Cult
Alert
Resource
Destroy
Type
Power of Allegiance
Entices Others to Join
As a leader, after launch, if your opponent is not Cult and you have no sub-power, you may use this power to offer membership to your opponent. If the opponent accepts, abduct one of that alien’s ships and display it in your nexus as an “offering”. While you have an offering in your nexus from an alien, manifest Cult as that alien’s main power. Its original power becomes its sub-power. Aliens with Cult’s power are only named Cult.
After launch, if both leaders are Cult, skip the rally phase. Both fleets transform into envoys, regardless of drivers. Cult may not willingly sponsor Cult’s opponent.
If only one leader is Cult, all uncommitted foreign Cult ships in the target system add 1 might to that leader’s fleet. If Cult loses, those ships are destroyed.
If Cult wins the match, all aliens that are Cult also win. If all aliens in the match become Cult, all aliens in the match vote for one alien with a sub-power to “sacrifice”. If there is a tie, the original Cult is the tiebreaker. All aliens immediately win the match except the sacrificed alien.
After launch, if you have a sub-power, you may “renounce” the Cult. Ravage four of your ships and scrap four pods from your cache to rebound the offering from Cult’s nexus. If you have no sub-power, you may instead “denounce” another Cult, rebounding that alien’s offering from your nexus.
Legacy: Cult is eliminated. Then, one alien transforms into Cult.
The Cult seek to help wayward souls find salvation, though they’re also in the market for some noble sacrifices for their dark god. Be careful if you join, as the price of leaving can be steep.
Leader: Launch
Optional
Wild Flare
As a leader, after approach, you may discharge this flare. Each ship on your foreign bases in the opponent’s system adds 1 might to your fleet’s total this encounter.
Leader: Approach
Super Flare
You may discharge this flare to prevent another alien from renouncing or denouncing the Cult.
Any: Any
Modifications
- Originally named “The Cult”. Changed to Cult due to my one-word alien naming convention.
- Added an additional clause to act as a disincentive for all players to become Cult for a simple shared victory. If every alien becomes Cult, one alien will be voted as the loser, except for the original Cult.
- Original Cult turns other aliens into Cult “members” rather than Cult itself. Mine uses sub-powers to distinguish the two, while also allowing other Cults to use Cult’s super flare and preventing them from using their own.
- Original Super Cult can only prevent renouncing. I added the ability for aliens to prevent denouncing to avoid being removed from the Cult.
- Cult’s legacy evokes the inverse of Cult’s special win condition. If one Cult is eliminated, all of Cult is eliminated. Then, a new alien gains Cult as a main power, allowing it to start a new Cult cycle if it doesn’t already have a sub-power. from Original Cosmic has no legacies.
Tips
- Aliens that are performing well are less likely to join Cult. The best targets are ones that don’t like their odds of victory without Cult.
- Joining the Cult allows an alien to protect their power against aliens like Plant and Changeling. Since they can quit any encounter at a cost, it can be strategic to temporarily join Cult.
- Avoid joining Cult if you have your super flare, unless you would prefer to use the wild effect instead.
- Accepting Cult’s offer to join the Cult means a free negotiation. Aliens that have a lot of influence may find the offer more enticing, especially if they aren’t likely to win in combat.
Development Notes
- Cult is the only power in Cosmic that is designed to allow multiple copies of itself at once. Every other alien is strictly forbidden from combating itself due to the potential for conflicts like Oracle v. Oracle or Benefactor v. Benefactor. While not impossible to create such matches, it’s better for simplicity to avoid such matches. Having a single alien act as an exception to this rule is quite appropriate for the game.
- Cult’s power got me thinking about the pros and cons of having a power as a main power vs. a sub-power. I could have set Cult to become an alien’s sub-power when joining the Cult, where it effectively cannot be removed. However, then the alien would not gain Cult’s name, which is important for the thematic aspect of the power.
- Cult is one of the few aliens that can win without winning, since another alien can join the Cult and then win in its place. In a tournament setting in my Cosmic, aliens receive points for winning, separate from players. Cult has an advantage at winning in such a setting since it can score points from multiple aliens at once.
- Losing your name when you join Cult means you also lose access to your super flare, gaining the ability to join Super Cult instead. My version grants you potential immunity from being kicked out of the Cult, but you can accept being denounced in order to gain the wild version of the flare instead.
- It would make thematic sense for Cult to simply replace your power outright without making your old power a sub-power, since losing your individuality is a major aspect of the theme. However, this would make the power less interesting and less persuasive, so it is reasonable for Cult to allow for self-expression as part of its sales pitch.
- Since sub-powers cannot be removed or replaced like main powers, there should theoretically be no way for someone to join Cult and then gain Cult’s ability to invite more Cult members. It allows the Cult “leader” to stand out from the others by being the one alien without a sub-power.
- Due to my change that does not allow “base for base” deals in negotiations, Cult can only give a base to its opponent. However, if the player plans on winning with the Cult, they can simply grant the free base and take resources for themselves, since winning with Cult means all of Cult wins.
- Cult is a truly unique alien both mechanically and thematically. Everything about its power is voluntary in both directions. The optional power requires Cult to invite specific aliens to join, and the opponent has to accept for the power to do anything. Aliens are also free to leave, though they have to give up quite a few resources to do so. Alternatively, Cult can kick members out of the Cult at-will, denying them the benefits. A match against Cult can quickly turn into a boss battle between those that support the Cult and those who do not.
- My version of Cult is one of the few aliens in the game that truly offers an alt-win condition. I made the exception because it applies to everyone at once, avoiding the primary issue of denying some players the ability to win the game normally. Every alien in the match has to agree to the Cult alt-win condition, and my special voting condition prevents a situation where everyone wins. I like the thematic tie-in to the dark side of Cult, where it gets everything it wants and performs a dark ritual to earn a win for everyone else. It’s very possible for the voting to result in a tie, so specifying the original “Cult leader” as the tiebreaker is a simple way to guarantee only one player loses while giving a little extra power to the original Cult player.
- If an alien becomes Cult and uses the wild version of their original power that is also nuclear, the flare will be exhausted after use since that alien does not exist in the current match. If they leave the Cult before upkeep, it will go to them instead. It’s one of the only situations in the game where a power is in-game but the name is not.
- Since aliens can have multiple sub-powers, Reincarnator can join the Cult in order to permanently keep its current power while it remains in the Cult. Since the interaction may be a bit confusing, I wrote it out as a special setup on my design page. Cult’s power overrides the scrambling, preventing the power from changing.