The following is a compilation of general rules clarification for play, powers, moons, and cards, etc. These clarifications will have version annotations when necessary. At the bottom are clarifications from Encounter magazine.
Destiny pile signifies home system of player you must challenge. Challenge must be made in the system indicated, and the system owner must defend the base (even if no tokens are present to defend). If challenging your own system, you may only attack a player that has a base in the system, and not your own unoccupied planet). EON
POWERS
AMOEBA
ANTI-MATTER
Yes, the Anti-Matter and his opponent ADD Lucre to their totals. EON
ARISTOCRAT
ASSASSIN
On occasion, the Assassin player is faced with a Destiny Card that leaves some ambiguity about who
is defensive main player. The Wild Destiny Card allows the Assassin to pick anyone as his target,
regardless of who is chosen by the offensive main player. Similarly, when the offensive player is
faced with a decision (i.e. "Make a warp challenge...") the Assassin may choose a victim based on the
choices at hand. For example, in the above special destiny, if there is a tie between red and yellow
for the most tokens in the warp, even if the offensive player chooses red as the defensive main player,
the Assassin may target either red or yellow to lose a token. MAYFAIR
ASSESSOR
When against the Boomerang, the Boomerang challenge precedes
the offensive Assessor's tax deal. EON
If you have no tokens on bases, you need not pay the
Assessor, since it specifies "from base." EON
AURA
Does NOT reveal the Miser's hoard. (Aura specifies regular
hand.)
No, the wild Aura may NOT "shuffle the deck as often as he
likes in order to get a card he likes on top." He must
shuffle, THEN reverse. (Eon style)
BOOMERANG
When against Assessor, Boomerang challenge precedes
Assessor's tax deal. (Eon style)
If you attack Boomerang, and during his pre-emptive attack on your system you use your power, it is
still considered the same challenge when you resume your attack on him. Therefore, if you have a power
that can only be used once per challenge, you may not use it again after Boomerang attacks you (if you
use it during his attack). For example, if you are Trader, and trade hands with Boomerang when he attacks
you during your turn as offensive player, then you may not trade hands again when resuming your portion
of the challenge as offensive player.
BULLY
Can't force co-occupancy of a moon.
BUTLER
DOES count as "any other player" when flipping for the
Dictator.
CAN position the cone where the deadbeat offender already
has a base; so long as a legitimate challenge can be made
there (i.e. so long as there is another player there if it is
the offender's home system, or there are tokens of the
player whose system it is there).
CALCULATOR
Calculator power precedes Wild Calculator, Excise Moon,
etc., due to the "revealed as" wording. (But Wild
Calculator-Excise conflicts are resolved by the conflict
resolution rules, based on the position of the players).
Against Deuce, Calculation is performed on Deuce's first
card, and his side card is figured in afterwards.
Insect w/ Wild Calculator vs. Calculator: Whether the
Insect's Calculation by power or by flare occurs first
depends upon the order in which he plays them.
CAVALRY
Can NOT play a Kicker when using his power, but the main player's Kicker DOES affect the Cavalry's Challenge Card.
When playing the Cavalry Wild or Super Flare, any Kickers affect eacy Attack Card played by allies of the
player who played the Kicker.
CHOSEN
When drawing for "divine intervention", if a Kicker is drawn before a Challenge Card, the first Kicker drawn
applies to the Challenge Card eventually drawn. When playing the Super Flare, the Chosen player may also
keep any Reinforcements drawn.
CHANGELING
Yes, the Changeling's change is "permanent." (i.e. does not
revert at challenge's end)
Decides which power to take when playing with multiple powers for each player.
CHRONOS
Chronos' victims' kickers are put aside with their
challenge card, and returned with the challenge card at the
challenge's end.
Against Deuce, only the Deuce's first card is put aside.
The second may be picked up and played again as the first or
second card.
Yes, the Visionary can tell Chronos what to play the second
time around.
The Wild Chronos affects only the first PHYSICAL flip of the
disc, so if someone flips his own color and passes and flips
again, the Chronos can't affect that flip. (Eon style)
CLONE
Does NOT keep any Kicker played.
CRYSTAL
The Crystal can force the Macron to bring 1-4 tokens.
A challenge cancelled by the Super Crystal's arrangements
does not count as one of a player's two challenges.
The Crystal acts on each player as or after he or she
enters the cone (it's option) and affects the Wild
Doppleganger players similarly (as to number).
DELEGATOR
Involved in challenge, includes as ally.
DEMON
If Victory Boon is played after an attack with the Wild
Demon, only the defensive player picked is rewarded.
No, the Wild Demon never lets you pick yourself as the
defensive player.
DEUCE
Against Chronos, only the first card is set aside. The
second may be picked up and played again as the first or
second card.
The Laser selects only the first card.
The Deuce's Kicker affects only the main card. The other is then
added to the kicked first card.
When the Deuce only has one challenge card, and thus must
draw a new hand, the one challenge card is discarded with
the rest.
The Sorcerer may not switch the side card.
