Fan Designed Cosmic Expansion Set Discussion

Sarah Ryan: My first impression of it is “too strong”.....but then I thought, well if he had a mobius tube and a zap in his hand, for example, there is no guarantee he will be able to use them for his power. What if he had heaps in the warp, he might need to use mobius as mobius instead, he might need to use the zap one of the big gun ones like virus, macron, warpish, then some of the others like bully,and others mmm too late over here where I am to keep thinking...lol. But yeah he might need the artifacts as artfacts. But would this power be just when its attatcking, or when its defending as well? Perhaps it should be attacking only? Gives the others fair chance to colonise on it?

Bill Eberle: Thanks for the link Ales.

Peter Olotka: As a general rule of thumb, there is nothing “too strong” because in Cosmic we need to give any possible alien a chance to be in the game. And as we learn in every game it's who else is in, that makes a difference. Joker will not take kindly to Vulch who hoards artifacts by keeping them when it draws a new hand and not letting them get reshuffled by keeping them out of discard, for example. Also we don't want to be obsessed with trying to make an alien “balanced”. Just remember . Fair Isn't Funny! (2 thumbs up)

Ales Smrdel: I like the Joker better if he were able to replace the artifact with the discard pile encounter card. But I believe that game play length might change due to players looking through discard pile and checking for the declared encounter card.

Maxwell Holle: Under the fair isn't fun idea then I like it. It doesn't sound like Jester will be, by any means, a supreme alien. It will have its advantages and disadvantages.

Stephen Sloboda: The power ties to the concept of Jokers in a 54-card deck being used as wild cards. A common phrase in popular culture is “The Joker's Wild.” If you're thinking of a prankster or trickster, well, this power does have a mischievous side in giving you bluffing potential, but it's not about throwing pies or tying someone's shoelaces together.

Sarah Ryan: Nah my impression originally Peter was too strong, but then I reasoned with myself LOL. Just my initial impresion was *gasp?* Its strategic - play the artifact as is, or play it under use of my power? It isnt always going to be beneficial using the power instead of using the artifacts normally. But I would be curious to try it as is, then trying it as offensive only na on defense.

Maxwell Holle: It will force the Jester to think wisely about Cosmic zaps and card zaps.

Bill Eberle: Click on the discussion archive link in our archive for our “easy to find” history of this and future discussions.

Chuck Feist: The great thing about this game is the seemingly overpowered aliens, and the fact that they are all “over-powered” makes a checks and balance system that “evens” things out. I personally would very much enjoy playing as the joker, because I enjoy aliens that have a bluffing aspect to them such as gambler. And personally I don't mind joint winning and there are instances where I could use and extra N to pull that off. (3 thumbs up)

Zachery Gaskins: There *isn't* any bluffing aspect with Joker, though, as written. He just gets 11 additional cards with which to auto-win encounters (Virus/Industrialist totals notwithstanding). That essentially makes him Pacifist of a different color barring the Artifact control aspect. He needs more strategy than that. (1 thumb up)

Zachery Gaskins: Part of the discussion here, I think, is whether we are more concerned with Joker as a theme, or Joker as a mechanic. Which is more likely / more able to mutate to get proper fun but stimulating power?

Zachery Gaskins: Also, even though Joker is likely to be a Yellow/Red power due to its finesse aspects, so far only one alien *requires* knowledge of the deck content, and that's Gambler. Simply put, you can't play Gambler if 1) you don't know what cards exist, and Gambler is unfair in the not funny way if 2) no one else knows what cards exist, because you'll either 2a) have all your claims called because everyone thinks you're lying, or 2b) have all your claims accepted because no one knows the deck well enough.
It's a great power if everyone knows what can be called. I think the “discard pile” modification Jack proposed continues to be a good idea which adds some elements that are interesting. (3 thumbs up)

Zachery Gaskins: For reference regarding likelihoods of drawing cards:
In a 5-player game, there will be 82 cards in the deck (72 in the standard deck + 10 Flares).
Chance of drawing a Negotiate: ~ 18% (or about 1 in 5)
Chance of drawing an Artifact: ~ 14% (about 1 in 7)
Loose math forgiven, after about 15 draws,
you will have 3 N's to 2 Artifacts. (1 thumb up)