By no means am I an expert at this game. There are many better players than me who have eventually wondered off to play other games not to return. I've picked the brains of many of them; they were happy to share their strategies and secrets to success. Many of them innovated and invented their own approach to winning Cosmoctopus. Here's what I have learnt from their experience and what I have learnt for myself.
*Please note, this is not a 'how to play' guide and does not teach the basics. It assumes that the reader knows how to play the game.
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Context:
This advice is primarily for a 2 player game taking place on a standard 3*3 grid, with no portals, and with random starting cards.
Forbidden Knowledge:
In the early game, without an extensive engine setup, this is the quickest way to achieve the greatest amount of tencticles. If you aren't aiming to get Forbidden Knowledge, and your appointment is, the game is already over. A player who even stops their opponent from getting one type of Forbidden Knowledge stands a chance at winning, but getting two types, changes the dynamic of the game from 'racing to achieve Forbidden Knowledge' to 'who has set up a decent engine' or 'who has stockpiled the most Hallucination (red) instant tencticles'. If you just try and rush Forbidden Knowledge by selecting the +3 resource tiles, using the +8 Hallucination cards, and posting with cards from your hand, you better hope that your opponent doesn't have a means of jumping in on that race. If they do gain Forbidden Knowledge, you may be in for a very slow mid-late game with the chance of your opposition coming back to win.
With that in mind, if you notice your opponent trying to rush Forbidden Knowledge, contesting them puts pressure on them to over-commit and not set up an engine or allow you to take it from them.
Obviously, the +8 Hallucination cards are the most immediate way of getting Forbidden Knowledge and if an opponent starts with the yellow, black or green +8 in hand, you won't know until they use it. So have a contingency plan that will let you pivot to another colour Forbidden Knowledge as soon a possible.
Pro Tip: if you secretly hold a non-red +8 Hallucination card in your hand, set yourself up to be able to take that type of Forbidden Knowledge but pull the trigger only when your opponent has spent resources trying to commit to it, eg.
Wait for them to start chasing the same Forbidden Knowledge, allow for them to repeatedly choose the +3 tile or placing down ritual or relic cards towards achieving it. That way they've spent turns trying to achieve something with no immediate reward awaiting them. If they aren't going for the Forbidden Knowledge you have the +8 Hallucination card for, set yourself up to get it in one turn (eg. 5 of that colour resource plus resources to pay for the +8 card) and then contest their Forbidden Knowledge or go for another.
TLDR: go for Forbidden Knowledge, even if it's just to prevent your opening getting them all, but plan for post-Forbidden Knowledge game.
Steer towards:
The Hallucination First Contact card is the best choice, in my opinion. Mid-late game, many players will have an excess of resources rendering the Relic First Contact card's movement discount useless. The Hallucination First Contact card can be used to complete a Constellation card in one turn (including it's resource bonus), help complete Forbidden Knowledge when you fall that one resource short, and, when desperate, can give you an instant +4 resources when fighting for positional dominance.
Get a Relic engine setup before completing Constellations so that you can get down and complete many Constellation cards at once. It's more move efficient.
A Ritual card setup that reduces the cost of Hallucination cards (first preference) or Relic cards (second preference or early game preference) is ideal. This will help you get out Hallucination cards quickly and easily mid-late game where their effects are more likely to be multiplied by whatever engine you have setup or where you can chain one Hallucination card after another (lightening symbol).
Get an early +3 resources-when-gaining-a-tencticle-Relic card before getting Forbidden Knowledge. Timed well, this can lead you to cascade one Forbidden Knowledge into another into another. These also allow for snowballing one completed Constellation card into another and another. Keep an eye out for the Hallucination cards that let you pay to place out any card in your hand or a relic card from the card row (Without an engine setup towards getting Relics out, these cards can be hard to get out quickly and won't be worth the time they take otherwise).
