Insight on Power...

Virus_AntiMatter_Hurts · 03-19-2006, 11:13 AM

I have bought the latest Cosmic Encounter board game made from Avalon Hills and my friends, family, and I have enjoyed playing this game emencely. As time went by we thought it would be fun to introduce some powers from previous versions of the game. Slowly but surely we have been adding them to the point where we have over 300 powers. Now I don't know if some of these powers were added by the Avalon Hills company or previous companies but I am hoping that the power I have a question about is an Avalon Hills power; if not then I suppose it would be nice to here anyone input on the effect of the power.
______________________________________________

PUNISHER

"You have the power to punish. As a main player in a challenge, before cards are played you may say to your opponent, "If you play an Attack card of value X or greater, I will put one of your tokens in the Warp," where X is the value of any Attack card in your hand, or 10 if you have no Attack cards. If your opponent does play such a card, after the challenge is over, take a token from any of his bases and put it in the Warp. After the challenge you must show the card from your hand to your opponent."
_______________________________________________

The situation I had encountered was that I was left with a planet on my home system with only one ship. I already lost a power because I only possessed three planets on my home system. If I lost another I would have no powers and the future for me would look very dim. The power I currently had was Virus (It enables me to multiply the (number of ships I possess plus my allies) ) and my opponent had Punisher. He declared before cards were played that if I play an 8 or higher I would lose a ship of a planet. I played the only card I could which was an 8 and so did he. I won the battle but would lose a ship to the Warp. As the power Punisher declares in the final statement he was suppose to show the card from his hand that he declared as X. He could not show the card because the card he declared was the card he used to attack and he had no other attack cards in his hand. The dispute began there.

I would like to here anyone's opinion on the power of this card so I can make a decision on such events in the future.

Can you declare X on an attack card?

If you only have one card left which you must use to attack show X = 10?

Does the card he declare as X get set aside until he must reveal it?

Or any other ideas you may have to specify this Power... I would really appreciate some feedback on this because I am curious of how other Cosmic Encounter player would handle and rule the effects of Powers so I can make more accurate decisions in times where we run across another mysterious loophole in future Powers. Thank you for you time and help.

Yoper · 03-20-2006, 07:04 AM

Quote:

"After the challenge you must show the card from your hand to your opponent."

I know that this is what the description says for the PUNISHER, but why wouldn't the fact that you just saw what card he had just played for the conflict satisfy the intent of the situation?

It does seem to be a strange situation, but not one that sounds as if it is meant to be a loophole.

The fact that he happened to only have one attack card in his hand and that he used it shouldn't be a sticking point. I think that the last statement is there so that if he has multiple attack cards, he has to show the one that his statement is based upon. With him have only the one, he has already shown it to you during the conflict.

Craig

Virus_AntiMatter_Hurts · 03-20-2006, 08:30 AM

Thanks for you comment Craig. I am not quite trying to stick to the fine print and prove that it must be interpereted exactly as it says but I am just trying to grasp a better understanding of how other players would handle such cases so I can improve the decisions on future powers in gameplay to come. I am glad to hear your idea of the power so this surely will help me come to better conclusions along with any other replies.

PhilFleischmann · 04-10-2006, 02:37 PM

FYI: The Punisher is not an officially published power for any version of CE. Usually, the published powers will not leave such ambiguities in them, or at least clarify them in the rule book or official errata.

A search on the web will yeild well over 1000 unoffical powers, many of which are bad ideas for any number of reasons. Just because someone came up with it and put it up on the web somewhere, doesn't mean it's a balanced power, or that they even playtested it at all. And just because it's named after a cool comic book character, doesn't mean it's a good CE alien.

This particular power doesn't seem too bad, but whoever came up with it should have been clearer.

03-19-2006, 11:13 AM	#1
Virus_AntiMatter_Hurts Cosmic Encounter Overlord Join Date: Mar 2006 Location: Texas Posts: 3	Insight on Power... I have bought the latest Cosmic Encounter board game made from Avalon Hills and my friends, family, and I have enjoyed playing this game emencely. As time went by we thought it would be fun to introduce some powers from previous versions of the game. Slowly but surely we have been adding them to the point where we have over 300 powers. Now I don't know if some of these powers were added by the Avalon Hills company or previous companies but I am hoping that the power I have a question about is an Avalon Hills power; if not then I suppose it would be nice to here anyone input on the effect of the power. ______________________________________________ PUNISHER "You have the power to punish. As a main player in a challenge, before cards are played you may say to your opponent, "If you play an Attack card of value X or greater, I will put one of your tokens in the Warp," where X is the value of any Attack card in your hand, or 10 if you have no Attack cards. If your opponent does play such a card, after the challenge is over, take a token from any of his bases and put it in the Warp. After the challenge you must show the card from your hand to your opponent." _______________________________________________ The situation I had encountered was that I was left with a planet on my home system with only one ship. I already lost a power because I only possessed three planets on my home system. If I lost another I would have no powers and the future for me would look very dim. The power I currently had was Virus (It enables me to multiply the (number of ships I possess plus my allies) ) and my opponent had Punisher. He declared before cards were played that if I play an 8 or higher I would lose a ship of a planet. I played the only card I could which was an 8 and so did he. I won the battle but would lose a ship to the Warp. As the power Punisher declares in the final statement he was suppose to show the card from his hand that he declared as X. He could not show the card because the card he declared was the card he used to attack and he had no other attack cards in his hand. The dispute began there. I would like to here anyone's opinion on the power of this card so I can make a decision on such events in the future. Can you declare X on an attack card? If you only have one card left which you must use to attack show X = 10? Does the card he declare as X get set aside until he must reveal it? Or any other ideas you may have to specify this Power... I would really appreciate some feedback on this because I am curious of how other Cosmic Encounter player would handle and rule the effects of Powers so I can make more accurate decisions in times where we run across another mysterious loophole in future Powers. Thank you for you time and help. Last edited by Virus_AntiMatter_Hurts : 03-19-2006 at 11:14 AM. Reason: Formatting Changes

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03-20-2006, 08:30 AM	#3
Virus_AntiMatter_Hurts Cosmic Encounter Overlord Join Date: Mar 2006 Location: Texas Posts: 3	Thanks for you comment Craig. I am not quite trying to stick to the fine print and prove that it must be interpereted exactly as it says but I am just trying to grasp a better understanding of how other players would handle such cases so I can improve the decisions on future powers in gameplay to come. I am glad to hear your idea of the power so this surely will help me come to better conclusions along with any other replies.

04-10-2006, 02:37 PM	#4
PhilFleischmann Mad Scientist Join Date: Feb 2006 Location: Redondo Beach, CA Posts: 13	FYI: The Punisher is not an officially published power for any version of CE. Usually, the published powers will not leave such ambiguities in them, or at least clarify them in the rule book or official errata. A search on the web will yeild well over 1000 unoffical powers, many of which are bad ideas for any number of reasons. Just because someone came up with it and put it up on the web somewhere, doesn't mean it's a balanced power, or that they even playtested it at all. And just because it's named after a cool comic book character, doesn't mean it's a good CE alien. This particular power doesn't seem too bad, but whoever came up with it should have been clearer.