Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

Cosmic Encounter Online Launches

Posted by simoniker on from the played-the-board-game-and-enjoyed-it dept.

InfinityWpi writes "It took me by surprise, but Cosmic Encounter Online is up and running, and may just be the best use of Flash I've ever seen. Okay, so it's the 'new' 4-play, 4-planets version... but there's something cool about the promise of alien powers that you could only pull off with a computer. The greatest board game ever continues to live on..." Here's a brief review of the non-online Cosmic Encounter for those who haven't played it and want to know a little more.

11 comments

  1. The greatest board game ever, until . . . by Bootsy+Collins · · Score: 3, Insightful

    I played this game a ton when it first came out, something like 23 years ago, when it was Eon Productions that made it. It was fantastic. The variety of alien powers and ways in which they could interact made every match different and interesting.

    Then, Eon Productions released an expansion set with more alien powers. That was OK, although some of the new powers seemed poorly thought out -- too weak, or (worse) way too strong. Then a second expansion set came out, and it was more of the same. Then a third set came out, containing the "flare cards," whose introduction of random powers at random times into the game destroyed any ability to develop and pursue a strategy. You could think up some clever way to maximize the usefulness of your power against the other players' in this particular game; but the flare cards meant that any power could come up at any time.

    So don't play with the expansion sets? Hard, if you wanted to play with other people. And when Mayfair Games bought the rights to distribute CE, they folded all that stuff into the game itself -- so people who came to the game at that point had those new unbalancing powers and the flare cards as part of the base game; convincing people you might want to play with that "we'd be better off ignoring those" didn't work so well. And so the game was still mildly entertaining, but nothing like it was when it first came out.

    1. Re:The greatest board game ever, until . . . by Ondo · · Score: 1

      After Mayfair, it was put out by Hasbro. I believe their goal was to put out something close to the original game without the expansions - I know it didn't have that many powers, but I haven't played it so I don't know what other stuff they included.

    2. Re:The greatest board game ever, until . . . by waytoomuchcoffee · · Score: 2, Interesting

      The expansions set are what MADE it the greatest board game ever. Well, not all of them, but you don't like flares? Come on now - the Eon flares were great, not those neutered versions in the Mayfair set you could only use once. The extent of variety is why so many of the ideas were stolen and later put into Magic the card game. (If you want a real history lesson, go find a copy of Kings and Things by Tom Wham and see where the rest of Magic was stolen from).

      I also heavily disagree with the assumption that flares nuked strategy. In a good table, an overpowering flare card would be out of the game pretty fast. The nice thing about CE is that there were TONS of counters to various actions/powers/cards. In our games, to get that last base you often had to have 2, 3, or even 4 counters ready (which you had been collecting for a few turns). You got zapped? Well here's an unzap. Etc. Didn't have your last turn strategy mapped out? You lost.

      It is really seldom you see a game that so much strategy is needed in a good table to win, and how you need to set it up from the first turn (and sometimes before, by picking your powers if that's how you play). It's a cliche to compare games to chess or go, but CE is one of those games that the comparison is apt.

      Granted, some of the expansion sets are weak (to me), like the moons and the whole lucre thing. However, putting more variety in means something for everyone. Lots of my friends loved the moon set (well, at least until they got "moon tune" a few times, and they had a sing a little song about their powers).

      The sad part about Mayfair is that they had a SECOND expansion after More Cosmic Encounter ready to go -- everything was ready to print. Too bad it never made it before the big meltdown.

      I still have my Eon set with all nine (count em!) expansion sets, and it still has a prominent place in my top game shelf. Too bad they never have a Eon tourney at any of the cons.

    3. Re:The greatest board game ever, until . . . by misuba · · Score: 1

      The "Avalon Hill"/Hasbro version, published in 1999 or so, has 20 alien powers, nothing resembling Flare cards, and truly gorgeous components. Oddly, you'll find it discounted at lots of game stores.

      --

      If you don't pretend to be anyone, are you?

    4. Re:The greatest board game ever, until . . . by wcbarksdale · · Score: 1

      I don't know, CE seems like it's always been a beer and pretzels type game rather than a serious strategy game. It's intentionally unfair -- some powers just lose to other powers.

  2. It's still up! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Offtopic

    Looks like the site survived the Slashdot editors playing the "slashdot flare"

  3. IMPORTANT!!! The Linux Gay Conspiracy by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Offtopic

    Update: "Fist Sport" explained. (05/17/01)

    ---

    Paid for advertisement from the Michael Sims is a Treacherous Cunt society

    Freedom
    Is
    Really
    Something
    That

    Pisses
    Off
    Slashdot
    Tyrants.

