A Brief History of Cosmic Encounter
Cosmic Encounter is surprisingly spry for its age. The original board game was conceived in 1972, predating many of today’s popular strategy games by decades.
 “Cosmic Encounter was born from a frustration with playing RISK,” explains Peter Olokta, President of Future Pastimes LLC and lead designer of Cosmic Encounter. Olokta was vexed by RISK’s interminable dice rolls, repetitiveness, and the knowledge you would lose hours before the game ended. He set out to create a strategy game that was fun, fast, and much less predictable. The result was Cosmic Encounter.
Since that time, Cosmic Encounter has been published in seven languages and in fifteen versions around the world. It has won many design awards, including Best Science Fiction Board Game, and it has even been inducted into the Adventure Gaming Hall of Fame.
An early development version of Cosmic Encounter Online, launched in 1998, was played by more than 12,000 players. The Macromedia Flash-based Cosmic Encounter Online, launched in the second half of 2002, is the latest iteration of the thirty-year-old strategy game.
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 Cosmic Encounter as a board game.
 Cosmic Encounter Online in its
original form (1998).
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Artifact Pods
These powerful pods allow aliens to even further alter the outcome of encounters and the game. Artifact pods will highlight when they are eligible to be launched. All artifact pods are jettisoned to salvage after they have been launched. There are a total of six pods available in the game:
Cosmic Zap
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You may launch this pod whenever an alien is about to use its special power. Cosmic Zap will cancel the effect of that power for the remainder of the encounter; otherwise, the encounter continues normally. |
Emotion Control
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You may launch this pod immediately after encounter pods are revealed during an attack. Emotion Control turns any Attack pods launched in an encounter to Negotiate pods. The main aliens now attempt to make a deal, just as if two Negotiate pods had been launched. |
Force Field
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You may launch this pod after the ally’s ships have been committed to an encounter, but before the encounter pods have been revealed. Force Field prevents an alien of your choosing from allying in that encounter. Any of those allies’ ships are then returned to their colonies, and they cannot rejoin the encounter. |
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Mobias Tubes
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You may launch this pod to release all ships from the Warp. All aliens with at least one colony gain back all ships from the Warp. Ships are returned to any of their colonies, home or otherwise. However, if an alien has not established any colonies, its ships stay in the Warp. |
Plague
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You may play this pod at any time against any other player. The victim loses three ships to the Warp, and an Attack pod, a Negotiate pod, and an Artifact Pod at random. An alien who does not have enough pods or ships to comply with the Plague loses only the pods or ships that it has at the time of the attack. |
Stellar Gas
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You may launch this pod when an Alien is about to claim compensation. The victim loses the right to claim compensation pods during the that encounter. (Compensation lets you collect pods for losing an encounter after playing a Negotiate Pod.) |
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Aliens
Cosmic Encounter Online features over 21 different alien species, each of which has a unique power. Some powers are automatic, while others are optional. The power will help you bend the game to your advantage, and often, it can turn the tide of battle. Here are some selected species:
Anti-Matter
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Spewed forth from a white hole, the worlds of the Anti-Matter careen through space negating whatever they encounter. Opposed to the very existence of gross matter, the Anti-Matter is dedicated to reducing all opposition to less than nothing.
Anti-Matter has the power of negation. If you and your opponent both launch Attack pods in an encounter, the lower total wins. You negate when both you and your opponent launch Attack pods.
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Clone
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A prolific species on a slowly cooling globe, the Clones traditionally selected the best of their kind to represent them in territorial struggles. But as the gene pool thinned, one clan developed techniques to artificially duplicate their champion before battle. Thus, always rejuvenated, they came to dominate their world during the geologic crisis and emerged from it anxious to carry their new knowledge into a Cosmic competition.
Clone has the power to replicate. You do not have to jettison encounter pods that you launch. Instead, you may choose to keep the pod and have it returned to your console. (Any artifact pods that you launch are jettisoned, however.)
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Empath
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Eons of overpopulation forced the highly social Empaths to cooperate in order to survive. On their lush, tropical planet, they learned the value of deference and yielding. Now, they are striving to teach harmony to all other cosmic life forms.
