Pulsars
1. There is one Pulsar Card for each power. At game set-up, once all
powers are determined, the Pulsar Cards of the powers are shuffled into
the deck. If there are secret powers, those too are put in the deck by
their owners. Unlike Flares, no extra Pulsar Cards are put into the
deck. If a power leaves the game and/or a new power enters the game,
Pulsar Cards are not replaced. If Pentaform is in the game, only the
Pentaform Pulsar Card is placed in the deck, not its life stages. If
Progenitor is in the game, the Pulsar Card of the power of the
second system is put into the deck. The main player opposing Cripple has
no restriction in regards to Pulsar Cards. Pulsar Cards cannot be
played during Sanity. During Insanity (a new Edict) they have to be
played as per Insanity, but you are not required to use an effect that
would cause you to discard it.
2. By default, when you play an Pulsar Card you do not discard it.
There are circumstances where you discard it when played (see below), but
for general purposes, you return it to your hand. If applicable, an
invoked Pulsar Card has a continuous effect till the end of the
challenge.
3. If you have the Pulsar Card not of your power, you play the Con
effect. The purpose of the Con is to give you immunity to that power.
The power itself is not considered zapped or not in use; it just means you
cannot be affected by it. For example, if you have the Vacuum Pulsar,
Vacuum cannot choose you to lose tokens but may still choose other players
to lose tokens. If you have the Mutant Pulsar, Mutant cannot fill his
hand with your cards, but other players' hands are still available to
Mutant. In some cases, because of the power, a direct Pulsar is not
possible or feasible. In such a case, playing the Con limits the power in
some way. For example, if you have the Zombie Pulsar Card, Zombie can
only free your tokens from the Warp as part of a deal, but Zombie's tokens
still do not go to the Warp. If you have the Virus Pulsar Card, when
you oppose him in a challenge, his allies' tokens are only added, not
multiplied, but Virus' tokens still multiply.
4. You may use the Pulsar Card not of your power to prevent the use of
that power only for the remainder of the challenge. If you do so, the
Pulsar Card is discarded. The power is considered not in use. Unzap
does not negate this effect, but the new Edict Pulsar Zap does. Unlike
a Cosmic Zap, you do not have to wait until the power is used to invoke
this effect. For example, if you have to get a new hand as the defensive
player in phase 3 against Anti-Matter, you can play the Anti-Matter
Pulsar Card to prevent the use of the Anti-Matter power for the
remainder of the challenge, even though Anti-Matter is only used in phase
8.
5. If you have the Pulsar Card of your power, you use the Pro. This
makes your power stronger. For example, if Anti-Matter has his Pulsar
Card, his opponent's allies' tokens are added to his opponent's challenge
total. In some cases, it lifts a restraint from the power description.
For example, Negator with his Pulsar Card can negate the use of a power.
In a few cases the power is given a new ability.
6. If you have the Pulsar Card of your power but lack three home bases,
you may still use that power only. However, you are then not permitted to
use the Pro effect. In an optional rule in multi-power games, a player
would lose the use of one power losing a third home base, a second power
losing his fourth, and so on. In such a case, the player is permitted to
declare he will lose the use of power of an Pulsar Card he already has
and invoke this ability to keep the use.
7. If you have the Pulsar Card of your power yet somehow lose the use of
it by means other than lack of home bases or loss of power card, you can
discard it to keep the use of the power. For example, by discarding your
Pulsar Card, you can ignore Cosmic Zap, Power Outage, or Wild Wrack, but
only for that particular power. You are still bound by Silencer.
8. Pulsar Cards are, obviously, "non-challenge cards" for all purposes.
Pulsar Cards are a new option in Witch's list. Negator can negate the
use of an Pulsar Card. Negating the Con Negator Pulsar is legal but
highly inefficient. If other powers have a specific effect on Pulsar
Cards, it will either be explained on the Pulsar Card or as part of my
Commentary.
9. Keep in mind that the Pro of Pulsar Cards can make many Powers quite
powerful. This is on purpose. If you are a player that doesn't like
Cosmic Encounter to get quite so complicated or crazy, I don't recommend
you use Pulsar Cards. If, like me, you relish Cosmic Encounter at its
most cosmic with multi-powers, moons, Lucre, comets, basically the works,
then by all means add in Pulsar Cards. You might notice a
difference, but it's a good difference.
10. If there is a conflict between a player using the Con Pulsar and another
player using his Super Flare the Super Flare always takes precedence, regardless
of which was played first or timing order. The Pulsar Card has no effect but
is not discarded.
See also Pulsar Card Effects
Expansion from Gerald Katz 
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