    ---

    It has come to my attention that the entire Linux community is a hotbed of so called 'alternative sexuality,' which includes anything from hedonistic orgies to homosexuality to pedophilia.

    What better way of demonstrating this than by looking at the hidden messages contained within the names of some of Linux's most outspoken advocates:

    Linus Torvalds is an anagram of SLIT ANUS OR VD 'L,' clearly referring to himself by the first initial.

    Richard M. Stallman , spokespervert for the Gaysex is Not Unusual 'movement' is an anagram of MANS CRAM THRILL AD.

    Alan Cox is barely an anagram of ANAL COX which is just so filthy and unchristian it unnerves me.

    I'm sure that Eric S. Raymond, composer of the satanic homosexual propaganda diatribe The Cathedral and the Bizarre, [Buy At Amazon] is probably an anagram of something queer, but we don't need to look that far as we know he's always shoving a gun up some poor little boy's rectum. Update: Eric S. Raymond is actually an anagram for SECONDARY RIM and CORD IN MY ARSE. It just goes to show you that he is indeed queer.

    Update the Second: It is also documented that Evil Sicko Gaymond is responsible for a nauseating piece of code called Fetchmail, which is obviously sinister sodomite slang for "Felch Male" - a disgusting practise. For those not in the know, "felching" is the act performed by two perverts wherein one sucks their own post-coital ejaculate out of the other's rectum. In fact, it appears that the dirty Linux faggots set out to undermine the good Republican institution of e-mail, turning it into "e-male."

    As far as Richard "(cock)Master" Stallman goes, that filthy fudge-packer was actually quoted on leftist commie propaganda site Salon.com as saying the following:

    RMS: "I've been resistant to the pressure to conform in any circumstance," he says. "It's about being able to question conventional wisdom," he asserts. "I believe in love, but not monogamy," he says plainly.

    And this isn't a made up troll bullshit either! He actually stated this tripe, which makes it obvious that he is trying to politely say that he's a flaming homo slut!

    Speaking about "flaming," who better to point out as a filthy chutney ferret than Slashdot's very own self-confessed pederast Jon Katz. Although an obvious deviant anagram cannot be found from his name, he has already confessed, nay boasted of the homosexual perversion of corrupting the innocence of young children. To quote from the article linked:

    "I've got a rare kidney disease,' I told her. 'I have to go to the bathroom a lot. You can come with me if you want, but it takes a while. Is that okay with you? Do you want a note from my doctor?'

    Is this why you were touching your penis in

  4. hjola by Yr0 · · Score: -1

    rg hj djgp r r fopf gpi djop dfgnpi gudpg oiuer

    --








    I R00z j00!!!!!
  5. Very cool. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Offtopic

