Alternate Planet Rules
Fantasy Flight's version of Cosmic Encounter comes with individual planets for each player. Each planet has a multi-colored side, and a mono-colored side. For normal games, you can remove one of the planets and play a shorter game of CE (4 bases to win, with 16 ships per player).
Below are new variants that make use of the two different sides of the planets.
Rewards Alien
Every player starts the game with all of their planets showing the multi-colored side (the single colored side is face down).
Throughout the game, as you ally with the defense and win the encounter, instead of taking any form of rewards, you may flip over one of your planets (provided you still occupy it). All ships (yours and other players') still occupy the planet.
When all of your planets have been flipped to the single color side, you may draw an additional alien to add to the one you already have.
From Jack Reda
Resistance
Started with all planets showing the single colored picture. When you successfully defend one of your planets, you may flip that planet over to its colored side (you can not flip another planet if the one defended already had been flipped). For each colored side you have flipped to the multi-colored side, add 1 to your total for encounters in your home system. Additionally, you now win ties when attacking a flipped planet in your own system.
From Adam McLean
Major/Minor Powers
At the beginning of the game, turn your planets so the single color is side is face up. Then, choose one OR two planets, and flip them over.
Whenever an encounter takes place at a single-color planet, all players have their major power only. Minor powers are ignored. When an encounter takes place at a multi-color planet, all players have their minor power only.
As long as you still occupy any combination of three home planets, you retain both of your powers.
From Ken Hubbard
Capitals
At the beginning of the game, each player secretly selects one planet to be his Capital and places a slip of paper under it. When your Capital is the defensive planet, at any time during the alliance phase you may reveal the Capital by flipping over the planet. In any encounter where a revealed Capital is targetted, the owner of the Capital's system may add or subtract from his total the number of players in the game after encounter cards are played but before they are revealed. If a player loses his Capital, he must reveal it whether he had previously or not, and he loses his alien power. In a game with Capitals, you do not lose the use of your power from losing all your home planets.
At the beginning of a multi-power game, declare one of your aliens to own the Capital. All other aliens a player owns retain the use of their power by the normal rules.
From Adam
See also: Reverse Hexes
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