It must be an attack (if possible) if the Loser has called
an upset.
The Oracle may NOT look at it.
The Visionary MAY perceive it.
Against Calculator, the Deuce's side card is figured in
after the totals (including Calculation) are arrived
at.
Witch's curses affect the side card as appropriate (e.g. All
your attack cards are worth 2.)
If a player's turn ends due to lack of challenge cards, he
MAY use the Wild Deuce to take another challenge, at the
beginning of which he discards his old cards and takes a new
hand.
DICTATOR
Yes, the Dictator may force a player to attack where he
already has a base, so long as there is another player there
to defend; any other player if it's the Dictator's victim's
home system; or the player whose system it's in if it's any
other system.
Yes, the Butler counts as "any other player" even when
flipping FOR the Dictator.
Alternate version of Dictator.
DIPLOMAT
DISEASE
DOPPLEGANGER
House rule suggestion: If you want to let Doppleganger keep
Flares/Kickers normally, make super Can buy 2 cards for 1
lucre (4 card maximum) (Eon style)
May keep Kickers.
If Doppleganger's defensive victim runs out of challenge
cards, he must draw a new hand; the Doppleganger may not
force the card he rejects back upon him to prevent him from
doing so. If his offensive victim runs out of challenge
cards, that victim's turn ends, and Doppleganger discards
those cards.
When Silenced, the Doppleganger is required to draw from the
deck, unless another player offers and he accepts. (Eon style)
The Crystal affects the Wild Doppleganger normally.
DRAGON
You do not receive an extra 4 Lucre for becoming the Dragon
later in the game than the beginning.
EMPATH
ETHIC
Stellar Gas stops Ethic's consolation.
EXTORTIONIST
The Extortionist may never profit from another player's Wild
Filching. Either he catches him and all the cards go back,
or he doesn't, and thus can't extort. (Eon style)
This also applies to Subterfuge cards.
The Miser's Hoard, but not his regular hand is immune.
FILCH
The Negator may negate another's decision to catch him Wild
Filching, as can the Silencer silence another player trying
to catch him. The Extortionist can't profit from another's
Wild Filching, as, if he admits to having caught the Wild
Filch, all the Wild Filch's acquisitions return to the deck.
No, Wild Filch may NOT steal Lucre. (Eon style)
Filch does NOT take opponent's Kicker Card.
FILTH
Wild Filth may not be used against moons; super may.
When the Filth Power changes hands, everyone sharing bases
with the new Filth must evacuate, of course.
FORCE
May limit, but not negate powers.
FUNGUS
If the Wild Fungus is used against the Fungus, any Fungus
stacks count as one for the Wild Fungus player (and the
stacks return to the Fungus if the Wild card is lost).
Likewise, if the Wild Schizoid is used against the Fungus,
any Fungus stacks count as one for the Wild Schizoid (and
remains a stack until broken in the warp).
GAMBLER
The Gambler sees his opponent's card before bluffing.
Yes, the Super Gambler may put more tokens at risk than he
has out of the warp.
Gambler may also keep his Kicker secret with his Challenge Card, and he may lie about them both.
The spread in the Gambler Wild Flare is figured after the effects of Kickers.
GRUDGE
HEALER
The Healer can heal tokens from the Void.
HURTZ
When the Hurtz leases a moon, it is put in the leaser's
system. Since it will go away at the end of the challenge,
Immediate moons are probably more useful than others.
Yes, Hurtz can advertise, but no, he may not let others look
through the deck(s) or read things over before renting them.
The deck is shuffled after he looks through it; he gets no
special knowledge of what's coming up -- he's no Aristocrat
or Wild Mind.
Officially, in a single-power game, a power rented from
Hurtz becomes your sole power. For example, if you were the
Mutant, and rented the Reincarnator, and you lost, you'd
draw a new power and keep that, discarding the Reincarnator
and the Mutant.
INSECT
Insect will cause power effects to take place more than once. Therefore, if Insect calls "time travel"
against Chronos, the Chronos player must set aside the challenge card, and may not use it. Additionally,
Chronos may call "time travel" on the subsequent play. In another example, if Skeptic doubts Insect
will win, Insect may also doubt Skeptic will win, causing the losses to be doubled twice (or tripled).
The Super Insect has total flexibility. If he wants to go
first, no problem. He flashes the Flare and goes ahead. If
he wants to go second, he simply waits for his opponent to
go first (flashing the Flare if he is the offensive player
and would normally go first) and then follows him. Even if
the opponent doesn't use his power when he has the chance,
the Super Insect can then go ahead and use it anyway since
it is still 'before' his opponent has used his power.
Finally, the Super Insect isn't forced to use the power if
his opponent does and the Insect has declared he will do so
afterwards. The Flare specifies he 'may' use the power and
affects only the timing of his option, not his free will to
decide. (Besides, it's more fun that way, and you don't get
to be a Super Insect very often.)
The Wild Insect must be discarded despite the Keeper. (Eon style)
Insect vs. Butler: defensive player performs for the
offensive player.
