General
Alert
Resource
Support
Type
Power of Leadership
Gains Pods from Allies
As a leader, after arrival, use this power to draft one pod for each of your sponsors. Then, each of your allies drafts one pod.
Legacy: After arrival, leaders draft one pod for each sponsor, and sponsors each draft one pod.
Once serving as the military inspectors of the Cosmos, the Generals grew frustrated at the shoddy equipment and pitiful discipline of most alien armies. With eons of military history under their belt, they sent out their most decorated veterans to show everyone how it’s done.
Leader: Arrival
Mandatory
Wild Flare
As a leader, during a clash where your might is lower, you may discharge this flare to draft pods from the forge equal to ships your allies have in the encounter. You may discharge any distress pods you draft. Scrap the rest.
Leader: Clash
Super Flare
As a leader, during a clash, you may discharge this flare to add 2 to your side’s might for each ship your allies have in the encounter.
Leader: Clash
Modifications
- General’s Wild flare is virtually identical to mine; however, it is restricted to reinforcement pods and requires playing them. My version allows the use of any distress pods, which are exclusive to my Cosmic.
- General’s legacy provides its power to every leader, dramatically increasing the number of pods gained if any aliens sponsor at all. Popular aliens that can attract many allies like Animal or Crystal can excel with this legacy, and aliens that prefer fighting alone like Virus and Spiff can take advantage of it in their own way. Original Cosmic has no legacies.
Tips
- The more pods General has, the more hesitant other aliens will be to join it. However, more pods also gives General more options, allowing it to more easily handle taking on multiple enemies alone.
- General has no power if it cannot commission allies. Since the power only activates as a leader, it doesn’t get to use the power that often unless it is constantly invaded. Convincing other aliens to side with it on defense can be a difficult sell, and winning can grant allies even more benefits.
- Though General gets more than its allies if multiple aliens sponsor it, it should still be wary of giving other aliens too many resources. Similarly, other aliens should be wary of giving General too much, though it does make General a major compensation magnet. If aliens like Trader or Whirligig are around, General won’t have too much time to take advantage of its gains, but it can probably at least gain advantage in the current invasion.
Development Notes
- Having a wild flare relate to reinforcements feels on-point for the army theme of General, similar to Reserve. I also really like how it ties in to General’s power by having the draft count match the number of allied ships in the fleet. The deck in base Cosmic only contains 6 reinforcements total, while mine only contains 2. I expanded this power to include all distress pods, since that increases the number to 9. Sending out a distress beacon still fits the military theme, so I think it’s still appropriate.
- General can almost be described as a variant of Animal, only without the ship destruction ability and only working as a leader. In contrast to Animal, General is capable of gaining more resources at once, and tends to do better in larger matches where more aliens can join at the same time. General also gets the pods no matter what, while Animal’s power is win-based. Animal has the advantage in being more popular as a sponsor, as General only gains an advantage as a leader.
- I really like how my naming convention worked out that the power of “leadership” is a leader-based power. I also like the power “to lead”, but I don’t think it’s a meaningful enough difference to warrant a change.
- Big fan of General’s super flare adding a combat component to the military-themed power while still keeping it related to General’s theme of gaining power from allies. I interpret the base power to be something akin to leading an assault on the forge, in exchange for giving everyone a piece of the pie. The more allies, the bigger the pie they can pull from it. When General goes Super, it can encourage a morale boost great enough that it increases the firepower of the fleet, and the boost is actually quite significant. Ships with 3 might stack up quickly, with each ally that sent 4 ships providing 12 might on their own. Super General with enough allies could reasonably threaten some of the higher-tier combat powers.
- General could arguably be considered a stronger power if it only drew pods for itself, but drawing pods for its allies is required as an incentive for other aliens to sponsor it. Since commissions are hidden information in my Cosmic, greedy aliens looking to get a free pod can end up granting General way more resources than they otherwise might.