Cosmic Encounter rules clarification: Using alien powers multiple times in the same encounter?
(I also posted this in r/Cosmic_Encounter, but that's such a low volume subreddit that I thought it would probably be worth to post here as well.)
I can't find anything saying using alien powers multiple times in the same encounter is illegal, and some of the rules are phrased in a way that makes me think this is intended to be legal, but I can't reconcile this with how apparently broken/weird this makes some powers.
For example, the Philanthropist has the following text:
You have the power of Giving. As a main player or ally, after alliances are formed, you may use this power to give one card from your hand to either main player (your opponent, if you are a main player). Your opponent immediately adds the card to his or her hand and may play it normally. If, after using this power, you do not have any encounter cards in your hand and you are a main player, you draw a new hand.
Wouldn't this mean that the Philanthropist can just keep giving away cards, causing cosmic quakes, looking for specific cards, etc.?
Posted Jan 8, 2017, 5:58 PM UTC
In your example, it's telling you that you can give one card (not more than one) to either main player (not both).
So you can't give multiple cards and you can't choose both main players. You can only use this alien power once per encounter.
This is pretty typical for a lot of the alien powers. Read them literally and they are usually pretty clear. Where things usually get more confusing is with timing conflicts or multiple powers and effects going off simultaneously.
I hope that helps.
I agree with this interpretation if you mean this is what it means to use the power. The question is what prevents me from using it multiple times; I don't see it.
Use is just a keyword to indicate if and when a power is zappable. I think this is one of those common sense scenarios where the rules don't say you can, so you can't. In fact the rules don't say you can give any cards away, but Philanthropist is like "Actually after alliances are formed you can give one card away." But written in a slightly more rules-tight fashion. You could also argue that you can give cards away whenever you want because the game has been played by somebody at least onve so it's already "after alliances have been formed." :P
Not to sound obtuse, but I'm not sure I understand your misunderstanding. :)
What prevents you from using the power multiple times is that the wording itself precludes this. Step 4 is the Alliance step. Step 5 is the Planning Step. The power tells you that you can use it after alliances are formed (e.g. once all non-main players who were invited to ally, have decided to do so), but before the Planning Step.
At this juncture, the power tells you that you can use it to give one card. Not a card one at a time until you get what you want. Not multiple cards. You have one chance during this window to give a single card to either main player. If you gave one card, then could use the power again and give another card, you are giving more than one card. And if you changed main players, you aren't choosing either player, you're choosing both.
To give a silly (and admittedly not perfect) example, if a parent tells a child they can have one cookie between lunch and dinner, they couldn't claim they could have as many cookies as they want, because each instance of taking a cookie is a singular act, since there's no provision for limiting multiple acts of single-cookie taking. If the child takes 2 cookies, they have taken more than one. period. :)
I disagree that the wording of the card precludes using it multiple times, unless you are saying there is some wording convention in the game that I haven't picked up on. I only see it specifying the period of the encounter during which it may be used (after alliances are formed, before planning).
I don't think your cookie analogy fits. A more applicable version would be for the parent to tell the child that between lunch and dinner they gain an ability which when used enables them to acquire one cookie. I don't think that so clearly implies that it can only be used once, only that a single use of the ability yields a single cookie.
Maybe some related observations and questions might clear up why I'm even asking this:
From the timing rules, it might seem at first that if the offense neglects to use an ability before the defense does then it's just too late for them, but that's not how most people typically play in practice. From this I conclude that there's probably not a specific instance that most optional effects occur but rather a period of time during which they can be used. A period of time it can be used is at least compatible with the idea of being able to use it multiple times.
If somebody's power is swapped with somebody else's after it was already used but before the end of the period that it is normally allowed to be used, can the other player use it, or has it been used up? Similarly, can the first player still use the power they just gained even though they already used a power during this encounter? What is the state of having used an alien power attached to? The player, the power, neither, or both? (This question came up in the last game I played, and I ruled that each player can only use a power once per encounter unless a card clearly states otherwise, meaning the state is attached to the player, but this was just to keep the game moving, and it doesn't feel very consistent.)
The rules say of Cosmic Zap, "the effect of that power’s use is then canceled and that power may not be used again until the end of the current encounter," which seems to imply that without the second half of that sentence one should normally have expected to be able to try to use it again. However, I yield that it's possible the rules were just trying to short circuit what they believed might be a common misunderstanding.
Some powers are clearly worded to be possible to use multiple times per encounter (e.g. phrasing like "whenever" something else happens), but there is no clear convention one way or the other. Some powers, like the Philanthropist, are clearly broken if you can use them repeatedly, but again, I don't see anything specifically saying when you can and can't use a power multiple times.
I see more clearly what you are getting at. But with all due respect, I think you're applying a meaning to the word "use" that just isn't there.
In this case, using the power is meant as "activating the power during a particular time frame" (between the end of Step 4 and the start of Step 5). It is temporal as well as descriptive. "Use" is not synonymous with "each time I announce I want to activate the power." It is saying that you can use the totality of the power during that time period, which stipulates one card.
As someone pointed out, using a power the way you are trying to could set up an ad infinitum situation that essentially breaks the game. The power allows you to use it "after alliances have been formed." Using your logic, I could argue that after the first time alliances are formed, I can use the power any time I want for the rest of the game, since it doesn't stipulate when the power ends. I could also conceivably use the power over and over again, not only to eventually be able to draw from the draw deck when I run out of cards (if I'm a main player), but to jeep giving cards to a certain player in a kingmaking fashion.
When you apply a temporal restriction, the power is saying it can be used to give one card during that time window. Whether that time window is one minute or one hour (from when the last player accepts or declines an alliance to when everyone starts planning) and you play more than one card, you have not used the power correctly.
As for your other questions:
You're correct that the rules are trying to prevent exactly what you are trying to argue. That a Zap is played and then you could turn around and say, "Ok, then I will activate my power again and this time give a card to the other main player . . . " The Zap is not implying that powers inherently can be used over and over again in the same encounter. I'd follow up with this from the CE FAQ/Errata:
Q: If you attempt to play a flare but it gets Card Zapped (or for some other reason it is cancelled), does that count against a player's limit of one flare per encounter?
A: Yes it does count
You're answering your own question here. Some cards stipulate that they deviate from the standard, that a power can't be used over and over in the same encounter. To me this clearly indicates that if a power says it can be used more than once, then cards that don't default to only being used once.
I would defer to the Cosmic Encounter FAQ and Errata using this clarification:
Q: If a flare that can be played at any time changes hands, can it be used a second time in the encounter by the new owner?
A: No. Any given flare may only be played once per encounter.
I'm not sure any of my points help or create more confusion. But that's my best shot first thing in the morning :)
Because that's the rules?