Horde

Alert

Resource

Type

Power to Spawn

Spawns Extra Ships

Whenever you draft a pod or revive a ship, use this power to manifest a “spawned ship”. Spawned ships are vaporized when destroyed.

Legacy: During warpfall, the invader manifests a ship instead of reviving one.

Fearless in death, the hive mind of the Horde believe that one dead comrade will be reborn into the next. Their simplistic biology affords them the freedom to asexually reproduce at will, even in the middle of battle. Their true population is unknown, even to them.

Any: Any

Mandatory

Wild Flare

At the start of any orientation, you may discharge this flare to manifest a “cloned ship.” If that ship is isolated or destroyed, vaporize it.

Any: Orientation

Super Flare

When using your power, you may discharge this flare to manifest twice as many spawned ships.

Any: Any

Modifications

Horde’s legacy steadily increases the total number of ships in the match over time, granting more ships if aliens win their first invasion. Aliens like Zombie and Remora that can easily retrieve ships from the warp can take advantage of this legacy to stack their bases high with defensive power. Original Cosmic has no legacies.

Tips

When acting as a backer, Horde can manifest as many ships as it sends by winning. During warpfall, Horde manifests a free ship in addition to retrieving one.
Horde can be more liberal with its ships, since it can so easily get more. Even if it loses a ton of ships, a warp key can free them all while also doubling the total number of ships it obtains, making warp keys very dangerous with Horde around.
When receiving a resupply, Horde manifests 8 free ships, allowing it to make a huge comeback when its ship reserve gets low. This can make compensation against it risky as well.
Horde’s power can easily counter ship and base destroyers by creating ships faster then enemies can destroy them. However, losing too many times as a backward can result in sustained losses.

Development Notes

Horde is another power in the realm of Fodder and Reserve based around the theme of “power in numbers.” In original Cosmic, it’s one of three aliens that revolves around the idea of having more than 20 ships. Thematically, I think Horde stands out from Reserve by being more a species based around its sheer population, rather than a military race that has many soldiers in reserve. Reserve is particularly good at calling for backup with distress pods. It speaks more to their communication ops. Horde has a bigger army and more soldiers to commit to the war, which carries a different overall feel.
I could see this power being themed around something like a Potter or a Craftsman. Maybe even a Golem. Making new soldiers out of clay to carry out the same function as the normal ones. Golem to me didn’t make sense since I needed the base ships to be notably different from the spawned ones, so a craftsman would probably be my choice. However, I still liked the theme of “strength in numbers” well enough to keep it, and I don’t think a Potter carries the same idea behind it.
Mechanically, I consider Horde to be the prototypical “more ships” alien, in comparison to original Symbiote, which simply has double ships. While the two step on each other’s toes to the point that I think one needed to go, Horde is more mechanically interesting. The ships Horde creates are not permanent, unlike Symbiote’s. It can potentially create more ships than Symbiote starts with, but those ships are temporary and get vaporized if destroyed.
It’s possible for me to have it so the wild flare creates “spawned ships” in the same way Horde does, so that they are only vaporized if destroyed, not isolated. However, since the ships are made somewhat frequently, I think it makes sense for them to be a little more unstable than Horde’s actual ships.