Insect w/ Wild Calculator vs. Calculator: The precedent by
which the Insect's use of the Power Calculator and the Flare
Calculator is determined is by the order in which he plays
them.
JUDGE
LASER
When against the Miser, the Miser chooses which hand is
lased.
May use the Wild Magnet to have cards separated from those
to be lased.
Selects only the first of the Deuce's cards.
Laser's opponent may play a Kicker before the Laser draws a Challenge Card for him to play. The Laser Wild
Flare also forces, by implication, the victim to select his Kicker, if any, before asing for allies.
LLOYD
The Wild Lloyd does NOT need money to spend money.
The Wild Lloyd MAY be used to pay, for example, the
Extortionist or the Ethic, whose powers aren't such that
you're explicitly "required" to pay them.
LOSER
If the Witch makes the Flare Loser into something else, it
CAN be discarded.
A zapped Super Loser does NOT lose a base, as the Flare
Loser isn't considered to enter his hand.
If an upset has been called, BOTH the Deuce's cards must be
attacks, if possible.
(Likewise, I would rule that if the Witch made the
Flare Loser into something else for more than one player,
and it moved from one of the cursed players' hands to
another's during the spell, the recipient would not be
affected.)
If a tie occurs in an upset challenge, offense wins.
If the Loser wins with a Compromise, he collects no
consolation, as no tokens were lost. (Likewise for his
opponent).
Players may play Kickers after the Loser has declared an upset and before playing Challenge Cards.
MACHINE
CAN be stopped by Wild Pacifist.
The Machine's Timegash is only good for one challenge.
When the Wild Machine makes you stack your hand, you don't
have to let people see how many non-challenge cards you have
if you're sufficiently dexterous.
Kickers are stacked with challenge cards when you're
stacking.
If cards are to be drawn from a stacked hand, he may NOT
shuffle in his challenge cards, but should put his
non-challenge cards on either or both ends.
(He should be able to stick in his non-challenge cards;
let it be drawn from, and restack.)
MACRON
Yes, the Macron IS mandatory, and can't bring more than one
token into the cone.
The Crystal can force the Macron to bring 1-4 tokens.
Moon Boon is worth 5 to the Macron; Mini Mac Moon makes his
tokens worth 2.
Alternate version of the Macron
MAGNET
Wild Magnet can stop an Edict, Flare or Kicker,.but it must be a specific one, e.g. Cosmic Zap.
and can be circumvented in its attempt to prevent a player
from playing a compromise by the Wild Mesmer, as it can
repel either the Wild Mesmer or the compromise, but not
both.
MESMER
May change edicts into "play at any time" edicts and use
them even when there is a lien on his hand.
When a player tries to use a Wild Flare at the same time the
Super Mesmer does (e.g. Wild Dictator) conflict
resolution rules are in effect.
Yes, the Wild Mesmer can circumvent the Wild Magnet, which
may dictate that a player can't play a compromise or that he
can't play the Wild Mesmer, but not both.
MIND
Mind CAN look at both the Miser's hand and his hoard in one
challenge.
MIRROR
Reverses digits after figuring the effect of Kickers.
MISER
Miser's hoarded hand is determined before cards are dealt out -- no
picking between the two.
Chooses which hand Laser lases.
No conflict with a 6-player game if you have all the
expansion sets. (Eon style)
Mind CAN look at both the Miser's hand and his hoard in one
challenge. "The hoard is not subject to loss because of
other powers, but a look, yes."
The Miser's hoard but not his hand is immune to the
Extortionist.
MUTANT
Super mutant discards the Flare Mutant when its used.
NEGATOR
If decider is specific in his decision, he may make a
different decision, if general, he may not.
If the Negator is caught Wild Filching, he may negate a
player's decision to catch him.
Yes, the Negator can negate another's decision to pass upon
flipping his own color, and could negate the decision of a
player attacking in the player's own system as to which
color to attack.
A 'Between challenges' event comes at the end of the
previous challenge, so certainly the Negator can affect
those events.
ORACLE
The Flare Oracle, when invoked, is shuffled in, too.
The Oracle does NOT look at his opponent's kicker.
Against Deuce, only his first card is seen.
PACIFIST
Wild Pacifist CAN stop Machine.
No, the Pacifist does NOT collect consolation when he wins
with a Compromise; he loses no tokens.
PARASITE
A player isn't considered to have lost his power due to the
Wild Reincarnator, nor does a Wild Witch user ever lose his
power.
Yes, a person can use Flare Parasite despite losing his own
power(s).
PENTAFORM
Other than Moon Base Omega, moons do NOT count for changing the Pentaform's life stage.
PHANTOM
Upon receiving Phantom (even mid-game), invert five tokens from bases and put them on your star. If you
lose your power, you cannot use ghost tokens or create more, but you may still convert them to regular tokens
by moving them from the star to the cone.
PHILANTHROPIST
The Philanthropist CAN give away the card the Visionary told
him to play.