Steer away from:
Playing a +1 Tentacle Hallucination card or playing any Constellation card that's more expensive than the minimum 3+2 resources before establishing some sort of engine. These are too expensive early game and you're better off spending your actions on racing towards securing Forbidden Knowledge. I personally stand by this even it would mean you have to forfeit first choice of the First Contact cards. Additionally, keeping the +1 Tentacle Hallucination card in your hand until you're on your last couple of tencticles can give you an element of surprise and will prevent your opponent from countering your moves. Furthermore, it can be used as a means to gain positional advantage in the area control battle (for example, you and your opponent are racing toward achieving the red Forbidden Knowledge but they have advantage of having just chosen the +3 Hallucination Inky Realm tile. Having the extra movement will give you control of that tile preventing your opponent from choosing it). By extension, it also acts as another means to gain an extra movement (if you have achieved Forbidden Knowledge) which case let you use your turn more efficiently when filling in constellations, selecting powerful cards from the card row, or gaining a second round of resources.
Getting out more than 5 resource discount from your Ritual cards for one particular type of resource. Beyond that is overkill, in my opinion.
Getting out any Constellation card that isn't the cheap '3 plus 2 resources' cards, or Hallucination cards that add an instant tencticle. Without an engine, Relic or Ritual card setup, to reduce or efficiently cover the cost, these cards aren't move or resource efficient early game.
Getting out more than 2 auto-fill resource Relic cards. This isn't gospel, but even with Ritual cards to reduce the cost of the Relic cards in place, you still need to efficiently get out Constellation cards, another Ritual card setup. By the time you get out the auto-fill Relic cards and setup an engine that lets you get down Constellations efficiently, your opponent is likely to have secured multiple types of Forbidden Knowledge. That being said, I usually make a point of preventing my opponent from being able to get more than one down because, if the previously described setup is achieved, it can be devastating in the post-Forbidden Knowledge game (provided that Forbidden Knowledge has been shared between players, resulting in both players needing to get 4 more tencticles).
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I hope you got something out of reading this post. I may add more tips to this, in time. If you are another experienced player, feel free to respond with your own tips and tricks in this thread.
Goodluck and happy summoning.
*Please note, this is not a 'how to play' guide and does not teach the basics. It assumes that the reader knows how to play the game.
:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
Context:
This advice is primarily for a 2 player game taking place on a standard 3*3 grid, with no portals, and with random starting cards.
Forbidden Knowledge:
In the early game, without an extensive engine setup, this is the quickest way to achieve the greatest amount of tencticles. If you aren't aiming to get Forbidden Knowledge, and your appointment is, the game is already over. A player who even stops their opponent from getting one type of Forbidden Knowledge stands a chance at winning, but getting two types, changes the dynamic of the game from 'racing to achieve Forbidden Knowledge' to 'who has set up a decent engine' or 'who has stockpiled the most Hallucination (red) instant tencticles'. If you just try and rush Forbidden Knowledge by selecting the +3 resource tiles, using the +8 Hallucination cards, and posting with cards from your hand, you better hope that your opponent doesn't have a means of jumping in on that race. If they do gain Forbidden Knowledge, you may be in for a very slow mid-late game with the chance of your opposition coming back to win.
With that in mind, if you notice your opponent trying to rush Forbidden Knowledge, contesting them puts pressure on them to over-commit and not set up an engine or allow you to take it from them.
Obviously, the +8 Hallucination cards are the most immediate way of getting Forbidden Knowledge and if an opponent starts with the yellow, black or green +8 in hand, you won't know until they use it. So have a contingency plan that will let you pivot to another colour Forbidden Knowledge as soon a possible.
Pro Tip: if you secretly hold a non-red +8 Hallucination card in your hand, set yourself up to be able to take that type of Forbidden Knowledge but pull the trigger only when your opponent has spent resources trying to commit to it, eg.