Empath has the power of harmony. Whenever you are a main player in an encounter, if you launch a negotiate pod, it changes your opponent’s pod into a negotiate pod.
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Filch
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Within their genteel, sophisticated tribes, the Filches have refined the art of acquisition to a high aesthetic. The most judicious and subtle thefts are memorialized in legend and song. Lately they have taken to eyeing the depths of space and thoughtfully rippling their tentacles.
Filch has the power of theft. After you and your opponent have revealed Encounter pods, you may steal your opponent’s pod before it is jettisoned. The pod will be moved into your console for your future use. |
Ghost
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The specter of being driven from their ancestral homelands by stronger beings caused the Ghosts to evolve a spirit of secret defiance towards all who would dare encounter them. Haunted by the lack of a strong physical presence however, the Ghosts took to lingering in the shade and perfecting the art of being ever unobtrusive. Some would spook at the slightest provocation but that strain slowly died out. Successive generations became as phantoms to the unobservant, and in time the Ghosts and their threats to dominate the Cosmos were all but invisible to mere mortals.
Ghost has the power of invisibility. Your ships are invisible to everyone except yourself. This includes your ships on any planets, totals in the mothership, in alliances, and in the warp. It also includes your colony counter; it, too, is invisible to everyone except you. |
Laser
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Descended from an ancient sun-worshipping cult, the modern Lasers have learned to focus stellar power accurately enough to bedazzle any opposition. They are now embarked on a plan to spread confusion and fear among their enemies before stepping in to build a coherent Cosmos in their own image.
Laser has the power to blind. Your opponent does not choose its encounter pod. Instead, its encounter pod is chosen at random. |
Loser
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The enigmatic Losers have proved to be quite cunning in battle. Strengths become weaknesses and weaknesses strengths as the Loser shows its opponents that nice guys finish first.
Loser has the power of upset. Before pods are launched in any encounter you may declare an upset. At the appropriate time both aliens must launch an attack pod if possible. If an upset is declared, the winning side loses and the losing side wins. |
Machine
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A race long lost to antiquity had the foresight to construct a mammoth Machine in the core of their planet. Pouring all their knowledge and ambition into its memory banks, they programmed it with this mandate: “Top priority… control, never cease… Eliminate opposition, never cease… Achieve mastery, never cease… “
Machine has the power to continue. Your turn is not limited to two encounters.
As long as you have encounter pods, you may continue as offensive player, even if you lost the previous encounter. |
Macron
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Beginning life on a gargantuan planet, the Macrons accustomed themselves to tremendous atmospheric and gravitational forces. Power comes so naturally to them, they scoff at the fragile intelligences they crush on their way to Universal dominance.
Macron has the power of mass. Each of your ships has a value of four. You may take only one ship as the offensive player or as an ally, but this single ship counts as four towards the total outcome. (When collecting compensation or defender rewards, this single ship counts as one, just as any other alien’s.) |
Mind
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Springing forth on a triple star system subject to constant energy fluxes, the Mind thrives on shifting wave pulses, ultraviolet rays, and gamma release explosions. Extreme sensitivity to potentialities has enabled it to view with wisdom (and some skepticism) the threats of cosmic competitors.
Mind has the power of knowledge. You may look at all of the pods of one of the two aliens involved in the encounter. If you are one of the main players, you may look at all of your opponent’s pods. Pods are launched in any encounter. |
Mutant
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Evolving on a highly radioactive and unshielded moon, the protean Mutants quickly learned to augment their silicon-based heredity. Before long they began to control and accumulate key genetic codes of other life forms, stripping opponents of their most basic defenses in a Mutant drive to transform the Universe.
Mutant has the power to regenerate. You may fill your console to a full seven pods by taking pods, at random, one at a time, from any other aliens or from the pod source. You may regenerate only once per encounter, and if you have fewer than seven pods in your console. |
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Oracle
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During millennia of civilization, the ancient Oracles developed perceptiveness about the intentions of others to uncanny lengths. While reluctant to test the outer limits of their vision, they find even short-range prescience has given them the reputation of great wisdom.