PIRATE
Pirate victims can use most challenge affecting powers (e.g.
Mind, Chronos, Seeker), save those that would be
inappropriate (i.e. alliance or token affecting powers (e.g.
Virus, Anti-Matter, Macron).
Yes, he counts his Lucre in a raid. (Or can buy points in Mayfair style).
Yes, the Wild Pirate can hint. No, if he loses the card the
treasure no longer exists. He may choose whether to
announce that he is planting the treasure. (Eon style)
PLANT
PROPHET
REINCARNATOR
One isn't considered to have lost his power due to the Wild
Reincarnator.
Reincarnator must lose before he gets a power.
The Reincarnator represents a multiple power of sorts, his
current incarnation, and his Reincarnator power. Thus,
either or both powers could be zapped during one challenge.
(It would take two zaps to zap both.) If the Reincarnator
is zapped, it doesn't get a new power (or, if it's zapped
the first time it loses, it doesn't get one.)
SCHIZOID
May include loss of power in victory condition (Keeps itself
from victory until it loses its power), and then normal
victory rules apply).
If you want a minimum number of required external bases, set
a house rule. (Eon style)
When the Schizoid's terms become invalid (e.g. the condition
was occupy 2 moons, and Vanish eradicates the moons) the
game can only be won through the normal conditions upon the
Schizoid's loss of his power. And "does not require memory
of previous events" allows memory up to and including the
beginning of the challenge, so if the condition is 4 bases
and plays a Mobius Tubes, a player can win by playing a
Tubes and taking his fourth base later that challenge.
Examples of Schizoid Win Conditions.
SEEKER
It is legitimate for the Seeker to ask about, for example,
"intent to win," (and his victim must answer immediately),
but, it is, of course, difficult to prove or disprove
"intent to win."
It is also legitimate to ask "Will you win with a solo
victory", and though the victim must attempt to abide by
your answer, circumstances beyond your control may force you
to break your word.
MAY ask questions about the Miser's hoard, or the Schizoid's win conditions.
SILENCER
If the Silencer is caught Wild Filching, he may silence a
player who attempts to catch him. (Eon style)
When the Doppleganger is silenced, he must draw from the
deck unless a player offers him cards and he accepts. (Eon style)
The Gambler's card declaration is given despite Silencing
(And the Skeptic and Seeker are impotent).
Powers affected by Silencer.
SIREN
The Siren can lure even if her color was flipped.
If more than one of the cards the Wild Siren lured is drawn,
she gets all of them.
SKEPTIC
Offensive Skeptic can't doubt in a moon challenge (as card
specifies "planet").
Yes, the Super Skeptic may put at risk more tokens than he
has out of the warp.
SNIVELER
Sniveler "bases" can either be home, foreign, or combined.
SORCERER
Against Deuce, only Deuce's first card may be switched.
No, the Sorcerer does NOT switch kickers.
TERRORIST
Can NOT mine moons. (Eon style)
A Cosmic Zap stops a Terrorist Bomb! (Even if the
terrorist is out of the game)
A Cosmic Zap also stops the Terrorist from planting more
bombs, for a challenge.
Yes, the Terrorist can set off his own bombs.
Terrorist Paper.
TRADER
Yes, with Trader vs. Vulch, the following scenario is
possible: "Trader Plagues Machine. Vulch picks up Plague.
Trader plays Finder on Plague, and Plagues Machine again.
Vulch picks up Plague and Finder. Trader trades hands with
the Vulch and Plagues Machine. Vulch picks up the Plague
and the Trader finds it again. He now plagues Machine for
the fourth time. Vulch picks it up, and Plagues Machine
himself."
Trader may only trade once per challenge.
VACUUM
The Wild Vaccuum gets two tokens if two attack cards were
played.
Because power loss is immediate upon the loss of the third
base, the Vaccuum can't suck tokens corresponding to those
he lost defending his third base.
Yes, the Super Vacuum CAN prevent a win if it's fast enough.
VAMPIRE
The Wild Flare is not meant to restrict the player to a planet base; you may switch tokens with a player on a
moon base.
VISIONARY
Yes, the Visionary CAN tell the Chronos what to play the
second time around.
"At the appropriate time(s)" means that the vision is
cancelled if the victim loses the card, even due to
Philanthropic gift.
Against Deuce, the side card MAY be perceived.
Has no power over Kickers, and he specifies which Challenge Card his opponent must play AFTER players have
committed themselves on playing Kickers.
VIRUS
VOID
The Zombie IS exempt from the Void.
Despite the fact that the Force could conceivably get a
player with > 15 eradicated tokens back into the game,
unless the Force acts immediately, he IS out of the game.
The bases [in the eradicated player's system] remain but
have no further challenge possibilities against the Void.
The Wild Flare was not intended to take out only planets. You may take a moon out of the game instead.
VULCH
The Wild Vulch vs. the Vulch CAN create an 'endless' loop if
the Vulch offers an edict, the Wild Vulch refuses it and
discards it; the Vulch picks it up; the Vulch offers an
edict... One of them has to give up. (Eon style)
The Vulch CAN pick up a rebirth and play it immediately
(between challenges).
