Editing Cosmic Encounter (section)

===Variants===
More advanced optional game components can add further levels of complexity and unpredictability. Various editions have included varying numbers of these optional components. They include:
*Flares: Cards that grant a limited version of an alien power, or, if used by the player who possesses that power, a significant boost to their own power.
*Lux (formerly Lucre): In-game currency that allows more control of resources (such as buying more cards for one's hand or ships back from the warp).
*Moons: Special tokens which may be occupied by players, doing so grants one access to its special ability. Moon abilities can be powerful (such as retaining an alien power when it would normally be lost), while others are best described as "silly" (such as forcing the owner to speak in rhyme).
*Special planetary systems: Added in an expansion to the Eon Productions version of ''Cosmic Encounter'' and kept in the Mayfair version, the special systems have additional rules in regards to the player's initial setup, colonies, and victory conditions.
*Technologies: An array of boosts and special abilities, which must be researched (by placing ships on them) for several turns before they can be put into play. The power of technology cards varies wildly, with more powerful technologies requiring more turns to research. For example, the Xenon Lasers tech costs two ships, and its owner may change encounter totals by one point, while the Omega Missile tech costs eight ships, and destroys a planet.
*Rewards: A deck of powerful cards that can only be drawn by victorious defensive allies. Reward cards include "kickers," multipliers for encounter cards, and "rifts," booby traps that free ships from the warp, or send ships there if they are ever taken from another player's hand.
*Large group games: Official variants include rules and cards for adding a seventh or eighth player. However, with unofficial variants, the game can support as many players as the number of available player colors. With all expansions, the Mayfair Games edition has ten player colors for a ten-player game and Fantasy Flight Games' edition has eight player colors for an eight-player game, or up to 13 player colors if the translucent plastic ships from the 42nd Anniversary Edition are each included as their own color.