Oracle has the power to foresee. When you and your opponent must launch pods in an encounter, your opponent launches a pod but you do not. Once your opponent’s pod is revealed, you then choose a pod to launch. |
Pacifist
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A simple but ungainly life form, the Pacifists long ago learned how to turn the power of an opponent against that opponent. Always ready to demonstrate the superiority of retreat in unbalancing an aggressor, the Pacifists now seek to bring the galaxy to its knees by yielding at just the right moment.
Pacifist has the power of peace. If you reveal a negotiate pod and your opponent reveals an attack pod, you win the encounter. If you both launch negotiate pods, you try to make a deal, as usual. If you reveal an attack pod, treat the encounter normally. |
Philanthropist
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Rejecting a heavy-handed, dogmatic religious background, the cynical Philanthropists have learned to parody greed itself. Knowing the Universe cannot bring itself to reject a gift, even when it is not present, these aliens have grown cunning in the art of self-serving charity.
Philanthropist has the power of giving. Before encounter pods are launched, you may give one of the pods in your console to either the offensive or defensive player.
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Sorcerer
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Over eons the clan of Sorcerers studied the cosmic flow and learned to channel these tides to their own needs. Beginning with minor alterations in the probability patterns of matter, they progressed to transportation of objects over great distances. Undaunted by an occasional backlash of fate, they even now are humming the incantations of mastery.
Sorcerer has the power of magic. You may switch pods with your opponent before encounter pods are revealed. You will then launch your opponent’s pod, and your opponent will launch your pod.
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Trader
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Originating on a Trojan Cloud in a heavily traveled star system, the crafty Traders learned to use the most valuable debris that drifted their way and discarded the rest. As their numbers grew, however, they began to search out markets for their low-grade material. With a wealth of resources always at hand, they became adept merchants and soon were carefully scrutinizing all galactic transactions. Now they have begun to parlay their economic foundation into Cosmic control.
Trader has the power to swap. You may exchange console pods with your opponent. You and your opponent each keep the new pods.
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Virus
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Able to multiply rapidly in the presence of other life forms, the Virus soon overwhelmed its own planets and now waits for opportunities to proliferate throughout the galaxy.
Virus has the power to multiply. When you determine the outcome of an encounter, you multiply the number of your ships times the value of the attack pod you revealed and then add your allies. You always multiply when you reveal an attack pod.
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Vulch
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Originally developing as a structured, bureaucratic people, only those Vulches who were most able to grasp new opportunities rose to the top. Over millions of years, this inbred scavenging talent flourished and spread throughout their species. Now, Vulches are prepared to use the discarded refuse of others to achieve their goal of Universal supremacy.
Vulch has the power to salvage. When any other alien launches or discards an artifact pod, you salvage it to your console. And when you collect new pods for your console, you keep your existing artifact pods and claim seven new pods.
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Warpish
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Born of the slime and unpalatable scum in repulsive cheap bars of dying planets, the Warpish seeks the pall of miserable places. Now it has found comfort in the despairing ambience of the cosmic warp.
Warpish has the power of necromancy. All ships (including your own) in the warp add to your total as a main player in an encounter. (The ships in the warp do not count when you get compensation or when you are an ally.)
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Warrior
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Once considered ferocious but dull-witted by more “enlightened” life forms, the Warrior clans were bred as fighting stock for the petty squabbles of their lords and ladies. Throughout the ages, however, they have learned the value of both defeat and victory. This wisdom gives them mastery over those who would sneer at their potential.
Warrior has the power of mastery. Each time you are one of the two aliens in an encounter, you accumulate two points if you win (or make a deal), or four points if you lose (or fail to make a deal). A running total of your points will be kept throughout the game, and whenever you launch an Attack pod in an encounter, your experience points will be added to your total in the encounter.
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Zombie
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Shadowy forms on a dark and murky world, Zombies prized all sources of energy. They could flourish only by careful recycling of their own kind. Living on decomposed organic matter, they abhor the needless waste of war and have developed effective techniques to make sure their numbers will not be reduced.
Zombie has the power of immortality. Whenever you are about to lose any of your ships to the Warp, they relocate to your colonies.
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 Mac OS X version 10.1 or higher
333MHz PowerPC G3 processor or higher
240MB of hard disk space
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