The Vulch CAN play any other edict immediately upon picking it
up (if it can be played).
Yes, with Trader vs. Vulch, the following scenario is
possible: "Trader Plagues Machine. Vulch picks up Plague.
Trader plays Finder on Plague, and Plagues Machine again.
Vulch picks up Plague and Finder. Trader trades hands with
the Vullch and Plagues Machine. Vulch picks up the Plague
and the Trader finds it again. He now plagues Machine for
the fourth time. Vulch picks it up, and Plagues Machine
himself."
WARPISH
Yes, Warpish gets moons.
WARRIOR
WILL
WITCH
An alteration to the Wild Loser is binding, and if it's
turned into something else, it can be discarded normally.
The Wild Witch holder is never considered to have lost his
power.
When the Super Witch loses his power, he becomes the Wild
Witch, which restores his power, and makes him the Super
Witch again. He can use the Flare like this every
challenge. (Eon style)
When witch is zapped, all active curses cease.
Witch's curses affect Deuce's side card as appropriate.
Examples of Witch Curses.
WORM
The Wild Worm can't be used to move another's tokens.
The Worm can't point the cone at a moon in his system; the
power specifies planet.
The Worm CAN reposition the cone where his opponent already
has a base (so long as the worm has a base there too).
WRACK
If a defensive Wrack tortures the offender out of the cone,
he's used up his tortures and loses, the offender doesn't
get a base, having no tokens with which to occupy. It is
considered a successful challenge regardless.
Yes, the Wild Wrack can "turn off" a mandatory power. It's
like a ransomable zap.
If the defensive Wrack tortures all of the offender's
challenge cards out of his hand, the offender's turn ends
immediately. If this is done on the Wrack's last torture,
the offender wins and occupies, but his turn still ends.
The Wild Wrack automatically becomes unusable after
challenge resolution, as there will be zero tokens in the
cone.
(Presumably any time the defender against an Offensive
Wrack ran out of challenge cards, he'd draw a new hand.)
No, the Wrack may not change his deal offer between
tortures.
ZOMBIE
IS exempt from the Void.
DOES get consolation despite not losing tokens to the warp.
(He loses tokens, just not to the Warp.)
The Zombie is relatively immune to the Wild Wrack, as he
loses tokens to other bases instead of the warp, so won't
lose his power due to it.
REVERSE HEXES
Worldships
If he holds a Comet in his special hand, he can apply it to any challenge.
Compiled by Mark Amidon and Jack Reda
ENCOUNTER MAGAZINE 2.2
Errata
First, there is an addition to the rules. This addition is in
regard to collection of consolation or any other circumstance
where another player is to draw cards from your regular
hand. In any such circumstance, the player who is to lose
cuds from his hand cannot play any cards from it until the
other player collects the cards due him. This is actually a
change from the original Eon design (the rule was presented
in Encounter volume one, number three), where ,a player
could play any cards against another player, even if there
was a lien on his hand. The reason for the change is the
introduction of the one-shot flares. There are now so many
cards in the deck that can be played at any time that this
rule change was necessary. You may play cards from your hand that serve to break the lien (like Stellar Gas, Emotion Control, Super Empath, etc.).
The remainder of the errata apply to the Alien Power
cards and are presented alphabetically by power.
The Connoisseur should have the 00 icon on it. The
icons on the card are the most likely phases for the
Connoisseur to use his power, but they are not meant to
exclude his power if he draws cards at other times.
The Filth should have the 00 icon on it for the same
reason as the change on the Connoisseur card.
*The Mirror’s second sentence should read: “This
reverses the digits of all Attack Cards.”
The Pentaform should have the 00 icon on it. This is
because the Per&form may gain or lose bases at any time in
the game, even between challenges.
The Terrorist’s restriction should read: “Do not use in a
game with the Insect.” The Terrorist should have the 00 icon
because players can land on planets almost anytime due to
play of cards or use of powers.
The Zombie should have the 00 icon because his tokens
are always immune to going to the warp, not just during
challenge resolution.
The first clarification is a general one regarding the use
of the icons in Cosmic Encounter. Usually, the icons refer to
the entire phase that they represent: beginning, middle, and
end. But the wording on some Alien Power Cards further
restricts the timing. For example, the Visionary’s icon for
Phase #7 means that the Visionary player names a card just
before both main players play cards face down in the
challenge (at the beginning of that phase). For those players
used to relying solely on the card’s text for timing
restrictions, be aware that the icon often replaces that
qualifying text when the alien can use his power any time
during the prescribed phase or phases.
The next two clarifications are for two of the system hex
cards. First, add the following sentence to the last
paragraph of the Gas Giant description. “The Gas Giant is
immune to all planetary cataclysms like the Wild Magnet,
Wild Void, etc.” Second, add the following sentence to the
second paragraph of the Space Dust description. “The
Space Dust player must have at least three tokens on his
system hex to use his Alien Power.”
