Ace

Alert

Invasion

Destroy

Type

Power to Overpower

Destroys Bases to Gain Bases

As an actor, after arrival, you may use this power to blitz the opponent and destroy one of your home bases.

Legacy: Every alien gains one dominion.

When experts talk of who could be called the most powerful alien, you won’t get far in the discussion before you hear mention of the Aces. Some say their mighty energy blasts could lay waste to entire star systems. Others claim they can smash through a planet in a single punch. While their upper limit is unconfirmed, only the Mites are strong enough to take them on in single combat.

Actor: Arrival

Optional

Wild Flare

As a leader, after arrival, if all other aliens are committed to the enemy fleet, you may discharge this flare to blitz the opponent. Burnout.

Leader: Arrival

Super Flare

When using your power, if no alien sponsored your opponent this invasion, you may discharge this flare to ravage four of your ships instead of destroying a home base.

Actor: Arrival

Modifications

Original Ace has the power to “triumph”. It’s pretty close to working with my version of the power, but I wanted a term that better captured the sense of overwhelming the opposition with absolute power.
Original Super Ace has a burnout flare that allows it to gain a base with its casualties when losing as a defender. It’s an effect that could work with my version of the power, but I would prefer to not have burnout super flares. I gave Super Ace a flare that makes it even more of a danger but still give other aliens options.
Original Ace is an alt-win alien that wins the game with its power if it has any foreign bases at the start of its campaign. I came up with an alternative idea that captures the sense of a powerful threat capable of dominating the opposition.
Ace’s legacy grants everyone the simple bonus of one immediate dominion. Depending on the timing, this legacy could result in one or more aliens immediately winning the match. It also creates a greater incentive to eliminate Ace, painting them as more of a supervillain in the same vein as Virus. Invasion-type aliens like Disease and Benefactor can take great advantage of this legacy, since it lets every alien win with one fewer foreign base. Aliens that attempt to stall the match like Warrior and Tick-Tock may struggle with this one. Original Cosmic has no legacies.

Tips

Ace possess the inherent ability to win three encounters guaranteed as either a leader or sponsor. However, it must sacrifice
Ace is most vulnerable as a defender, since using its power will cost it a base without gaining dominion. Other aliens are incentivized to attack its existing bases instead of empty planets since each destroyed home base will rob it another use of its power.
Avoid inviting Ace as a backward, since granting it lucre will allow it to repopulate one of its home bases and dominate again.
The more Ace uses its power, the closer it will be to elimination. Eliminating Ace will grant every alien one dominion, so take the opportunity to do so if you can.
Generally, Ace is limited to three uses of its power, regardless of how many aliens are in play. Afterwards, its power will most likely be deactivated, and it will have to either gain a new home base or win without its power.
If Ace is never commissioned, it will likely be unable to win the match with its power alone. Consider carefully if you wish to use its power for your own purposes.

Development Notes

As will all alt-win aliens, I needed to create a new version to fit my design principles. I originally had an idea themed around the Ace card in poker, allowing Ace to play artifact pods as encounter pods, turning them into either 20 or N after contact. The idea seems fine enough in concept, but I wanted to avoid the awkward phrasing required to handle situations where other aliens end up priming artifact pods due to a power like Sorcerer’s. I also considered making an A card with this effect, similar to the P card, but I wanted Ace’s power to feel more inherent, based on skill rather than tech.
What I dislike most about the original power is how vulnerable to zaps it is. Even if Ace meets its condition of getting a base at the start of its turn, it will often just be zapped if the other aliens know what they are doing and didn’t get unlucky with draws. It results in stalling the match for another full rotation, leading to the either Ace’s power being useless or the match just being longer.
What I like most about Ace’s power is its comparability to Mite. Ace is, in-essence, the alien that Mite puffs itself up to be. Ace is capable of blitzing any other alien at-will, with only zaps or deactivation capable of stopping it. However, Mite doesn’t pay such a steep cost to use its power, and it could possibly end up using its power more than Ace does despite the latter activating as an actor. It feels like the relationship between Saitama and King from One Punch Man. The one who is the strongest vs. the one who claims to be the strongest.
I specifically phrased Ace’s super flare so that it cannot just use a force field artifact to bypass the condition. I didn’t want to let Super Ace blitz opponents for free, as even for a super flare that would be pretty crazy. Instead I gave Super Ace the ability to choose which ships get destroyed instead of it being a home base, letting it use its power 1-2 more times in a match. Wild Ace is also burnout, so there is less of a chance Ace will get the super flare as a surprise.
An alien that can unconditionally blitz other aliens is incredibly dangerous, more than justifying its red alert status. If not handled properly, it violates Edict 5, depriving other aliens of choice. I think it can potentially work as a red alert power, since it will be assumed that other aliens know what they are doing. Aliens have the choice in deciding whether to try and suppress the power from the start or take advantage of it for their own benefit. What’s interesting is that the original alt-win condition is still somewhat factored into my version. If Ace starts its invasion with one base needed and still has its power, the only thing that can stop it from a solo win is a zap. It is the decisions leading up to that moment where the other aliens have agency, since they may invite it to sabotage it with compensation plays or try to convince it to use its power with them to weaken them for later. If every alien is inviting Ace as a foreward and backward and letting it stockpile lucre so it can keep reviving its bases, it could end up too strong to stop. It certainly ties into my mentality of wanting to ensure lucre is difficult to obtain.
I considered the possibility of making Ace leader-only, with Super Ace also working as a sponsor. With Ace’s limited uses of the power, I wanted to avoid it being too insular. Being able to leverage its power socially is fitting to the theme of an ace. The ace is the one that steps up to take down the enemies singlehandedly when you need it most.
Ace has an interesting dynamic with Grump, since its base destruction effect creates empty planets for Grump to occupy for free. This effect greatly limits Ace’s ability to freely use its power, similar to how Benefactor hampers Barbarian or Porcupine.
I based theme around the concept of the “ace in the hole”, a power kept in reserve to dominate when needed. It is meant to act as the single most powerful combat power in the game. The only other power capable if matching Ace’s overwhelming power is an invading Mite, the only other alien capable of blitzing an opponent after arrival. Due to the rule on blitzing, if Ace were to use its power after arrival after Mite did (though Ace is less likely to use its power as defender), the two would cancel out. Ace would destroy one of its own bases, but it would bypass Mite destroying its cache.
The power name is a play on words. Ace is overpowering its enemies, but it is also based around the “overpowered” character type. In a meta sense, the power itself might even be overpowered, if not for the inherent social counterbalance provided by Cosmic, though I don’t think it reaches the level of something like Original Brute, which I reworked into Bully. It is also fitting for the most powerful combat alien to have the term “power” in its power name, though Electrician has already claimed the “power to power”.
I greatly appreciate how Ace is alphabetically the first alien in the list in both my Cosmic and FFG Cosmic. A nice and subtle way to showcase Ace’s theme of being #1 without needing to state it outright.