Architect

Alert

Combat

Destroy

Type

Power to Construct

Builds Pylons in Enemy Systems

As a leader, after winning an encounter, use this power to manifest a “pylon” one of of the opponent’s home planets. If you are the invader, it must be the target planet. Whenever you manifest a pylon in a system when you do not have one, manifest an additional pylon on another planet in that system. Pylons on adjacent planets are considered “connected”. All planets with connected pylons on them are considered the same planet when calculating authority or dominion. Each planet may only have one pylon.

As a leader, during combat, use this power to double your fleet’s might if you have two or more connected pylons in that system, three or more connected pylons in an adjacent system, or four or more connected pylons in any system.

Legacy: Each alien constructs a pylon on two of their left neighbor’s home planets.

The Architects have long been known as a mild-mannered race with well-constructed cities and roads. Unsatisfied with such a bland description, they have drafted a blueprint that will let them leave behind a legacy that will stand for all time.

Leader: Encounter

Leader: Combat

Mandatory

Wild Flare

As a leader, during combat, you may discharge this flare to scrap an attack pod from your cache. Then add might to your fleet equal to the number of exhausted pods in the forge. Burnout.

Leader: Combat

Super Flare

When using your power to manifest pylons, you may discharge this flare to manifest a pylon in your own system instead.

Leader: Encounter

Modifications

Originally the power to “build towers”. Architect originally builds “towers” instead of “pylons”.
Original Architect merges planets together directly, combining all bases and making a single tower with “levels” equal to the number of merged planets. The effect is functionally the same, only the original planets are not merged. It makes the power less abusable by planet destroyers like Locust and Dragon.
Original Architect has an alt-win condition that gives it a victory if any other alien becomes unable to win due to there not being enough dominion for it to be possible. In my version, it would simply eliminate that alien.
I specified that Architect’s pylons must be adjacent to be considered the same planet, to prevent Architect from being unable to get more than one dominion per system, which is not a limitation of the original power.
Architect’s legacy is quite similar to Locust’s legacy, effectively removing one authority and one dominion from each system. The key difference is that the decision of which planet to target is chosen by the left neighbor, which matters much more during a match than the start. It’s also noteworthy that the planets themselves are not vaporized, which means they can still be targeted with planet destruction aspects. Original Cosmic has no legacies.

Tips

Architect’s pylons are permanent and cannot be removed even if Architect is eliminated. The only way to truly destroy them is to take out the whole planet, which doesn’t help the owner of the planet.
Each pylon architect builds results in a permanent loss in authority and dominion in that system. If Architect constructs four pylons in an enemy system (three wins against an opponent), that alien’s power is permanently lost unless it is persistent.
As with Void, Architect needs to win to invoke permanent change. If it never wins as a leader, it has no power.
When opposing or invading Architect, defeating it is quite a high priority, even if you have an invasion-only power. If Architect wins, any future invasions it performs against you will have double might to the entire fleet.
Getting four pylons in one system takes three wins, but almost the same result can be performed by winning once in each system. The only exception is acting as a defender, which requires winning as Super Architect.
Super Architect does not have much motivation to build more than one pylon in its own system. Building one gives it the defensive combat bonus, but each one it builds robs authority from itself. It can build four to get the combat bonus everywhere, but it makes Architect extremely vulnerable to losing its power entirely.
Architect is more potent the smaller the match. If it wins twice against the same opponent, it has its combat bonus in 3 of the 4 systems already. In a galactic match, it needs three wins against one opponent to really secure its combat bonus everywhere.

