Editing Cosmic Encounter (section)

===Alien powers===
The rules become more complex with the introduction of alien powers. These are typically drawn randomly at the start of the game and known to all players; however, variants exist where players can select their powers, use multiple powers simultaneously, or hide their powers until they are used. Each power gives the player a way to bend the core rules to their advantages, typically in one of the following ways:
* Continuous effects, such as the Macron, where each of its ships is valued as 4 instead of 1 during combat
* Combat resolution effects, such as the Void, where any ship that loses against it is removed from the game entirely instead of going to the warp
* Victory condition changes, such as Masochist, who wins if it loses all its ships
* Role-playing elements, such as the Sniveler, who, if in a losing position, may whine to the other players to gain benefits
A player's alien power is only active if they have three or more colonies in their home system, and if lost, can be regained by taking back a third colony.

The current edition of ''Cosmic Encounter'', published by Fantasy Flight Games, includes a total of 238 aliens across all of its expansion and promo sets. In addition, many players have created their own "homemade" powers, and have posted these along with other various game extensions on the [[Internet]].