The remainder of the clarifications apply to the Alien
Powers and various combinations of Alien Powers. As above,
these appear in alphabetical order.
When the Changeling trades powers with another
player, all facets of that power come with the it (like the
Terrorist’s bomb list, the Symbiote’s second color tokens,
etc.). This comes from the original Eon Power’s text.
When the Changeling trades powers with the Symbiote,
he gets the use of the second color tokens from where they
stand (he does not redistribute them). Remember, however,
that second-color tokens alone do not count as a base, so you
cannot release tokens from the warp to these planets (by
playing a Warp Break or Mobius Tubes) to win the game.
Answer provided by Jim Musser.
The Deuce’s extra card is not foreseen by the Oracle, nor
is it affected when the Chronos calls “time travel.”
Answers
by Jack Kittredge of Eon.
If the Fungus and Vampixx are on the same side in a
challenge, and their side wins the challenge, use the timing
rule to resolve the conflict in power use. If the Fungus is the
main player, the Vampire gets one of each color of the losing
tokens and the Fungus gets the rest. If the Vampire is the
main player, the Fungus gets the tokens and the Vampire
gets nothing. The lesson here is, if you are the Vampire, you
may not want to invite the Fungus to be your ally.
The Healer can heal the same player multiple times in a
challenge. He can also heal separately tokens lost to the
Vacuum’s power and tokens lost simultaneously due to an
unsuccessful challenge.
Answers provided by Jack Kittredge
at Eon.
Insect vs Symbiote: If the Insect copies the Symbiote’s
power, he gets nothing.
Answer provided by Jim Musser.
Insect vs Vampire: If the Insect copies the Vampire’s
power, he enslaves all tokens lost in the challenge if he
wins. However, he cannot use these tokens and they do not
count for a base (if they are on their own) until he copies the
Vampire’s power again in a later challenge. For details of
the Insect’s enslaved tokens when he is not copying the
Vampire, see below for when the Vampire has lost the use of
his power.
Answers provided by Jim Musser and Mike Arms, respectively.
A victim of the Laser gets to look at the card the Laser
picked before he plays it face down in the challenge.
Feel free to add both the #3 and #4-5 icons to the Mind
power. The reason for the these is that the Mind player may
want to make his decision whether or not to invite allies
based on the information he gains from the use of his power.
The second icon is to allow the Mind to do this if he is the
defensive main player as well. Similar logic applies to the
cases of the Mutant, Philanthropist, Seeker, and Trader
below.
The Mayfair Mutant is a substantial change because its
timing is incompatible with the original Eon Mutant. The
Eon Mutant would have the #3, #4-5, and #6 icons. The
Mayfair Mutant has the #lo (offensive player only) and #2
icons. Note that the Mayfair Mutant may take a second
challenge if its first was successful even if out of challenge
cards as it can draw during the Interphase.
The Super Oracle first sentence means when the other
player reveals his card to the Oracle player (not when the
other player reveals it in the challenge).
If the Pentaform has the Changeling as the active
power in his stack, he trades the Pentaform and his stack
for his opponent’s Alien Power (not just the Changeling
power). Similarly, in a game with the Pentaform and the
Changeling, the Changeling player would trade for the
Pentaform power and its stack, if they were both main
players. If the Pentaform player draws more than one startof-
game power for his stack, he may discard all but one of
these start-of-game powers and draw a new power for eachto
replace them.
Answers provided by Mike Arms (creator of
the Pentaform).
The first time you receive the Phantom power (even
mid-game), flip over five tokens and place them on your star
immediately upon receiving the power. If the Phantom loses
the use of his power, he cannot create new ghost tokens and
cannot add his ghost tokens to his total in a challenge. He
can, however, still return his tokens to normal tokens by
placing them from his star into the cone.
Answers provided
by Mike Arms.
The Eon Philanthropist would have the #3, #4-5, and
W6 icons. The difference is subtle, but it can have a
recognizable effect in special circumstances.
Feel free to add the #3 and #4-5 icons to the Seeker
power.
A victim of the Sorcerer does not get to examine the
face-down card that he has been switched. Actually, this
mechanism also applies to any other effects that change or
steal face-down cards, unless otherwise stated.
Answers
provided by Mike Arms.
The Terrorist waits until all tokens that are returning
to bases are settled before announcing which bombs
detonated. Also note that the Terrorist need not plant his
bombs at the start of the game. He may, but he could wait
until some opportune time for best effect. He must plant all
of his bombs at once, however.
Feel free to add the #3 and #4-5 icons to the Trader.
If the Vampire loses the use of his power, he cannot
move enslaved tokens or add them to his total in a
challenge. Likewise, they do not count as a base if they are
alone on a planet. They can go to the warp due to losing
challenges or other player’s actions (like the Assassin). A
Mobius Tubes or a Warp Break played to free tokens from
the warp also still releases tokens from the Vampire.
Answers provided by Mike Arms & Jim Musser.
