Technology is a variant introduced in the FFG edition of Cosmic Encounter. It uses a deck of 20 tech cards. An additional deck of 25 tech cards is included in Cosmic Odyssey, which can be combined with the base game deck or used by itself.
Tech cards represent technologies that players can research and develop throughout the game. Each tech card has a "research number" that indicates how difficult it is to complete, and a unique ability that players can gain once it is completed.
Rules[]
Setup[]
To play with technology, after normal setup is completed, shuffle the technology deck and deal two tech cards to each player. Each player chooses one to keep face down in their home system and one to discard; place these discarded cards, along with any tech cards that are discarded during the game, in a face-up tech discard pile separate from the cosmic deck's discard pile. Place the rest of the tech deck face down within reach. Three tech cards bring specific tokens into the game; keep these tokens aside until a tech card puts them into play.
If playing a short game (four planets per player), remove all tech cards with a research number of 8 or more from the tech deck before shuffling it during setup.
Researching tech cards[]
At the start of each player's regroup phase, before the offense retrieves a ship from the warp, each player (not just the offense) may perform one (and only one) of the following actions to progress their technology:
- Research: To research a tech, the player takes one of their ships from any of their colonies and places it on any one of their face-down tech cards. Ships on tech cards are considered to be in the tech card's owner's home system but do not participate in encounters.
- Complete: To complete a tech, the player chooses one of their face-down tech cards that has ships on it equal to or greater than its research number and turns it face up. The player returns all of their ships on it to colonies, and the tech may now be used according to its printed instructions. A research number of "X" on a tech card means the player may use any number of ships to complete it.
- Abandon: To abandon a tech, the player discards any one of their tech cards, returning all ships on it to colonies.
Technologies that state "do not reveal this tech until used" are researched by using the "Research" action above but are turned face up via their own specified methods. Turning one of these technologies face up this way does not count toward the player's one technology action per turn.
Gaining new tech cards[]
If a player has the opportunity to have a second (or further) encounter on their turn, they may instead choose to end their turn and draw additional tech cards. The player draws one tech card plus one more for each foreign colony they have, chooses one from among them to keep face down in their home system and discards the rest. There is no limit to the number of tech cards a player may have and no penalty for incomplete tech cards (other than the fact that the ships researching them cannot be used for encounters).
Trading tech cards[]
As of Cosmic Odyssey, tech cards may be traded as part of a deal, regardless of whether they are face up or face down or have ships on them or not. If a tech card with ships on it is traded, the previous owner returns all of their ships from it to their colonies, and the new owner may place up to an equal number of their own ships onto the tech from their colonies.
Before Cosmic Odyssey, tech cards could not be traded as part of a deal; however, FFG's 2009 FAQ suggested that being able to do so could be a "fun house rule."
Tech card types[]
Normal tech cards were introduced in the base game. Cosmic Odyssey added two new types of tech cards, labeled Haz-Tech and Mili-Tech.
- Normal: These techs are played per the above rules.
- Haz-Tech: These techs are researched normally but are not completed with the "Complete" action. Instead, they may be turned face up per their individual conditions if a hazard warning was drawn during the encounter. Turning a Haz-Tech face up does not count against a player's one technology action per encounter.
- Mili-Tech: These techs are not researched by adding ships to them. Instead, they are completed by using the "Complete" action and discarding one or more attack cards that fulfill the card's listed requirement:
- X≥#: Discard any number of attack cards whose values add up to the number or more.
- X=X: Discard two attack cards with the same value.
- X+1: Discard two attack cards whose values are 1 apart from each other.