When comparing Cosmic Encounter vs Lords of Waterdeep, the Slant community recommends Cosmic Encounter for most people. In the question“What are the best board games?” Cosmic Encounter is ranked 9th while Lords of Waterdeep is ranked 36th. The most important reason people chose Cosmic Encounter is:
The basic rules of the game are background noise. The alien powers, both individually and as they interact with each other, determine the dynamic of each game you play, and each dynamic is radically different. For example, you can try different races and alien powers each time you play, and the way to mix and match them is almost limitless. This makes every game feel different than the one before it.
Specs
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Pros
Pro Every game is unique
The basic rules of the game are background noise. The alien powers, both individually and as they interact with each other, determine the dynamic of each game you play, and each dynamic is radically different. For example, you can try different races and alien powers each time you play, and the way to mix and match them is almost limitless. This makes every game feel different than the one before it.
Pro The social component of the game requires you to strategize with other players
It's almost impossible to win on your own. When attacking or defending, you will get the chance to ask for allies on your turn, or assist others when they are engaged. Allies can help you win the attack or defense, but they will also gain benefits if successful. It is a team-based game, although each player is out for themselves in the end.
One of the neatest parts of the game are the negotiate cards - instead of laying down an attack card you can try to negotiate. If you both play negotiate cards, you have 1 minute to come to an agreement which can include creating new colonies, trading cards, or virtually anything. If the players don't come to agreeable terms within a minute, they both suffer a hefty penalty (4 of their ships are sent to the warp).
Pro Potential for very satisfying, creative plays
With so many unique combinations of alien powers and the fact you can form unstable alliances with other players, there's so many ways to get creative. For example, knowing when and where to pick your battles. Perhaps two other players just had an epic battle and now they're down a few ships - it would be the perfect time to swoop in and try to colonize their planets when they're weakened. Perhaps you have a special power that will give you an edge in a certain fight against another player. By paying attention to what's going on around you at all times, skillful tacticians will find all kinds of extremely clever or amusing plays to be possible.
Pro Great illustrations on the cards
Illustrations on Alien Power cards are beautifully rendered and imaginative. Each one features full color, hand drawn creatures that are distinctly unique and look like something out of a sci-fi movie.
Pro You have some influence over the theme of each game
At the beginning of each game, players are given 3-4 alien powers to choose from, usually taken at random. However, if you were trying to put together a specific theme - for example, a war between certain aliens races, or a battle using only certain powers - you can manually select the set of powers available to each player. This allows you to generate personalized games that have specific story to them or heavily revolve around a particular strategy or resource.
Pro This is an exercise in social dynamics as much as a board game
Working with or against other players, forming unstable alliances, and negotiating with other players creates some situations which will test your real world social skills.
Pro Excellent expansions
There are six expansions which not only add a minimum of 20 new alien races with new powers each, but they also brings unique gameplay mechanics to the table. For example, Cosmic Conflict adds space quake hazards, and Cosmic Alliance adds new rules for teams and expands the game to 7 players.
Pro Not as complicated as it might sound
After you play one or two games, the basic mechanics become trivial to work with. Additionally, you only have to worry about learning as many alien powers as you have players in the game, so your personal knowledge and experience with the powers can grow slowly over time. Most alien powers take a minute or two to really understand, then the fun begins of finding creative or unique ways to develop strategies around them.
Pro Gameplay grows more complex over time
Limited options are available at the beginning of the game. There's only a few pieces in play along with quest cards that give simple, concrete goals. However, gameplay grows more complex as buildings are added and new quests become available. For example, where to move your agents, which opponent to interrupt by playing intrigue cards, and which kind of quests you focus on are goals that will shift and evolve as the game progresses.
Pro Quick gaming sessions
Each game is only eight rounds and can be played in an hour or two.
Pro Dungeons and Dragons in reverse
Based on DnD lore, but you're the one setting quests instead of going on them. It's fun to feel like a powerful Lord ordering your agents around and making them complete quests for your own benefit.
Pro Easy to teach new players how to play
Within a few turns, even new players should be able to understand the basic mechanics. You move your agents around the board, complete quests with them, and get points based on the difficulty of the quest. Whoever is able to gain the most points by the end of the 8th round wins. Thanks to the simple rules and the game's easy-to-understand nature, this makes it very approachable for all skill levels.
Pro Intrigue cards add a huge element of player interaction
The player interaction aspects of Lords of Waterdeep stem from the aptly named Intrigue cards. By moving your agents to a special area of the game board, you are able to bring one of these cards into play. They let you do such things as steal money or resources from other players, force your opponents onto a mandatory quest, sabotage their current quest in progress, or even temporarily bend the rules of the game. Choosing which opponent you're going to sabotage and how you're going to do it can result in plenty of in-game interactions with your fellow players.
Pro Fun to mess with your friends
While completing your own quests, you have the opportunity to sabotage your opponents' quests with disruption cards. This makes it harder for them to complete their quests and even steal their money/resources. There are also mandatory quests that can be forced onto your opponents, which means they must complete that quest before they can take on any new ones. These can lead to many humorous and interesting moments with your friends as you attempt to prevent each other from progressing in devious and devastating ways.
Pro Great presentation
The game board is sturdy and the pieces are colorful. Even the currency comes in the form of cardboard Waterdeep coins which really help sell the D&D theme. The rule book is loaded with pictures and illustrations. Overall, everything is presented very nicely. There's even a handy plastic mold to neatly put everything away when you're finished playing and keep everything in good shape.
Cons
Con Can cause arguments
Due to the nature of the game, which has you working with others and then turning against them in the same breath, it can create some situations where people are going to feel used or mistreated. This can result in a lot of fighting or arguments, especially when playing with easily offended people.
Con Unbalanced
In situations where all players gang up on just one single player.
Con Some alien powers are difficult to parse
Some of the cards have walls of text that look intimidating at first, and may take a slow read and group discussion to really figure out. Thankfully, the alien powers are divided into three sets based on "difficulty" which translates roughly to "difficulty to understand, and how much it disrupts basic gameplay." Green (easy) cards are usually simple enough that a child of 12 or so can understand them.
Con Might be hard to teach
This is one of those games that has to be played to be fully understood. As such, it can be hard to teach someone. It will take new players a few rounds to start understanding.
Con Not enough winning strategies
The main objective is to gain as many points as possible by having your agents/workers complete quests. There's not much in the way of strategy due to this one win condition. In almost all cases, the game will simply be won by the player who can tackle quests the most efficiently while dealing with anything their opponents throw at them.
Con Might not appeal to veteran gamers
The game systems are rather plain and basic, and it doesn't bring much new to the genre. It may not be appealing to veteran gamers as the gameplay is not very deep when compared to other similar games.
Con Can cause arguments
Having to plead with your friends not to interrupt your quest flow can result in many arguments. Having an opponent play an intrigue card on you, especially the mandatory quest card, can completely ruin your chance at winning. It's easy to get frustrated with other players, especially if you feel like you're being unfairly targeted or teamed up against repeatedly.