The Developers of Cosmic Dominion Preview Its Alien Races

Recently, we announced the upcoming release of Cosmic Dominion, the fifth expansion for Cosmic Encounter. Designed for the fans and by the fans, in conjunction with Peter Olotka, one of the game’s original designers, this expansion is a must-have for anyone looking to explore all that the galaxy has to offer.

Chief among the elements that Cosmic Dominion adds to your games of Cosmic Encounter are its alien races. Cosmic Dominion introduces no fewer than thirty alien races, which include a mixture of new aliens and classics redesigned to function within the game’s current edition. No other expansion has introduced as many alien races all at once, and that means you’ll find more wacky new powers and flares in Cosmic Dominion than ever before.

Today, the expansion’s fan designers help you navigate through these new alien races and the options they introduce.

The Fan Designers on Cosmic Dominion’s New Aliens

Jefferson Krogh:

“I’m biased, but my favorite fan-made alien in Cosmic Dominion is Tourist! It combines much of what I love about Cosmic Encounter: whimsy, unpredictability, and sneakiness.”

Jack Reda:

“One of the new aliens I’m most excited about is Reactor, which gambles on playing the game in a slightly different way – one that rewards other players with their super flares. The radioactive Reactor counts on players being greedy for an advantage, opening up a path for Reactor to win the game in an alternate way.”

Bill Martinson:

“I especially like Engineer because it brings the core game’s Technology variant back into focus in a fresh way; it’s fun to play an alien that can have its own twenty-card side-deck. There actually were two different Engineers submitted, and we realized that the gameplay from one made a nice marriage with the alien history of the other.

“I’d also have to give a shout out to Joker. This little harlequin probably experienced more life-changing events during development than just about any other alien in the set. It actually ended up as a marriage between two completely different designs that came together nicely, while spawning off some cute little baby joker tokens, one of which ties into a brand-new card type in the new reward deck.”

The Fan Designers on Cosmic Dominion’s Revised Classics

Jefferson Krogh:

“For the classic aliens, it must be said that the three of us were guided by a poll Peter Olotka ran a couple of years ago. The poll asked fans which of the classic aliens they would most like to see republished. Since Cosmic Dominion is a fan expansion, we let the fans guide us on those selections.

“The classic alien I was most excited to revive was Mesmer. I love Mesmer because I love artifacts – though they were called edicts back in the day – and Mesmer lets me play with all of them! The only thing we needed to change was the super flare. Originally, that let you play any wild flare as if it were any other wild flare you could name. With over 160 different wild flares now in the game, that just seemed unwieldy, so we decided to focus the Mesmer super flare back on artifacts.”

Jack Reda:

“I was also very glad to see Mesmer finally added to the lineup. It’s an amazing alien to play, and one that I feel was long overdue. Mesmer’s inclusion was notably a nice excuse to introduce a brand new artifact to the game and bring back a few more of the classic edicts that had yet to be made into artifacts.

“Another classic alien that underwent a bit of revising was Laser. While clearly powerful and unique, the original Laser was guilty of robbing its opponents of a lot of decision making. The new version of Laser takes the power to Blind in a new direction, randomly selecting a number cards that its opponent can no longer play for the rest of the encounter.”

Bill Martinson:

“Like my partners in crime (and many other fans, no doubt), I am overjoyed to see Mesmer make its way into the FFG universe. It’s one of the most-loved classic aliens and really deserves to be part of the best edition of the game that’s ever been published. Jefferson mentioned the minimal tweaking it received, which reflects our desire to be as faithful as possible to the original designs of these favorites, while promoting more great gameplay in the modern Cosmic Encounter universe.

“Another classic favorite on my happy-radar is Aristocrat. It’s a simple, obvious pleasure to play. Cherry-pick your starting hand and then get fresh flares all the time; who could resist that? We tweaked it a little to keep your analysis-paralysis buddy from taking too long to pick his starting hand in the Game Setup phase, and we also revised the Super flare to make it a one-shot with a potentially big payoff that takes the power’s ongoing game effect to a higher level.”

Conquer the Cosmos

You’ll find an astounding array of wacky new powers and flares among the thirty alien races of Cosmic Dominion. Each of them allows you to break the game’s rules in an all-new way, and as a group they further ensure that you’ll never play the same game twice. Plus, if you’re cunning and ruthless enough, these fan-favorite aliens will give you a wealth of new tools to surprise your rivals and colonize their planets.

Take your next step toward cosmic supremacy. Head to your local retailer today to pre-order your copy of Cosmic Dominion!

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