Wait for them to start chasing the same Forbidden Knowledge, allow for them to repeatedly choose the +3 tile or placing down ritual or relic cards towards achieving it. That way they've spent turns trying to achieve something with no immediate reward awaiting them. If they aren't going for the Forbidden Knowledge you have the +8 Hallucination card for, set yourself up to get it in one turn (eg. 5 of that colour resource plus resources to pay for the +8 card) and then contest their Forbidden Knowledge or go for another.
TLDR: go for Forbidden Knowledge, even if it's just to prevent your opening getting them all, but plan for post-Forbidden Knowledge game.
Steer towards:
The Hallucination First Contact card is the best choice, in my opinion. Mid-late game, many players will have an excess of resources rendering the Relic First Contact card's movement discount useless. The Hallucination First Contact card can be used to complete a Constellation card in one turn (including it's resource bonus), help complete Forbidden Knowledge when you fall that one resource short, and, when desperate, can give you an instant +4 resources when fighting for positional dominance.
Get a Relic engine setup before completing Constellations so that you can get down and complete many Constellation cards at once. It's more move efficient.
A Ritual card setup that reduces the cost of Hallucination cards (first preference) or Relic cards (second preference or early game preference) is ideal. This will help you get out Hallucination cards quickly and easily mid-late game where their effects are more likely to be multiplied by whatever engine you have setup or where you can chain one Hallucination card after another (lightening symbol).
Get an early +3 resources-when-gaining-a-tencticle-Relic card before getting Forbidden Knowledge. Timed well, this can lead you to cascade one Forbidden Knowledge into another into another. These also allow for snowballing one completed Constellation card into another and another. Keep an eye out for the Hallucination cards that let you pay to place out any card in your hand or a relic card from the card row (Without an engine setup towards getting Relics out, these cards can be hard to get out quickly and won't be worth the time they take otherwise).
Steer away from:
Playing a +1 Tentacle Hallucination card or playing any Constellation card that's more expensive than the minimum 3+2 resources before establishing some sort of engine. These are too expensive early game and you're better off spending your actions on racing towards securing Forbidden Knowledge. I personally stand by this even it would mean you have to forfeit first choice of the First Contact cards. Additionally, keeping the +1 Tentacle Hallucination card in your hand until you're on your last couple of tencticles can give you an element of surprise and will prevent your opponent from countering your moves. Furthermore, it can be used as a means to gain positional advantage in the area control battle (for example, you and your opponent are racing toward achieving the red Forbidden Knowledge but they have advantage of having just chosen the +3 Hallucination Inky Realm tile. Having the extra movement will give you control of that tile preventing your opponent from choosing it). By extension, it also acts as another means to gain an extra movement (if you have achieved Forbidden Knowledge) which case let you use your turn more efficiently when filling in constellations, selecting powerful cards from the card row, or gaining a second round of resources.
Getting out more than 5 resource discount from your Ritual cards for one particular type of resource. Beyond that is overkill, in my opinion.
Getting out any Constellation card that isn't the cheap '3 plus 2 resources' cards, or Hallucination cards that add an instant tencticle. Without an engine, Relic or Ritual card setup, to reduce or efficiently cover the cost, these cards aren't move or resource efficient early game.
Getting out more than 2 auto-fill resource Relic cards. This isn't gospel, but even with Ritual cards to reduce the cost of the Relic cards in place, you still need to efficiently get out Constellation cards, another Ritual card setup. By the time you get out the auto-fill Relic cards and setup an engine that lets you get down Constellations efficiently, your opponent is likely to have secured multiple types of Forbidden Knowledge. That being said, I usually make a point of preventing my opponent from being able to get more than one down because, if the previously described setup is achieved, it can be devastating in the post-Forbidden Knowledge game (provided that Forbidden Knowledge has been shared between players, resulting in both players needing to get 4 more tencticles).
:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
I hope you got something out of reading this post. I may add more tips to this, in time. If you are another experienced player, feel free to respond with your own tips and tricks in this thread.
Goodluck and happy summoning.