Development Notes

The original Architect is extremely vulnerable to planet destroying aliens and aspects. Architect can win four encounters in a system and construct a tower with four levels. Then one victory from Locust can eviscerate all of Architect’s work. I came up with the idea to use pylons instead of directly merging planets to prevent planet destruction from being too punishing to Architect, or any other alien in a match while Locust is playing. Locust eating the planet with a pylon will still provide it the permanent dominion, but the target alien will not actually lose any authority since the pylon was already there. Architect is the only one harmed by Locust’s win, but it is much less harmful than if the planets were merged.
Architect’s power can seem somewhat counterintuitive given how it works. It has a mandatory power that can rob it of its own dominion if misused. However, the pylons that Architect builds also steal dominion and authority from enemies as well. Architect deprives enemies of options and limits the total amount of available dominion. Similar to Siren, Architect can build its pylons as invader or defender. If it uses its power in every system, it effectively has the same result as four pylons in one system.
Double might to the entire fleet is a very potent combat effect that can potentially even rival the likes of Virus and Crystal. Since Architect is the type that likes to stall out a match, it has plenty of time to obtain this bonus. It makes Architect a major target for deactivation and zapping.
It is very important that Architect’s power must target the target planet if possible as an invader. Otherwise, Architect could target an ally’s planet that it doesn’t coexist with and give itself the final base while stealing one dominion from someone else. With this stipulation, Architect would have to steal its own dominion since it’s targeting the planet it’s gaining one from.
Architect’s power is certainly deserving of being red alert, whether referring to the original or mine. A power that steals dominion and authority from other aliens is not the sort of problem a first-timer should be tasked to deal with, and the player using Architect needs to know how to properly select planets to decide whether to connect them for its combat bonus or keep them separate for more dominion. I chose to keep the original power’s binary choice between increasing its universal combat potency or gaining more immediate dominion by requiring the pylons to be connected.
Though unlikely to happen, it is impossible for Architect to win a match by getting a base on every planet in one system. This will result in Architect only having one dominion, since all of the planets will be connected. At most, Architect can get three dominion in one system by avoiding any of them being connected. Gaining a fourth base will cause it to lose one dominion, meaning Architect would be better off targeting a planet it already occupies, unless it is aiming for the universal combat bonus.
Thematically, Architect can be most compared to Citadel, a defensive alien that constructs citadels on planets to make them harder to invade. Citadel has free reign to build its citadels anywhere, while Architect must overwhelm its opponent to obtain “approval”.
Mechanically, Architect has some similarity with my Patriot, a power designed to deactivate other aliens by quickly stealing their authority. Both are technically win-based. Patriot mostly activates as invader or foreward, while Architect is invader or defender. Patriot’s choice is not mandatory, as it may not want to destroy a particular alien’s power. Patriot is also more difficult to deactivate, since it gains both authority and dominion from its invasions. Architect is required to use its power, but it has the choice between going for dominion normally or aiming for its combat power. In either case, Architect can choose to deprive other aliens of both authority and dominion, stalling out the match. In a match featuring both Architect and Patriot, Architect would likely be a major target for Patriot’s power, looking to deactivate it as soon as possible. Architect seems stronger offensively, but more fragile defensively, since its power is much easier to deactivate.
I opted for “pylons” instead of “towers” to help distinguish it further from Citadel. Pylons are specifically towers for power lines, but they can also refer to a large gateway. It is also a reference to the famous Starcraft quote, requiring additional pylons to be constructed to make more units. Pylons act as both a tower that generates power for the Architect and also a gateway that connects planets together. I imagine that Architect is taking advantage of a legal technicality makes planets connected by a tower technically one planet.
I do like the risk/reward mechanic of Architect building pylons in its own system. It can build just enough to get the combat bonus in every system without losing its power, but losing once as defender after that will make it lose its power outright. It also comes at the cost of robbing Architect’s negotiation power, making Architect much less eager to agree to deals.
I imagine the process by which Architect builds its pylons is somewhat destructive to the surrounding environment, which is why Architect refrains from building them on its own planets. When it goes super, it finds a way to build the pylons in a less destructive manner, allowing it to build them on its own planet.
Architect doesn’t technically destroy anything, but I still classify it as a destroy-type power since its power is effectively the same as destroying bases.
It is fitting that Architect’s designs are so structurally sound that they cannot be destroyed without taking out the entire planet alongside it. Not even Cudgel or Brute can smash them.