If the Void is a main player in a challenge and the
Fungus and/or Vampire are allied with him and their side
wins the challenge, resolve the conflict in power use with
the timing rules. The Fungus and/or Vampire get first shot
at the losing tokens, with (in the case of only the Vampire as
an ally) the remainder being eradicated by the Void.
Void vs Zombie: There was no change intended in the
relationship between Zombie and Void. Zombie is immune to
eradication when the Void wins the challenge.
Answers
provided by Jim Musser.
The Mayfair Vulch differs significantly from the Eon
Vulch. This is directly due to a new rule mechanic
introduced in the Mayfair edition. On page 10 of the rule
book, in step 9 it says: “Discard the two Challenge Cards
and any Edicts and Flares that were played.” This rule will
logically be extended to include other types of cards as they
are introduced into the game. Thus the Mayfair Vulch
rightly has only the #9 icon on it. The Eon Vulch would
instead have the Infinity icon, as it would pick up each Edict as
soon as it was played. The Eon Vulch could use a retrieved
Edict in the same challenge if desired.
When the Wrack uses his power and proposes a deal
before cards are played, if his opponent agrees to the deal,
then the challenge is over, tokens in the cone return to
bases, and it counts as a successful deal for purposes of turn
continuation. If the opponent does not agree to the Wrack’s‘
deal, the Wrack need not torture and could continue with
the challenge as normal. If the Wrack does torture, he
cannot change his deal and cannot stop torturing unless the
other player gives in and agrees to the deal.
Answer
provided by Jack Kittredge at Eon.
Zombie vs Sniveler: When the Sniveler whines about
having the most tokens in the warp and is refused to release
his, the Zombie must temporarily lift tokens off bases as if to
equal the Sniveler in the warp but then returns his tokens
to bases. In an extreme example, suppose the Sniveler has
one token on three home bases.and 1’7 tokens in the warp. If
he is refused, the Zombie lifts enough tokens off bases so as
to equal. At that point, he has two choices: he can leave one
token on three home bases so that he can use his power to
return his tokens to bases, or he can lose his power in order
to hold up to three foreign bases. Actually, this same
principle applies whenever the Zombie must lose tokens to
the warp (Plague, Vacuum, etc.), but it usually is not an
issue.
Answers by Mike Arms & Jim Musser.
There has been some confusion on whether the Zombie is
entitled to consolation when playing a Compromise versus
an Attack. The relevant rules section is on pages 8 & 9 of
the Mayfair rules book. It reads: “If one player plays an
Attack Card and the other player plays a Compromise Card,
the player who played the Attack Card wins, with all the
same rewards as if both players had played Attack Cards.
All of the losing side’s tokens still go to the warp, but the
player who played the Compromise Card gets consolation
because he was willing to compro&se and his opponent
attacked him. The losing player draws one card from his
opponent’s hand for each token he lost, not counting his
allies’ tokens.” The key phrase is “the player who played the
Compromise Card gets consolation.n The Zombie is entitled
to normal consolation even though his tokens do not go to
the warp.
Answer by Mike Arms. [Note by Jim Musser: I
have an immense amount of respect for Mike, but I think he
is clearly misguided on this matter. The key phrase is “The
losing player draws one card from his opponent’s hand for
each token he lost.” Since the Zombie lost no tokens, he
draws no cards. This is the rule that will be used in
trournaments sponsored by Mayfair.]
Remember that you lose the use of your alien power as
soon as you have less than three home bases. Thus, when
the Zombie must leave a base and only has two home bases
remaining, he loses the use of his power and cannot return
those tokens to other bases. They go to the warp instead.
This same idea applies to all other powers (Vacuum, Witch,
Pentaform, etc.) whose effect takes place upon some loss
(often a base loss). Nasty trick: When the Zombie is in a 5
player game with the Terrorist, the Terrorist can plant all 5
bombs in the Zombie’s system. If the Zombie does not
quickly establish a foreign base, any tokens that he returns
to bases will set off a chain reaction that will blow up at
least three of his planets, removing his power, and leaving
him with at least 12 tokens in the warp. Yes, it’s evil, it’s
despicable, but best of all it works.
Trader Wild: The player using this flare cannot move ifs own token.
Hand Zap: Playable during the Interphase only!
Edict Zap: Does not stop other Zaps, including Un Zap.
Un Zap: Only stops other Zaps, including Edict Zap.
Questions by Randy Zoellner answered by Mike Arms:
Q The Connoisseur caused us to have to shuffle the deck
about three times as he would pick his favorite 7 cards and
would proceed to play them. As he did not keep any
challenge cards, he would just play all of the flares and
edicts. Then still not having any challenge cards, he would
discard and draw again. We had to make a house rule that *
the Connoisseur must keep at least one challenge card from
the 14 that he draws when he gets a new hand. Did you
encounter this situation? If so, what did you do about it?
