Cosmos Empire: Review
Introduction:
Cosmos Empire is a dice resource generation game. Think Machi Koro, Valeria Card Kingdoms or space base. Cosmos Empire's twist on this growing genre is firstly the game is closer to filler weight and it gives a player more immediate agency in dice adjustment.
Game Anatomy:
Cards:
The game is mainly compiled of cards. Each card will have the cost to purchase on the top left. The card type at the bottom of the card, this will either be bio, spirit or tech, each type has cards that create synergies from that type. On the bottom right is the dice result that will trigger the production generation followed by the amount of resources the card will generate when triggered. This generation also counts as points when triggering and scoring the end of the game.
Some cards have abilities or unique resource generation that will be explained on the card.
Dice:
There are two d4 that will be used each turn as the resource generation. These two dice totalled will determine which cards generate their resources each turn.
The "Darkspace Hub" card will use an eight sided dice to denote which value is chosen at the point of the card purchase. This is an interesting card that allows its production value to be chosen by the player, locking that number from other cards however.
Cosmic Credits:
The cosmic credits are the currency for the game. They will be used to purchase new cards for the player's engines.
Setup:
- Give each player eight cosmic credits.
- Shuffle the deck and display ten cards face-up creating the build-pool.
How To Play:
Cosmos Empire is played until a player has reached 30 production generation, and all players have had equal turns. On a turn a player will roll the two production dice. Then all players will produce cosmic credits for any cards in their engine that activate on this number.
On a turn the active player will have two action points to use. Any action can be done twice or in any combination. Firstly before the dice are resolved the player may shift a die value up or down one to change the number outcome for all players. The player can cycle any card in the market to the bottom of the deck to gain two cosmic credits, any time a card is taken when purchased or cycled will instantly be refreshed. Lastly the player can add any card to their engine purchasing the card for its cost. After the players turn the player on the right will now have their turn. This will continue until a player has reached at least 30 production generation and all players have had equal turns, the player with the most generation will win.
Final Thoughts:
- Fast gameplay with clear synergies to develop towards.
- At a certain point players must pivot from engine building to cards that contain higher production generation based on certain criteria.
- Rulebook was a bit messy to understand.
I've been a fan of dice resource building games like Card Kingdoms of Valeria and Space Base for a long time. I don't believe there are enough for these games out there. Cosmos Empire's stand out feature is actually the faster gameplay. This is a game where the resources generated and points gained are the same. So players are firstly building to generate cosmic credits but as the game continues players are pivoting their strategy to look for synergies and which cards generate higher points based on their own strategy like having multiple pairs, based on specific card type, a lot of one card or simply high cost to purchase but large quantity of resource generation. A great feature of the game is these games tend to be reliant on the luck of the die. Players have to forfeit actions to do it but they can easily change the die up or down to unlock better cosmic credits for them or prevent generation for other players. If you enjoy dice resource games like this I can easily recommend Cosmic Empire for a fast hit of combo building and are awarding a Silver Seal of Approval.
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