Post originally by Darrin Bright at 2004-04-22 05:41:09
Converted from Phorums BB System

Something else I was hoping you'd mention... although the artwork is in most cases gorgeous, the alien power cards are double-sided.

When I did some research on the previous editions, I discovered many players like to play with multiple and hidden alien powers, even up to five at once. From what I understand, the previous editions had alien powers had at least one side blank so that you could play them face-down or at the very least pick them out randomly.

When we played the AH version, it was hard to pick randomly with the alien's name printed on both sides. It could be done... as could hidden powers... but I would have appreciated it if the AH designers had paid more attention to some of the features of the previous editions.

The selection of alien powers also seemed rather limited (20), given the number they had to choose from in previous editions. I guess a smaller number is easier to address game balance, but then they put in Virus, which is so unbelievably powerful in this version that even if the other players band together it's still a cakewalk.

The absence of Flare cards, either the disposable Mayfair versions or the more permanent Eon versions, also sucks out quite a bit of the original flavor of the game. I've been tempted to hunt down the previous editions and use those rules and cards with these components, but as you pointed out, the four-player limit makes this difficult. Someone has already suggested combining two sets and some spraypaint for an 8-player game, but I'm curious what they did about the order disks.