They may play cards, if appropriate, but all they are required to do is discard whatever cards they were holding.

Q: What does “legal encounter” mean?

A: An encounter where the offense can ultimately gain a foreign colony without necessarily having to make a deal.

Q: Are alien powers generally limited to one use per encounter?

A: Unless they specifically indicate otherwise (like Hate, which only works oncer per turn, or Vulch, which happens whenever any other player discards an artifact card), an alien’s power is usable once per relevant context.

Q: What happens when a planet is captured or moved to another player’s system?

A: That planet is considered a home world for the owner of its new system. For example, if a planet is added to Pygmy’s system, it can only hold up to four ships and counts as half a foreign colony for other players. If a Pygmy planet is captured by The Claw, it counts as a full foreign colony for The Claw.

Q: Can a player change their mind about invoking a power or effect if somone else’s action or timing rule outcome changes the game state? As an example, Trader attempts to trade hands with Visionary, but since both aliens use their powers in the same phase, and Visionary is offense, he wishes to use their power first to force Trader to play an attack 04 (knowing Trader will get Visionary’s attack 04 if they trade hands). Can Trader decide to not trade hands at this point?

A: Yes.

Q: Where in the Timing Rules do affects not associated with any player fall (for example, the Black Hole hazard)?

A: Those are last, after players who are not main players, clockwise from the offense.