Virus
Alert
Combat
Type
Power to Multiply
Multiplies in Combat
As a leader, during combat, use this power to multiply the might of your ships by your discharged encounter pod instead of adding them together.
Legacy: Attack pods are multiplied by the leader’s ships, instead of added.
In the ancient times, the Virus were a savage race of inorganic life who sought to infect and destroy all modern technology, acting as divine punishment to those who abused it. In modern times, they have come to learn that much more destruction can be done through multiplication than subtraction. In terms of pure might, few can measure up.
Leader: Combat
Mandatory
Wild Flare
As a leader, during combat, you may discharge this flare to multiply the number of your ships by your sponsor ships instead of adding them.
Leader: Combat
Super Flare
When using your power, you may discharge this flare to multiply the might of all ships in your fleet by your discharged attack pod instead of adding them.
Leader: Combat
Modifications
- Virus’s legacy turns everyone into a Virus all the time. Since the power is shared equally, might totals are likely to skyrocket, making retreating a fool’s errand. In addition, empty planets become free real estate for anyone who wants to move in, as there’s not much that can be done to defend them. Original Cosmic has no legacies.
Tips
- Virus infamously boasts one of the most powerful combat effects in all of Cosmic. It is advisable to avoid sending Virus invitations, especially when invading. If Virus gets into a position where it has three bases at the start of its campaign, there aren’t that many powers that can stop it from steamrolling a solo win.
- On the flip side, Virus is almost completely helpless when it has zero ships in the encounter. Since Virus cannot send zero ships as invader, this will almost always happen when defending, meaning that any victory in Virus’s system opens the door for any other alien to also have a victory in that system, if destiny wills it. Since Virus pulls ships from its home planets in order to gain its amazing combat power, it needs to make sure that it doesn’t neglect its defense. Keeping at least 2 ships on each planet will allow Virus to maintain a combat advantage, but enemies with combat powers can potentially overcome simply doubling an encounter pod, especially if the discharged pod is only a 04 or 06.
Development Notes
- Virus has famously been characterized as one of the most overpowered aliens in Cosmic, and its name is often brought up when discussions occur which question whether aliens should be “balanced.” I elected to keep Virus as-is in its original super-powerful form. While it is of course very powerful to be able to get 32 might just from playing an 08 attack with 4 ships and no sponsors, it is also pretty debilitating when everyone fears you and sends you no invitations the entire game, not to mention Virus’s situation when it has zero committed ships. Virus is an alien of extremes, definitely one in line with my design edicts.
- The name ‘Virus’ works very well with the theme of multiplication, as it has an effective double meaning between literally multiplying the ships and the encounter pod, as well as the primary function of a computer virus, which is to endlessly replicate itself. In terms of logistics, I perceive Virus’s power to be like a collective consciousness that overtakes any form of technology and upgrades it to 2/3/4 times its initial value based on Virus’s ships.
- The Virus super flare is an interesting direction to take the power. On the one hand, it makes Virus virtually unbeatable, able to turn an 08 attack into 64 might with only a few sponsors. On the other hand, Virus isn’t the most likely to receive sponsors to begin with, so the flare could easily end up going unused even if Virus gets it. That’s fine by me though. Virus doesn’t particularly need a strength boost to be noteworthy and dangerous.