A: No, we did not encounter this situation. Although it is
possible, I would propose that it is fairly unlikely that he be
able to play many of the non-challenge cards that he runs
through, as they often have timing conditions or can only be
played in special circumstances. There are not very many
truly “play at any time” cards, although the ones that do /
exist are pretty powerful. In our experience, reasonable f
players would not use this tactic often. Remember, if any
power seems to be getting out of hand by abuse, beat on him
until the player realizes that it is in his best interest to not
do so. As always, CE is a social game. It is amazing what j
can be done to discourage certain actions. Take away his t
power. Have everyone always save their nasty cards to use
on .him. Never invite him as an ally. Always gang up on him.
Always choosehim when Wild Destiny appears. Get the
Philanthropist to keep his hand filled with low Attack Cards 1
or Compromises so that he never gets to draw cards. Have
the Healer refuse to heal only his tokens. Terrorist plants
bombs on only his planets. Never play a Hand Zap on the
Connoisseur, as it will only get worse. Create a co-win
situation where everyone wins except him. You get the idea.
Q: Cavalry decided to be rather cruel when allowed to
ally offensively. He played a Compromise to really mess up
the offensive main player. ,Anyway the defensive player also
played a Compromise and therefore with both sides having
played a Compromise, then who should have had to make a
deal, Cavalry who played the Compromise or the offensive
main player that played an Attack card?
A: There seems to be some confusion about how the
Cavalry works. In no case does the Cavalry’s card supersede the main player’s card. If the Cavalry played an Attack, it
adds to his side’s total (gets nasty with negative Attack
Cards). When the Cavalry plays a Compromise Card as an ally, it does not supersede an Attack card played by his
side’s main player. Rather, the challenge totals determine
the outcome as usual, but if his side loses, the Cavalry then
takes consolation from the opposing main player. If his side
wins, the Cavalry does not get consolation, as he won. So in
your example, there would not have been a deal situation, as
the offensive side would have won the challenge.
Questions by John Edelberg answered by Mike Arms:
Q: Can a Flare that has the “infinity” icon be played as
soon as it is obtained with its effects noted by all players as
going into effect at a later time?
A: No, most of the effects that have a - icon attached are
restricted to application under a certain circumstance that
might occur at any point in the game. The effects are
immediate. I probably made this issue confusing with our
time-duration Flare effects from the first issue. We are
trying to avoid those designs now to better fit with the
Mayfair style.
Q: Assume that the Zombie only has 2 home bases and
has lost the use of his alien power. He has also lost some
tokens to the warp. If he plays a Rebirth, reclaiming a 3rd
home base as well as his power, can he now immediately
recover all of his tokens from the warp?
A: No, the Zombie power only allows him to return
tokens as they are being lost to the warp, not after they are
already there. Otherwise there would be no point in Zapping
the Zombie. He must retrieve his tokens from the warp just
like everyone else.
Q: Assume that it is Purple’s turn. He flips a Purple
Destiny card. He chooses to flip another, this time flipping
Orange. The Assassin (Red) is in the game. Whose token(s)
does the Assassin execute?
A: The Assassin executes tokens on each color revealed
in the Destiny deck, except his own color. Thus he would
execute both aPurple and an Orange token.
Q: Assume the Loser is a main player in a challenge. He
has Compromise cards but no Attack cards. May he declare
an upset? Or, assume the Loser has an Attack card and
declares “upset,” but his opponent can only play a
Compromise card. How is the challenge then resolved?
A: For the first question, yes, he may declare upset. The
answer to the resolution question is easy. When the
challenge is under “upset,” the winner loses and the loser
wins. Normally if one player plays an Attack and the other a
Compromise, the Compromise loses. Thus, under the upset,
the conditions would be reversed and the Compromise would
actually win. No consolation is involved because the
Compromise won. So, the Loser with only a fist full of
Compromises is killer.
Q: Assume that the Worm (Red) is trying to regain one of
his home planets by challenging Orange, who had earlier
dislodged him. Thus, the cone is pointed at a planet in the
Worm’s system. After cards are revealed, may Worm
reposition the cone to a planet in Orange’s system? (The text
implies such, but it seems quite a distance for Worm to
tunnel.) Also, may the Worm use his power if he is
challenged on a home planet where he has no base?
A: For the first question, yes, the Worm can reposition
the cone to point at any planet in the defensive player’s
system. In this particular case, he can reposition to a planet
in Orange’s system, but he cannot reposition to a different
planet in the Red system as Red is not the defensive player.
For the second question, no, the power is very clear in
stating that you may only use you power on defense if you
are challenged on a home planet where you have a base.
Q: What constitutes a valid deal? Please give some
examples.
A: A deal can be any exchange of bases and/or cards
between the two players. No player can gain more than one
base as part of a deal. The word uexchange” indicates that
each player must get something for a deal to be valid. Some
valid deals: “base for a base,” ‘base for a base and you take
all of my cards,” “both of us draw a card at random from the
other player, n Ugive me a base in exchange for my lowest
Attack Card,n “I’ll give you an Attack Card under 7 in
exchange for one from you,” etc. Portions of deals that
promise actions in the future are unenforceable and are not
truly part of the valid deal.
