Lucre
Lucre was first introduced in Expansion Set 6 of the original Eon edition and in
Mayfair's More Cosmic. The original Eon use of lucre was not that inspiring and
while Mayfair tried to add more uses for lucre, their implementation was more
complex than it had to be. This is my version, combining elements of the two. I
have not tried these, but would like to.
Everybody starts the game with 5 lucre.
At the start of your turn, you get one lucre. You do not get another lucre if
you make a second challenge. [Though I like the idea, used by Mayfair, that the
number of lucre you receive is linked to the number of based you have, it does
not fit into the rule set I have created here.]
At the start of the challenge, when you receive tokens from the warp, you may
spend lucre to retrieve extra tokens from the Warp. For each lucre you spend,
return one token from the Warp to a base or the cone.
At the start of the challenge, when you flip the destiny color, you may spend
lucre to flip again for 3 lucre. The original flip is ignored.
All other lucre expenditures can occur at any time before cards are played. You
do not have to follow timing rules and you can always spend lucre in reaction to
what the other players do.
Any player can spend lucre, but only the offensive player may retrieve tokens
from the Warp or re-flip destiny.
You may spend lucre to draw cards from the deck. For each lucre you spend, draw
a card from the deck. For an additional lucre, you may immediately discard this
card. You may not discard other cards.
For 4 lucre, you may discard your entire hand. You gain a new hand following
standard rules. [Mayfair gave players the option to spend lucre to discard
cards. Discarding a card when you have plenty of cards is not worth much.
Discarding your last challenge card is worth a lot. So, rather than pay to
discard cards, I just have players pay to get rid of their hand.]
You may spend lucre to increase your challenge total. Allies can also spend
lucre to increase the challenge total of their side, but non-involved players
cannot spend lucre on challenge totals. Each lucre spent adds 3 to your total.
Lucre only adds to challenge totals when spent. [I do not like the idea of
spending lucre to increase totals after cards are revealed; throwing money into
war only works before the battle.]
You may spend lucre to buy a flare from the unused flare deck. This costs 3
lucre. If using Mayfair flares, the cost is only 2 lucre.
You may spend lucre to replace your alien power for 10 lucre. The replacement
power is drawn at random from the unused powers. If you receive Schizoid,
redraw. In a multi-power game, it costs 10 lucre per power you wish to replace.
You may add another power to those you already possess for 20 lucre. The new
power is drawn at random from the unused powers. If you receive Schizoid,
redraw.
You may spend lucre to boost your power. For 4 lucre, you gain the benefits of
your power's super flare for the remainder of the challenge.
When receiving consolation, you may take one card or one lucre from your
opponent per token you had in the challenge. If your opponent has no lucre, you
are not obligated to take cards. You may immediately and freely discard any or
all cards you receive in consolation. [Notice I say "had in the challenge" and
not "lost in the challenge;" Zombie gets consolation without argument.]
When receiving defensive awards, you may take one card from the deck, one lucre
from the bank, or one token from the Warp for each token you had in the
challenge. You may immediately and freely discard any or all cards you receive
as rewards.
[I am of the opinion that drawing consolation or gaining defensive rewards
should rarely hurt you. At worst, they give you no benefit. I have thus made
both optional and gave the players the option to discard unwanted cards. Also,
when I added the option to take lucre instead of cards, there had to be
something to balance out lucre's flexibility; otherwise, players would rarely
take cards. This way, if your ultimate goal is to get cards, it is slightly
better to get cards as consolation or rewards than get lucre and then buy cards
later.]
Expansion by Patrick Riley
See also: Lucre Cost Chart, Lucre Rules  
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