  A positive cosmological constant simplifies the asymptotics of forever
expanding cosmological solutions of the Einstein equations. In this paper a
general mathematical analysis on the level of formal power series is carried
out for vacuum spacetimes of any dimension and perfect fluid spacetimes with
linear equation of state in spacetime dimension four. For equations of state
stiffer than radiation evidence for development of large gradients, analogous
to spikes in Gowdy spacetimes, is found. It is shown that any vacuum solution
satisfying minimal asymptotic conditions has a full asymptotic expansion given
by the formal series. In four spacetime dimensions, and for spatially
homogeneous spacetimes of any dimension, these minimal conditions can be
derived for appropriate initial data. Using Fuchsian methods the existence of
vacuum spacetimes with the given formal asymptotics depending on the maximal
number of free functions is shown without symmetry assumptions.