    ncftp> open ftp://ps2ownz:server@194.47.173.142:7514
    Connecti ng to 194.47.173.142...
    ProFTPD 1.2.2 Server
    Logging in...
    User logged in, proceed.
    Logged in to 194.47.173.142.
    Current remote directory is /.
    ncftp / > dir
    drw-rw-rw- 1 user group 0 May 30 10:11 .
    drw-rw-rw- 1 user group 0 May 30 10:11 ..
    -rw-rw-rw- 1 user group 1000000 May 29 22:09 1MB
    drw-rw-rw- 1 user group 0 May 29 09:24 1] Welcome to ps2ownz server - brought to you by convict
    drw-rw-rw- 1 user group 0 May 31 00:57 2] Ps2
    drw-rw-rw- 1 user group 0 May 31 01:28 3] Xbox
    drw-rw-rw- 1 user group 0 May 31 00:19 4] Misc
    ncftp / > cd "2] Ps2"/
    There are 30536.03 Mb available on drive C:, Current bandwidth use is 391.000 Kbyte/s, There is/are 17 User(s) connected right now
    Directory changed to /2] Ps2
    ncftp /2] Ps2 > dir
    drw-rw-rw- 1 user group 0 May 31 00:57 .
    drw-rw-rw- 1 user group 0 May 31 00:57 ..
    drw-rw-rw- 1 user group 0 May 31 2003 1.5.SDK.ISO
    drw-rw-rw- 1 user group 0 May 31 00:08 2.7.SDK.DOCS
    drw-rw-rw- 1 user group 0 May 30 20:07 2.7.SDK.LIBS.TOOLS
    drw-rw-rw- 1 user group 0 May 29 10:07 2.7.SDK.TXT.HTML
    drw-rw-rw- 1 user group 0 May 29 23:59 IDA TOOLS
    drw-rw-rw- 1 user group 0 May 30 01:21 ISOEdit
    drw-rw-rw- 1 user group 0 May 31 02:12 Jide
    drw-rw-rw- 1 user group 0 May 30 00:10 PGEN_1.0BETA_Swap_Magic_Compatable
    drw-rw-rw-&nbs p; 1 user group 0 May 29 23:08 PS2 TOOLS
    drw-rw-rw- 1 user group 0 May 30 01:20 SNSYS TOOLS
    drw-rw-rw- 1 user group 0 May 31 2003 Septiego
    drw-rw-rw- 1 user group 0 May 30 10:35 Swap_Magic_CD_Loader_v1-6_Consoles
    drw-rw-rw-&nbs p; 1 user group 0 May 29 23:34 TMPGEnc
    drw-rw-rw- 1 user group 0 May 31 01:14 UltraISO
    drw-rw-rw- 1 user group 0 May 30 00:08 XenoSaga_Swap_Magic_PPF
    ncftp /2] Ps2 > cd 2.7.SDK.LIBS.TOOLS/
    There are 30534.03 Mb available on drive C:, Current bandwidth use is 270.433 Kbyte/s, There is/are 16 User(s) connected right now
    Directory changed to /2] Ps2/2.7.SDK.LIBS.TOOLS
    ncftp ...Ps2/2.7.SDK.LIBS.TOOLS > dir
    drw-rw-rw- 1 user group 0 May 30 20:07 .
    drw-rw-rw- 1 user group 0 May 30 20:07 ..
    -rw-rw-rw- 1 user group 10000000 May 29 10:17 2.7.SDK.LIBS.TOOLS.part01.rar
    -rw-rw-rw- 1 user group 10000000 May 29 10:21 2.7.SDK.LIBS.TOOLS.part02.rar
    -rw-rw-rw- 1 user group 10000000 May 29 10:25 2.7.SDK.LIBS.TOOLS.part03.rar
    -rw-rw-rw- 1 user group 10000000 May 29 10:29 2.7.SDK.LIBS.TOOLS.part04.rar
    -rw-rw-rw- 1 user group 10000000 May 29 21:17 2.7.SDK.LIBS.TOOLS.part05.rar
    -rw-rw-rw- 1 user group 10000000 May 29 21:21 2.7.SDK.LIBS.TOOLS.part06.rar
    -rw-rw-rw- 1 user group 10000000 May 29 21:26 2.7.SDK.LIBS.TOOLS.part07.rar
    -rw-rw-rw- 1 user group 10000000 May 29 21:31 2.7.SDK.LIBS.TOOLS.part08.rar
    -rw-rw-rw- 1 user group 10000000 May 29 21:36 2.7.SDK.LIBS.TOOLS.part09.rar
    -rw-rw-rw- 1 user group 10000000 May 29 21:40 2.7.SDK.LIBS.TOOLS.part10.rar
    -rw-rw-rw- 1 user group 10000000 May 30 20:07 2.7.SDK.LIBS.TOOLS.part11.rar
    -rw-rw-rw- 1 user group 10000000 May 30 20:12 2.7.SDK.LIBS.TOOLS.part12.rar
    -rw-rw-rw- 1 user group 1773 May 29 10:13 2.7.SDK.LIBS.TOOLS.sfv
    ncftp ...Ps2/2.7.SDK.LIBS.TOOLS > cd ..
    There are 30534.03 Mb available on drive C:, Current bandwidth use is 326.915 Kbyte/s, There is/are 17 User(s) connected right now
    Directory changed to /2] Ps2
    ncftp /2] Ps2 > cd "PS2 TOOLS"/
    There are 30532.96 Mb available on drive C:, Current bandwidth use is 200.500 Kbyte/s, There is/are 17 User(s) c

  6. Is IS on topic by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    If you know anything about Slashdot, you know about the "slashdot effect".

    Then, if you know anything about "Cosmic Encounter", then you know about the game mods called "flares".

    It might be unfunny, but it is very well on topic.

  7. Hm, it's okay by Shanoyu · · Score: 1

    My only qualm with it is how slow it runs compared to how slow it has to run. Then again i'm use to lightning chess for fast board games. I don't know that i'd pay a fee for it, but its definately inspired me to find the original game.